Analyzing a music video with the narrative storyline

1. Narrative Music Video
Fall Out Boy – Sugar, We’re goin
down

2. Beginning
• At the very beginning, we see the main
protagonist walking through a wooded street,
the problem is obvious from the start that he
has quite clearly deer antlers

3. • The next thing that happens is one kid decides
to be out of order and throw something at the
main character, so evidently other people in
this world do not accept the fact that he is
different and so make fun of him

4. • In the lyrics it says – “Lie in the grass, next to
the monesulleum”, the producer has matched
these words up with what is happening in the
music video. It also shows that because of his
deformity he is lonely

5. Middle
• The next thing that happens is that a kite falls
on him - this is where the inciting incident
and also the rising action quickly takes place
as this is the moment where his life is about to
change

6. • In one of the next shots, we see the next main
character appear to collect her kite which is
tangled within his antlers. She also seems to
be the only person in the video that doesn’t
seem to care about what the main character
looks like, which displays a clear message of
what this video is trying to put across

7. • Here, we see that they are starting to get to
know each other, which is different to what
usually happens to him as he just gets ignored
or criticized

8. • Soon after once he has returned the girl back
to her house, his father is very strict and
negative about what the main character looks
like and so forbids them from seeing each
other

9. • In an attempt to make his problems go away,
he tries to saw or cut off his antlers so that he
can see the girl again so that her father will be
happy with him

10. • In the next shot we see that the girlfriend had
walked in on him just as he is about to cut his
antlers off – this would be the crisis point on
the narrative graph as this is a major event but
still isn't the ultimate thing that happens

11. • Again, they are sitting back where they first
met due to the long shot, to show the
audience that everything is okay now

12. • The next few things that happen is very
positive and happy because the main
character now doesn’t care about his
difference, and so as they spend time together
the audience just assumes that this is a typical
love story music video

13. Ending
• However, at the end what the audience
doesn’t expect is that the father is hiding
something which is that he too has a
deformity of deer legs!

14. • The truth comes out due to the father getting
ready to shoot the main character with a bow
and arrow, but then he turns around and in
the background we see a car which then runs
him over – this would be the climax

15. • After this, the storyline very quickly turns from
falling action into resolution as we now
witness that the father now allows his
daughter to see the main character while the
father also comes to terms with his legs for
once