Theories on Music Video Forms and Conventions

Andrew Goodwin

His theory states that:• There is a relationship between the lyrics and

the visuals• There is a link between the music and the

visuals• There are genre characteristics • There is voyeurism (direct gaze at the artist)

Relevance to our videoOur video develops Goodwin’s theory. Some of the scenes in our video were a direct response to the lyrics and so the visuals reflect the lyrics. E.g. For Angel’s verse, her background is black with red and green lasers, giving the effect of bright stars within a magical galaxy. This is a direct link to the lyrics in her verse: “I see the stars, the sun and the moon when I'm with you”

Carol Vernallis

Vernallis’ theory is based around four key concepts and her editing section is very relevant to our video:• Narrative• Editing• Camera movement and angles• Diegesis

Editing

There are also two parts to her editing theory:• Vernallis claims that a music video may well

break the conventions of continuity editing; this is conventional

• A music video may also make the editing conspicuous, as oppose to concealed which would be the case with continuity editing

Relevance to our video • Our video develops Vernallis’ editing theory. We have used

discontinuous editing which can be seen by the various jump cuts and changes in pace.

• More importantly, the editing itself plays a key role in the look of our video. We wanted to use cool effects to achieve a flickery/jumpy effect, in order to match the sound of the music video and make it visually exciting.

E.g. Below is an interesting effect we used in Angel’s verse: