Research For Music Video - Main points of Carol Vernallis theory

In 'Experiencing Music Video’, Carol Vernallis’s focuses on the editing and camerawork of music videos and tries to explain the main points and ideas on particular areas that are taken in consideration when making a music video.

While studying editing and camera work,Vernallis realised that editing in music videos comes much more frequently than in films and in fact they seem to have a rhythmic basis which in most cases closely connects to the beat and lyrics. This means that the usual rules of ‘continuity’ editing which we came across with our AS thriller openings are broken when it comes to editing music videos, because music videos are much shorted than a film and mainly because that way you tend to draw the viewers’ attention to what is on the screen. Another thing which is very common to music videos is the use of jump cuts, this technique is as common in music videos as the use of close ups of a main artist. Having close ups of the main artist makes the audience aware of who the main artist is, resulting in the audience buying their singles/ albums and concert tickets. This is a type of promoting. Finally, Vernallis informs us that a master shot (also known as base track) is frequently used in music videos to give the video structure.

Just Jack – Starz in Their eyes is an example of a music video that illustrates Vernallis’ ideas. This video has 3 base tracks; the hotel corridor, the black screen and the stage which he video keeps returning to. We can also clearly see the obvious use of special effects in the course for instance when the people explode an turn into stars. There is no real continuity as the video features a variety of places that are not linked with the lyrics also there isn't much of a narrative structure.