1. LEARNING OUTCOME TWO
PART I

2. Lana Del Rey
Blue Jeans

3. LANA DEL REY
American singer songwriter Elizabeth
Woolridge Grant introduced the world
to her stage persona Lana Del Rey in
2010 with herself titled debut album
Lana Del Rey a.k.a Lizzy Grant. But she
did not reach her high level of
commercial success until 2012 when
she realised her second and official
chart topping album born to die.
Lana Del Rey is known and loved for
her indie pop/alternative sound that is
fused with element of hip hop and dark
gothic lyrics. This makes Lana Del Rey a
visually intriguing artist, as she conveys
these themes into her music videos.
This is evident in music videos such as
video games, born to die, national
anthem and most obviously video
games, as all videos consist of an
emotionally upsetting narrative.

4. YOANN LEMOINE
Lana Del Rey worked with
French music
video director, graphic designer,
and musician Yoann Lemoine
twice (on music video for Born
To Die and Blue Jean), whose
known for his eccentric style
that has an unclear narrative
and hidden meanings, shown in
such videos as take care by
drake and Moby ‘Mistake, but
Yoann Lemoine illustrated this
technique best in music video
blue jeans.

5. CAMERA WORK
The camera work in the music video for blue jeans is as sensual as the song itself
and the concept of the music video. The majority of the shots within the music
video are close-ups mid shots, these intimate and close shots are done in order to
emphasise both the desperately clingy and affectionate lyrics (such as “I will love
you till the end of time, I would wait a million years” and “You fit me better than
my favourite sweater”). There are also long shots in the video, which are used to
show the bazaar, yet glamorous scenery within the location of the music video.

6. GENRE CHARACTERISTICS
Lana Del Rey’s music genre can be
describes as indie-pop or alternative,
either way, her music video for blue
jeans follows the genre characteristics of
both very well, as it consists of a
complex and original narrative (rather
than the video to follow the lyrics very
basically, they took a unique approach
and filmed the majority of the video in a
swimming pool) and most alternative
videos strives in being different and run
away from having music videos that
follow the lyrics very simply. The video
of consists of the one element most
modern commercially successful pop
genre music video have, ‘sex’, as the
video is very sexy and features some
explicit innuendo

7. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LYRICS AND VISUALS
What makes this music video
unique and eccentric, is it’s
indistinct yet noticeable
relationship between the video
and the lyrics. The music video
seems to aim to illustrate the
lyrics in a metaphorical manner,
although the visuals within the
video do not match the lyrics in a This scene of the video illustrates Lana Del Rey
way that’s obvious, there are being drowned by the man she is singing about,
some parts of the video that exemplifies the lyrics that state ‘I will love you
express the lyrics meanings e.g. till the end of time’.
‘You were sorta punk rock’, these lyrics are expresses within the music video as the
lead actor/model has a punk rock look to him, further example are shown in such
lyrics as ‘Then they took you away- stole you out of my life’, during this part of the
song, Lana Del Rey is shown being drowned in the pool after being pulled away
violently from a passionate kiss, which expresses the ‘took you away’ part of the
lyrics.

8. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MUSIC AND VISUALS (REPRESENTATON)
The song ‘Blue Jeans’ is a
mid-tempo and almost
slow track, and for the
most part, the visuals
match this as the
movement and editing
pace (cuts) are fairly
Mid- tempo/slow and mellow part of song with slow-moving, however,
slow and mellow cuts and visuals the track changes tempo
speed in the middle very
briefly, and the cuts
within this brief moment
become dramatically
rapid, and the visuals
become more intense,
violent and action-
packed.
Faster tempo part of song features more
dramatic and rapid visuals and cuts.

9. CLOSE-UPS OF THE ARTIST AND STAR IMAGE
Lana Del Rey is a commercial artist who faces a lot of competition in the market. And so
her record label aim to amiss her from other commercial female artist by giving her an
unique, alternative and unconventional sound and image, which they try to express within
her music and visual aspects. This unique image is quite Morden-day bohemian/urban
vibe, with a lifeless tone, this is expressed within the music video throughout, as the
music video is black and white (which can exemplify a lifeless nature) and the quite dark,
twisted and violent narrative to the video (the drowning and strangling of the artist). This
video is not the only example of the image Lana Del Rey’s record label is trying to sell, as
other music videos such as ‘born to die’ and ‘summertime sadness’ all consist of these
glamourized depressing and dark themes and images.

10. NARRITIVE
The narrative of the video is very surreal (rather than showing footage of Lana Del Rey in a
depressed state longing for her long lost love, which would have been more predictable
and over-used), the director of this music video wanted to the play and expend on the
lyrics of the song to create a music video that is more artistic, original, interesting and give
the audience a ‘more that meets the eye’ effect.

11. VIDEO STYLE AND ICONOGRAPHY/ MISE EN SCENE
This music video features a lot of iconic images and themes, most of which relate to
the song. This music video seems to be inspired by old Hollywood, which is conveyed
by the classy black and white theme and scenery, and also the model who is styled
after major old Hollywood star James dean (who is mentioned in the song). The
actor/ model used in this music video is Bradley Soileau, who has starred previously
in Lana Del Rey’s ‘born to die’ music video, using familiarity in her music videos, Lana
creates iconic and memorable statements .

12. INTERTEXTUALITY/ VOYEURISM
Voyeurism and intertextuality can be used in order to sell the artists
image or music (as sex sells), or (in this case) it can be used to make a
statement. some scene within this music video are quite vulgar and
sexual, but this is not intended to promote a sex-like-vibe, but only to
match the eccentric and amusing yet shocking elements to the music
video narrative and themes.