Carol Vernallis

CV says the camera in MV seems to mimic the way we view sonic space…do you agree? Do you think we are conditioned by MV 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 to a certain extent as the editing in Music Videos is done in a way that we can only see what the director wishes for us to see. This however seems more so in Music videos than films as the director has a much shorter time in which to either promote the star or get a story or concept across, and this can only be achieved through predefining where the audience should focus. However there are often gaps in music videos where the audience has the choice to decide what they think might happen through the use of their imagination.

She says MV experience is more like listening than viewing – do you agree?
I agree to a certain extent as usually in Music Videos, the visuals and movements reflect the sound and are there to enhance the listening experience. For example, Music Videos are usually edited to the beat of the music highlighting the sound rather than the image, and dance moves too highlight the rhythm. However on the other hand, the images sometimes bring the song and lyrics to life making it more of a visual experience. This is even more so when the song has a narrative to go with it making the song more comprehendible and can almost be like watching a short movie.
　
“We compensate imaginatively for what we do not see in the frame” pg41 Agreed?
Yes, as a lot of the time the Camera focuses on only part of the stars body or the setting leaving us to build up the rest of the picture using the sound and our own imagination. For example, if we see a CU of a face singing in a mike and flashing lights on the face, and hear the sounds of a crowd, we may imagine there to be a band performing at a concert in front of a large audience.
　
The constant motion in a MV and the variances it shows mean that a strong CU is a stable point. The MV ‘brings us towards these peaks, holds us against them, and then releases us’ p43 Do you agree?
Yes the CU is a strong focal point, as usually, the editing in Music Videos is extremely quick and therefore viewers are not able to take in everything they see. However it is the CU shots or ’money shots’ that really grab and hold our attention. They are the most memorable shots and the ones that take the audience closer to the star almost as if to involve the audience, making it a strong point of focus.

Is the viewer being ‘sutured’ (stitched) into the diegesis of the film world through the editing?
On the one hand, although narrative is created through careful editing, I do not think that the viewer is being ’sutured’ through the editing alone in films. Film editing is usually done in a way that the audience view the characters and events in a certain way from a certain perspective, however film uses seamless editing so it is not there to grab the viewers attention but is meant to go unnoticed. I believe that in the film world it is usually the actual narrative that keeps the audiences watching. This is opposite to Music Videos where a lot of the excitement comes from the interesting edits themselves making people want to re-watch and re-live the experience.

MV is freer in terms of viewer identification and perspective – agreed?
I think that although with music videos we are free to use our imagination, the way we perceive things is largely dependent on the editing, and edits are used so frequently and purposefully that in the short time, we only manage to view the video in the way the director wishes.
　
CV believes the image alone cannot tell the story – do you agree?
Yes I agree! This is especially true with Music videos as it is usually the music and lyrics anchoring the images that help tell the story and create a certain mood. You may get the gist of the story through images but without the lyrics and music there may be gaps in the viewers understanding of the story.