Carol Vernallis

Research-Carol Vernallis

Carol Vernallis closely studied editing and camerawork in music videos. She found out that edits in music video come much more regularly than in film, this may draw us to a conclusion that the editing seems to have a rhythmic basis closely connected to the song. Carol explains that the usual rules of ‘continuity’ editing are broken in order to draw attention to what is on screen; edits may be really obvious to draw attention to them, for example wipes and special effects added to the music video, jump cuts are also often used. She also explains that base track is often used to give the video a structure; the camera may move in time with the music.

Carol Vernallis main points are: that there is no balance between narrative and performance, the narrative in a music video is not always complete, music videos don't always have narrative resolutions at the end of the music video and lastly, music videos pose questions. 

Music videos that illustrate Carol’s ideas:

Mark Ronson – The Bike Song

There are frequent jump cuts used in this music video, especially between the girls when they're riding bikes, other examples of editing is used for example slow motion, when the guy is walking into and out of the shop, also when the boys are looking at the girls when they are riding past them. Special effects are used when speakers are show as though they are coming to life, moving in time with the music. Throughout this music video there are repeated shots of the artist/performer. There are also uses of base track in this music video, for example, when the artist is walking and singing and also when the performer is circling with the bike.

Rizzle Kicks – Lost Generation

During this music video there are regular jump cuts used, one example is during the beginning of the music video when the two artists walk into the living room. There is slow motion used in this music video when the younger boys are being chased and also when the boys are being beaten up. There are obvious edits such as jump cuts and when we see the CCTV footage. Throughout this music video the camera is moving in time with the music, and also the artists are making eye contact with the camera – addressing the audience. Repeated shots of the artists/performers are shown, there are base track examples shown when the boys are in the Big Brother house and also the living room scene. In this music video there is also editing in time with the beat of the song when the beat goes down, the shot changes.