Textual Analysis: Video Games by Lana Del Ray

Textual Analysis:

Video Games:  by Lana Del Rey

In this essay I will be analysing the music video ‘Video Games’ by the artist Lana Del Rey. I have chosen this music video because it is under the genre of alternative pop which comes under the same genre we have chosen for our music video project. Lana Del Rey’s target audience being towards young/ youthful people has made her release of alternative songs such as ‘Born to die’ and ‘Blue Jean’ very popular and therefore making her a very well-known artist. After watching her music video of ‘Video Games’ it illustrates a narrative/concept based video which gives my group and I great ideas of what we can come up with when it comes to planning our own music video.

To explain how the above areas I have mentioned in my introduction have been conducted I can analyse the codes and conventions of the music video, to clearly illustrate how we can recognise the genre and type of music video it is. Firstly, after watching the video throughout the camera work used varied between conventions of  alternative pop music videos, in Lana Del Rey’s music video many close up shots were shown showing her emotion and facial expressions. The close ups on the artist also emphasised the words of the song with the movement of the lips of the artist, which is a key convention of pop and indie. The angles varied showing different shots in different perspectives and the movement of the camera also changed throughout including tilts and tracking with the use handheld camerawork. Editing is a very important factor to this music video as you can see through the large amount of jump cuts showing a sudden change from one scene to another, this editing technique is used a lot on indie/alternative music videos. Animation is used in this music video highlighting a more concept base type and also it looks like real life footage. Above all the mise en scene contributes the most to the music video, making the type and genre more notable, the setting changes throughout the video as explained through the amount of jump shots used. However the artist remains in the same setting during the course of video in a white room but each time wearing different clothing whereas the rest of the video is trying to give us some sort of story/concept. The lighting also changes in the video to artificial lighting to ambient which emphasises a particular mood. The colour palette of the music video changes from black and white to bright and colourful which again creates a specific atmosphere. The clothing of the artist is causal and stylish which reflects the genre more towards indie, influencing the youthful target audience.

Applying Andrew Goodwin’s theory to the video I can analyse the proposes Goodwin made to what makes a music video. In Lana Del Rey’s music video there is some relationship between lyrics and visuals, for example, on the shot of the artist singing she makes a hand reference of the number two whilst singing it and also another scene where a guy is skating and falls as she says ‘falling’ in her lyrics. Although the track is quite depressing and sad when the tempo gets faster and more upbeat the visuals do compliment the music therefore showing a relationship between music and visuals. The genre characteristics are clear as we analysed above about the close up shots and mise en scene ranging from pop to indie making it alternative pop. There is not any intertextual reference in the music video of ‘Video Games’ that the audience would relate to. The music video is narrative showing us some sort of story, for instance we see scenes of people enjoying themselves: cycling, swimming etc… however the story is not clear when it changes to scenes for example of drunken rich people and animation cartoons. On the other hand it does push towards concept base as well as it does demonstrate some meaning as the artist is showing emotion and the lyrics explain what is being shown even though there is not clear narrative to the music video itself.

In conclusion by conducting this textual analysis it is clear that those specific areas such as the editing (for instance the jump shots) are key elements in making the genre prominent. The codes and conventions of the music video help the audience to understand how each factor is being presented i.e. lighting, costume… On the whole, completing this textual analysis will help the group and I make decisions on how the genre alternative pop should be illustrated and what techniques to use when we go to make our music video ‘Disrespect’ by Delilah.