The Principles on Editing.

Storytelling: A commonly used editing technique in music videos is storytelling. This is where a narrative is used throughout the song often relating to the lyrics used. For example in the Greenday song, "When September ends" the music video holds the narrative to the song. This technique works well as it is very interesting to the viewer and is almost like watching a short film with a good soundtrack. The narrative option can be very clever as it can keep the viewer guessing such as not revealing certain things about the plot or characters until the end and also leave a lot of room for special effects. Also a narrative can emphasise the genre and express the song style through things such as, lighting, characters, costume and general plot line (i.e sad, angry happy, etc).

When September ends:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU9JoFKlaZ0

Combination of shots: When making music videos, it is important to use a wide variety of shots. Using more shots makes it easier to tell a story if a narrative is being used and it makes the video much more interesting for the viewer as they get to see more perspectives. A great example of this is simple plans video, "welcome to my life".  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lt0WP9ZBNiY

The video uses many shots, even shots possibly from helicopters above cities and also some shot on a crane. The wide variety enables us to see things like, facial expressions and location etc, in a lot more detail than we would see from certain restricted shots and allows the viewer to feel a lot more engaged in the video.

180o Rule: When creating professional music video and any type of filming, it is necessary to follow the 180o rule. This is the rule that scenes and/or characters must only ever be shot from one side and must not be shot from across the 180o angle. An imaginary line is drawn and crossing it causes confusion to the viewers. For example in Friends, we only ever see one side of the apartment, this is so that the location is always instantly recognisable to the viewer. If we suddenly started shooting from the other side of the apartment it is likely to look like a completely different room or building to the viewer. Therefore so the viewer knows where they characters are and so they don't get bored or confused, we always try to follow the 180o rule.

A great example of this is the Paramore video "the only exception" 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J7J_IWUhls

Each room and location is only filmed on one side to keep the story line and quick location change easy and enjoyable to follow.

Creating Pace: Fast editing and quick shots are used in different music videos to tie in with the style of music and to set the pace when using such things as narratives. Using different paces can change the story or video dramatically, for example using a slower pace in a sad/more thoughtful video and and a quicker pace in a more dramatic and maybe even angry narrative.

An example of a video that sticks to quite a fast pace is dizzee rascal's "bonkers";

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPYJ7LPFtR4&feature=related

An example of a video that sticks to a slower pace is Kylie Minogue "slow"; 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNFe7XSt6os


- A video with good continuity is Avril Lavigne - Don't tell me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMiHER6T284

- A video that uses cutaways is Sick Puppies - You're going Down: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2bohKixLt8

- A video that is in black and white it Robbie Williams - Angels: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfTWHbtv_-Y