Narrative Music Videos
Narrative based music videos have a storyline, and tend to follow that storyline throughout the whole of the video.
Taylor Swift - You Belong With Me
Katy Perry - Last Friday Night
In the late 1980s/early 1990s, Kathy Beth Terry (Perry), a nerdy teenager with braces, headgear, and over sized glasses, has just awakened the morning after a house party, surrounded by passed-out party goers. A male guest, Aaron Christopherson opens the door to her bedroom and congratulates her on having the "best party ever." Puzzled as to what happened, she goes online, only to find pictures of herself in various compromising positions, including one picture of her licking the stomach of the boy in bed next to her. The video then goes into a flashback of the events that occurred the night before. While doing a Sudoku puzzle, Kathy hears loud music from the house next door, and goes over to complain. She is greeted by Rebecca Black (who appears in a homage to Black's viral video "Friday"), who invites her in. A nerdy Everett McDonald (Glee star Kevin McHale) ogles Terry from afar and fantasises about being with her.
Kathy, however, is more interested in Steve Johnson aka "The Jock", an attractive football player, who turns her down because of her appearance. To cheer her up, Black gives Kathy a makeover, ripping off her headgear with pliers, waxing her upper lip, dressing her in tight-fitting neon clothes, and teasing her hair out. Steve becomes enamored with her, and everyone starts dancing. Kathy and Rebecca are also seen playing Just Dance 2. Musician Kenny G, despite not having played the saxophone on the song's actual recording, plays the saxophone solo on the roof while Hanson act as the house band. The entire party ends up moving to Kathy's house, where she throws up after drinking too much. Everett punches Steve for trying to fondle Kathy's bottom (Visualised by him as a medieval sword fight with Kathy as a damsel in distress).
At the end of the night, Kathy finally passes out next to Steve. The video shifts back to the next morning, where she looks at the photos with regret, but is also ecstatic to have a naked Steve passed out in her bed. The film ends with former teen idols Corey Feldman and Debbie Gibson as Kathy's parents, Kirk and Tiffany Terry confronting Kathy about the state of the house; Feldman makes several references to The Lost Boys, in which he starred.
intertextual reference made within, this also refers to Goodwin's Seven. There are features of Rebecca Black within and also many stars of the hit TV show glee in which the audience would be familiar with as her audience is a younger generation so therefore are likely to watch the show.
This music video starts with a style of a motion picture beginning, with the camera panning down a typical American suburban street. In the style of a film with dialogue at the beginning and the end to conclude it and makes Last Friday Night into a short film however is in fact a music video. Also to add to this is that at the end of the music video it has running credits with bloopers emphasises this was the style they were in fact going for.
Taylor Swift - You Belong With Me
"You Belong with Me's" accompanying music video was directed by Roman White. In the video, Swift portrays both the protagonist and antagonist, which she respectively described as "the nerd, who is pining away for this guy that she can't have" and "the popular girl." Swift described the popular girl's persona as "horrible and scary and intimidating and perfect". Her love interest is portrayed by American actor Lucas Till, she was intrigued by his "cool look", embodying a "dreamy guy". In regards to his acting on the video, Swift said, "He's absolutely perfect for the part and really fun to be around, too."According to her, the video's plot is "charming"; she also said that, "the whole video, I'm just sitting there pining away, wishing I could be in her position." In regards to the video's conclusion, White explained that Swift "becomes who she really is", while Swift thought it was a happy ending. Swift commented, "One of my favourite things about this video is that there wasn't a standard performance scene. This video was pretty much all story line and I'm narrating it in the moment, basically narrating while all this is happening around me."
The video commences with Till arguing with his girlfriend through a phone call. As soon as Swift, as the protagonist, notices, they begin to communicate by holding up signs through their bedroom windows. Till closes his curtains, and Swift holds up a sign saying, "I love you". As the song's chorus approaches, Swift starts to sing and dance in front of a mirror, changing to different clothing multiple times. Afterward, Swift is sitting in a bench while reading a book. Till arrives and the two converse. Then, Swift, as the antagonist, arrives in a red convertible car and Till gets in it; Swift, as the antagonist, kisses him and gives a vicious look towards the protagonist. Suddenly, she is seen cheer leading at a football game while Swift's other persona is in the bleachers, performing in the school band. After scoring the winning touchdown, Till moves toward his girlfriend and finds her flirting with a teammate; meanwhile, Swift, as the protagonist, stares in amazement. Back in their bedroom windows, they again communicate through signs, Till asked Swift, as the protagonist, if she was attending prom and she responded, "no, studying". Shortly after, Swift is seen entering prom with a white dress, no longer looking like a nerd, while all her peers stare in amazement. When Till spots her, he walks towards her and Swift, as the antagonist, attempts to impede him, but he ignores her. Ending the video, Till and Swift reveal folded signs saying "I love you" and kiss.
This video has frequent close ups of the star, Taylor Swift, this would be because the labels would demand to promote her within. This comes under Goodwin's Seven. It is a narrative because it follows a storyline of a high school crush and romance. The storyline works well with the editing they tend use straight cuts to show that time has past since the last scene and it makes the story seem more realistic rather than using fancy edits to show the fact that it is constructed. This music video, the audience would be able to relate to as they are young teenagers and they might go through the same experience.
In the late 1980s/early 1990s, Kathy Beth Terry (Perry), a nerdy teenager with braces, headgear, and over sized glasses, has just awakened the morning after a house party, surrounded by passed-out party goers. A male guest, Aaron Christopherson opens the door to her bedroom and congratulates her on having the "best party ever." Puzzled as to what happened, she goes online, only to find pictures of herself in various compromising positions, including one picture of her licking the stomach of the boy in bed next to her. The video then goes into a flashback of the events that occurred the night before. While doing a Sudoku puzzle, Kathy hears loud music from the house next door, and goes over to complain. She is greeted by Rebecca Black (who appears in a homage to Black's viral video "Friday"), who invites her in. A nerdy Everett McDonald (Glee star Kevin McHale) ogles Terry from afar and fantasises about being with her.
Kathy, however, is more interested in Steve Johnson aka "The Jock", an attractive football player, who turns her down because of her appearance. To cheer her up, Black gives Kathy a makeover, ripping off her headgear with pliers, waxing her upper lip, dressing her in tight-fitting neon clothes, and teasing her hair out. Steve becomes enamored with her, and everyone starts dancing. Kathy and Rebecca are also seen playing Just Dance 2. Musician Kenny G, despite not having played the saxophone on the song's actual recording, plays the saxophone solo on the roof while Hanson act as the house band. The entire party ends up moving to Kathy's house, where she throws up after drinking too much. Everett punches Steve for trying to fondle Kathy's bottom (Visualised by him as a medieval sword fight with Kathy as a damsel in distress).
intertextual reference made within, this also refers to Goodwin's Seven. There are features of Rebecca Black within and also many stars of the hit TV show glee in which the audience would be familiar with as her audience is a younger generation so therefore are likely to watch the show.
This music video starts with a style of a motion picture beginning, with the camera panning down a typical American suburban street. In the style of a film with dialogue at the beginning and the end to conclude it and makes Last Friday Night into a short film however is in fact a music video. Also to add to this is that at the end of the music video it has running credits with bloopers emphasises this was the style they were in fact going for.
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