Lana Del Rey's 2011 music video for "Video Games" features footage she filmed herself on a webcam. The video has a home movie aesthetic and portrays Del Rey with a neutral expression, emphasizing her emotions through lyrics and close-ups. While some shots directly relate to lyrics, many use intertextual references without direct connections. Del Rey aims to seem relatable rather than extravagant. The video establishes her star image through focus on her appearance against simple backdrops and references to fame, while also portraying her in a sexualized manner through flirtatious body language and interactions with the camera.
2. INTRODUCTION
Artist- Lana Del Rey
Year it was released- 2011
Director- Lana Del Rey directed the video herself, even using footage
of herself singing on a webcam
Album- Born to Die
Place in charts- Number 1 in UK indie chart. Number 1 in Germany
and Luxemburg and Top 10 ranking in France, Belgium, The
Netherlands and United Kingdom.
Genre and characteristics- The artist has the nonchalant attitude
throughout the video, as her facial expression remains mutual with
no sense of happiness. There are many close ups of her singing to
emphasise her emotions through the lyrics too which is typical of the
genre. The locations are simple and not extravagant making it easier
for the audience to relate with the audience.
3. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LYRICS AND VISUALS
The music video involves many scenic shots
of America and Intertextual references of
footage from old films or home movies,
making it difficult to create a relationship
between lyrics and visuals, however there
are a few shots in the video which link them
together, to create a greater understanding
of the lyrics to the audience.
4. LYRIC: WATCHING ME GET UNDRESSED
The visuals aren’t accurately linked to the lyrics, however the
idea of ‘watching’ is portrayed through the emphasis of using
cameras to record what they are watching. The lyric also
suggests a male gaze of a woman as she is getting undressed
and this uses the notion of looking by using cameras.
5. LYRIC: SINGING IN THE OLD BARS
There is a relationship between the lyrics and visuals here as
Lana sings about old bars, and a hand held mid shot shows
an American bar/club sign, relating to the lyrics ‘old bars’ as
the audience are able to visualise the type of bar she meant.
6. LYRIC: HE HOLDS ME IN HIS BIG ARMS,
DRUNK AND I AM SEEING STARS
The visuals represent the lyrics at this point as there are
previous long shots showing the female falling over in a
drunken manner, and as the lyrics ‘he holds me in his big
arms’ is heard, the mid shot shows the male holding up the
drunken female.
7. LYRICS: WATCHING ALL OUR FRIENDS FALL
There appears to be an old home video styled piece of footage
to represent these lyrics, as a male on a skateboard attempts
a trick and falls to the ground. This links the lyrics ‘fall’
however does not imply that it is the artists friend which has
fallen, so the lyrics do not have a direct relationship with the
visuals.
8. LYRIC: THEY SAY THAT THE WORLD WAS BUILT
FOR TWO
The webcam footage that the artist has taken of herself, show
her singing to the camera in a close up on this particular lyric
and when she sings the word ‘two’ she raises her hand to
gesture the number, linking the lyrics to the visuals.
9. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MUSIC AND VISUALS
The music and visuals link together well throughout
this song, although there are not many tempo
changes which can be represented, instead the
volume increases as more instruments can be
heard in the music, and some shots demonstrate
this well.
10. The instrumental music at the beginning is slow with a steady paced
beat, and the shots of the people on the motor bikes has been
edited with slow motion to show a relationship between the music
and visuals.
11. The volume of music increases as more instruments
are introduced and this footage of a cartoon
orchestra links to the music well as it represents the
music’s volume increasing.
12. HOW IS THE ARTIST PORTRAYED AS A STAR
The record company have clearly aimed to represent
Lana Del Rey as her normal self, as she isn’t
dressed in designer dresses etc and is wearing
casual clothes which keeps to her style and genre
as it is an alternative approach for music videos.
This is similar to most of her music videos as she
wants them to be relatable to her audience and
although she has star image, it isn’t due to the
money spent on her appearance and locations in
the videos as she films them herself, often off a
webcam at home.
13. STAR IMAGE
This close up of a sign or graffiti (unclear in video) has
the stars name on it, suggesting her fame and success
giving her star image. Although it may be inspiration for
her star name, and this makes the audience feel as
though they are learning about her history.
14. There are a range of close ups of
the artist in this video, showing her
in different costume against
different backgrounds,
representing her importance and
star image as there are no other
distractions on these shots, so
everybody’s focus immediately
goes to her. The image on the left
shows her cheeky personality too,
giving her more star quality rather
than just an image.
15. This downwards tilt shows the Hollywood stars, and
this gives the impression that the artist will have
one or knows the people that do, giving her star
image in a unique way.
16. NOTION OF LOOKING
The artist is portrayed in a sexualised way in elements of
the video, mainly through the close up’s of her singing
as she often makes eye contact with the camera, and
body language such as winking and touching her skin
can be interpreted as flirtatious. I think she does this as
it fits in with the particular lyrics of the song at those
shots, and it shows her cheekier side which the
audience may like, improving her sales of the song.
There are many old fashioned shots of men with
camera, suggesting the notion of looking as they are
often followed with footage of a female in a evening
dress who is drunk, however represents the males as
looking at her in a different way through the male gaze.
17. BODY LANGUAGE AND ACTIONS
As the lyrics say ‘I heard that you like the bad girls’, the artist
raises her hand suggesting the gesture makes her seem like a
bad girl, and winks to the camera which shows a flirtatious
side to the artist and demonstrates her in the male gaze which
supports Laura Mulvey’s theory.
18. In this mid shot, Lana’s body language appears to be
seductive as she is hugging herself in a way, and
her eye contact with the camera supports this
sexualised body language.
19. The many shots in the video involving cameras, all
appear to be males behind them, which suggests
the male gaze and notion of looking. I also
personally think it supports the meaning of the song
as it is showing stereotypical men, as the song
demonstrates the idea of males being more
interested in video games than their girlfriend etc,
and these shots represent the stereotype of men
that only appreciate attractive women in slinky
clothes.
20. INTERTEXTUAL REFERENCES
I am unsure if the intertextual references come from
TV or film, however there are many shots which
she has either filmed herself or gathered from
another source. These relate to the meaning of the
song and help develop the narrative of the video,
especially the black and white images, as these
back up the previous ideas I had of her appreciating
vintage styles.
21. PERFORMANCE/NARRATIVE/CONCEPT BASED?
The music video contains about a third of
performance from Lana Del Rey singing into the
camera, as this is the only performance we see and
only shots of the artist throughout. The rest of the
video is narrative and concept based as she has
created videos of locations close to her heart in
America, famous locations such as Hollywood, and
then videos of her friends or which she has found
which link to the meaning of her video. This is what
makes her videos so unique, as the focus isn’t
always on her, and relates more to the meaning of
the song.
22. WHAT I LIKE ABOUT HER VIDEO
After analysing this video, I like the artist’s unique
approach to a narrative, as she uses handheld
shots the majority of the time which give a home
video feel to the whole music video, therefore
seeming more personal to the artist. I also like the
simplicity of the performance shots, however when
we film our video, I want to interpret elements of her
style, but also develop and challenge them by
adding more performance and having the focus on
the artist instead of others, to increase star image
and quality.
