Carol Vernallis Summary

Carol Vernallis studied the camera work and editing in music videos. Her theory focuses on 4 key concepts, narrative, editing, camera work and diegesis.

Narrative

Vernallis suggests that a music video is a response to the narrative. So whatever is happening in the music video should reflect the lyrics which the artist is singing. However she does state that this may not always be the case, as the narrative may not always be complete so the video may seem disjointed and diconnected.

Editing

Carol vernallis states that the way music videos are edited breaks the conventions of continuity editing. Editing in music videos appears to have a rythmic basis connected to the song and there seems to be much more edits used in music videos and they come very often and tend to stand out.

These are some of her main points

  1. Rules of continuity editing are broken to draw attention
  2. Edits may be very obvious in order to draw attention to themselves 
  3. Jump cuts are often used
  4. Base tracks are often used to give structure to the music video

  5. ​Camera tends to move in time with the music

Camera

Vernallis makes it clear that she believes that establish and master shots are one of the main camera features of a music video. They show the location of a specific music video and help the audience get a better understanding of where the video is being filmed. Close ups are another shot she argues is commonly used in music videos, this is done in order to show the artists facial expressions to give the audience an idea about how the artist is feeling. The camera also moves in time with the music.

Diegesis

This is the world within music videos. She states that diegesis tends to be revealed very slowly and that for it to be revealed some frames may appear more important than others due to them being repeated or the way they have been framed.

A music video which I feel illustrates Carol Vernallis theory perfectly is Rihanna's - California King Bed.