Carol Vernallis Theory

In this post I will introduce the theorist Carol Vernallis, and explain how we used her interpretation of the conventions of a music video in our own music video.

Carol Vernallis identified key features of music videos that we have included by convention. These are as followed:

1. EDITING - The rules of continuity editing are broken.
2. EFFECTS - Edits are not necessarily subtle.
3. JUMP CUTS - Jump cuts from one setting or scene to another.
4. MASTER SHOT - A master shot is used as a base track to give the video structure.
5. CAMERA - The camera usually moves in time to the rhythm

Editing Examples

• We broke the rules of continuity as our music video does not connote a story. 
• Rather, our music video resembles a montage of lots of different settings and genres.
• We edited in time to the music rather than making invisible edits.
• Instead of taking shot changes step by step (going from long-mid-close up-extreme close up) we mixed this up a bit.

Effects Examples

This GIF shows our television effects and split screen. 

• We created a television screen effect in order to manifest our music video as conceptual.
• Some of our effects were meant to be subtle. For example, altering the grade in Adobe Premiere Pro was meant to increase the visual quality of our footage.
• Some of our effects were clearly not subtle, for example the 3D effect and split screens.

Jump Cuts Examples

• We utilized a lot of jump cuts throughout our music video from genre to genre.

Master Shot Examples

• Although we did construct the editing process around a master shot, this is not necessarily noticeable in the music video.
• Our main visual hook, instead of us being together in a mid-long shot (our master shot while editing) was actually beauty shots of Emily, as she is the main band member.

Camera

• Rather than camera movements, for the majority of the music video we used editing to connect the music to the visuals.
• In the rap genre, we created a stronger connection between the camera movement and music timing.

In conclusion, it was important to bear the theory of Carol Vernallis in mind for the entirety of the process, as we personally were not looking to create anything that defied convention in terms of music video conventions. This would ensure the audience felt it to be familiar and therefore pleasurable viewing.