2. What she is known for
• The theorist named Carol Vernallis is most known for her theories which are
based on music editing. There are 4 key concepts in which Vernallis says relate
to the ay a music video is made, the four concepts include:
• Narrative
• Diegesis
• Editing
• Camera Movement and Framing
3. Narrative
When Vernallis describes her theory, in the narrative aspects she says that the music
video is the visual response of the narrative in the song. This means that the lyrics in the
song should effect what is happening on the screen. The narrative might not be
completed and may not be complete because there can be disjointed and fragments of
different clips. The video might not necessarily have a narrative to move it forward, and
instead it could be the music itself which has the narrative or other things in the video
could make up for it. If the video is incomplete it can make many questions about the
narrative which will not be answered.
4. Diegesis
‘A narrative or plot, typically in a film’ – Definition
Carol Vernallis explains that diegesis should be revealed very slowly in music videos.
However the actions in the music video may not always be completely finished and
could be disrupted throughout. There could also be repetition in the video and some of
the frames could be repeated more than others, this depends on how important the
shot is because of how they have been shot and framed.
5. Editing
Vernallis states that in music videos can break the rules of editing, which may apply for
other videos, like films, they can break the conventions of continuity editing. The editing
should be brought to the foreground and be more visible than you would usually expect
and not so hidden, this means that the editing will usually have a certain style of editing
which goes through the whole video so that it is distinctive. In music videos you will
often see:
• Graphic matches
• Jump cuts
• Cutting with the lyrics
• Breaking of the 360 degree rule
• Extreme changes in pace
6. Camera Movements and Framing
She states that the establishing shot in the music video could be one of the most
important shots out of the whole music video, this is because it pulls viewers in. The
style of the framing in the video should be distinctive to the video and the camera
should move in time to the lyrics so that it all flows and doesn’t feel jumpy. Extreme
shots are also known as master shots and they are also very common in music videos.
