Music 1- 'Born to Die' Lana Del Ray

The lyrics to ‘Born to die’ indicate that a girl is in an unstable relationship and wants to get out. The Music video is very cleverly thought out as it shows the Dark side to a love story. It has been made to look like its set in heaven, however we don’t know this till the very end. At the beginning there is a medium close you shot that zooms in to a close up shot. This is showing Lana Del Ray hugging a boy covered in tattoos and has a stretcher in his ear, by having these it indicates to the audience that he isn’t afraid of taking a risk, and he likes to live life on the edge. She has her hand on the angle wing tattoo that is on the mans chest, this could show that she is looking at the good side to being with him. Lana Del Ray is originally from America this could show why she is standing in front of an American flag, as it is home to her. The flag waves to the beat of the song, which could give it a sense of unstableness, The filter colours in this scene are neutral which makes it look more effective and old fashioned. This could indicate that maybe she was in love with this boy years ago and now they are no longer together. As the lyrics and beat start to kick in the video seamless edits to a low angle shot of the ceiling of a very tall grand looking building. We know that this is a grand building as there are paintings placed on the ceiling and balconies on the wall. As the camera tilts the lyrics say ‘who me?’ this shows that maybe she doesn’t know who she is.  Next there is a master shot setting out the scene, we can see Lana del ray sitting n a throne at the front of what looks like a church. She is sat between two tigers, this shows she has power and is controlling her life. The camera zooms in closer to Lana as she is singing she moves her hand to her heart as the lyrics say ‘All my heart, it breaks every step that I take’ by doing this it makes the lyrics look more realistic. The colours of the building are Blues, whites and gold’s. These colours show calm and royal and the white could indicate a sense of loneliness and lost.

Next there is a master shot of what appears to be the front garden of this grand building. The lighting is dark as its set at night; the setting looks unrealistic, which gives it a sense of fairy tale and fantasy. A Man, which is supposedly, the man that appeared at the very beginning is leaning up against an old-fashioned car smoking. By having the old fashioned styled car it shows that maybe the video has gone back in time. Lana walks quickly towards the man and drops her bags on the way she then runs up to and jumps on him this shows that maybe they haven’t seen each other for a long time. The man throws his cigarette on to the floor and picks up the girl. The sound is a voice over of Lana singing. The Camera cuts to her singing inside the brightly lighten buildeing, showing a close up shot of Lana Del Rays expression and hatred towards this boy ‘ I feel so alone on a Friday night’. The lyrics contrast with the music video at this point as it is showing the girl and boy together in ‘love’ and the lyrics are saying different. It cuts to her and her boyfriend kissing in the car, showing that they are still in love. However it then cuts to an over shoulder shot, which allows the audience to see the boys expression and it doesn’t look like he loves her his just using her. As this gets the audience in thinking does he actually want to be with her, the camera is placed at a low angle spinning showing the ceiling. The ceiling is a golden colour which has been engraved into an abstract art piece. There has been an effect placed on this shot that darkens the edges to make it look darker and more mysteries. Light is then let in on the left side of the ceiling, this could indicate a passage in time or that the heavens are opening up for her and it is all going to go good for her from now on. It then sharply cuts to her sitting in the grand room again and zooms out she looks down as the says ‘don’t make me cry’  and then cuts back to an extreme close up of the boy smoking with her looking at him worried in the background, The lighting that has been used is artificial and is red which could indicate danger and shows that she is living life on the wild side and is in an unstable relationship. As the cigarette is lite she looks away and the lighting gets brighter, this indicates that she is better off with out his as when she looks at him the lighting is dark and when she looks away it gets brighter.. It then cuts back to a close up of her singing this shows all the emotion while shes singing. She looks aroud the room and her eyes start to look like shes about to cry and she sing ‘I don’t know why’. Then its seamless edits to her back in the car with the boy and he gives her the cigarette, this could indicate his a bad influence on her. The red light is now just on her.  By having so many cuts in the music vide it makes it more intense for the audience to watch. Then it shows a medium shot of her singing and touching her neck she says ‘come take a walk on the wild side’. She whispers the lyrics ‘we were born to die’ into the boys ear as they are sitting in the car. This shows that they both live life on the edge and they don’t care if they were to die or not, she has this attitude as the boy has influenced her into having it.

Lying on the bed on her own and a dark light comes across the screen showing the sun going down and coming back up as the sun comes back up she doesn’t move and the boy is lying next to her.  It then cuts to her standing in the room singing

The light that’s passing carries on though out the sceens showing that a great amount of time has passed and nothing has changed for her in her relationship  ‘ I was so confused as a little child’
The camera then cuts to her standing in her house with the light still passing by showing the passage in time and every know and then the boy would appear in the background this shows that he comes and he goes and he never sticks around.

Next the camera cuts to the Subjective point of view of them driving down the road in the dark the Sound gets a higher tone and kicks in which builds the tension and indicates that something bad could happen while they are driving. They are driving at a high speed moving forward, the boy keeps taking his eyes of the road to look at the girl, this tells the audience that the boys is fearless and doesn't think that anything bad will happen. Then it cuts to a Low angle shot of the front of the car showing them both in the car, they don’t look happy together. The weather is foggy and dark which indicates that it could be hard to see on the roads and the boy is tempting fait as he isn't looking where his driving

Cuts  back to a master shot of Lana Del Ray singing this time she is using more hand gestures and body movement that what she did at the begining of the music video this could indicate that she is finding herself and getting stronger.‘you and I we were born to die' she says this as she lifts her hand up to her throat and pretends to slit it with her thumb, while still looking into the lense of the camera, by doing this the audience can see the emotion in her eyes. After it cuts back to the her and the boy in the car he grabs her to kiss her and she pulls herself away from him, and this point we know that her love for this boy was never real, she has learnt that and starts to distance herself from him and he is just trouble.

Seamless edits back to her singing in the grand castle and she is using hand gestures to the lyrics now and showing attitude on her face.

High angle shot of the ceiling showing the painting and grand arcutecture the light is starting from dark gradually getting lighter as the camera tilts and then goes back to dark. Shes walking and the lights are going from light to dark, mostly more light than dark this could show that she is moving on gradually and the dark side of him keeps coming back to haunt her. She walks to the grand opening doors, no one in the audience know what the room is, she opens the doors which a burst of light shines through, at this point we realise she is walking through the doors of heaven. Its cuts back to a close up of the boy holding her dead body showing the tattoos which cover his body and the blood which covers hers. The light fades out to black showing that her soul has been taken away

Born to die is a good example of how a music video can capture the audiences attention from the very begining because of the location and costume, and it doenst make sense till near the end of where she is and whats shes doing there.