Wednesday, 20 September 2017

Codes and Conventions of Lana Del Rey

Following the guidance of my teacher, I looked into the codes and conventions Lana's music videos follow, and additionally I analysed the technical aspect to her videos.

Video Games 
Originally Lana's video were very concept based. Her budget was small- and she edited the footage together herself. The music video features her singing and lots of vintage film included- establishing shots, animation, and lots of shots of people- mostly being mid shots.The length of shot ranges from a quick 1 second glimpse to 3/4 seconds for longer shots. Unusually dialogue of a drunk movie star can be heard when she sings 'He holds me in his big arms, drunk and I am seeing stars', which although links to the lyrics is usual to see random footage layered over a song. The location I assume is New York, also features glimpses of the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles, and vintage suburbial shots.


Born to Die
Now as an established star, her larger budget can be seen in the production of Lana's song 'Born to Die'. This is shown in the editing in particular is a lot slicker, and even the use of CGI- the tigers who join her on her throne. Unlike video games, there is also a diverse range of shots used: establishing, wide shots, over the shoulder, close ups, mid shots. The movement of the camera is also a lot more fluid, for example a close up pans out to a long shot at the end. Born to Die also follows a narrative, so we follow Lana through a variety of settings. Overall, this video shows a massive development of Lana's house style- the dark imagery and narrative we see is fitting to the artists voice and styling.

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