Narrative Codes - (Textual Analysis 3)

In this short section I will be attempting to further my understanding of the narrative codes, primarily 'hermeneutic' & 'proairetic'. Now it is hard to distinguish these into a music video as the story sometimes cannot be sure however I will try to make it as clear as possible.


Roland Barthes developed a theory that there are 5 major codes within a story/music video (in this case) that are interwoven in order to create meaning. I am only going to concentrate on the two mentioned above as they are the primary ones, including many separate points within. Hermeneutic refers to the parts of the story that are untold, and in our music video we have a very strong concept with this in terms of the letter Nick receives. The audience automatically try and guess the outcome whilst intrigued and determined to see the outcome themselves. Our video is very typical of this first theory, only revealing the outcome at the very end. 'Partial Answers' are used throughout the film to reveal some of the truth but not all of it, increasing the audiences involvement further. Something known as 'The Snare' is often used to deliberately avoid the truth, whilst at the same time teasing the viewer. This is a great concept however it does not suit our particular genre at all. Proairetic codes are more to do with the actions that the character(s) take, or their reaction towards someone or something. In our music video Nick has these moments all the way through, most obviously the point where he approaches me on the phone and I turn him away, suggesting that Nick is not entirely used to the situation. Furthermore Nick is in a trance when confronted with the vast majority of huge and impressive landmarks such as St. Paul's cathedral and the London Eye. Again the audience relate to this and begin to make guesses, which is a very good way of mixing the video up into one big sequence of hermeneutic & proairetic coded features.


Our music video incorporates this further by giving the audience their answer at the end, when Nick finally meets the mysterious letter sending girl, this is also when nearly all the audiences questions are answered because Nick has met the mysterious girl and the reason why he's in London in the first place.

Introduction to Target Audience

Iglu & Hartly's core target audience mainly concentrate on the older male teens and younger men up to the mid 20's, a good testimony to this is that we chose to do one of their songs as our music video choice. This is a short introduction of how me and my group are going about researching Iglu & Hartly's target audience. We will annotate various photos and pictures of bands in situations and combine this with commentary and a short video explaining what categories the target audience would fall into. http://www.myspace.com/igluandhartly - This gives a little insight into their lifestyle and train of thought. The font is very bold and grabs your attention instantly, as are the images. There is a featured video which gives an insight into the lifestyle of one of the members of the band, showing him and two of his lady friends dancing and singing in one of their swimming pools with an underwater camera.

http://igluandhartly.forums.umusic.co.uk/ - This is where the band are discussed by their fans and fans can also share their Myspace profiles, which also shows part of their target audience and who they aim at are very much computer literate and are part of the 'Cyber Generation' that go on social networking sites such as Myspace, Facebook etc.

Iglu & Hartly - 'In This City'

In This City Lyrics

You came in to my life
You cannot separate yourself
You came in to my life
You cannot separate yourself

(Chorus x2)
And I found that round here
In this city
That I won't disappear
In this city
I got nothing to fear
In this city,
In this city

Close those doors
Close those doors now
Now, now, just keep em open
Keep em open
Yea, keep em open
I'll keep on, keep keep on going
Taking it in so, so heavy
Take it easy son, this aint so deadly
Got keep on, gotta go on, gotta go on
Take it all with what we've done
Gotta push it push it push it
To the top of the building
Even when no one is feeling
It might bother you
Don't let it
If these people just don't get it
They can't express it
They won't accept it
She said it's okay that they may never give you that credit.

(Chorus x2)
And I found that round here
In this city
That I won't disappear
In this city
I got nothing to fear
In this city,
In this city

I've been down here
Down these roads
People pass through
Some stay some go
Standing here broke
Not a penny to my name
But she says she loves me all the same
I try my best
And you do to
And all you want is something you can move to
Everybody's gotta get their kicks somewhere
Everybody gotta fit in somewhere
There's, an open road
And I'm traveling down
Don't know where to go
But I lock and load
Shoot that sky till the moon explode
Moon explode
Now we're laying in a field
White flowers on our backs
Talking bout home
But we can't go back
I guess that's why we left
So we could take a step
Keep moving and forget the rest.

You came in to my life
You cannot separate yourself
You came in to my life
You cannot separate yourself

(Chorus x2)
And I found that round here
In this city
That I won't disappear
In this city
I got nothing to fear
In this city,
In this city

And I found that round here
In this city
That I won't disappear
In this city
I got nothing to fear
In this city

Locations

Eton Wick is the rural village which the beginning of the music video was shot in. Sam, played by Nick, will start his long journey to the city from here. Instead of quiet, village settings he will soon be surrounded by the hustle and bustle of the city which at the moment seems like a million miles away



Compared to his normal quiet life in Eton Wick. He will need to get used to the hustle and bustle of the busy London streets quickly if the trip is going to be one he enjoys.