Friday, 5 October 2012

Analysing Media Language



The Carol Vernallis Theory

Carol Vernallis is a theorist known for her studies on camerawork and music editing. In her book Experiencing Music Video: Aesthetics and Cultural Context, she observed that the editing in music videos are usually very fast compared to film and the editing has a rhythmic basis closely connected to the song. Vernallis theory is based around 4 key concepts that all relate to the way a music video is manufactured, these concepts are:
  • Camera Movement and Framing
  • Editing

Camera Movements and Framing
Carol Vernallis states that establishing shots are one of the key camera features of a music video and are used frequently throughout a music video as well as a range of shots (which may vary in different songs, depending on the pace and mood of the song). The arrangement of framing of the video is vital and also the camera may move in time with the lyrics to parallel certain lyrics of the song to certain images in the video. A master shot (the main base track that appears throughout the video) is used to create a structure within the music video.


Editing
Carol Vernallis states that a clear convention of music editing is that the video may disrupt or break the conventions of continuity editing seen in television and films. The editing may also be bought to the foreground, become visible and not hidden to the invisible style of continuity editing that comes across as natural. Music videos are edited in a way that keeps continually drawing and maintaining the audience’s attention towards the artist (who usually is seen performing in the video); this means maximum exposure for the artist/performer and i s a method of promotion.  

For example you may see:
  • Jump Cuts
  • Breaks of the 30° rule
  • Cutting within the lyrics
  • Breaks of the 180° rule
  • Extreme changes in pace
  • Juxtaposed frames
  • Graphic Matches

No comments:

Post a Comment