2. THE VIDEO
Carmen is the 3rd single from American singer Lana Del Rey’s album: ‘Born
to Die’. The song features many references to alcohol and substance abuse,
prostitution and Coney Island; of which has been described as America’s
original ‘Sin City’.
The music video for this song amplifies many of these themes, as it’s
intercepted with old footage of strippers, chemical anatomies of meth, and a
cartoon clip with the voice-over saying; ‘How does meth change your brain’,
whist juxtaposed with children’s cartoon clips; referencing Coney Island’s
theme park.
3. LOCATIONS
The main locations of the music video are New York and Coney
Island, however there are many shots of derelict apartment blocks
and littered streets.
This opposes the typical codes and conventions of a pop video, as it
hasn’t been shot in a studio, or an elaborate set, and does not
display the luxury that many artists depict in their videos.
4. PROPS
There is not a large amount of props used in this video because of
the heavy use of old video and cartoon footage, added in when
editing. As these scenes make up a large percentage of the video, it
wasn’t necessary to film large amounts for the video. There was
however, four Disney figurines used in a clip, used to amplify the
Coney Island refrences, however, you can only see the bottom half of
them. The only other use of a prop was a motorbike, used in a later
scene.
5. COSTUMES
Similarly with props, there were very few examples of costumes used
throughout this music video, due to the majority of the video being made up
of old clips. The only clear example of a costume, was the crop top and
shorts, seen below. Whilst the ‘revealing’ nature of the costume does fit with
the conventions of the genre, the purpose is mainly to illustrate the
protagonist’s youth and also to give reference to Vladimir Nobokov’s novel;
‘Lolita’, of which provided some inspiration for the song. Both the song and
novel revolve around youth and male attraction.
6. EDITING
The video is purposely edited to look old, and seamlessly transition
in and out of the old footage used throughout the video. In a time
lapse clip of a rose blooming, there’s an old video camera style timer
below it, and on another clip, the edges are rounded and blackened,
to make it look like it’s been filmed on an old camera.
