G324 Music Video

Carol Vernallis develop her theory of Music Videos in her book The Kindest Cut – Functions and meanings of Music Video Editing (2001)

Vernalis’ theory centres around 4 key concepts that all relate to the way the music video is constructed:
1. Narrative
2. Editing
3. Camera Movement and framing
4. Diegesis

CHOOSE A VIDEO TO ANALYSE.
GO THROUGH THE CRITERIA BELOW AND EXPLAIN HOW CLOSELY YOUR VIDEO CHOICE DEVIATES OR ADHERES TO VERNALLIS' CRITERIA.
There's a lot to get through so to make your response less and written essay, you could take each point (or a selection) take a screenshot to back your point and then write a relevant caption.

For example:
Something drives the video forward, but often it is not the narrative. It could be the music, the performance, a mixture or some other element.

The narrative of the video is a day out at the beach for One Direction which they spend with a group of girlfriends. We see the day through a montage of shots of different types of activities (playing in the surf, running) that do not flow in a conventional narrative sense. The idea of a day passing is established by the sunrise at the start of the video and the footage of the boys arriving.

 

1. NARRATIVE
The video is a visual response to the music
There is not necessarily a balance between narrative and performance
The narrative is not always complete – it may be a partial, fragmented narrative
The structure of the video may appear disjointed
Something drives the video forward, but often it is not the narrative. It could be the music, the performance, a mixture or some other element.
There may not always be a clear resolution (closure) at the end
The video may pose questions that it doesn’t actually answer
There may be a narrative or theme running through the video, but in a montage style

2. EDITING
Editing may match the musical phrases or the beat
The video may break or disrupt many of the ‘rules’ of continuity editing – this is a clear
convention
of music video editing.
Editing may become ‘foregrounded – the edits may be really obvious, to draw attentionto themselves as opposed to invisible, continuity editing
For example, you may see:
Jump cuts
Breaks of the 30 degree rule
Breaks of the 180 degree rule
Cutting against the movement
Cutting within the lyrics
Fancy edits or cuts
Extreme jumps in time and space
Extreme changes in pace
Juxtaposed framesGraphic matches
A style of editing that runs through the video and is distinctive to that video

You may not see:
Smooth transitions
Matches on action
An even pace throughout.

3. CAMERAWORK
When it comes to shot types, extremes are very common.
The style of framing and movement may run through the video and is distinctive to thatvideo
The camera may move in time with the music
The camera may move on the lyrics
The master shot (or other establishing shots) is used frequently, as are close-ups
 
4. DIEGESIS
The diegesis may be revealed quite slowly
Actions are not necessarily completed – they may be disrupted or interrupted in someway
Character or object movements may move to the music
There may be gaps in the audience’s understanding of the diegesis – in time and space,music, performance and narrative
Some frames may be more important than others
There may be many repetitions
eg musical phrases, the beat, other musical elements, themes, lyrics, performance,images, colours, camera positions.