Carol Vernallis Analysis

Carol Vernallis

Carol Vernallis - 'The Kindest Cuts: Functions and Meaning of Music Video Editing'

The theorist Carol Vernallis is known for her theory based on music editing. Carol Vernallis theory is based around 4 key concepts that all relate to the way a music video is manufactured, there concepts are:

-Narrative
-Editing
-Camera Movement and Framing
-Diegesis

Narrative

Carol Vernallis when describing her theory particularly the narrative aspect, suggests that the video is visual response to the narrative. Therefore whatever is happening onscreen reflects the choice of lyrics that the artist is singing. However Vernallis then goes on to say how the narrative may not always be completed and can be partial with the video appearing disjointed, disconnected and appear in fragments. The video has something driving it forward but this may not necessarily be the narrative, it could be music itself or other elements in the video. However if the video is left uncompleted it can lead to many questions about the narrative that won't always be answered throughout the video. Finally although the video may have a theme or narrative, it is probably displayed in a montage style, rather than in one clear 
focus.

Editing

Carol Vernallis states that a clear conversation of music editing is that the video may disrupt or break . the conventions of continuity editing. The editing may also be bought to the foreground, become visual and not hidden apposed to the invisable style of continuity editing. Meaning the video will have a style of editing running throughout that is distinctive to the video. For example you may see:

- Jump Cuts
- Breaks of the 30' Degree Rule
- Cutting with the lyrics
- Extreme changes in pace
- Juxtaposed Frames
- Graphic Matched

Camera Movements and Framing

Carol Vernallis states that establishing shots are one of the key camera features of a music video and are used frequently throughout a music video as well as close up shots. The style framing of the video again is quite distinctive to the video and also the camera may move in time with the lyrics. Extreme shots also known as master shots are also very common.

Diegesis

In terms of media the diegesis is the world of the music video. Carol Vernallis explains how the diegesis will be revealed quite slowly. The actions in the video won't always be completed and may be disrupted in some way. There will be many repetitions throughout the video and some frames will appear more important than others due to the way they have been shot/frames.

Carol Vernallis is a theorist who in her work, 'The kindest cut' explores how editing in film and in music videos differ from each other.

She talks about things such as continuity, editing as whole, meaning, sound and visuals and their relationships, and the star image.

The four main categories that she talks about are camera (including it's positing, movements, and framing), editing, narrative and Diegesis(which refers to the 'world' created within the music video).

Camera:

-Vernallis suggests that in music videos, close-ups are very common shots used to show the band/artist or the people playing parts in the music video and the importance of them and the the way that they look. The ties in with Rickard Dyer's theory as it demonstrates how the record label want artists to be looked and to be a big selling point. Vernallis also suggests that establishing shots are also used very commonly in music videos, which show the location. For example, this may be used if a video is set in New York, as it is a well known city that people will know as soon as they see it.

- She also suggests that in music videos, different shots are mostly cut to the beat/pace of the song. This therefore brings more attention to the artist/band as it makes the audience more interested with what is happening in the video. An example of a music video which this can be seen in is Adele's music video for her song 'Rolling in the deep', where shots of glasses are on the floor, a performer and shots of Adele(the artist) are using in time with the music and to the bass of the song.

- She also argues that the framing in music videos is very distinctive, however the depends on the genre of the music.

Examples:

- An example of a music video which commonly uses close-ups of the artist is the music video for the song 'Stay' by Rihanna and Mikky Ekko. This music video shows lots of close-ups of Rihanna's face while she is in the bath while looking emotional.

Obviously, here this may have been used to show the audience the emotion on her face, although it is also something that is important to Rihanna's 'star image', meaning that her looks are something that is important to her success(people like to talk about how she looks and what she's wearing. This is also different to the man in the music video, who isn't shown as clearly and his face isn't focused on as much (portraying that the look of Rihanna is more important that the look of him).

Another Example:

An example of a music video which uses establishing shots is the music video for Bastille's song 'Pompeii'.

- This music video uses a variation of these sort of shots to show the location of the lead singer of the group (which seems to be an abandoned/bleak looking city landscape).

-This may have been done to fit in with the genre of the song (indie pop), as this is also a common convention of music videos from this particular genre. 

Editing:

- With regards to editing in music videos, this theorist states that music videos usually 'break the rules' of continuity (unlike what would be seen in a TV show or a film). For example, bands and artists will usually do things such as change their clothes multiple times in a music video and include different settings when they do so, therefore disrupting the rules of continuity. However, I believe that this is not necessarily done as much in narrative music videos, as they still have a story to go along with. An example of a music video which breaks the rules of continuity is Katy Perry's music video for her song 'This is how we do', as it keeps going to different shots where the artist is seen in a different outfit and in a different location, with different people.

-  Also states that another recognisable editing technique used in music videos is jump cuts, as music videos usually go straight from one thing to the next, while cutting the different frames to the beat/speed of the song/music.

Diegesis:

- This theorist argues that the diegesis is something which is revealed slowly throughout the music video and it's story, thus allowing it to develop and making it more interesting for the audience members. For example, in the music video for the song 'Oceans' by Seafret, it is revealed nearer to the end of the video that the main character in the music video actually has super powers, even though the audience members may not necessarily see it coming.

- She also argues that music videos are also sometimes in a way left 'uncompleted', which makes the audience member want to know what happens left creating enigmas that the audience may research to find out deeper meanings to.

Narrative:

- The narrative is usually a visual response to the song and what the artist/band wants the meaning to be presented as. For example, a lot of different meanings can be interpreted from a song, but the artist/band will choose what story they want to tell.
- She argues that the endings of music videos may not be clear and may make the audience think more or try and figure out what the meaning was. For example:
           - She argues that the narrative within a music video is sometimes disjointed, therefore causing the audience to pay more attention to the song itself (which usually happens more commonly in band's music videos).
          - She states that music videos will usually have a theme to the narrative that the band/artist chooses to portray. For example, the music video for Katy Perry's song 'California gurls' was obviously done in a way in which it fits with the lyrics in a fun way, showing some girls in bikinis, fitting with the lyrics 'Daisy dukes, bikinis on top'.


Youtube video's explaining the theory

References

- https://www.slideshare.net/paypal12345678/carol-vernallis-music-video-theory Paige Woods, 2012

- https://www.slideshare.net/LauraKN/carol-vernallis-functions-and-meanings-of-music-video-editing Laura KN, January 2017