Carol Vernalis - The Kindest Cut

Vernallis believed that when watching a music video, our interpretation of the video's narrative and overall message actually shapes how we hear the music. Music videos are unconventional when compared to film, as they are they will shift more freely between shots, and the narratives are sometimes staggered, and revealed incompletley.

In the majority of music videos, the person we would consider to be the main star/artist, would be revealed slowly to us, through a series of closeups. In this example "where have you been" - Rhianna. She is slowly revealled shot by shot as she comes out of the water. The use of closeups, and quick cuts create this sense of discontinuity, and mystery, as we build frame by frame this image of Rhianna. This is called 'Phantasmagorical editing.' This is the process of revealing the artist to us through a series of staggered shots, the ultimate aim usually being to sell the artist, and to create sex appeal.

This example of phantasmagorical editing, shows a series of closeups, building an image of Kylie Manogue, with short time duration between cuts. She is eventually fully revealled in quite a sexual pose, on top of the bar. This is a prime example of how phantasmagorical editing can be used to create sex appeal.

Discontinuity - This is when a pop video draws us away from the narrative by foregrouding other structures or elements. For example the artist/star; where as in film, continuity draws us into the narrative. Here is an example of how these methods have been applied to other genres. This example is from "engine 45" by The Ghost Inside, and it is essentially the opposite of pop, but this method of editing is still applied, and is incredibly effective.

The implementation of visual hooks can also be found in this segment of the video, as the use of shot reverse shot reverts back and fourth between images of the narrative and the band at a realitively fast pace. The Pile of bricks, and the blood would be considered as the visual hook in this particular example.