Carol Vernalis Theory

Carol Vernallis' theory is based around four key concepts to all of her work on how music videos are made and structured. These four concepts are :

- Narrative
- Editing
- Camera Movement
- Diegesis



She applies these concepts and studies to music videos and breaks them apart to analyse them to prove her theory correct. In this post i will do the same and break down and analyse the music video to the hit Oasis song, Supersonic.

This particular Oasis song has probably the most editing in an Oasis music video along with Champagne Supernova with the good idea of all of the spirals in the background as Liam Gallagher is sat on the a chair singing straight to the camera with the green screen behind him.


Supersonic is one of Oasis' top and most loved songs by their audiences and varied audiences overall. The video starts on a shot of Liam walking through a puddle however the shot is upside down. This is a perfect use of camera movement and it follows Liams shoes walking forward so the camera is travelling backwards. Also the fact that the shot has been edited to be upside down is also a another fantastic example of how Carol Vernallis' work is applied to music videos. 

The narrative to the music video is of teenage rebellion and wanting new experiences in life. The idea of the narrative behind the music video conforms to Vernallis' theory on having a narrative in the music video therfore proving her theory correct.

During the end of the video the band start to fade away into nothingness. Literally disappearing even though they are still in frame. At this point Liam is still walking in the cameras direction as he slowly fades away. I believe that the narrative of teenage rebellion is key here as Oasis where still only very young when guitarist, Noel Gallagher, made the song Supersonic. All around the age of 19 - 21. The fact they disappear may portray the way they all felt years ago like they were going to amount to nothing in life however their music had saved them and they had become largely successsful in the msuic scene in Britain and became one of the most influencial and most loved bands in the history of music and especially music within Britain, being compared to being as big as bands like Queen and The Beatles. Oasis were also very heavily influenced by the work of the Beatles, as Liam Gallagher quoted "theres no one better man, Lennon, swear to you, no one better". 

Back to the idea of them disappearing conveying  that they may amount to nothing. None of this was possible if it wasnt for the editing in the video. The special effects make this video what it is and make it a very iconic video in Oasis' huge varied arsenal of catchy songs that have smashed the charts. Supersonic hitting 34th in 1994. 

During the beginning of the song, a shot of a plane flying high over the block of flats they are on. This shot is first of the sky as we wait for the plane to fly over. The whole idea of this shot is to establish where the video is taking place and to let the audience know that they are a very high level above the ground, this establishing shot therfore is very effective and conforms to one of Carol Vernallis, concepts in her theory of how music videos are built and structured in todays and a past day society. 



Here is a link to Oasis' Supersonic music video : 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJKpUH2kJQg