Lana Dey Ray - Video Games - Analysis Of Music Video

The video begins with a mid-shot of Lana Del Rey then cuts a hand held shot of two couples on bikes which immediately portrays to the viewer that the song is going to be about love/ a lost love. It then cuts to a shot of people jumping into a swimming pool and then to a shot of a cartoon Disney character highlighting the playfulness of the song and conveying with the title 'Video Games'

This random shot of a rose is shown in between shots of Lana singing, it flows the the music as it opens up and expands, roses also suggests love accompanied by the subtle pink colour. This has inspired us when we do our music video to have small clips of things they may accompany the footage nicely and that don't make the video too boring conveying the the conventions of a music video which is to also have the location and shots changing.

The video also uses a lot of Black and White to portray a memory or old time filming. This, we found very inspiring as we thought that looking back on a memory or reminiscing could really be emphasised and made clear to the viewer by showing a clear contrast using black and white or perhaps sepia/old film.

This mid-shot of a couple is something else that we really liked. It also (like the b/w shots) portrays a memory and represents the running theme in the long which is love. For our music video, we thought that we could use images of a couple to also convey the meaning of the song.

The music video also uses random shots of America, it shows yellow taxi's, Hollywood, the American flag, stars on the floor and the streets. This we felt was inspiring for our music video so we thought that when took a trip to New York, we could film some footage there and then use the recycled footage from London to show a variety of locations without making it look totally random because of the narrative.

In between all of the shots above they show close ups of Lana Del Ray singing. She is shown wearing different costumes and not always in the same location although some are repeated which conveys with the conventions of a music video. This is great for the viewer as they can see who the narrative of the song is relating back to along with her being the USP of the song for her fans.

The video uses literal imagery. This shot of a boy falling off of his skate board is shown when the lyrics 'watching all our friends fall' is sung. We found this very interesting as it gives a different take on what a music video is about and takes on a more controversial role of being unique. We thought we could use this in our video and make it a running theme throughout for example, a shot of a church when we hear the church bells at the beginning.

The shots of the car journeys we thought could be interesting for our music video as it gives a sense of reality, making the lyrics seam more real and meaningful rather then fake and completely edited.

The video displays shots of Paz de la Huerta (an American film star) falling over whilst intoxicated. We thought that the paparazzi footage worked well for the randomness in the video but didn't feel we could use it in our music video due to the fact that we would like to be original.

Purpose of the music video: Lana Del Ray filmed the music video using her web cam. She was inspired by a quote that her ex boyfriend had said,  "I think we came together because we were both outsiders. It was perfect. But I think with that contentment also comes sadness. There was something heavenly about that life – we'd go to work and he'd play his video games – but also it was maybe too regular."