Carol Vernallis’‘The Kindest

Cut’Carol Vernallis’ mentions the importance of the editing within a music video. Not only does it direct the flow of the narrative in the video , it can underscore non-narrative visual structures and form such structures on its own.

Also that much of the particularity of music video editing lies in the responsiveness to the music itself. The editing is key as it enables relations between the song and the image shown to be formed.

Shots and edits:

Vernallis states that the continuity system forms the basis of film editing but it is much less common in music videos. Continuity editing seeks to preserve the flow of time and the coherence of spaces. This form of editing serves different functions and govern only isolated sections of a video.

Vernallis says that music videos may avoid the continuity editing because these techniques would give a visual track too strong a forward trajectory and the image might seem to overtake the song. Which is something a music video will try to avoid because its purpose is to provide a visual image that will support the song used and enhance the audience’s experience whilst expanding the artist into subsidiary media platforms.

Meaning, narrativity and continuity

Usually the images shown in music videos are relatively discontinuous, however this may vary from genre to genre. Generally a video will hint at a character’s personality, mood, goals and or desires but will never fully disclose them.

Vernallis talks about how within music videos, editing plays an interesting role in producing this effect of discontinuity. Edits can literalise the discontinuity by making us aware of the spaces between images.

In music videos, the precarious relation of shot to shot and the varied bases for this relations affects a video’s larger structures of meaning. The polysemic image track can create expectations and frequently leave them unfulfilled; we don’t always know where- or how- a video is going. Films teach us to assume that we gain information as the narrative progresses, that we move steadily closer to revelation. However music videos work within this assumption but play against it by progressing haltingly and unpredictability. Also by contradicting what has already been shown.

Image and sound

Vernallis says that music video editing exceeds the functions of film editing largely through its responsiveness to musical features- rhythmic, timbral, melodic and formal.

Many music videos exploit our curiosity about how a song might sound in the actual space of the music video: walls, floors and ceilings are placed at odd angles and covered with materials that imply specific acoustical properties: objects that resemble speakers and baffles may be distributed throughout the space. Despite the fact that the camera may never quite reach the sides or the back of the setting, these videos encourage us to imagine the sound waves rolling into the walls and bouncing off of them.

Showcasting the star

A focus on editing can help us to understand the relation between a music video’s star-making dimension and its modes of continuity and signification. Close ups of the star, and the ways they are edited into the flow of a video, provide useful cases to study. Music videos break down visual, lyrical and musical elements to their smallest constituent parts.

A close up of the singer’s face in a music video is often shot and edited in such a way as to leave us with a way of grasping hold of some musical element, which might be the main hook or a small detail.

Music videos often present a flow of images that are too rich and materials that seem to dissolve too quickly. The use of a close up gives the audience something to commit to memory and the intense isolation of the shot keeps the viewer present.