Carol Vernalis

Carol Vernallis says the camera in music video seems to mimic the way we view sonic space... do you agree? Do you think we are conditioned by music video to read sonic space in particular ways?

She suggests that the jumping camera focus is like the camera in place of our eyes, doing what we do when we listen. However, this is predefined for us by the Director - we have even less choice to look away/outside of the Director's choice than we do in film - do you agree?

Yes I agree when we listen we do jump around and focus on different sounds. Because music videos usually have such fast paced editing, and jump around so much, we don’t have time to register the image in our mind, and start to look outside of the directors choice because it’s already cut to another image. However when a music video is done well this jumpy style will hold our attention right through until the end.

She says music video experience is more like listening than viewing - do you agree?

I have to disagree with this, because although the viewing of a music video is designed to enhance the listening experience, many music videos are so intriguing and captivating that watching them is far more about the viewing experience. Also even if you don’t particularly like the song, if the music video is good you may still want to watch it over and over again, whereas you wouldn’t want to just listen to the song over and over. Additionally you watch music videos to see how a singer/group have presented themselves and what their visual interpretation of the song is compared to yours – therefore I think that the enjoyable experience of watching a music video is definitely far more about viewing.

"We compensate imaginatively for what we do not see in the frame" - Agreed?

Yes I agree, we definitely fill in the blanks using our imagination, and create in our heads what we want to see, or what we think fits.The constant motion in a music video and the variances it shows mean that a strong CU is a stable point.

The music video "brings us towards these peaks, holds us against them, and then releases us" - do you agree?

Yes the CU is the stable point as it is usually of the lead singer (the money shot/beauty shot), therefore providing us with familiarity in amongst the fast, montage that we see in most music videos.

Is the viewer "sutured (stitched) into the diegesis of the film world through the editing"?

Yes because it is the editing which completely creates the meaning. This is because the same set of shots, if re-arranged, can mean something completely different. The editing process is what forms the narrative of the video

Music video is freer in terms of viewer identification and perspective - agreed?

I don’t fully agree with this because although the director may be freer, the audience can only see his/her perspective as it is usually too fast paced for us to have time to think anything else.

Carol Vernallis believes the image alone cannot tell the story - do you agree?

Yes I do agree with this, because images can only tell a story to an extent, but music is what creates the atmosphere and the mood of the sequence. For example if you ever watch a horror film with the music off, it wouldn’t be half as scary – music enhances images to a great extent and they definitely do not work to tell the story as well on their own.