Narrative Theory

Todorov

In Todorov's narrative theory, he states that in every media text there are five stages:

1. ORIGINAL EQUILIBRIUM  (normality) 
 
2.DISRUPTION 
 
3.RECOGNITION (of disruption)
 
4. ATTEMPT TO RESTORE original equilibrium

5. NEW EQUILIBRIUM

In my music video I am going to illustrate these five stages in the following ways:

1. Original equilibrium = flashbacks feature happy memories of the couple together

2. Disruption = the boy has to leave the girl

3. Recognition of disruption = both boy and girl are seen looking emotional and sad

4. Attempt to restore original equilibrium = flashbacks of happy couple appear again

5. New equilibrium = artist (girl in narrative) learns to live without her boyfriend, both move on.

Barthes

Barthes was a French semiologist who identified 5 different codes by which a narrative engages the attention of the audience.
In order of importance these are:
The enigma code -  the audience is intrigued by the need to solve a problem
The action code – the audience is excited by the need to resolve a problem
The semantic code – the audience is directed towards an additional meaning by way of connotation
The symbolic code – the audience assumes that a character dressed in black is evil or menacing and forms  expectations of his/ her behaviour on this basis
The cultural code – the audience derives meaning in a text from shared cultural knowledge about the way the world works. 

Barthes

In my music video we will be featuring some of Barthes notions.

For instance, we will be using:

The enigma code - the audience's need to solve a problem. The problem in this case being the couples break up

The action code - the audiences excitement to solve the problem. In this case resolving the heartache of both the girl and boy.