Narrative Theories

Todorov's three stage theory

A music video that uses this theory will start out in the equilibrium phase. This involves the narrative being at peace and everything being seemingly happy. For example, a couple before they are about break up. Next there is a disruption to the narrative and an issue arises. In this example, that would be the break up itself. This disruption creates the main body of the music video and usually is responsible for making a storyline creative of interesting. Finally, the problem is resolved and the video enters the resolution phase. This brings a 'happy' ending to a video and eases the views emotion. The resolution brings the video back to the equilibrium phase. A music video could possibly go through this cycle a number of times, but usually it only noticeably happens once. In this example the resolution would be the couple getting back together and solving their issues. In summary the three stage theory is: 

- Equilibrium - everything is happy
- Disruption - there's an issue
- Resolution - everything is resolved

For our own video: We could show the disruption through a home that becomes broken and this family break has an effect on everyday life. By the end of the video everything could have been resolved and shown that the break down didn't effect the person future as they now have their own happy family.

An example of a music video that follows this theory is:

The equilibrium in this video is the first 53 seconds of the video where it seems like the two men are just searching for something with the touch. This is also shown through the use of longer takes, which  imply the idea of calm. The disruption then comes after this point when they try to abduct the girl. The disruption then is shown through hand held cameras and short shots which quicken the pace of the video. The final resolution begins at 3.46 where the man and women get away from the older man once they have knocked him out.

Levi-strauss' binary opposites theory 

This theory creates a conflict in a music video through the use of opposites. This theory is not focused on the events being in order and it looks for deeper arrangements of themes. Not focusing on the series of events allows for the conflict to be focused on and easily be decoded by the audience. Examples of opposites that can create tension are:

- male vs female
These opposites usually focus on a power struggle between a women being less powerful than a man and the man being able to command the edit while the women is submissive to the editing. 
- good vs evil
These opposites usually focus on the fight between right and wrong and tap into the moral standing of the audience to create interest.
- black vs white
These opposites are usually used to represent deeper ideas for example, black and white can also be used to signify the past vs the future. 

For our own video: We could show through male vs female how life is different for either gender and that the other "can't see" the hardships of living either life. 

An example of a video that follows this theory:

This video shows the idea of binary opposites by presenting the binary opposites of two different body types together in one video in order to create conflicted between the thinner people and the other people in the video. This conflicted is created through dance choreography and the way in which the two body types are dressed. The audience decodes this as the people who are dressed in plastic as fake and the others as genuine people which causes conflict in the viewers mind.