Lily Allen Smile

Lilly Allen

Lilly Allen’s video for smile begins with her in her in a red bedroom, the red gives connotations of devilish, as the lyrics suggest she is quite bitter. The camera zooms in on her in her trade mark big gold jewellery as a way for the audience to recognise her. There is a flash back of her in the same room cuddling asleep with a boy on her bed. The video has a non linear narrative. Cuts of her comfort eating are shown in comparison with the loved up flash backs to represent a break up or an argument has happened, when she begins to sing which is direct to the audience, it becomes apparent her boyfriend cheated on her. Close ups on her face show the vulnerable side, her performance and facial expressions show her as hurt and vulnerable. She is being shown as a normal every day girl this is emphasised with her casual outfit and trainers which later became another trade mark for the solo singer.
The next shot is of her outside, the setting seems to be a working class area, no where special which also enforces the idea of her being just a normal every day girl. Youths in hooded jumpers and tracksuit bottoms correspond with the working class area. The hooded youths then attack the suspected ex boyfriend, the director of the video is really enforcing the run down working class area to the audience, he wants them to know its not a posh town. As he is being attacked the camera cuts to a shot of the lead singer smiling which amplifies the lyrics. The broken up couple then go to a stereotypical working class local café.
The slow edits match the beat of the music, a mid shot, shot reverse shot is being used in the café as the two talk over cups of tea another representation of working class Britain, the video then cross cuts to two large built men destroying his apartment then back to the couple then back to the men. Close ups of them two destroying his personal belongs are shown, to highlight how angry upset he has made her which corresponds with the devil like image her room portrayed at the start, she has now gone from a vulnerable character to quite a bitter girl. Every time she does something nasty towards the man, a shot of her smiling or laughing is always used this is to amplify the lyrics and relate the song to the video. Faster edits are now being used as the song becomes faster, the editing cross cuts from him trying to get to the toilet to her on her bed laughing at the computer, the camera is also looking up to her now, where as in the beginning it just panned around her from front on. This angle is used to show she is getting over him, that she actually does have control over his life at this moment in time. To correspond with this the camera is now looking down on him as he goes to the toilet. A series of shots where he is performing as angry shows she’s finally getting her own back Lily’s performance however shows she is happy with what’s happening.
No special effects are used in this video; however it could be argued that towards the end when she is performing straight to the camera in tracking shot of her walking down a town or city strip, that a blue screen is being used. The final shot of the video is of the main star lily smiling, she feels finally she has got one over on her old boyfriend.
This video gives lily an every day girl image; it portrays her in quite a nasty yet humorous way. She is definitely portrayed as normal with all the shots and connotations of working class Britain. Due to this she as an artist would be quite likeable as the majority of the audience would be just like her. Her audience is teenage girls around 13-18, who listen to pop music as this is the genre of this song.