Carol Vernallis Music Video Theory - The Kindest Cut
Carol Vernallis explores editing techniques in her 2001 article, 'The Kindest Cut'. She discusses the role of editing in a narrative, the way sound and image are synchronised in editing, and the importance of responsiveness to the music in a music video. Vernallis mentions that it is important that all elements of narrative, setting, performance, lyrics etc are all balanced and one does not overpower the others.
Her theory can be divided into 4 key categories, which she says are the most important concepts in a music video:
- Narrative
Vernallis claims that narratives in music video are not always complete, and they may not have a resolution at the end. She also says that there is not always a balance between narrative and performance, as some videos focus on one element more than the other depending on what approach they are taking.
- Editing
She says that in many music videos the rules of continuity editing are not followed which draws more attention to what is happening, and edits may be really obvious such as special effects, again to draw attention. Jump cuts are often used.
- Camera movement and framing
Vernallis says that 'master shots', are often used as a base to ground the video and give it structure. The camera may move in time with the music. The style of framing in music videos are also quite distinctive depending on the genre of the music video.
- Diegesis
Diegesis essentially means 'the world of music videos' in media terminology. Carol says that the actions in the video will not always be comparative and can be left unfinished. For instance there can be a lot of repetition shots or certain frames which can seem more important than others which is normally down to post production of the music video.
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