Case Studies 1

Lana Del Rey – Ultraviolence

Written and Produced by Lana Del Rey

Channel: LanaDelReyVEVO

Published on 1^st Aug 2014

Lyrics:

He used to call me DN

That stood for deadly nightshade

'Cause I was filled with poison

But blessed with beauty and rage

Jim told me that

He hit me and it felt like a kiss

Jim brought me back

Reminded me of when we were kids

This is ultraviolence

Ultraviolence

Ultraviolence

Ultraviolence

I can hear sirens, sirens

He hit me and it felt like a kiss

I can hear violins, violins

Give me all of that ultraviolence

He used to call me poison

Like I was poison ivy

I could have died right there

'Cause he was right beside me

Jim raised me up

He hurt me but it felt like true love

Jim taught me that

Loving him was never enough

This is ultraviolence

Ultraviolence

Ultraviolence

Ultraviolence

I can hear sirens, sirens

He hit me and it felt like a kiss

I can hear violins, violins

Give me all of that ultraviolence

We can go back to New York

Loving you was really hard

We can go back 'til it's dark

Where they don't know who we are

Heaven is on earth

I will do anything for you, babe

Blessed is this, this union

Crying tears of gold, like lemonade

I love you the first time

I love you the last time

Yo soy la princesa, comprende mis white lines

'Cause I'm your jazz singer

And you're my cult leader

I love you forever,

I love you forever

This is ultraviolence

Ultraviolence

Ultraviolence

Ultraviolence

I can hear sirens, sirens

He hit me and it felt like a kiss

I can hear violins, violins

Give me all of that ultraviolence

Interpretation/Analysis of Lyrics:

The lyrics tell us about violent abusive relationship, a song that explores the dark-side of relationship. The line “He hit me and it felt like a kiss” suggest that despite how a young woman fallen for an abusive guy but she still adores the abuser. Another interpretation of this line could be saying that being physically hurt ‘felt like a kiss’, like something good, could mean that she just wants to feel something. Even if it pain, she feels it’s still better than feeling nothing and she mistakes the abuse for affection. The line “This is ultraviolence” could also potentially echoes ‘ultraviolent’ which is a type of blue light, and the blue light can emphasis on the coldness of their relationship and how the relationship is emotionless, it could refers to brute and unnecessary violence. Perhaps she struggles to understand why he’s beating her when he became her saviour in other ways.  The line ‘I can hear sirens, sirens…I can hear violins, violins’ suggest that She finds pleasure in being abused, and clearly has masochistic tendencies as she is comparing the pleasure she receives from being manhandled to the pleasure she gets from hearing music. Violins also represent romance and sadness, as violence and violins are nearly homophones in which she is using words to emphasis the thin line between love and pain. Lastly, the line “Crying tears of gold, like lemonade” can emphasis Lana’s tears are gold because of the quality of her relationship with her man, and just like lemonade her tears are a mixture of gold and water as they burn but taste sweet in which another interpretation of this could mean Lana is crying and hurt, however she is also in love with the pain because it feels so good.

Synopsis:

From observing the lyrics we can see that it give off a dark and emotional atmosphere as the lyrics is about abusive relationship. From the music video Lana wanders in a white elegant dress and the colour white portray innocence and vulnerability, by showing how Lana is portrayed as a vulnerable woman wandering around. She then picked up a white flower, in which white flowers are most closely associated with purity and innocence. The locations were mainly in a forest as she was surrounding with nature, it could mean that she is trap in isolation. In one scene there was a man hands touching her lips which give a sexual imagery, and how she is Lana is being treated like an object. Although it give off a negative connotation but Lana seem happy when the man touched her lips, and this reflect to the lyrics of how she adore the abuser, even though she is in love but with the pain feels so good for her like how his love taste bitter but sweet at the same time. Eventually, she ended up in a church all alone and she was kneeling down at a shrine that resembles a funeral while holding a white flower, in which the white flower is used in occasion such as deaths.

Conceptual, narrative or performance:

This music video contains both narrative but mainly conceptual based as the narrative part is to tell a story about how she ended up in a church all alone, and she was holding a white flower while kneeling down at a shrine to represent her lover deaths, like how she is in love with a man but the man also give her pain. The conceptual is more conceptual art based on vintage style which can be aesthetically appealing to some audience, and this was done by wearing a vintage dress, subtle make-up and filters which give off grain.  

Mise-en-scene:

Within Lana Del Rey “Ultraviolence” music video, Lana Del Rey wore only one outfit and it was a white elegant dress. The colour white portrays purity and innocence by portraying how Del Rey is a vulnerable girl in the music video. Although the dress were white however the dress do look elegant by emphasises her elegance and beauties in the video, on the other hands the dress also do look a bit vintage which also reflect very well to her images as she known as vintage chic.

Camera:

There were variety of camera shot/angles used in this music video such as close-up to show her lip-syncing, and medium long-shot to show her walking and wandering around the forest. There was also variety of camera angle used in the music video such as high angle especially when she was lip-syncing, and the high angle were really effective because it shows Lana Del Rey vulnerability and how innocent she looks by thinking that she mistakes the abuse for affection. Many camera movements were handheld especially when Lana Del Rey was walking, and the camera was facing towards her which looks a bit realistic like she is walking towards the audience so she can engage with the audience, because some audience may feel relatable with her. Some camera movement were static especially on the scene when she was lip-syncing so it allow the audience focus her more while she’s lip-syncing.

Editing:

The cutting pace between the video is quite long which give off a slow motion effects to reflect the depressing and emotional moods. This music video mainly had cut in between the video especially the chorus because that’s when Lana’s lip-syncing, and each cut will have different scene in different position or action li-syncing. The music video used effects and filters which made an impact as it give off a vintage and moody feels, since Lana is known for her vintage style therefore this video really reflect to Lana images.

Target audience:

The target audience for this music video is would be aimed at people who have been in an abusive relationship, although it did not have any imagery of Lana being abused however the interpretation of the lyrics would really reflect to the audience who been through those situation. However, this music video would also be aimed at niche audience for those who enjoy more conceptual art in music video but it could also be targeted to her fans.

Ideas:

By looking and analysing “Ultraviolence” by Lana Del Rey gave me so many ideas that I can use for my music video, for example:

·         Have variety of camera movements, angles and shots to represent and reflect the lyrics

·         Use props/mise-en-scene that reflect to the moods

·         Add effects/filters to make it more artsy which is really good for conceptual art in the music video, because some effects or filters give off the video an arty style.  

Overall, one thing that I learnt from this music video is how Lana Del Rey only uses one props and mise-en-scene to reflect the lyrics. Although she only uses one props/mise-en-scene however it was quite effective in some ways, and one thing I love about this music video is the effects/filters as it really reflect to the imagery of the lyrics, since the vintage filters were used in this music video it give off an artsy feels and in a way that it also links with Lana Del Rey images.