Carol Vernallis argues that music videos derive from the songs they set. The music comes first - the song is produced before the video has been created - and the director normally designs images with the song as a guide.
'In music video, what is concealed and what is revealed serve to encourage multiple viewings by engaging the viewer in a process of reconstructing, interpolating or extrapolating a story behind the scenes that are actually visible. When the narrative mode is present even fleetingly, it creates an aura of mystery, a sense that things need to be puzzled out'.
Videos use ellipsis in such an extreme fashion that causality is often absent.
"Music video presents a range all the way from extremely abstract videos emphasising colour and movement to those that convey a story. But most videos tend to be nonnarrative. An Aristotlean definition - characters with defined personality traits, goals, and a sense of agency encounter obstacles and are changed by them - describes only a small fraction of videos, perhaps one in fifty.
'I argue that the lyrics constitute no more and no less than one of many strands a video must weave together.'
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