Carol Vernallis Theroy

Carol Vernallis is a professor of film and media studies at Stanford, she is most known for her Theories surrounding music editing. Vernallis's theory is based around 4 key components that all relate to how a music video feels, its connotations atmosphere and tone for example. these concepts are:
 -Narrative
 -Editing
 - camera movement and Faming
 -Diegesis

Vernallis suggests that a music video is a visual response to the narrative of the lyrics. therfore whatever we see on screen is a representation, either literal or abstract of what the lyrics in the song put forth. However, Vernallis then explains how the narrative may not be completed and can be partial, with the video appearing disjointed, disconnected and appear in fragment, rather than a continuous. A music video always has something driving it forward, this doesn't necessarily mean the narrative, it could the music itself or the lyrics within the song, or any other element of the video.
However if the video is left incomplete, whether technical or narratively, it can lead to the creation of enigma codes within the video, raising the viewers curiosity and intrigue. Although the video may have a theme or narrative that runs throughout it, it is most likely displayed in a montage style, rather than in one clear focus.

Vernalis also states that a clear convention of music video editing is that the video may disrupt the traditional conventions of continuity editing. the editing may also be bought to the foreground, for the  viewer to see, for it to become visible rather than the traditional style of continuity editing. This essentially means that the video will have a style od editing running throughout it which is distinctive for the video, we may see;

-Jump Cuts
-Breaks Of The 30' Degree Rule
-Cutting With The Lyrics
-Extreme Changes In Pace
-Juxtaposed Frames
-Graphic Matches

Vernallis's theory also tells us that establishing shots are one of the key camera features of a music video and are used frequently throughout a music video and also the camera may move in time with the lyrics, extreme shots are also known as master shots and are extremely common.

Cutting to music

Film Studies Final Piece Evaluation

My final piece fall my film studies unit is a short experimental film called "Lack", which revolves around the theory put forward by Jacques Lacan. Lacan's theory is the hypothesis that from birth we amercing a vital part of us, what is missing is forever unknown to the individual, yet we constantly seek out something that would fill our lack, sub consciously and consciously.

With this in mind i began planning my Film, due to the nature of this theory, i wanted this film to feel personal and intimate yet have an atmosphere of coldness. The most effective way to portray this was to focus on something that was incredibly personal to myself, for this i chose to have my girlfriend be the focus of the film. Knowing that having something so personal to focus would mean that not only would i put more emotion and heart into the final piece, but that the theory i would apply to it would be even more effective.

The film is heavily inspired by Chris Markers "la jette", i loved how the film used still images rather than film itself, which added another layer of uncertainty and mysteriousness to its atmosphere, when planning this piece i concluded that the use of still images rather than film would give my piece more gravitas and impact when viewed, this stylistic choice would also challenge the audience as it would be so far from what they know as film.

The film itself opens with rapid white scratches over a black background, this is very little to talk about as we are essentially watching a black screen, i wanted the audience to immediately feel intrigued and confused when watching my film, by giving away nothing at the start of the film i have created interest.
The scene immediately cuts to a static mid shot of my girlfriend and another subject sitting exactly parallel to her on a sofa, the rapid white scratches from the previous shot now consume her face, destroying any identity she may have, in this scene she is no more than a body, devoid of identity.
The white scratches that cover her face in this shot were intended to be a representation of how this subject has or feels as if she lacks identity, which would be lacanian lack. The  subject believes that she doesn't know who she is, what she stands for, what she wants to be. whether or not she was born with this lack, or if it evolved over time is unclear. During post production i added a filter over the shot to reduce it to monotone black and white, not only was this a stylistic choice, but also a representation of how laconian lack whether sub consciously or consciously, muddles and distorts the individuals reality.

every shot following this are still images, everyone has been manipulated and distorted to further the representation of lacanain lack, the images i took don't necessarily have any analytical weight behind them, they are simply candid shots of her daily life. Its what i do to the final images that express laconian lack. I added motion blur to the photos, resulting in images that look corrupted, sinister yet fluid, a further expression of how the lack within ourselves is destructive and tormenting, yet beautiful and liberating at the same time. I say liberating because i believe on our endless search for something to fill the void within us all, we discover more about ourselves, we discover new ways to surprise ourselves, and this is liberating.
for the audio i read a passage from Lewis C Carol's "Alice In Wonderland", the passage follows as,

'Dear, dear! How queer everything is today! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if I’ve been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I am not the same, the next question is, “’Who in the world am I?’ Ah, that’s the great puzzle.'
An analysis of this passage tells us that Alice is suffering from a crisis of identity. "i wonder if I've changed in the night" shows us this. I thought using a passage from Alice In Wonderland would fit perfectly in with a lacanian film.

Due to the films intimate nature, and avant guarde basis, several issues made themselves apparent during filming. If changes were made they would be as follows; 

due to heavy overcast and weather restrictions all of my filming had to take place indoors, resulting in a selection of stills that were all fairly repetitive, if i were to re-do this piece i would have like to film in multiple environments.

The audio i used could have also be managed better, i have very little experience with audio equipment outside the built in microphone on my camera, meaning that the audio for the piece changed in quality over the run time. If re-shoots were to be made i would record the audio again but in a studio, rather than a classroom with background noise.

In conclusion im extreamly happy with the final piece, i feel that it meets all the criteria set before me and accurately portrays a lacanian lack in a analytical and clinical manner, whilst maintaining all of its personality.

New Wave Film Evaluation

For my contextual studies final piece i wanted to create a short piece that highlighted the technical aspects that made the new wave moment so inspirational. focusing on camera techniques and editing rather than narrative and characters. It was my intention to accurately portray these techniques within a film of my creation, and explore how they all affect the film in there own way.

The film opens with a static close up of an individual lighting a cigarette, i wanted the very first shot of my film to be a perfect representation of the New Wave, and the subtlest most stylistic option for me atleast was to have this smoking shot, in essentially every New Wave film we see characters drenched in cigarette smoke, most notably Godard's film "Breathless", in which the protagonist is constantly smoking, almost to comical effect. by incorporating this i hoped t set the tone of the film instantly, a love letter to the French New Wave.
After this i incorporated rapid successive jump cuts of the subject driving her car, in the context of the New Wave, jump cuts were not only used to represent the passing of time, but also as a tool to criticise the mainstream, jump cuts were used throughout conversations and scenes that normaly would never feature jump cuts. for my film i saw rapid jumpiest in unusual scenes as a ,method of not only demonstration and representing time, but also as a tool to to connect the audience to the protagonist, the passage of time not only shows the audience the degradation of the protagonist, but emotionally connects the two due to said degradation.

During this scene i spliced shots of the road the individual drove on in-between the footage of her driving, this was done to give a sense of location to the film, and to brake up the repetition of the film. showing footage of the location we filmed in also gives us the added benefit of showing the audience the environment the protagonist lives in, giving a more in depth look at the protagonist without resorting to hefty exposition. This technique also stems from the French New Wave, the camera would almost linger on shots of the streets of Paris highlighting the environment the people live in, and how they have essentially became a product of said environment.

the next shot is of my subject walking through a car park, just like the previous scene i use jump cuts throughout the scene, to spend up the pace of the film and to further represent the passage of time. the camera has jagged movements never resting still for a moment. i chose to use a handheld camera rather than one on a steady rig or a dolly as it gives the audience the impression that they are simply a fly on the wall, an outside observer looking into the intimate and personal world of the subject. This is similar to how cameras were used in the New Wave. due to the cheapness and guerrilla filmmaking, expensive cameras used in hollywood films were unavailable yo the filmmakers of the new wave, so cheaper handheld cameras were used in there absence. There use of which provides a similar emotional response as to my film.

The following shot is a static close of the subjects face as she walks around a shopping centre, the camera in this scene was suspended on a make shift dolly which she than proceed to push around the centre. I placed the camera this way to provide he audience with an unflinching view of the subject, as a method of expanding on the emotional connection between subject and audience. Similarly to the previous scene, the makeshift dolly is a further representation to guerrilla film making during the New Wave, limited budget meant that professional was almost impossible to come by, the Filmmakers would resort to makeshift tripods, dolly' and other equipment currently used today. the make shift dolly i used for this shot was again another way for me to use techniques used in the New Wave.

If i were to re-shoot or re-do this piece there are several changes and corrections that i would like to make, due to time restrictions i wasn't able to create a more fleshed out narrative, whilst i like the quaintness and intimate nature of my final piece, i feel that creating a story with motifs and dialogue using themes present throughout all New Wave films would have been a better choice in order to capture the essence of the New Wave.
another aspect that bothers is me is that some shots of the individual in the shopping centre are slightly out of focus, there is no explanation for why this is, i simply made a mistake with the focusing, if i had the choice i would go back and reshoot these scenes.
During some of the car journey scenes, we can see grain throughout the frame, due to filming at night i had to increase the ISO to make up for the loss of light, doing so resulted in heavy grain. if i were to reshoot i would have a light source in the car itself, providing more light for the lens meaning that i wouldn't have to increase the iso to make up for the loss of quality.

In conclusion i am happy with my final piece, i feel that it not only accuratly represents the essence of the New Wave, but also highlights and recreates environments and techniques that made the New Wave so.