Lily Allen - LDN (Official music video)
The music video starts off with background music of Lily Allen singing, with a mid shot of her and two men. Then the audience see her in a record shop asking for a certain genre but not explaining herself properly. This could be portrayed as Lily trying to explain to her audience what her genre is and what her music is about, however it also sets the narrative for her music video. There is a large emphasis on Lily Allen at the beginning of her music video, shown with close ups this clearly portrays how she is the singer and will have performance aspects within her music video. Due to using a white backdrop when filming this scene, it shows to the audience how Lily Allen means well and has an innocent character, this has a correlation with the next scene.
These scenes are quickly after each other, related to the lyrics 'But I wonder what goes on behind doors
A fella looking dapper, but he's sitting with a slapper Then I see it's a pimp and his crack whore' These lyrics have very negative connotations. However, they show Lily Allen's style of music as she is singing about real issues and not covering up problems, instead exploiting problems from areas she has been in. Singing about real issues in society could be one of the factors that have made Lily Allen a success.
There are also images of something looking better than it is, for example a close up of Lily jumping over a pencil when its actually a nail. The next lyrics are 'sun is in the sky oh why oh why would I want to be anywhere else, when you look with your eyes, everything seems nice but if you look twice you can see its all lies'. This is the chorus, and enables the audience to relate to the lyrics whether its through family issues or relationships, therefore this creates an emotional link with a wide demographic of people. The image on screen at this time is a mid shot of Lily walking across a bridge which is coloured like a rainbow therefore linking to the lyrics. It also suggests there is a light at the end of the tunnel for people living in a rough area, and it doesn't need to get them down and they can make something out of their lives. This is the underlying message from the music video.With her costume, the two white flowers on her dress could also represent the two different sides of her personality, the side of London (the area the song is written about named LDN) that she visits when she is famous, and the side in which she grew up in, which is rough hence the abbreviated LDN shown as slang for London.
Lily then paints a nice picture with a long shot of a old lady carrying bags, here the lyrics are 'There was a little old lady who was walking down the road she was struggling with bags from Tesco, there were being from the city having lunch in the park I believe that is called al'fresco' then it goes back to negative lyrics again showing the two sides of her lifestyle. Due to her lyrics 'walking round London town' Lily could also be singing about the strong divide between the rich and poor.
This long shot shows how the 'city life' Lily Allen talks about isn't all glamorous as people make it out to be, with the picture quickly changing to a negative one. Throughout this music video positive and negative images have been shown on screen, with key London features such as the red phone box in this picture re-emphasising the life in the city which Lily strongly talks about.
The music video starts off with background music of Lily Allen singing, with a mid shot of her and two men. Then the audience see her in a record shop asking for a certain genre but not explaining herself properly. This could be portrayed as Lily trying to explain to her audience what her genre is and what her music is about, however it also sets the narrative for her music video. There is a large emphasis on Lily Allen at the beginning of her music video, shown with close ups this clearly portrays how she is the singer and will have performance aspects within her music video. Due to using a white backdrop when filming this scene, it shows to the audience how Lily Allen means well and has an innocent character, this has a correlation with the next scene. 
Inside the music store, the white backdrop shows how everything is good and Lily's outfit reflects this as she has her back showing suggesting it is filmed in summer. However, outside the grey murky buildings show a negative atmosphere, with two men chasing each other. The audience already have an idea Lily may live in a rough area due to her costume (Large gold hoop earrings) and the appearance of the people who work in the record store. This creates enigma and keeps the audience interested in the music video.
This shows how reality outside the music shop is rough, with a police man chasing the youths it shows how crime is a regular aspect within the environment Lily lives in. However Lily Allen can see this from a different perspective. The next aspect of the music video is performance, as Lily sings the colours are bright, creating an aesthetically pleasing film for the audience and shows how everything bad does not affect her mood.
The bright colours also show her cheerful personality and how she looks on the brighter side of everything. Here, there is a quick take of a bike, this links to the lyrics 'Riding through the city on my bike all day cause the filth took away my license' with the words 'filth' relating to a negative image of the Police. This again relates to the deprived area Lily lives in, then there is a tracking shot of Lily however the audience see an image of her trainers underneath her posh dress and large gold hoop earrings, these elements of costume provide an overall view of Lily to the audience.
The bright colours also show her cheerful personality and how she looks on the brighter side of everything. Here, there is a quick take of a bike, this links to the lyrics 'Riding through the city on my bike all day cause the filth took away my license' with the words 'filth' relating to a negative image of the Police. This again relates to the deprived area Lily lives in, then there is a tracking shot of Lily however the audience see an image of her trainers underneath her posh dress and large gold hoop earrings, these elements of costume provide an overall view of Lily to the audience.
Here, a split screen is used to show the difference between what Lily sees and what the environment is actually like that she lives within. This has a strong correlation to the lyrics 'It doesn't get me down and I feel ok cos the sights that I'm seeing are priceless'. Here there is a close up on Lily's face as she is singing, showing how the artist is using a performance aspect to make her music video more popular to her audience. Also her red dress could be colour coding to represent her dangerous environment.
These scenes are quickly after each other, related to the lyrics 'But I wonder what goes on behind doorsA fella looking dapper, but he's sitting with a slapper Then I see it's a pimp and his crack whore' These lyrics have very negative connotations. However, they show Lily Allen's style of music as she is singing about real issues and not covering up problems, instead exploiting problems from areas she has been in. Singing about real issues in society could be one of the factors that have made Lily Allen a success.
There are also images of something looking better than it is, for example a close up of Lily jumping over a pencil when its actually a nail. The next lyrics are 'sun is in the sky oh why oh why would I want to be anywhere else, when you look with your eyes, everything seems nice but if you look twice you can see its all lies'. This is the chorus, and enables the audience to relate to the lyrics whether its through family issues or relationships, therefore this creates an emotional link with a wide demographic of people. The image on screen at this time is a mid shot of Lily walking across a bridge which is coloured like a rainbow therefore linking to the lyrics. It also suggests there is a light at the end of the tunnel for people living in a rough area, and it doesn't need to get them down and they can make something out of their lives. This is the underlying message from the music video.
This long shot shows how the 'city life' Lily Allen talks about isn't all glamorous as people make it out to be, with the picture quickly changing to a negative one. Throughout this music video positive and negative images have been shown on screen, with key London features such as the red phone box in this picture re-emphasising the life in the city which Lily strongly talks about.
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