Lana Del Rey- Blue Jeans

Lana Del Rey's music video for 'Blue Jeans' does follow the indie pop genre we are focusing our own music video on, however it does not hold the full style of the video we wish to prouduce. The theme of the video is about love which is what we are also basing our music video around. I wanted to analysis a video that had this theme, but not in the way we will fully portray it in our project. I wanted to see if there was any effects, and shots we could incorpret into our music video, to make it edgy and unique but still in the Indie pop genre, just focusing into a different type of love shown in this video as dark, instead of the reminising love we want to base ours on.

Lana Del Rey's music video for this song, is very interesting and is all in black and white which will be in our own music video. However from Lana's video the audience recieve a different feeling from having the video in black and white, it gives it a vintage feel and makes it seem myseterious and vivid. Whislt we will be creating a calming, mellow tone with the use of the black and white. It's great to see how two music videos focusing on the theme of love and from the same genre creating such huge contrasts between the effect.

The first shot used in the music video is of water, this links to the nature we have seen throughout the research in the Indie Pop genre, by having the first shot being water is can represent that water is all around us, it's overwhelming this could link to love being overpowering and straight away tells the audience that this is not your typical 'love song.' We are then shown a shot of Lana Del Rey under the water, we can tell she is under water by the shadows of the ripples from the water. It makes Lana looks like she is swaying under the water, and could be seen as an odd figure of the imagaination suggesting that love is confusing and not simple as people make it out to be.

The video then dips to black, we are shown the next character being the male. The camera is on the side of his face not letting us get the full force of his emotion. Most of his face is in the dark and his is smoking portraying a bad boy character, that many teenagers are attracted to once in their adolecent years. The shot is very sinister, and shows the theme of dark love with the melancholy tones.

Lana Del Rey is then shown in the lightest light she can be in the black and white effect. It portrays the characters in two very different lights, comparing them to one another. It seems as if the music video is trying to represnt good vs. evil, Lana in the light being the innocent one and the male character being the one causing all the problems.

The shot of Lana under the water represnts that she is trapped, she can't get out. Love is shown to be overpowering always bringing her back down to rock bottom, being under water. As the music video continues there is a shot where we look down onto her, the audience get the impression that she is weak and feels as if she is below everyone else, she has no power in her relationship, like she is being controlled by her bad boy partner. An extreme close up of Lana's face is used emphasising her emotion towards love and letting us concentrate on her flawless beauty, making the audience question if she is this perfect then why is she in this complicated relationship, under strain and pressure.

We focus alot of the body movement of the male character when he is undressing, this is something we will be doing in our music video, which is usefull to see in Indie Pop love videos as if gives us confidence that we are fitting with the theme, and not braking boundrys of the genre. The male character seems very relaxed compared to Lana under the water, he seems care free which is ironic when contrasted to position the female is under as she can feel the strain of their relationship. As the video goes on, Lana starts to look up through the water at her love, he is blurred with the samel shadowing ripple effect that was used on Lana at the beginning of the video. By having the water between the lovers represnts that there is something holding back their love inforcing a gap between the two, this could be linked to intamacy.

The first shot of them together as a couple is very intamte, it focuses on the body language between the pair, we are shown from the shot that the male holds the authority in the relationship ,he is touching Lana's body and face but she is holding back her feelings. The male goes to dive into the water, representing that maybe he is going to rescue Lana, maybe their love will survive and all the melancholy atmosphere will dissapear. Straight after that shot one of Lana is seen, she is waiting for her lover to come and save their relationship, hoping that they will be able to strive for the lust and passion they once had.

Once she is out from under the water, is symbols to the audience that she is rescued and everything in the relationship is sorted, they are now the typical happy couple. However from the shot the male is in black clothing, his is still the mysterious character feared by the innocent character (Lana) dressed in a white provocative bathing costume connoting elegance and perfection. An extreme long shot is used, the shot is very symmetrical apart from the beautiful surroundings, Lana is straight in the middle of the shot walking into the swimming pool, the audiences attention focuses on her, instead of taking in the breath taking scenery, this again links to the nature seen in our research. This time we see Lana, walking into the water on her own accord suggesting that she has gained some authority and their realtionship could be on the mend.

However all thoughts of their relationship turning around and becoming positive are lost, we are shown numerous shots of a crocodile in the water, represnting that Lana is walking to her fatal death, love is a danger and not a pleasent thing. We then recognise that the crocodile is personifed as being the male lover, quick shots are used to represnt this showing that the male is the dangerous one and their relationship is still in the same place is was before he 'rescued' her. By having Lana being in the water with a crocodile, suggest that any power and control she did have is being lost, this can link back to the beginning of the music video as this could be seen as being a figure of her own imagaination, she realises that her lover is frightful and troubling.

Shots are shown of Lana Del Rey sinking back down under the water, again she is overpowered by his animal like qualities. He is taking her back to where she was at the beggining of the video, taking away the sense of any rescue. As she is sinking to the bottom she begins to swim, representing that she is trying to escape. The crocodile swimming next to her signifies the male lover, basically saying you can try and get away but I will always pull you back to the place I want you.

A switch between the atmosphere of the music video changes, Lana's face is now above the water she is getting away from his hazardous love, however the next shot is seen of Lana and her male lover swimming in the pool to meet each other, connoting that she is weak and their love is too powerful to pull and keep them apart, his whole face is above the water whilst Lana's mouth is a little under, so he still holds power of her but they are both becoming equal, suggesting to the audience that maybe their love is complicated but it is true.

However this feel of trur love, after a few shots completley changes again, the couple kissing each other quickly cuts back to the crocodile, represnting that no matter what her feelings are what she is doing is dangerous and not true love. Lana's leg is seen to be over the crocodile, portraying that she knows he is a risky character to fall in love with but she always needfs to be with him, she just can't let go.

The male character follows this by pushing her under the water, Lana seems to take two steps forward and three steps back in this video is represnts that love can do horrible things, and she is always seen to be the one getting hurt. The male character soon realises what he had done wrong and pulls her up over the water holding Lana intimately, this portrays to the audience of the music video that he did really care and love her, he just didn't know how to control his feelings so turned them into an act of power and authority.