Carol Vernalis

Carol Vernallis

Carol Vernallis studied editing and camerawork closely in music videos in which she highlighted technical elements that occur throughout all music videos regardless of genre - all of which have been abbreviated;

·      Edits may be really obvious to draw attention to themselves such as wipes and special effects added

·      The usual rules of ‘continuity’ editing (editing usually found in classic broadcast fiction) are broken in order to draw attention to what is on screen

·      The camera may move in time with the music

·      Jump cuts are used often

·      A master shot (base track) is frequently used to give the video a structure

All of the above bullet points can be illustrated in Mark Ronson’s 2010 hit, The Bike Song . As the song initiates special effects are used to create a futuristic Tron effect already confirming the first bullet point listed stating that ‘edits may be really obvious’. We are next shortly introduced to the second bullet point as discontinuity editing is displayed when the camera is constantly switching between the man in the blue blazer and the man with the white hair which as mentioned is used to draw attention to what is on screen. Throughout the music video the camera shots and cuts remain in sync with the music confirming the third bullet point. The fourth and fifth bullet points are illustrated throughout the entire music video with the jump cuts being used to speed up the process of riding the bikes. There are a number of base tracks that occur frequently throughout the music video one of which is when the man in the blue blazer is in the phone box which as noted in the bullet points is used to give the video structure.

As well as The Bike Song, the bullet points can be illustrated in Drake’s 2011 hit, Marvin’s Room - simply proving that music videos of whatever genre conform to them. I have chosen to use this song as an example of the bullet points because they are heavily focused on the rigid edits, jump cuts and the special effects as they want the viewer to get the sense of being intoxicated and to feel involved with the club scene and the phone call.