Music Video Analysis
Narrative / Concept:
The narrative of this video follows Lana's summer of running away from her problems and joining a group of men on the road.
During the video Lana wears minimal clothing, mostly white as this represents her innocence. Throughout the video she wears a top with shorts and a dress. Towards the end of the video she can be seen wearing the American flag to show her culture and love of her country. She can also be seen wearing an Indian headdress. The men in the video wear a lot of denim, shades and bandanas which show the bad boy rider look, however they are all a lot older. Lana still has her hair curly but wears slightly more makeup and has long red acrylic nails. The men all have tattoos, which again represents the bad boy look.
The props used by Lana are cigarettes and at the end of the video a gun, while the men all ride motor bikes, drink alcohol and play with fire. The settings include an arcade, bedroom, balconey, garage and field. These are the places which she travelled to during her summer and the bedroom and balconey show where she was staying.
The beginning of the video is filmed in daylight, whereas towards the end of the video it was filmed at night and the fire is used for lighting.
Lana is normally centred in the middle of the screen and there are still a lot of close up shots as well as more long shots.
There are jump cuts between each clip which helps merge it all together.
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Ride - Lana Del Rey
Performance:
In the performance part of this video Lana can be seen wearing a number of different colour dresses; white which represents innocence, red which represents love and yellow which represents happiness. I think these representations link well with the song as the song is about the love and happiness during her summer.
Lana has her hair big and curly with the makeup kept to a minimal. The prop she uses during her performance is a microphone as she is a singer and the setting is always on some sort of stage.
The background is very dark with the lighting being on her to make her stand out. At one point however, it switches with her being a dark shadow and the light surrounding her. This makes her the sole focus of the shot and puts her in the limelight.
She is positioned in the centre of the stage, and the shot is usually close up with the occasional medium shot so you get to see a lot of her.
There are jump cuts between her singing and clips of the audience or locations.
Lana also sings during the narrative as well as in her performances.
White dress
Red dress
Yellow dress
Cigarette, Arcade
White dress, Balconey
Gun, Indian headdress, Field
No Rest for the Wicked - Lykke Li
Narrative:
This whole video is narrative without any performance.
The costumes of the male and female are just everyday, jeans and jackets. The girl isn't wearing any makeup but the guy does have tattoos.
No props are really used except the occasional holding of a bag by the main characters. However, the group of people chasing the guy are all carrying torches as it is dark. The setting is mainly in a field but it also includes an indoors, forest, streets and by the sea.
It is all filmed in daylight with the indoors being the only exception where it is a lot darker.
Both characters tend to stay positioned in the centre of the screen and there are jump cuts between each shot.
The narrative suggests the idea of a relationship ending with shots of the intimacy between them both as well as them both going their separate ways.
Field
Indoors
Torches
Narrative / Concept:
This video is more concept in the fact it has loads of random clips however, there is still some narrative to it. The female singer is the main character in the narrative, she can be seen wearing a cropped top, skirt and tights with sunglasses on and her hair down. This is fitting as she is in a desert where it is hot.
She isn't really seen with any props. The setting is mainly in a car or in the desert however they are also seen in the streets and on train tracks.
It is all filmed in daylight but when they are in the car the lighting gets slightly darker.
She is still positioned in the centre of the screen the majority of the time, but in some places she is over to the right side.
The clips have been edited so that they overlap with eachother so you can still see the last clip while the new one is coming in.
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Fade Into You - Mazzy Star
Performance:
In the performance section of the video, you can see the whole band. The lead singer is wearing just a plain black dress with her hair down.
The lead singer is using a microphone, while the other band members props include guitars and drums. They are set on a stage so they are shown to be singing live.
The lighting is blue so everything looks blue.
The lead singer is positioned in the centre of the screen as well as being more forward compared to the rest of the band who are all behind her. There are a lot of close ups of the singer.
The editing overlaps so you can see two clips merging together.
Band
Close up
Right
Desert
In car
Right