Postmodernism and Other Theories (*IMPOPRTANT in understanding what the music video is about*)

Postmodernism rejects conventional reality and conventional forms. In today’s society the fine line between media and reality can be difficult to be seen; people interpret reality by how media has represented it. Out of the many forms of postmodernism I have used a few:

The narrative of my music video is not structured in chronological order with the simple beginning, middle and end. There are many different narrative theories out there, all which bring an order so people can understand and recognise the text. Without order events may seem to be random and is only understood as chaos. My main character is in a disturbed state of mind due to the loss of her lover and to show this I have used an aspect of postmodernism called erosion of time. The use of discontinuity signifies the state of mind the girl is in, it also contributes to the audience gratification theory in this case. The story starts with the boy and girl arguing, she then walks out of the room and slams the door. When she opens the door and comes back in, he has disappeared and the place (bed) where he was sitting we see three red roses (the colour red is used to signify death and blood but also love and passion; all which relate to this situation). There is then a flash back to where she remembers his funeral and the 3 roses are placed on his grave (this was done so audience can make the link between the roses on the bed and the funeral. I wanted the audience to figure out he is dead and not have me tell them so they get audience gratification for they believe they have worked something out which others might have not. However this could also lead to people interpreting the meaning behind the flowers as something else in which ‘death of the author’ theory comes into play where the meaning I implied has not been received by the audience). Towards the end of the video we see how she remembers further into the past where the couple were happy together and this is shown in black and white to make it less confusing. So the video starts of in what seems to be the present but is actually the past or in the main character’s head. When she comes back into the room that is the actual present/reality. There is a flashback into the past and the video ends further into the past.

The use of Binary oppositions can be seen in the conflict between the boy and girl. Also in the cinematography I have used scenes with high key lighting along with scenes with low key lighting to create an oxymoronic effect (dark and light). The conflict between the boy and girl, the conflict between light and dark and the conflict between reality and imagination is all questioned. I wanted my audience to see this for themselves, that is why I made it so subtle so if they do manage to see it, it would add to the audience gratification theory. The main character’s conflict with her lover and more important conflict with herself is a key message I hope the audience can see and most likely relate to.

I have also used intertextuality towards the end where we see the boy and girl being in love/happy with each other. I got the idea of this from a Korean Pop music video called Haru Haru by the BigBang. In the BigBang video the guy has a camcorder and so does the boy in my video. Also a lot of close ups and point of view shots are used in both. Both of them are shot around similar surroundings. Here are images comparing both of them.

(*last 2 frames on this picture*)