Carol Vernallis and Music Video Theory

Carol Vernallis is a music video theorist who produced ‘The Kindest Cuts’ which looks at the difference in editing between film and music video. She mentions the role of editing when it comes to narrative, meaning, star image, the way the sound and images are synchronised, and possible close ups of the artist and how the editing imitates the music.

Vernallis theory is based around four key concepts that all relate to the way a music video is produced:

• Narrative
• Editing
• Framing and camera movement
• Diegesis

Narrative:

When describing her theory, particularly the narrative aspect, Vernallis suggests that the video is a visual response to the narrative of the song. Thus what is happening onscreen reflects the lyrics. She then says how the narrative might not be complete and makes the video seem disjointed and appear in fragments.

Editing:

A convention of editing in music videos is the option to disrupt/break the rules of continuity editing. Also in music videos the editing can be used as the focal interest of the video rather than a narrative. Music videos have a distinctive style of editing with easily noticeable conventions:

• Jump cuts
• Breaking the 30 degree rule
• Cutting to lyrics or to the beat of the music
• Juxtaposed frames

Framing and Camera Movement:

Vernallis suggests that establishing shots are a key element to music videos as well close ups of the main subject of the video whether it’s the artist or an actor, etc. Also the camera moving in time with the beat of the song or the lyrics is also a convention often found in music videos. The framing however is dependent on the genre of the music video.

Diegesis:

In media terms the diegesis is the setting of the music video. Vernallis says in her studies that actions in the video may not always be completed and can sometimes be distrupted; which can lead to repetition of shots and certain frames will come across as more important than others.

Andrew Goodwin and Music Video Theory

Andrew Goodwin a director of music and media theorist; who, for years, analysed and explored music videos and the production of music videos. In 1992 Goodwin published his book ‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory’ which featured all his studies surrounding music videos and their production and gathered his ideas into codes and conventions of music video.

Lyrics and Visuals

Goodwin suggested that there is a connection between the lyrics and visuals that are either one of these, or all of them:

• Illustrating: when the link between lyrics and visuals is shown obviously.
• Amplifying: a metaphorical contextual meaning.
• Contradicting: visuals that have no connection to the lyrics.

Genre Characteristics

Goodwin noted in his book that there are genres to music videos as well as music genres; music videos can portray a genre of music by the genre of music video made. He thought of five genres:

• Stadium performance
• Studio performance
• Location
• Narrative
• Experimental/Conceptual

Goodwin also noted about metanarrative, in which a video, and possibly lyrics, can suggest a progression of an artist.


Voyeurism

Some music videos, depending on the music genre, contain voyeurism; often shown by (near) nudity or revealing clothing. Voyeurism is also demonstrated through camera movement and angles. The camera would linger on the subject (typically a female body) showing the idea of exhibitionism and voyeurism as it lets the audience watch without it being frowned upon for gazing upon the female body in somewhat of a sexual manner.


Intertexuality

Intertextuality is where a music video takes influences from other text, such as film, TV, books or other music videos. Often this is done to pay homage to someone. An example of this is Kiss You by One Direction this video shows reference to Jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley.

Harry Styles - Sign of the Times

This is a location/experimental music video. All of the visuals are filmed on the Isle of Skye in Scotland, showing off the stunning scenery throughout.

The establishing shot at the very start of the video shows the audience where the video will be set during the video. The lack of extreme location changes makes the video easy to watch as sometimes with music videos where the location changes so often it can make them difficult to watch and keep up with; so with this music video staying within the same location and just the background changing as the video progresses makes it more bearable.

I would also categorise this music video as experimental as it doesn’t follow a narrative and just flows with the song. Also the shots of Harry Styles flying across the landscape wouldn’t be likely to happen at all thus giving the music video an experimental feeling while watching.

Using close ups amplify the lyrics because they show the expression and emotion the artist feels while singing the lyric. Close ups also give a sense of intimacy to the lyrics

and the shot that helps to engage the audience.

 

The part of the video where Styles starts to fly is at the beat at the start of the chorus which emphasises the impact of the chorus as well as highlighting that the chorus is very powerful in this song as flying is seen as a power to humans.

During the chorus there’s the lyrics “gotta get away from here” which are being sung while Styles is flying which is often associated with getting away from a certain place, so having Styles flying as these lyrics are sang it illustrates them.

The performance aspects throughout this music video show the passion that Harry Styles has for this song; which leads to the audience connecting and enjoying the video as well as just the song as they are able to see how strong Styles feels about the song.

Troye Sivan - WILD

The intro to this video is a montage like sequence that gives the location and a mixture of 'past'/memory shots as well as shots of the present, almost giving an overview of the video.

This music video is narrative based and follows two young boys who are portrayed as best friends enjoying themselves and just messing around as kids do. Throughout the music video there are close up shots of the artist (Troye Sivan) singing along with the song amplifying the lyrics. The shots showing the artist are close up shots as it shows off the emotion intended for the song and the lyrics. I feel that the close ups are important to the music video because just taking the video as a flashback with the young boys shows that narrative is quite emotional; towards the end of the video as the young boys are playing on the beach while the adults are further up eating and drinking it creates a contrast of the innocence of the boys and how they're, at this point, oblivious to the drunken adult further along the beach which results in one of them having to leave. However adding the close ups of the artist it creates a strong emotional connection for the audience as they're not only feeling emotional and engaged by the narrative but also by the emotion shown by the artist.

At the end of this video during one of the shots with the artist it becomes a wide shot showing there are two boys throughout all of the shots of Troye, and it becomes apparent that the two young boys in the narrative side of the video are Troye and the other boy on the bed and the whole video is a flashback/memory other the older versions. It was hinted during the intro with the flashes of the older characters but it isn't fully addressed until the end of the video.

The end to this music video is left open as it is the first part of a trilogy of music videos by this artist. The idea of a trilogy allows the audience to engage more with the songs as it gives a want to watch more and finish the trilogy. 

Sia - Chandelier

This music doesn’t run on a narrative and is more of a conceptual video. What happens in the video could be edited together in anyway and it still look finished and well put together, the way it is pieced together had no effect on the final outcome because it didn’t need to follow a storyline like it would if it was a narrative based music video. This opens to video to a wider range of viewers as not everyone likes to watch music videos with a narrative so to do a conceptual piece appeals to a larger audience.

This music video starts with establishing shots of the three main locations of this music video edited together in a metric montage style, in that each shot of each location lasts for approximately 4 seconds before cutting to the next location. The use of the establishing shots sets the tone and atmosphere of the video as well as showing off the setting of the video without any context; getting the audience to think about what the video is going to be about. With this artist, Sia, their videos are often quite ambiguous leaving the video to be interpreted by individuals who watches it.

The choreography in this music video is cleverly done to synchronise with the beats of the music rather than matching and illustrating the lyrics. This draws the attention to the music instead the lyrics being the focal point of the video, although they play a big part in the song they aren’t the main focus of this particular music video. Using the dancer (Maddie Ziegler)/dancing as the draws the emphasis away from the setting and mise-en-scene and gets the audience to focus on Maddie which in turn means they’re focusing on the music since the choreography is synced with the music.

Long shots are commonly used throughout this music video because it shows off the whole 

body of the dancer and the choreography, which as noted before is the focal point of this video. The use of long shots allows the audience to get a full experience of the setting and the concept. The part of the video when Maddie is sat at the table a mixture of mid-shots and close ups are used because close ups are often used to show the emotion of the shot in an intense manner. In this video the close ups really show the facial expressions of the dancer, and with her being the focus of the music video it shows her off and keeps the focus on her more so than in the long shots where the attention could possibly be adverted to the setting.

 

Maddie Ziegler has become somewhat of a motif in Sia’s music videos since this one, to date she has been five music videos for Sia. When performing Sia never shows her face, she is always wearing a wig that covers the majority of her face, which leads to Maddie being in the videos rather than Sia herself; as well as Maddie wearing a wig similar in all the music videos she stars in. Although Sia is always unseen in her music videos Maddie Ziegler is widely associated with Sia and often when Maddie is seen people think Sia, meaning, though it isn’t direct, the branding/star iconography of Sia’s music videos is very stand out especially as it is different to most other as it is a young, up and coming dancer.

5 Seconds of Summer - Wherever You Are

This video starts with a clip from the very first video posted onto the YouTube channel that later became the band's YouTube channel, the clip then fades into a wide shot of the band in a studio. Doing this shows the growth of the band; how they went from one singing alone with a guitar to the four of them with their instruments recording as a band, and that they want to share the journey with the fans through the use of their music videos.

The use of close ups amplify the lyrics as the show a close up on the person singing the lyrics rather than just any shot, this is used on some lines rather than others simply to amplify the emotion behind the lyrics at that point in the song. The close ups also add an intimacy to the shot engaging to the audience more by making them feel emotionally invested in the music video. For example just before this close up its a wide shot of the band and it cuts into a close up as he sings ",so I walk alone" this use of a close up not only amplifies the lyrics by showing them being sung but it also illustrates the lyric by showing the one member alone as he sings the word alone.

There are also close ups of the instruments used throughout this video because it amplifies that the band are playing their own music and have a real connection to the song. A close up of the guitar is used at the beginning and is matched up the music as it amplifies the music; there is is also a close up of the drums just as they're coming into the song to literally show the drums coming in during the song.

Often during the choruses a wide shot is used to show that the whole band are singing the chorus, it gives a sense of togetherness with the band and the fans as it gives an insight to the making and recording of the song. The wide shot amplifies the lyrics and the music because you can see each band member playing their instrument and singing along at the same time. But as well as creating the feeling of togetherness it also pushes the listener back just a little bit to show that the recording is a intimate time for the band members as a band by the camera showing the fans on the outside looking in on the band.


I chose this video because I feel is displays all three possible lyric/visual relationships suggested by Goodwin. As I've already mentioned the amplifying and illustrating in the video but this video also has contradicting aspects and that is through all the pre-recorded clips that are added in. None of the clips have any connection to the lyrics throughout the song. However I feel they're used to show the growth of the band and that no matter what they're doing or where they are, they're still the same band that the fans have grown to love and that without the times and memories shown through this video they wouldn't have been able to progress to the being able to be in the studio recording their songs.

Promotional Video: Feedback

Above shows my client posting my promotional video onto the dance school's Facebook page for parents, students, friends and potential students to see. Also some comments on the post giving positive feedback.

Here shows three dancers and a parent sharing the promotional video in a positive light. I'm glad that those involved in the dance school are happy with the video I made with the footage I got of them and for it to be used in hopes to bring newcomers to the school.