Similar Product Analysis – Lana Del Rey ‘Young and Beautiful’

To ensure that I produce a near professional standard music video production I am beginning my research analysing similar products. The first Music Video I have studied is “Young and Beautiful” by Lana Del Rey. Lana Del Rey is a similar artist to my chosen artist Selena Gomez. Both artists produce music within the ‘Pop’ Music genre.

Textual Analysis

Camera Shots

Throughout this music video establishing and close up shots are used. Establishing and close ups are conventions generally used within this genre of music as it allows us to see picturesque scenes and their emotions and expressions on their faces, which tell us a story.

An establishing shot is used at the beginning showing us Lana walking into a room full of mirrors which gives the impression she has a large presence connoting she is the main focus and somewhat important. Also by her many times through the mirror and seeing her standing tall in the frist shot shows the audience who the arist is and reiterates they have importance within the music video and towards the song.

Narrative

This video doesn’t have a narrative behind it. The music video is (Performance, Conceptual etc… The links between narrative and visuals (as suggested all music videos have by Goodwin’s Dancing in the distraction factory theory) are found in the artist’s actions and facial expressions – this is how meaning and ‘a storyline’ are connoted to the audience. For example on many of the close ups Lana Del Rey is seen to be playing with her face and covering it conveying her obsession with staying young and in love as she says in her song “will you still love me when I’m no longer young and beautiful.”

Mise-En-Scene

The lighting throughout the video is dim and dark which gives off a depressing and theatrical atmosphere for example shots of the orchestra are in the form of a silhouette. By using low key lighting it conveys her feelings as it connotes she is sad and scared of being left and we are able to tell she has an obsession of wanting to stay ‘young and beautiful.’ However the build to the bridge the lighting changes to bright red which shows us a change in atmosphere, it shows how desperate she is coming to not only stay young and beautiful but to also keep her man.

There is a vintage feel to this video by the dark lighting and silhouette effects used which follow the conventions of Indie Pop Music. As this song is for the movie ‘The Great Gatsby’ which is set in the 1920 s the dark lighting and colour scheme of blues, reds, greens and browns used′ gives the video a dated look to match the era the movie is set in. Also Lana’s outfit, makeup and hair fits in with the time period as she has a gown on that rich people generally wore in the 1920 s to parties and the use of orchestra which helps relates to the time period as that′ was popular back then. There isn’t much costume change within the video for the majority of the time she is wearing the same gown. The makeup and costumes used within the video reinforces the mellow tone of the song. The teardrops on the side of her face and the diamonds that Lana wears throughout highlight her wealth.

We see Lana Del Rey walking towards a door with beaming white light coming through which implicates she is on her way to heaven as she sings the words “Dear Lord when I get to heaven please let me bring my man” which shows us she still wants to please her man

even up in heaven. The white light just shows us the outline of her body which highlights her curves and figure which makes her more attractive which shows women are seen as beautiful if they have an ‘ideal’ figure. During the line ‘He is my sun, he makes me shine’,

high key lighting is used which creates a glow around her silhouette. Suggesting that she is never alone God is always surrounding her, this shows a connection between the visuals of the video and the lyrics which is a factor of Andrew Goodwin’s music video theory.

The Male Gaze – Laura Mulvey

This video will attract the male gaze, as they would find her attractive due to the makeup and outfit she is wearing. Also when her figure is highlighted it will engage more males as men generally see women as ‘sex objects’ and usually judge women based on their looks and body image. On the other hand the female gaze would engage in the video and look at her clothing and make up as they are more interest in fashion compared to males. Many different scenes, and generally outfit changes, are used in music videos to entertain and entice the audience, as they are continuously re-watched to sell the song and artist.

Dancing in The distraction Factory – Andrew Goodwin

1) Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (e.g. Stage performances in metal videos, dance routines for boy/girl bands)Lana Del Rey’s song ‘Young and Beautiful’ demonstrates genre characteristics when compared to her other videos. Lana Del Rey usually gives her videos a vintage feel to them by using dark colours and blurry effects.

‘Young and Beautiful’ ‘Summertime Sadness’ ‘Shades of Cool’

Her music videos generally feature a range of close-ups on her face singing the song and are almost primarily performance-based, with a small narrative-spin occasionally, which shows she follows similar conventions in the majority of her videos. However the video the ‘Young and Beautiful’ challenges indie Pop genre as usually they include establishing and panning shots of scenery but this video does not contain any shots of scenery.

2) There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals (Either illustrative, amplifying or contradicting)As this music video is performance-based the lyrics of the song have little relation to the visuals. Narrative-based videos contain more relation of the lyrics to the visuals as they generally illustrate them. When Lana Del Rey sings the words ‘Will you still love me when I’m no longer young or beautiful’ this is a rhetorical question she is asking her lover and as she sings this line it cuts across to close ups of Lana Del Rey touching her face and of her face alone. This creates a visual relation to the lyrics she sings as it shows us close ups of her face relating to the rhetorical question as she is worried she won’t be as pretty when she’s older.

When she begins to sing “Dear Lord, when I get to Heaven”, the

shot changes to an image of her standing in a shaft of light which connotes the door way to heaven and the light people see when dying.

3) There is a relationship between the music and the visuals (Either illustrative, amplifying or contradicting)The relationship between the music and the visuals in “Young and Beautiful” is amplifying. The music has a very melancholic tone, which is reflected through the fuzzy and dark lighting the music video uses. Throughout the song, there is a heavy drumbeat at the beginning of each chorus, which is mirrored in the cut from a close up of the artist’s face to the orchestra playing. The jump cuts between shots are timed according to the beat and tempo of the song. There is also an illustrative aspect to the relationship between music and visuals in this music video for example the shots of the orchestra playing is illustrating the music heard on the track.

4) The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close-ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (e.g. A visual style)The demands of the record label for lots of close ups are met in the music video for ‘Young and Beautiful’. In the shots of the Lana Del Rey singing the song, there are only close ups with the focus on the main parts of the face such as her cheeks, lips and eyes and close ups of the full face from a range of angles. There are also some wide shots and long shots but in dark lighting, which highlight her figure and the shadow of her. By using close ups it develops a personal and close relationship between the artist and the audience, which will allow the viewer to feel more connected and involved in the music video and song.

5) There are frequent references to the notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic (sexual) treatment of the female body Throughout the music video there is a notion of screens within screens. A black border, portraying the footage in a screen within a screen, frames the action on screen.

Within the video the voyeuristic treatment of the female body isn’t as bold in other videos as there are no scenes in the music video when the shots focus on highly sexualised areas of the female body. Contrastingly, Lana Del Rey’s figure as a whole is being sexualised as low key lighting is used, which creates a shadow of her body and highlights her figure. This focuses the audience’s attention on the clear silhouette of her body as everything else within the frames are blacked out and her body stands out. The camera also focuses on the sexualised areas of the face by using extreme close ups when filming areas such as her lips which have been made more protuberant by the dark lipstick which contrasts with her pale skin making them stand out more and her eyes, which have been similarly prominent by the heavy eye make-up she wears.

6) There is often intertextual references (to films, TV programmes, other music videos, etc)There is no intertextuality of products within this music video and no product placement is used which shows Lana is the main focus and allows us to focus and connect with the song and its meaning. However there is intertextual reference to a film as this song by Lana Del Rey was made specifically for the 2013 movie ‘The Great Gatsby’. The lyrics revolve around the themes of nostalgia, the sadness of aging and changing and pleasing a lover, which are explored in the novel “The Great Gatsby”.

7) Whether the video is

primarily

performance-based, narrative-based or concept-based and how element of each is used in itThis music video is performance-based, as the whole video is different shots of Lana Del Rey singing and the orchestra performing the song. A key convention of performance-based videos are a major part of the footage is based anf focused on the artist and of musicians playing which are evident in ‘Young and Beautiful’. All we see are mainly close up of Lana Del Rey and scenes of the orchestra but her facial expressions and lighting substitutes the need for a narrative, as they tell a story themselves. Due to the song being a soundtrack for a movie a narrative isn’t need as much as it would take away the dramatic feel from the movie.