Existing narratives

A narrative or story is any report of connected events, real or imaginary, presented in a sequence of written or spoken words, and/or still or moving images.

Narrative works in music videos to show a combination of the story and the plot, the narrative is the story of what happens and how. Linear narrative is the plot and story working in the same way, and non linear narrative does not run in any specific way using random techniques such as flashbacks to aid the story. 

Conventions of narratives in each of the following genres: 
Comedy - Can be slapstick / dark humour / wit. Often full of jokes, the narrative can feature somebody who is made fun of.
Horror - Conventionally a horror features a storyline where something out of the ordinary occurs like a break in or a ghost in a house. 
Drama - A drama has a unique way of storytelling and can fall under many different styles like period drama / crime drama. 
Romance - An example of a typical romance narrative would be a couple falling in love then breaking up and getting back together again.
Family - Often a cartoon, has a happy narrative as it must be suitable for all ages, an example is two animals meeting and going on lots of adventures together.
Documentary - A documentary is a nonfictional motion picture intended to document some aspect of reality so it could have a narrative featuring a zoo. 
Kids - Similar to family but often following a very simple narrative easier for young children specifically to understand. 

Narrative theories and how they fit with music videos...
Todorov - Proposed that a narrative should have a beginning (a state of equilibrium), a middle (a disruption to the equilibrium) and an end (reinstating the equilibrium). This could fit with a music video with little 'band play' as in the short time of a song it would be difficult to show the stages especially with switching between band play and narrative. 

Propp - Argued that a successful narrative has 6 stages. 
1 - Preparation (the scene is set) 
2 - Complication (a problem / evil occurs) 
3 - Transference (tries to get help) 
4 - Struggle (a fight or difficulty of some sort) 
5 - Return (the 'quest' is fulfilled)
6 - Recognition (hero rewarded, villain punished) 
I don't think this narrative theory would fit with a music video as there is simply too many stages. As much as there can be a story being told it isn't necessarily the same as a tv programme or film. 

Barthes - Suggested that media texts with a narrative were essentially forms of storytelling. 
He believed text was essentially a tangled ball of thread needing to be untangled and in this is the form of the storytelling, which could work in a music video. 

Levi Strauss - Observed that all narratives are based around conflicts between two oppositions, which could work in any music video or film. This theory is much more simple.