Music Video Theory- Vernallis

Today we looked at our second theorist about music videos called Carol Vernallis. She looked into the concepts that go into producing a music video. She found four concepts. They were: Narrative, editing, camera movement/framing and diagesis.

The 4 Concepts:

1. Narrative- The video is a visual response to the song and can create a narrative by reflecting on the lyrics in the song. She also found that the narratives however can be incomplete, broken up and finish with unanswered questions that don't have to be answered.
2. Editing- It can break or disrupt the conventions of continuity editing. The editing can be visible and not hidden, so is allowed to be more obvious and more distinctive. (Links with Thought Beats)
3. Camerawork- She found establishing shots are one of the key features in a music video to set the scene and aid the audience in deciphering the genre of the artist and their music. Close up and medium shots are also important to establish the artist and the camera can move with the lyrics and to maintain interest from the audience restrict the amount of still shots that are completed and shown. An example where this happens is in the music video in Royal by Lorde.                                             

   

   One of the many close up shots that occur in Royal

   

   The establishing shot at the start of  Royal

4. Diagsis- This is the world of the music video (the setting) that is created. This can be revealed quite slowly and can be further shown to the audience through the repetition of frames.

As the main difference and point that stands out in this theory is in the editing, it is important to notice what a huge role editing plays in music videos. This is because editing in a music videos is normally very quick and prominent. An example of this is in the music video of Treat you Better by Shawn Mendes:

In total this had around 146 cuts within the 3.06 minutes long song. This video especially displays how quick cuts are in videos, especially when they performance mixed with narrative videos. This is because otherwise you are unable to sell  the song and the artist as well as make the narrative understandable to the audience.