Tracy Chapman - Fast Car
We were asked to come up with a narrative to go with the song 'Fast Car' I came up with the idea to use post it notes to draw the narrative out, this way we could move them around to create a linear story and a non-linear story too.
A non-linear narrative is one that does not proceed in a straight-line, step-by-step fashion, such as where an author creates a story's ending before the middle is finished. Linear is the opposite, when narrative runs smoothly in a straight line, when it is not broken up.
1. 'You got a fast car
And I want a ticket to go anywhere
Maybe we make a deal
Maybe together we can get somewhere' - I decided to use this quote int the first image as its the first line in the song, this is going to set the audience for the rest of the song and let them get the jist of the song, and that the story revolves around the girl meeting the guy with the 'fast car' and giving her the hope that they will go away together.
2. The second image shows the girl 'working at a convenience store' this image shows that the girl is working hard to earn the money to get away.
3. The third image is 'Managed to save just a little bit of money' and it shows the girl putting money in a jar, as if she has been saving it for a while just to be able to get away from where she is.
4. 'You see my old man's got a problem
He live with the bottle that's the way it is
He says his body's too old for working
I say his body's too young to look like his
My mama went off and left him' this quote is long but it shows what we wanted to show in the image, the dad has got a drinking problem and the mum got fed up and walked out because he can't give her what she wants, and the innocent girl is just sat in the corner having nothing to do with it yet so much of it effects her and what she is going to have to do in her life, yet her parents don't seem to care or take much notice of her.
5. The 5th image shows the quote 'said somebody's got to take care of him, So I quit school and that's what I did' it shows that the dad is a lazy drunk that the girl had to give up all of her education therefore further life just to look after her lazy drunken dad that does nothing for her. The drawing behind the sofa is the girl throwing her school uniform in the bin, this would show her basically giving up and throwing her education away.
6. The 6th image shows 'But is it fast enough so we can fly away, We gotta make a decision, We leave tonight or live and die this way' this gives hope and my image shows that she has finally escaped her past life and is getting away to start a better one.
7. This image shows the words of the quote 'City lights lay out before us, And your arm felt nice wrapped 'round my shoulder' this is showing that lights of the city in front of them, and that they have each other and their future life and that's all that matters.
8. This image shows 'We'll move out of the shelter, Buy a big house and live in the suburbs' this quote means that they are going from a bad thing to a good one, and the image shows them driving past nice big houses, as if that's where they're going to end up.
9. This image doesn't show a specific quote but outlines what they are really doing, after driving past all the nice houses, they end up driving into a motel where they will be stuck because they can't afford anywhere nicer.
10. This image shows the outline of the last verse
'You got a fast car
And I got a job that pays all our bills
You stay out drinking late at the bar
See more of your friends than you do of your kids
I'd always hoped for better
Thought maybe together you and me would find it
I got no plans I ain't going nowhere
So take your fast car and keep on driving'
It shows near enough the same thing as image 4 did, the couple fighting and the innocent child just standing by being the real victim, while the dad's out drinking all the time and the mum is paying all the bills taking on all the burdons, until she walks out just like in image 4.
Linear Narrative
This image shows a linear narrative story, this means a story that happens in order of what the song happens, you see what you need to see when it happens in the lyrics, in this instance, it starts off with the girl meeting the nice guy with a fast car and then she saves money to get away from her drunken dad and then leaves to make a nice life for herself and ends up living the same life as her mother lead, the one she didn't want for herself.
This is an example of a non-linear narrative, things happen in no correct order, in this one, the images show the girl having fun and getting away but then the flashbacks would show her working to save money, but then it would cut back to show her in the car again, with the city lights and the perfect guy to have the perfect life with, and then once again the flashbacks show when her mum walked out because of her drunken dad and then her having to look after her dad as he just lies around being lazy while the girl has to give up school to look after her drunk dad, but then the video cuts back to show a good part and shows the point that she met that 'perfect' guy and them then driving past all the big suburb houses, this may suggest that's where they will end up, but once again the bad comes in and it's not a flashback, its the real thing, they pull up to a motel and end up where she didn't want to, with a drunken husband/boyfriend who doesn't look after the kids while she works all the time and then has to do everything else as well. This way the narrative is moved around and it makes the video more interesting and would make the audience want to keep watching!
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