Vernallis discusses a number of different modes of storytelling inherent in music videos, particularly outlining the different effects of narrative and nonnarrative videos. She describes the primary objective of music videos, where they generally underscore the music, highlight the lyrics and showcase the star. In the case of narrative-based music videos, a balance should be struck between the story unfolding on the screen and the inherent story in the song to avoid the music “reced[ing] into the background”. That being said, Vernallis explains that the narrative function of a music video does not often reflect that of a classic Hollywood film, wherein narrative planks allows for audiences to construct expectations and predictions. Instead, music videos produce more vague and fluid temporality within the narrative, which is not necessarily presented as a cohesive whole but rather demands a relationship with the lyrical and sonic aspects of the music itself.

Nonnarrative music videos tend to reflect this idea to an even further extent. Vernallis proposes that “each shot possesses its own truth value” and can be understood in its own right. There is an inherent vagueness in the medium of music video – it is fixed to the confines of the duration of a song and the agenda of somehow building upon the song itself. With this in mind, music videos tend to follow the conventions of commercials or film trailers rather than films or television shows: they need to express their intention in a limited amount of time and to a gripping effect.

Vernallis raises the point that music, unlike classic Hollywood cinema, generally “demands attention at every instant” and as such should not depend on what is to happen next, but rather what is happening at each specific moment. It is with this in mind that we can understand music videos as a very unique mode of storytelling, both restricted and unbounded by its limitations and stimulus.