Carol Vernallis' - The Kindest Cuts: Functions and Meaning in Music Video Editing

Carol Vernallis compared music videos to Hollywood/continuity films and produced a list of differences such as:

• In Hollywood films there is a single clear path through the film whereas in a music video there are a multiple, sometimes incomplete, obscure paths of narrative.
• In music video there is an unconventional order of shots as they shift more freely between different shot types whereas in Hollywood film the order of shot types is conventional as it goes establishing shot to a closer shot such as a mid shot.
• In Hollywood films there is a unity of time and space whereas in music video the time, space and narrative are revealed incompletely.
• In music videos we are drawn away from the continuity as the star and music are foregrounded but in Hollywood films there is continuity so we are drawn into the narrative.
• Sometimes in a music video all the elements will be equal, but other times one will be dominant and the others less so.

She also found that, in music videos, it is the visual hooks that create continuity as the non-continuous shots are linked by a single feature such as a shape, colour or the artist.