Carol Vernallis Research

Carol Vernallis studied the roles that editing and camerawork had to play in music videos. She found that edits in music videos occur much more often than those in films and that the edits that feature within them appear to have a close relationship to the rhythm of the song. A summary of her research is as follows:

• The rules of continuity editing are broken in order to emphasise certain aspects of the video

This GIF from the song 'Rari WorkOut' by Lethal Bizzle, JME and Tempa T clearly breaks the continuity editing rule and helps to establish two of the key themes in the song: cars and gym. This example also exhibits another point of Veranllis' research which is that: jump cuts are often used, a feature that conveys the artists' fast paced lifestyles to the viewer.

• Edits may be really obvious to draw attention to themselves and special effects are added

This example from the music video 'E.T.' by Katie Perry and Kanye West illustrates this point as special effects provide a visual setting of outer space which matches the theme of the song. This goes hand in hand with the aspect of slow motion that was utilised at various parts of the video to replicate the zero gravity effects of space, thus further engaging the viewer.

• A base track is frequently used to give the video structure

'Nasty' by Nas is an example of how base tracks are used to add structure to music videos. This is because the artist is filmed performing in three different locations: the studio, a car and the street to show how his day progressed, which gives the video a narrative and keeps the viewer entertained.