2. Narrative
– One key aspect of Carol Vernallis’ theory on music videos, is that videos have a
certain narrative and that the visuals link very closely to the lyrics of the song.
– Although the narrative may seem very disjointed and in segments as the video
only shows part of the story and may not even have a conclusion.
– A good example of this is with Taylor Swift’s music video “Everything Has
Changed” as it shows the story of 2 children and how their friendship develops.
– The overall narrative is quite jumbled showing different parts of the story at a
time and the ending not really coming to a conclusion.
3. Editing
– She theorises that with editing, music videos do not follow the traditional
conventions of continuity editing where the cuts between shots are meant to
be invisible.
– In fact editing is even brought to the foreground making it seem very noticeable
and may even be in sync with the beat of the song.
– A good example of this is in Alan Walker’s music video “Faded” as there are
constant jump cuts throughout the video of the hooded man exploring the
surrounding area.
– The frequent use of jump cuts really make the audience notice them as they
sync very well with the beat of the music.
4. Camera Movement and Framing
– Carol theorises that music videos are specifically framed in various ways. Shots
like, Close Ups, Establishing Shots and Medium Shots are the three main shots
that are present in a music video.
– She also stated that the movement of the camera may also be influenced by the
beat of the music.
– Coldplay’s song “Hymn For The Weekend” is a good example of how close ups
are used to really establish the artist singing and extreme shots are used as
master shots and to establish the location.
