Carol Vernallis - Understanding and Explanation

Carol Vernallis' theory focuses on 4 important concepts that all relate to how music videos are constructed. These concepts are:

• Narrative
• Editing
• Camera framing/movement
• Digesis

Narrative

This is where the music video is a visual response to the music. Basically meaning, whatever is happening in the lyrics, it will be reflected on screen as part of the video's narrative. There isn't necessarily a balance between the narrative and performance of the song. Often, the narrative isn't complete. It might not make as much sense as a full-length film would. It might appear partial or fragmented, making the music video appear disjointed. Due to this, there often isn't a clear resolution at the end. This might leave the audience asking questions about the video. A final point to make about the narrative part of this theory is that there may be a clear narrative running throughout the music video, but it will be presented in a more montage style rather than in one continuous sequence. This is mainly because music videos are a lot shorter and have lesser budgets.

Editing

All music videos follow the same editing techniques: jump cuts, cutting with the lyrics, graphic matches, editing on the beat, changes in pace, etc. In most music videos, the editing matches the beat of the song. The video may break the rules of continuity editing, which is a clear convention of music video editing. The editing may become 'foregrounded' - the edits will be obvious to draw attention to themselves as opposed to invisible, continuity editing.
An example of editing at the pace of a song can be seen in Ayumi Hamasaki's Appears:

This is a good example because a screen wipe effect is used during the chorus to the pace of the song's beat. The song has a walking-pace-like beat, in which is mimicked with the editing pace, movement of the camera and speed of Ayumi's movement.

Camera framing/movement

Extreme shot types are prominent in music videos, such as extreme long-shots and extreme close-ups.  Within music videos, specific styles of camera framing and movement are conventional to the specific videos. The camera may move in time with the lyrics or music.
A good example of a consistent camera style is with PJ Harvey's This Is Love:
The camera style in this music video is very handheld and shaky. It changes from long-shots to closeups throughout the video, but the style of filming is consistent. It matches with the upbeat-ness of the music and the ruthless feelings of love in the lyrics.

Digesis
A digesis is the narrative or plot. It could be revealed quite slowly in music videos. Actions are often left unfinished or aren't shown to be completed (due to the short amount of time allowed in a music video), so there often are gaps between the narrative and performance. There are often repetitions of narrative elements in music videos.

Bibliography
Vernallis, C. (2004). Experiencing music video. New York: Columbia University Press.