Carol Vernallis Music Video Theory

What is clear from my detailed research is that the music videos synchronise the images with the rhythm of the music itself, Vernallis states that the videos exhibit, "quick cutting or editing on the beat". This is evident in a number of videos i have analysed, for example in Tupac - Ghetto Gospel it follows this theory various times throughout. Specifically showing the effect in a fairly fast montage.

The music videos i have analysed have a number of very short scenes or edits with consistently quick cuts; this notion is also explored by Vernallis who states, "edits in music video come far more frequently than in film".

There s a massive responsibility of editing in music video, the editing has to be to be able to convey the narrative if there is one to be displayed. "Music video editing bears a far greater responsibility for many elements than does classic Hollywood film editing".

"...the editing in a music video works hard to ensure that no single element (the narrative, the setting, the performance, the star, the lyrics, the song) gains the upper hand".

Postmodernism

I have began to research into postmodernism and how it is influential to music video and the music industry.


Modernism

• Believes in ultimate experimentation.
• Broke boundaries that were previously set in all different art forms.
• Elitist - appealing to the elite- most educated.
• Only the educated would understand abstract and advanced art.
• 1900's, particularly 1940's and 1950's.
• Taking things to the extreme.

Postmodernism

• In theory the end of originality.
• Bricolage/Pastiche - Definition: Taking things from different sources. Media term - Taking pieces of what's been done before and placing in a new context. (Eclectic art form).
• Highly self referential- wanting the audience to understand that it is engaged with a text.
• Allusion - reference to another text - Intertextuality.