Summary Of Vernallis's Theory On Music Videos : RESEARCH

Carol Vernallis wrote a book called ‘Experience Music Video: Aesthetics and Cultural Context’. In this book Vernallis studied camerawork and editing within music videos, she came to the conclusion that edits come at a much more frequent rate then other conventional video forms such as Film. Vernallis also stated that these more frequent edits stand out because they are done as disjuncture, but also the editing seemed to match the rhythmic beat of the music in terms of cutting on the beat.

 

Vernallis made observations about music videos such as:

• Slow motion editing, to emphasize something or even the artist. 
• Frequent use of Jump Cuts is used to match the pace of the music. 
• Special effects are common, this is often used in combination with disjuncture.
• Camera isn't static and sometimes moves along with the music.
• The video often uses a base track or master shot; this is done to help form a structure.

Below are music videos that show some of Vernallis findings in action:

Disjuncture:

Base Track:

Slow Motion and Jump Cuts: