Carol Vernallis' Music Theory

Vernallis' theory included 4 conventions in which she expressed the importance of narrative, camera angles/framing, editing and diegesis.

Narrative

Carol feels like the narrative is a direct visual response to the music and therefore what is happening onscreen is reflected by the lyrics the artist is singing.  However, for Vernallis sometimes the narrative may not be completed and therefore been seen as a partial which can make the video seem disjointed or disconnected.  It is okay for the narrative to not answer questions, it can be a montage and not just one focus.

Camera angles/Framing

Vernallis' states that the establishing shots are one of the key camera features of a music video and are reused frequently throughout a music video, as well as close-up shots, usually to show off the singer/band.  The style of framing of the music video is used specifically on the artist in order to show off their star image.  An example of the close up and establishing shot are in the music video 'Only Love and hurt like this' by Paloma Faith.

Establishing Shot

Close Up

Editing

Vernallis' suggests that all music videos follow the same editing techniques.  The editing may also be bought to the foreground, become visible and not hidden.  Meaning the video will have a style of editing running throughout that is distinctive to that video.  This may include things like; jump cuts, cutting with the lyrics, breaks of the 180 degree rule, extreme changes in pace and graphic matches.  An example of a music video which has jump cuts and slow motion cooperated with obvious editing is Willow Smith's 'Whip My Hair'.

Diegesis

In terms of the Diegesis Carol explains that it will all be revealed slowly throughout the video.  She preaches that the actions in music videos are usually uncompleted or disrupted in someway.  Plus there will be many repetitions through the video due to how important some shots/frames are to others.