Camera angle and lighting analysis

on Lana Del Rey’s ‘Young and Beautiful’

One of the opening shots to the song is a close up of the artist Lana Del Rey, where her side profile takes up half

the frame and is located on the left of the shot. The significance of the zoom-in of her face is intentional, the director aims to clearly expose her emotions through her facial expressions. The purpose of this is to captivate and stir interest amongst viewers. It overall highlights that she is the main attraction in the music video and her feelings help match the themes the song, thus enabling audiences

to gather a better understanding of the song. Furthermore, as the song is sentimental and Rey’s facial

expressions match distress and agony, the constant camera focus on her illustrates to viewers that she is

going through emotional distress, reminding us that she is human rather than a famous artist. Although these shots do not strongly represent voyeurism, it can be compared because several shots are included where Lana Del Rey

makes zero eye contact with the camera and fully immerses herself into the song. Also, as the female artist increasingly becomes more emotional, her whole face is

shown front ways towards the screen, from this shot audiences notice that a high angle is being used for this section. This ultimately depicts Lana as fragile and as a

victim to her overwhelming feelings.

Long shots are used to show the choir of people orchestrating the song, these shots commonly focus on the main orchestrater and then

gradually zooms out to expose growing lines of other musicians on both of his sides. This emphasises how big the orchestra is and can

symbolise how fundamental they are in producing this piece of music. It helps the audience to appreciate their part in producing the song

because the camera focuses on them consistently throughout the video. The orchester being placed in the centre emphasis how crucial his role

is in controlling their movements, furthermore his position on a tall stand symbolises his dominance.

The lighting changes throughout the video are unmissable, all of the shots of the orchestra intentionally do not show their identities but only their silhouette's. Lighting changes of the backgrounds are shown and this is done to depict the constant change is mood when Rey sings different sections of the song (For example, when the uproar of the chorus commences, the background transitions to a red colour to symbolise passion and intensity. When she sings the verses where her vocals are soft and slow, lighter colours such as blues and yellows are used.) There is also a section where different light shades are shown on their instruments but their identities are still hidden. This can show the power of the sound that the instruments produces and is also used to draw attention to it, the music represents Lana Del Rey’s emotions and using these light effects heavily depict this as the message dominated in these scenes is that the music is the only thing to be focused on. Mid shots are also used on groups of the orchestra to show their solo parts of the song.

Long shots of the performer expose how isolated she is feeling as these shots show how small and alone she is in huge settings she is placed in. The ending where the back of Lana Del Rey is shown and she is walking towards a white glowing entrance could symbolise heaven as the lyrics of the song read “Will you still love me when I’m no longer young and beautiful?”, therefore the theme of death is present. It also links into the theme of escapism because the image of Rey leaving a dark, black area to reach white opening doors portrays her character desperate to leave a dark place in her life and finally be set free of these overwhelming emotions. There are also parts of the music video where mid shots are used to focus on Lana Del Rey in order to show star iconography. In the second image, a light filter is placed in a circle shape and is placed on Rey’s figure to represent a spotlight. This is it to show that she is to be focused on, it also shows her entire outfit which is a long, black 1920’s style dress. Furthermore as she is draped over a piano and avoiding looing into the camera, this body language could indicate that she could be considered a diva, despite being upset and distressed.