Applying theory to our music video

Carol Vernallis (The Kindest Cut)

• Music videos place shots with one motion against another
  For example at 1:50-1:53 when an MCU circular track is placed against a medium shot
  
• Music videos don't always have the narrative structure as the predominant feature
  Since our music video is for Ava's debut single we had more performance than narrative in our music video, as it was more important to create Ava's star image.
  
• Music videos don't have any particular shot order (like that in film)
  We didn't have a particular shot order really... e.g. at 0:36 when a medium shot is placed after a BCU

Andrew Goodwin (Dancing in the Distraction Factory)

• Genre characteristics
  Our music video adheres to this theory since we have a performance based video, which is conventional for the indie pop genre.
• Relationship between lyrics and visuals
  Our music video contradicts the lyrics, since they talk about a male hero, but we used a female hero. The lyrics also have romantic connotations which we contradicted by showing Wonder Woman helping Ava to improve her self confidence.
• Relationship between music and visuals
  We created an illustrative relationship between the music and visuals since the performance shots are mostly cut to the beat.
• Visual hooks
  We used BCU visual hooks quite often in our music video
• Voyeurism
  We didn't really have any voyeurism/scopophilia in our music video
• Intertextuality
  Wonder Woman played a very important part in our music video, which was an example of intertextuality.

Things learnt from theory

I found the theory lessons we had last week (where we looked at Carol Vernallis' essay/article (?) 'The Kindest Cut') to be very interesting and I learnt a few things about shooting and editing for music videos which will be very helpful when we're creating our own music video. The most important things I learnt were:

• Continuity techniques aren't used in the same way in music video as they are in film
  In films, a lot of importance is placed on continuity since it ensures that the audience can understand what's going on in the narrative of the film. In music video, the continuity techniques used in film could make the narrative too prominent. Since one of the main aims of a music video is to spark interest in the song, if the narrative is too prominent, it could take over the song. This will be something to bear in mind when editing together our sequences with Ava and Wonder Woman. We will have to break up these narrative sections with performance in order to make sure that the narrative doesn't take over from the song.
• Music videos can use graphic matches more often than in films
  Due to the non-realist nature of music videos, graphic matches can be used more often. This is because music videos can draw attention to its production methods. So, we could try and think of some possible graphic matches we could use in our music video.
• Music videos often use disjunctive edits
  Music videos use disjunctive editing techniques (such as jump cuts) in order to make the viewer focus on the musical and visual cues. We could do this during the part where the lyrics of the song are spoken rather than sung, since it would draw the viewer's attention to this change in the song.
• Music videos don't always have the narrative structure as the predominant feature
  Although many music videos do have a narrative running through them, those are often not placed in the foreground. This is because it is often more important to foreground the star and build up/maintain a particular image for them. This would be particularly important in our music video since it's meant to be Ava's debut single. So, we will probably have to have more performance than narrative in our music video, since it'll be more important to create Ava's star image.
• Music videos typically present segments of 6-9 shots
  These segments often last roughly the length of a musical phrase. Carol Vernallis has said that these segments are recognizable since they "contain internal repetition and often possess a kind of symmetry". This will be something to bear in mind when editing together our narrative scenarios and our performance shots.