Editing in Music Videos

Editing

The process of manipulating and rearranging video shots to create a new work. Editing is usually considered to be one part of the post production process — other post-production tasks include titling, colour correction, sound mixing, etc.

Match on action -matching on action refers to film editing and video editing techniques where the editor cuts from one shot to another view that matches the first shot's action.

Shrinking time - throughout a music video time can be shrunk depending on the pace of the track. This can be completed through using quick cuts and even speeding up the image.

Expanding time - similarly to 'shrinking time' time can be 'dragged out' and expanded through slowing down the image.

Finding the rhythm - rhythm in a music video can be established through having cuts on the beat of the music, or on the drum etc.

Types of music videos:

Narrative - A video that features a visual story that is easy to follow. Narrative music videos can also use diegetic sound, particularly if there is dialogue between a few characters. Perhaps a good example for a narrative music video is 'Money' by Peace:

Concept - Concept videos are usually based around a single idea or concept and are often unusual or even surreal for the audience. This unusual content often draws the audience in and is attractive to them. They often have no storyline and sometimes no relation to the lyrics of the music itself. The perfect music video for demonstrating a completely pointless but utterly brilliant music video is OK go's 'Here It Goes Again':

If there was any other music video that embodies what a concept based video should be, it is this one.

Of course, music videos do not all have to fit in one category/type. An example of a performance and concept based music video is Vampire Weekend's 'Cousins' which displays the band performing while on a set of train-like tracks:

Performance - A performance based video shows the artist/band/group performance throughout the song and sometimes can play throughout the whole video. This type of video is good to use on a lower budget. Swim Deep's 'Honey is a good example:

There are three main types of music videos: narrative, concept and performance. Depending on the type of music video, which can be a 'hybrid' of the two or even all three, editing can be different. For example, match on action is perhaps more important when creating a narrative based music video, whereas in a performance based video this is not as important. In this way, many music videos are narrative/performance based, concept/performance or all three. Another example of this is Noah and the Whales 'Life is Life':