Halsey- New Americana Music video- Independent

This is a very brief analysis of Halsey's video for New Americana.

Halsey is an American singer/ songwriter who is most well known for her singles New Americana and Ghost. She has recently collaborated with artists such as The Chainsmokers and Lido but has in fact only been in the industry since 2014. In 2014 she signed to astralwerks record label and following that then went onto release her first ep ( Extended play) called room 93. This ep featured songs such as Ghost and Hurricane in which Ghost is actually the song that got her noticed by the record company. Halsey's first album 'Badlands'  was released on August 28th 2015 and features hit songs such as New Americana and Colours. The album Peaked at 184 on the UK charts but it did peak at number 1 in new Zealand and has platinum certification in the united states. 
The song 'New Americana'  was originally released on the 10th of July 2015 and was the second single from her album 'Badlands' although this single did not reach number one in the charts it was a big hit on radio stations and between her fans. Halsey is considered to be involved in the indie pop genre

In the music video the audience see a primarily performance based narrative which actually features the artist. Within the audience we see a war-like environment in which the artist and other actors can be seen to be preparing to fight. The audience who are fans of Halsey could interpret this as them fighting for their rights in the dystopian world that we are presented with. The narrative could also be interpreted as the actors being hostage because they don't conform to the societies rules and regulations. This could be shown at 1:26 in which people come running in wearing helmets and could be viewed as attempting to attack the people that are there, including the artist. In the beginning of the music video the actors can be seen to comply to the ambiguous characters demands and line up with their heads held in shame. This is reinforced by the mid shot at 1:34 which displays the artist and others lining up due to the ambiguous characters who as the audience we are never introduced to. (Add screenshot) As well as the narrative having performance aspects it aims to tell a story to the audience by having the artist and actors create a disequilibrium narrative (Todorov).

Within the music video Halsey is always made to be the focus of the shot this could be because it is a demand of the record label (Goodwin). An example of this is 1:53 in which the audience can see Halsey emerging but also the director showing the diversity within the music video. The video uses a tracking shot to display the diversity but it also uses a shallow focus when it comes to the artist. The audience can recognise the artist as she is the only person with blue hair. This has become apart of the artists brand and is something that the majority of fans associate her with. 

This music video conforms with the genre of music that Halsey makes. Due to the
genre being indie pop, it allows for the music video to be dystopian and fantasised
 The music when listened to reflects this dystopian fantasy due to her voice being very vulnerable but as well as this the light piano/synth reflect the dystopian.

Their clothing also connotes dystopia due to them being very bland and monotone as well as being dark coloured making the actors and actresses blend in. An example of this is at 2:00 in which the artist is wearing a revealing top and legging type trousers. The top could be revealing to rebel against the dominant ideology of authority from the guards. The guards clothing also fit in with the music video this can be shown by their white helmets and police type vests. By the helmets being white it contrasts the hostages who are wearing all dark colours. The colour white also symbolises purity and innocence however this contrasts their negative behaviour that they display at 2:00