Research - Genre specific Jorja Smith Teenage Fantasy (3)

The music video to 'teenage fantasy' by Jorja Smith is one that I am a big fan of.  The video is very romantic and set in Paris.  The lyrics to the song itself tell a story about how everyone is longer for a passionate first love; a teenage fantasy. The music video follow the narrative of two women,  dressing up to look identical am going around Paris.  It seems as though the two are representative of 'everyone'; wanting the teenage fantasy. I love how the video is shot and think it is very tasteful.

The beginning shot shows a form of establishing shot of the view from a balcony in Paris.  A town street of Paris town hoses can be seen and the lights and darks are in a relatively high contrast.  As the shot begins, the camera pans slightly.  The shot is in black and white lie the entirety of the video and has cropped boarders around the side of the frame.  To begin the song, classical music play to compliment this shot of France.

As the music continues, the shot change to introduce a character. This female (Jorja Smith) is indroduced with a shot panning from her feet, up her legs and body, to her face.  This is a very cinematic introduction of a character; experience a female in vintage films.  The shot remains in a close up mature of the woman.  This shot is followed by a mid close up of the woman, in a similar style.  There is a very elegant and suductive feel about this enterance and it imidiately grabs attention.
After establishing the character, the shot which follows is one of the woman walking through a house with the camera tracking her. The woman wears little and I believe this could be to make her more generic. The camera stay in a long shot of the woman and focuses on her body.  This again is in a very sudctuve nature as the woman wears little and runs her hands along funiture.  She behaves as though she knows she is being watched.  Not only does this shot give us more about the character and her nature, but also what the location is.  The apartement she is in is very beautiful and sophisticated.

The shot of the woman walking through the apartment leads us to a shot of the woman leaning over, what we presume to be, the balcony shown at the beginning.  The lighting of this shot contrasts with the lighting of shots before this as it is very light.  Before this had been shown the general lighting of the shot was very dark and showed a clear contrast between the lights and darks of the frame.  She seems to lean over to talk to someone.
Another character is introduced in the next shot.  Another woman is shown smoking over the shoulder of a male.  This could be her trying to have this 'teenage fantasy', but she doesn't look content doing so.  The shot itself itself is a close up of the two.  The mans face is unable to be seen, however the woman's face is very clear.  She looks fed up and seems more interested in smoking than in the man.  The costume involved in the shot is very clear on the male; a stripped top.  This top follows the French theme in that a stripped top contatates France.  The woman looks down to the floor in this shot and then sees keys.  This is when she sees her escape from the male.
After spotting the keys on the floor, the camera goes back to the woman.  Here, the shot is of her hand where she holds her cigarette by the side of her.  This shot is again contrasting and very dark.  The white from the cigarette and the lightness of her hand contrasts with the darkness of her clothing.  She then drops the cigarette on the floor.  This could represent he leaving the male o throwing things she doesn't need away.  This again very elegant shot.
Once the cigarette has been disposed on the woman is shown walking through a clear door of an apartment block.  She then waits outside of a door. It is presumed that this is the apartment that the keys are for.  Onc the door is opened the first woman opens the door; this is the apartment shown at the beginning of the video. The shot goes between the two women an is a mid close up.  The woman arriving at the door brings out money and then enters the appartment.  I believe that the woman is paying for a 'teenage fantasy' with this woman.

The two spend time dancing and dressing up as though they are identical.  They wear the same black wigs.  The entire of this section is in slow motion .  The shot here shows the first woman looking at drawls in th mirror.  The shot is a close up of the woman's face as she lean on her arm.  She looks as though she has stopped and thought about what is happening.  Thi shot is not as clear as a lot of the shots, but is similar to the ones in the beginning.
The women continue to get ready.  They put each other's makeup on and look as though they are getting ready for something.  This shot shows a close up of the woman's lips as the other woman puts her lipstick on.  The shot has a contrast of lights and darks from each side of the woman's face.  You can see that the side of her face turned away from the camera is dark and the side closes to the camera is like.  Perhaps this suggests the ulterego.

The women are then seen in a car on there way to Central Paris.  It is presumed that they are in a taxi as neither of the women are driving.  The shot is a low angled, mid close up of the the women. The the first shot is of the second woman looking forwards, over her glasses.  The shot then faces the opposite direction, facing Jorja.  She is not as central as the first shot and she faces out of the window.  Jorja seems to e caught mid thought in a lot of the shots. The lighting of the inside of the taxi, contrasts with the light outside.
After the shot of the two in the car, they are seen in their location.  This shot how's the two looking at their reflection in a shop window.  The shot only shows the reflection and is a mid close up of the two.  They are walking down the street of Paris and not only do they wear matching wigs, but now berets and sunglasses.  As the video goes on, the womaen become more and more identical. The beret also signifies Paris and French fashion. 

This shot they are shown walking through the streets.  They are dressed in long, black coats, Dr Martins & they're hats.  The camera tracks the two as they walk.  The shot is a long shot and the camera is hand held.  They're are people in the background.  They are very unusual and they do stand out against the other members of public.  The act they are dressed the same could still represent the idea that they are representative of a group of people all wanting a 'teenage fantasy'.
As the day continues, the shot sky turns dark as it becomes night.  After showing the two walking through the streets, there is a following shot of the street.  This shows the traffic down the road.  Th cars and bikes pass through.  The shot is a moving establishing shot of the street and it appears to be handheld.  There is little light and the shot is very dark.  The only lights in the shot are from he street lights, shop signs and vehicles. The shot in the video seem to get darker as the video goes on.  This shows time progressing.

The next shot, again, is very dark.  It seems to be as though the two are at the party.  The first shot to suggest this is a shot of a room ceiling.  The ceiling is very grand and is painted.  In the centre of it ther is a disco ball.  The shot uses an almost time lapse effect to show the ball moving.  The majority of the shot is dark, with the light hitting the disco ball as it moves and a small section of the ceiling.
Using a pan the camera moves from the ceiling, down the room to see the outline of the two girls dancing.  Their outline of the two are enhanced by the lamp behind them.  They dance as the light flickers. This again has a time lapse feel to the shot,it is also in slow motion which either shows a delay of time; maybe to show them stuck in this moment/enjoying the moment.  Or, it could show a passing of time.
The two are then shown going to catch a train. The shot here is a long shot of the couple, they are tracked by the camera running to the train l. They run through the station and their coats float behind them.  The shot is in slow motion and the camera is very handheld. As the two reach the platform of the station, the camera pans round to view the train which is stationed there.  The camera is still and held and going in one direction and the train in the other. The shot is very fast moving.  Perhaps this shot is to show the carefree teenage lifestyle the song describes.
The shot of the two running through the station, its presumed that they would get on a train after.  However, they are next seen outside the station, sat on the steps.  They sit either side of the steps, with enough room for people to get through.  The shot is a long shot of the two. They look like a mirror image of each other.  As the shot continues, the position that the women are sat in changes.  After being sat far apart from each other, they sit closer embracing with each other.  The camera stays in exactly the same position.
To end the video, it seems to go back to the beginning shots.  Jorja is seen with someone getting her ready. It is presumed that it is the other woman.  However, the change from the beginning of the song, where Jorja is getting someone else ready for going out has changed as someone is getting her ready.  This shows a more weaker side to the character.  The shot is a close up shot of her head.  The shot is broken up by the intruding hand doing her hair and getting her ready.  The forth rule is broken here by the woman looking at the camera as the shot finishes. 

In conclusion to my analysis of Jorja Smith's 'Teenage Fantasy' video, I really like the ratio of the frame; how it's cropped.  I also like how classic it is.  The filming is very pretty and creates numerous creative shots.  The fact that the video is in black and white is also something I like as it gives a vintage and classy feel to the video.  There is a lot from this video that I would like to recreate in my own; shots, colouration, etc.