Vernallis' Theory in our Music Video

Carol Vernallis' theory states;

• the video is a visual response to the narrative
• whatever is happening on screen has a clear link with the lyrics
• alternatively, the narrative may be disjointed from the lyrics and could appear more conceptual
• the music could be driving force behind the video, as opposed to the lyrics
• the music video typically features a montage style
• video breaks the conventions of continuity editing
• can have either invisible or very visible cuts

Vernallis' book which I used for this post

In our music video, we would abide by some of her conventions, but challenge others in order to create an original, exciting music video that doesn't conform to generic pop video standards.

For example;

• The visuals, music and lyrics would work very strongly together, as we are interpreting the song literally, by having clear links between the lyrics and the visuals ("ex-wife" - pregnant woman comes on set)
• While the music does have an important role in our video, it is not going to overpower the lyrics; we are using the 60's retro sound to influence our styling and the music is upbeat so we will include dance choreography
• We are completely defying the montage convention; our music video is a one shot, therefore we would not edit the music video, as it would not need any editing in its one-take format
• In order to have a backup editing plan, in case some of our footage doesn't look good enough, we have also decided to include invisible cuts that we could add in if we need to, or omit if the one shot looks good enough; these cuts would be very subtle and fast, for example, Ava would be holding a bouquet of flowers during the first chorus and she would thrust them into the camera for a second, so that we have a backup if something goes wrong later on