Carol Vernallis Theory

Carol Vernallis, after closely studying music vieos, discovered that there is a big difference between music clips and film.

-editing in music clips is rhythmic, usually cut to the beat. I’ve talked about it in previous posts; if the song is slow the editing is likely to be slower that in a fast, upbeat one. Let’s check:

-I’ve counted about 20 different shots in 10 seconds in fast song (System of a Down- Chop Suey!)

-and only 3 in 10 secs of in a slow song! So the shots are longer and in slow motion. (Song: System of a Down- Lonely Day)

-music videos break the rule of ‘continuity’ editing. So we don’t see everything, the time is compressed so we have to show only the most important and interesting parts.

-use of jump cuts. Again, the time is compressed and to shorten the time jump cuts are often used to skip the time. I agree with Vernallis, showing everyting in 3 minute music video would be completely boring. In music video, we should only see the best bits! I’ve found an example of the video that uses jump cuts, it might not be a very good one but I can’t think of anything else at the moment. 


In this example, the use of jump cut not only cuts the time, but fits in with the music and makes it more interesting for the audience, especially teenagers who need to me constantly engaged, and fast editing is a good way to keep them interested. We see the jump cut from 0:44 to 0:46, where each member of the band gets into a car. instead of showing how they actually get it, we only see cuts between how they're in the car. (Good Charlotte- I just Wanna Live)

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=i+just+wanna+live&aq=0

-camera moves in time with music. I’ve already seen some examples of it.

Wretch 32 ft Example- Unorthodox. Especially the beginning, we can clearly see that the camera moves with the music.  (I think it’s mostly in the beginning. )

There is usually a base track, frequently used throughout the video, to give it a clear structure. So in Unorthodox, this is the base track:   (so whatever happens in the video and wherever they go, the editing jumps to this base track which doesn’t change).