The video teaser is to accompany the cover story of Lana Del Rey shot in Topanga Canyon in Los Angeles. In this shoot, Lana is portrayed as ‘Rosalita’, Mexico’s movie star queen. Rosalita is to Mexico what Marilyn is to America … Mexico’s sweetheart. Mexico and its people have bestowed upon Rosalita with love and admiration the title “La magnífica Rosa”… she is so adored.
The photography portrays Rosalita mourning the death of her matador husband who died in a bullfight who she secretly married when she was 16 years old. Nicole persuaded her assistant River to don tights and the matador jacket to portray Rosalita’s dead matador lover.
Johnny Blueeyes and Nicole had a fantastic time acquiring the props for the story and making Rosalita come to life-building her altar and shrine to her dead matador lover. The french team at L’Officiel went to extraordinary lengths to get a real matador’s jacket, and the two teams worked seamlessly together to create ‘Rosalita’s’ story.
The footage was shot at 25fps and then time remapped to look super slow-motion to give it an ethereal, dreamlike feel. Digital retouching and colour grading further enhanced the piece and gave it a look to tie in seamlessly with the stills campaign.