Carol Vernallis

Carol Vernallis - The kindest cut

Carol Vernallis analysed editing in music videos and Hollywood film, she identified distinct approaches to each.

In comparison, music videos have incomplete and obscure paths where as Holly Wood has single clear paths. This means that in music videos we normally see them in multiple places where as in Holly Wood film it has to be in the correct order otherwise it wouldn't make sense to the audience watching. Furthermore the order of shots in a music video aren't in any particular order as we can cut between shots of the lead singer in different locations. However in Holly Wood film it's normally in chronological order and making sense as you can't cut between shot locations, again as it wouldn't allow the film to make sense.

Above you can see an example from the Chris Brown music video New flame where the location changes, however if you was to this in a music video it would not make sense.

Furthermore, in music video there isn't a unity of time space or character. This means that there's no specific role to the video such as the lead singer can play take on any narrative or role at once, however if this was to be in a film there is a set role and narrative and wouldn't make any sense to the audience if they was to watch the film, again emphasising that there is more of a open area to music video in comparison the HollyWood films. There is also an element of Discontinuity in music video Vernallis said that pop videos draw us away from the narrative by foregrounding. There for taking us away from the fact that it's not realistic, with having the music and the celebrity. However within film there is continuity. The film is created to draw a narrative and make people want to watch it because of this reason.

Lastly, for music videos there's visual hooks creating continuity, there is then non continuous shots linked by a single feature such as shape, figure, colour and setting. Sometimes all elements are equal however some are more dominant than others (only music video specific) and example of this would be in pop videos where they have multiple bright colours to emphasis happiness.

Here you can see a screen shot from the pop video Taylor swift - you can see use of bright colours however it's of the night, where as if you was to have a movie it would likely seem more realistic by having darker colours.

Overall Carol Vernallis showed that there is a clear difference between music video editing and film editing, as you don't want your music video appearing as though it's a film, so it is important that you have an understanding of the different ways both film and music videos are edited.