Lorde - Royals Music Video Analysis

Lorde - Royals

The video for Royals was Lorde's first international music video release, the date of the release was 18th of June 2013 and directed by Joel Kefali. The video that I am going to be analysing is the US version of the video as the original/Australasia version of the video is not suitable to analyse.

Editing
The editing for some parts of the video, mainly around the 0:37 mark are done so that the scenes cut to the beat of the music. When the clicking sound occurs on the track the video cuts to the next scene in the narrative part of the video. The editing for this video seems to be slow, for example when Lorde herself is featured in the video there will be long takes, in one instance at 2:18 Lorde is in the shot for about 25 seconds before the next cut, Pete Fraser noted in his theory about Music Videos that star image is important so having Lorde on the screen for 25 seconds will establish that she is the main star of the video. The use of slow cuts also adds to the dynamic of the video because not only is the track a slow song but relating to the lyrics it tries hard to emphasise the meaning of the song. The video also includes a jump cuts at 1:59 when the two actors are boxing in the living room, this could be done to establish the shot and the personality of the character for example showing that the character is tough because he is punching the other person. Slow motion is used on some shots, for example on the shot where one of the actors are in the pool the shot is slowed down possibly indicating a passing of time. Editing has also been used to establish the relationship between one of the actors that feature in the video and Lorde herself, even though it isn't clear what the relationship is between these people it is shown at 2:10 when the actor has a blank stare then after a cut to a scenery shot it then shows Lorde at 2:13 with a slight smile then another establishing shot where they are seen to be doing similar action however this has been quickly edited compared to the rest of the video.

Mise en Scene
Mise en Scene is important for this video, mainly for Lorde as this shows that she is the main star of the video. Lorde's make up is very pale but uses the eye make up as her statement piece to her look, the winged eyeliner works well because of the light make up she already has on her face. Her hair has been curled with half of it pushed to the other side of her head, this adds to the plain look of the video as there is nothing special going on with her hair style in the video.

Her costume is just a plain white t-shirt, a bracelet and a necklace, not a lot of her costume is shown in the video as the shots are either mid-range or close ups so you never see the lower half of her costume, her costume is plain as is the rest of the video, this could have been done so that it fits the style of the video. The costume for the actors in the video are mainly plain t-shirts in colours such as grey, ill fitting shorts and a chain type necklace. Some of the actors are not wearing shirts, this could add to the idea in the song that they are poor and cannot afford nice clothing to wear or that they do not care what they are wearing.

Lighting
The majority of the lighting in the video is bright mainly done to illuminate Lorde's face in the video, there is no shadows in the video and is seen to be a rather clear lighting choice. There are some shots in the video where dark lighting is used, for example in some area where the actors are being used they use the natural light for example at 1:43 when the two actors are in the bathroom the lighting has been used from the small window in the background, for when the actors are on screen using minimal lighting could indicate that they don't have the resources to use electricity such as artificial lighting which would fit in with the narrative of the video.

Camerawork
In this video long takes are used frequently, since this is the US version of the video Lorde has a lot more longer takes than in the original New Zealand/International version of the video. Long takes have been used in the video to secure the star image of Lorde and to show that she is the main star of the video. When Lorde is featured in the video a lot of her shots are close ups, this is focusing on her voice and her singing. Mid-range shots are also used for when Lorde is on the screen, since her costume in the video isn't as important mid-range shots are rarely used as there is no need for them to be used. For the actors on screen more mid-range and long shots are used, this could be because they are not the focus of the video or to work to the narrative so that you can see all of them. In the beginning and the end of the song a tracking shot is done, the shot lasts for about 10 seconds, the shot shows the camera progressing down the street, this could be because it is linked to the video for example it is a poor area of the town which links to the actors in the video or it is there just for the opening and ending of the video.