CAROL VERNALLIS

Music videos break down visual, lyrical and musical elements to the smallest constituent parts - a prop, a colour, a gesture, a few words, an intriguing riff" - Carol Vernallis (2001)

Vernallis' theory is based around 4 ideas

Narrative
Editing
Camera Movement and Framing
Diegesis


Narrative
Whatever is on screen must reflect the meaning of the song/lyrics, thus creating a narrative. However she says the narrative doesn't necessarily have to be complete and it can be disconnected or appear in fragments.

Editing
Music videos do not have to follow a conventional style of editing, so they can break rules. It's acceptable for the editing to be noticeable, however it might only be found in niche music videos. This can be achieved by the following:

Cutting to the beat
Jump cuts
Breaking the 30 degree rule
Dramatic changes in pace
Juxtaposed frames

Camera Movements and Framing
If there was an instrument in a song that might go unheard if not pointed out, there could be a close up of it being used to draw attention to it. Another example would be, rapid camera movements when there is an extreme change in the song's pace.


Diegesis
Drawing attention of specific shots with fragmentation by using less relevant shots woven in. These less relevant shots will also sometimes be unfinished which will not really develop the plot in any way. Due to this, Carol Vernallis states that the diegesis of the music video will be drawn out quite slowly.


Sources:
- VERNALLIS, 2001
- The Kindest Cut: The Functions and Meanings of Music Video Editing