Textual Analysis of 3 Videos

The genre that Lana Del Rey follows is a hybrid genre of indie pop. Bands/Singer like the Lana Del Rey who also follow this genre are:
Jessica Ware
Florence and the Machine
Birdy 
Lykke Li 
Christina Perri 

In order to gain more understanding of the genre and what type of conventions/cinematography/editing and connotations i will need to be portraying in my music video, i will be analysing 3 videos from the artists above.



Birdy- Help the people

The main editing point in this video is the constant black and white effect throughout the song. This creates a sense of nostalgia as it mixed with sadness and happiness. It also uses slow motion to emphasise the emotion of the song. The director has specifically chose to put this in especially at the begininng of the video to emphasise all the people in this world and how we all need to slow down to truly understand the value of life it shows she is taking a good look at them. He also blurs some background out in certain shots to focus the audiences full attention on the singer or things the want you to pick up on within the shot. It also used jump cut when moving from shot to shot.

The cinematography begins with a lot of establishing shots of busy london town juxtoposed with the slow motion editing. This has an occasional shot of the singer. Throughout the video most of the close up shots are of the singer whereas other shots representing other characters in the video are either mid shot or long shot. The reason the director has done this is because the close ups are so we can be closer to the singers thoughts and views and the shots of the other characters are further way as we are seeing it from Birdys point of view on a bus or in the street. The director is trying to make us think about the world around us.

The director chose london as the setting because this is the busiest place in england, this is also juxtoposing with the fact he made it in slow motion. He has chose to put the singer on a bus. The reason for this is that its public transport with strangers riding along with her so it links in with the lyrics of 'help the people' as she is singing about everyone living in the same world we live in. Again he has done shots of different settings to link in with the lyrics, representing different backgrounds and type of people. There is also a lot of characters within the songs of all different ages. Clearly by costumes we can tell which characters are upper class and lower class. The man on the left is clearly showing a stereoptypical lower class. His grufty beard and missing tooth suggests this. He is also wearing a gold chain and a brand armarni which is what gangsters are usually represented for wearing. These characters help us establish the meaning behind the video about different people within society. The artist herself is in casual vintage type clothes suggesting the genre of indie type, it shows her as one of the people and not any different.

Christina Perri- Jar of hearts

"Jar of Hearts" is a rock-oriented tune that is about shunning the continued advances of a former flame who was ungrateful while together, yet now wants to rekindle a failed romance."http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jar_of_Hearts

Looking at the editing a lot of shots use the fade option to go onto the next shot. This could have been done to shows the singer fading out of her love it is also to show the audience that its the memories that she is reliving. When it is in the same scene she also uses simple jump shots, the reason for this is just so it can show us the singer from different angles making it more interesting.

The mise en scene throughout the video creates a mood of misery within the song. The black rose petals throughout the song could symbolise her death of love. This is because when people wear black it is usually to a funeral which represents them mourning. This could show the singer mourning over the end of her breakup. The smoke and fog of the background shows the singer is lost and stuck in this sence of loneliness now shes had a hurtful breakup. The song explains her heart been taking away by a man she once/still loves. The rain on the window a few shots after is pathetic fallacy. Rain shows the singer is clearly feeling sad and depressed. The rain could also represent her tears streaming down after the boy broke up with her. The colour of the video is very dark and gloomy again connoting herself stuck in misery due to this boy however at the end of the video it shows her defeating the boys love and he falls to the ground. In these shots the temperature and lighting/colour settings become warmer and everything become brighter. This is telling the audience the singer can be happy without the guy in the end. Also throughout the video the singer is filmed with a white backdrop. This shows she is now in the safe zone on her own, it also connotes hope. This could also be applied to the colour of Christina Perris dress. The outfit of the protagonist is also quite fairy tale like, this is also linked in with the story of the video where the boy is taking the souls of girls. The white on the dress could also connote innocent, immediately likening the audience to the protagonist. The antagonist (boy) is wearing black connoting evil immediately telling the audience he is the bad guy in this story.

The cinematography within the song uses mostly basic shots. Mainly close ups, mid-shots and long shots. This is because it is meant to be like a film as it has a story line too it therefore it needs to follow typical conventions of the basic shots. The close ups are to show the pain in her break up and how she feels about it all. It also uses close ups on significant parts of the story. In this case when the boy is taking their souls and the jar that they all have. The long shots are to show the setting and whats happening within the scene. In this case there is an example of a long shot where all the girls are together dancing. This is to emphasise the fact that the guy has broken all these girls hearts. Therefore i know that i use long shots to emphasise something within my narrative.

Britney Spears- Everytime

I chose to analyse britney spears because after researching Lana Del Rey her music is inspired by several singers and Britney Spears is one.

""Everytime" is considered a pop ballad with breathy vocals. Its lyrics are a plea for forgiveness for inadvertently hurting a former lover."Everytime" portrays Spears as a star hounded by paparazzi, who drowns in her bathtub when she starts bleeding from a wound in her head. In the hospital, doctors fail to resuscitate her while a child is born in the next room, implying she reincarnated." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everytime 

At the beginning of this video the first editing it uses it the fade from the first shot to the second. Then from that it uses just a simple jump cut until right at the end when it uses a fade again. The fade is used to represent a transition of a major shift in time or emotional status for the singer. It also is used to suggest a character has been knocked out, killed or in a daydream. In this case she was dreaming what would happen if she was to die between her relationship. The simple jump cut is to stick to conventions of a film with a typical narrative. The shots also jump from one another in line with the beat of the song. In the post production process the producer has also added diagetic sounds of a helicopter to add to the narrative.

The mise en scene of the video is very busy because it has a narrative structure with a story to portray. There are 2 main characters in this video Britney Spears and her boyfriend. We can tell the difference between who the antagonist and protagonist is. The boy is in black suggesting he is the antagonist and we give negative representations to him whereas the artist is in white which connotes innocence and purity. This is a typical convention as the main singer is always likened by the audience. This theme of white is also continued through the rest of the video when the actress 'supposedly dies' she is placed in a white room in a white shirt again connoting positive outcomes. It could also symbolise she is now an angel.There is good use of lighting in this video too, when britney is surrounded by people at the beginning and paparazzi the lighting is gloomy and dark showing that the actress is miserable in this life but when she is in her dream the video lights up suggesting she feels happier without all this fame. The use of props in the video also help us suggest the storyline is about heartbreak. A good example in the video is when the boy throws a red vase at the wall and it shatters, this could represent their love being shattered as red connotes passion and love. 

The cinematography shows lots of establishing shots at the beginning. This suggests to the audience were the singer is acting at the time of the video. In these shot is shows us skyscrapers and images of britney on billboards suggesting it is going to be about her famous life in the big story. When the actress is singing in the shot she uses a direct gaze with the audience capturing our attention. The shot of her in the bath from a high angle shows the singer as vulnerable especially in this part of the narrative when she has passed out and drowned under water. There is mainly mid shots throughout the video with lack of close ups, this links with the narrative of the artist feeling alone and distant from everybody.