Blinding Lights and Sherlock Junior Analysis

The Weeknd’s Blinding Lights and Sherlock Jr.
In video editing, Graphic continuity and discontinuity are used to communicate and achieve a particular effect on the audience. It could be suspense or an introduction while making it more familiar by linking it to previous content with a similar message to make the story consistent in time and space in continuity. In discontinuity, the story is made more intriguing by adding shots that seem out of place with the story being told.
In Sherlock Jr., Graphic continuity is achieved at the film’s beginning. Sherlock Jr. is performing his duties at the theatre. He is seen sweeping as he is the janitor at the theatre. A theatre sign is displayed at the entrance. When Sherlock moves off-screen, the audience is left to stare at the theatre sign for a while before moving to a scene where the audience is looking at a sign on the glass of a store. This keeps the audience in touch with the real happenings in the actual world before Sherlock Jr. dived into his dream world. Continuity is achieved throughout the film through the “cut” technique. (Horton, 1997)
In Blinding Lights, continuity is achieved by continuing the storyline from Heartless’s previous music video. The character is drunk and driving a car at full speed through a deserted Urban Night scene in L, which is recognized in various parts of his video. He is drunk from the link to Heartless, which showed him taking sizeable amounts of alcohol. The video also shows The Weeknd driving a Mercedes-AMG GT convertible which creates continuity with the previous advertising campaign as the video coincides with the launch campaign of the car, which was the latest Mercedes model at the time (Pérez, 2021)
Graphic discontinuity is seen at the beginning of Blinding Lights, where the timeline is scrambled from where it picks up from Heartless. A 17-second close-up of The Weeknd’s bloodied face is shown. He is smiling despite looking like he has been thoroughly messed up. A roar is heard from a distance that gradually turns into the sound of overhead helicopters, and out of nowhere, there is a blackout, then silence. A title card of THE WEEKND appears then we are sent back to where the Heartless ended. This opening shot is a flash-forward of how the video’s events end.
In Sherlock Jr., discontinuity comes into play when Sherlock Jr. falls asleep on the job. His imagination allows him to step out of his body and watch the events unfold as if he were simultaneously directing the show and being part of the cast. Meanwhile, the audience is aware of the character’s state in a dreamfrom the last scenes, which somehow shows discontinuity. The scene where we look at trash and are immediately taken to a beautiful scene where there is a lot to admire while Sherlock Jr. is getting a gift for The girl.

References
Pérez-Rufí, J. P., & Castro-Higueras, A. (2021). Blinding Lights (The Weeknd): formal techniques and branded content in MTV’s Video of the Year Blinding Lights (The Weeknd): pautasformales y contenido de marcaen el videoclipdelaño de MTV. doxa. comunicación, (32), 187-205.
Horton, A., & Andrew, H. (Eds.).(1997). Buster Keaton’s Sherlock Jr. Cambridge University Press.