New Song Lyrics- Christina Aguilera: Beautiful

(Don't look at me)

Everyday is so wonderful
And suddenly, it's hard to breathe
Now and then, I get insecure
From all the pain,
I'm so ashamed

I am beautiful no matter what they say
Words can't bring me down
I am beautiful in every single way
Yes, words can't bring me down, oh no
So don't you bring me down today

To all your friends you're delirious
So consumed in all your doom
Trying hard to fill the emptiness,
The pieces gone,
Left the puzzle undone,
Ain't that the way it is?

You are beautiful no matter what they say
Words can't bring you down, no, no
You are beautiful in every single way
Yes words can't bring you down, oh, no
So don't you bring me down today

No matter what we do
(no matter what we do)
No matter what we say
(no matter what we say)
We're the song inside the tune
(yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Full of beautiful mistakes
And everywhere we go
(and everywhere we go)
The sun will always shine
(sun will always, always shine)
But tomorrow we might awake
On the other side

'Cause we are beautiful,
No matter what they say
Yes, words won't bring us down, oh no
We are beautiful in every single way
Yes, words can't bring us down, oh no
So don't you bring me down today

Don't you bring me down today
Don't you bring me down...
Mmm, today

These are the lyrics for my new song choice; Christina Aguilera, Beautiful. I have decided to change my song again because after making my music video, I found that the song was too fast for the video that I wanted to do. I therfore picked a slower song but also picked Beautiful because the lyrics are reflected by my music video.

Film First Edit

This is my first video edit that I completed (with small black out point) for the song ‘I don’t wanna be’, by Gavin Degraw.

I did the video in black and white because I wanted it to add emphasis on the mood of the narrative and the character in the video, which is sad and unhappy.

The video is only narrative based, which is a convention of music videos as seen in the previous videos that I analysed; they often have a story behind the song. However, it also breaks the conventions of music videos because it is only narrative based, whereas they often feature the artist performing the song through mime, therefore being both narrative and performance based.

I sped up most of the shots in order for them to be in sync with the tempo and pace of the song. I created my video so that at first it contradicted with the lyrics in the song as the narrative follows a girl who wants to be anybody but herself. However I did this because it then allowed me to have an ending in which the video and song lyrics become in sync.

The video follows a teenage girl who is very insecure with her looks and becomes obsessed with celebrities in magazines; purely because of the way they look. She begins to obsess about looking like the celebrities and sticks posters up around her room; constantly reminding her about her insecurities. Her mother realises her health declining and an argument erupts after she brings the girl some and she refuses to eat it. After the argument the girl begins to think about what her mother said; she begin to rip the posters down; this is the moment the video and lyrics merge.

After completing the video (excluding the blackout point), I watched it through and didn’t think that the pace of the song worked well with the video.

Storyboard

This is my storyboard, which I made into an animatric. I made it into an animatric because this way I was able to put my music video song into the animatric whilst it's playing. I recently changed the song on the animatric to fit my new song choice of Beautiful by Christina Aguilera.

The first image of my animatric features the performer looking in the mirror due to her insecurities of thinking she is over weight. This is demonstrated by her constantly holding her stomach and trying to 'suck in' her stomach.

The second image then shows how her insecurities came about, as she is sticking up posters from magazines of well known celebrities around her mirror. I did this because magazines are well known for featuring images of celebrities that have been computer edited and airbrushed; making them look practically perfect. This has caused conflict in the news about the representation that they are bringing about and how younger age groups, such as 13-19 year olds look at celebrities arguably as role models and can become very insecure with themselves. Due to this I wanted to make clear how the artists insecurities came about but also relate to issues that are present today. It can also be something that some people can relate to.

The third image is a close up on one of the celebrity posters to increase on the cause of her insecurities. It also shows how they are airbrushed and edited to almost perfection in a more intense view due to it being a close up.

The next image shows the girl at school/college sat with a group of friends. She is very secluded from her friends shown by her not involving herself in any conversations. She is also the only person not eating, which is seen when her friends try to offer her food but she refuses. I intend to make her look really unhealthy with large bags under her eyes and really pale faced. She will also look thinner then in the first scene by having her in more fitted clothes as apposed to her baggy clothes in the first scene.
Her friends are also going to question her health, however she is going to insist that nothing is wrong.

The next scene is then going to be a flash back, which I want to contrast with the previous scene in order to show what she used to be like in terms of weight but also how her personality and overall health has changed.
In this scene she is going to be really happy and laughing and joking with her friends but also looking a lot healthier with a lot more colour in her face.

The sixth scene is going to be an argument between the girl and her mother. This is going to be caused after her mum brings in some food for the girl to eat who refuses to eat anything. An argument between them will then erupt where the mum is questioning about the posters around her mirror but also questioning her health and stating that she looks really unhealthy.
She is then going to rip a poster off the mirror, throw it on the floor and walk out of the room.

The next scene is left with the girl crying about the argument with her mum; she picks up the poster off the floor that her mum threw and has a long look at it before wiping her tears and looking at the rest of the posters around her mirror.
This then follows on into the next scene where the girl begins to rip the posters off the wardrobe from around her mirror. Im going to do this to show that everything her mum had said to her really got through and that she has realised that she doesn't need to look like the celebrities in magazines and that they themselves don't look like that.
This is a high moment in the music video because everything that has previously happened was due to these posters and insecurities they created for her and now she is ripping them down for good.

Visual ideas for my new song

These are the lyrics for my new song and music video choice. I have written some of my visual ideas that I get from the lyrics around the lyrics in the song.

Target audiences of music videos

Music videos appeal to a wide range of audiences all over the world, however due to the way music videos are today and their content I would say that the target audience is 16-21 year olds. I think this is the average age range of people who watch music videos because today music videos are made to make money and therefore attract a younger audience in order to get them interested sooner rather then later.

Music videos are very different nowadays then back in the 1980's when they were first really introduced. Nowadays a music video consists of a performance based and maybe narrative based concept and often feature the artist dancing, especially in R&B and pop videos or footage of the artist or band on tour, as in Rock videos.

Artists in R&B music videos such as Beyonce, Pussycat Dolls, Christina Aguilera, Madonna and many more often have a performance based video where they are miming the song and always tend to be dancing in their faster paced songs. Nowadays female artists such as the ones mentioned above wear fairly revealing outfits, showing off their bodily features. Due to this an older audience would not really be interested in such videos because in their times when videos were first introduces it was more about the lyrics in the song rather then the artist and what they are capable of. Many older aged people feel that music videos are way too revealing today.

Younger audiences are not really interested in music videos as much because they are more interested in video games and TV shows rather then watching music videos.

Rock videos often feature the band performing the song and also footage of them being on tour; this is a convention of a rock video.

Although music attracts a large audience as most if not all people will enjoy and listen to music, however the videos tend not to attract such a large audience.

Codes and Conventions of music videos

There are many codes and conventions used within music videos through the used of camera, editing, mise en scene and clothing. Codes and conventions are certain things done within videos which represent something that can be recognised by the audience.

In the music video I analysed ' Use Somebody' by Kings of Leon a close up shot of the artist (lead singer of the band) is used as soon as the music begins. This is a convention of a music video as close up shots of the artist are always used in order for the audience to recognise them and also because artists tend to mime the lyrics making it a performance based song. Close up shots are also used in the two other videos I analysed; 'Trust' and 'What's it gonna be'.

In 'Use Somebody', the emotion can be seen on the artists face as he begins to sing the song, this is a symbolic code as it allows the audience to know what the artist is feeling and therefore sets a mood for the song and the audience. This is also done in 'Trust' as both artists tend not to look directly at the camera but are looking down or the camera is placed where the audience only see the side of their faces. This is effective as the song is emotional and it lets the audience become aware of the emotion in both the lyrics and the performance.

In the song 'What's it gonna be', symbolic codes are also used when the artists are performing the song, the are always in the location of the library. This is done as it gives the audience recognition of who the artists are because they can link them with the location. This is important because the song is both performance based and narrative based but by creating this location it breaks these up and lets the audience know which is which.

As the video by HtwoO begins the location is set straight away with an establishing shot of a school or college building. This is then backed up by the clothing of a school uniform, which lets the audience know for certain where they are. This is a convention of a music video as clothes can be used to set a location, mood or to even indicate the genre of the song. In this case the clothes are used to set the location.
The use of the establishing shot at the start of the song is very much the same as the music video 'Trust'. At the beginning of this song a shot of a mansion is used but instead of clothing setting the location, text is used at the bottom of the screen, saying 'Tuscany, Italy'. This again sets the location.

Another convention of music videos is the editing; in all three of the videos I analysed editing is used in order for the shots to be in pace with the pace of the music. This a convention used in most music videos because the pace of the shots can set a mood or feel to the song. For example the song 'Trust' is a slow song with a lot of emotion, so shots are not fast and short but a longer.
On the other hand in the song 'Use Somebody', fast, short shots are used as the genre of the music is rock and therefore fast paced. However at the start of the song long shots are used as the pace of the music is fairly slow.

In the HtwoO video fairly longer shots are used then in the Kings of Leon video although it is a fast paced song, however fast dancing is used in there video which makes the pace seem quicker.

All of these are codes and conventions of music videos, which all vary depending on the genre and pace of the song. Overall all the videos have many things in common which are likely to be found in most music videos, hence why they are conventions.

Visual ideas for my song choice

These are the lyrics for my chosen song; I have written some ideas around the lyrics to give some visual ideas of what could be in my music video.