Characters- Throughout the video we are shown several characters that are portrayed as “beauty” pageants competing against one another. All girls are heavily made up with makeup and wearing wigs. This adds to the fake image that these girls compete in. The idea of a beauty pageant is hyper real, because in reality girls don’t look like this. All the girls that appear on stage are all over smiling which contrasts from when there back stage arguing and fighting with one another. Additionally with scenes of Beyonce making herself be sick, shows a more serious side to the storyline. With Beyonce appearing in the video that has such a strong message “pretty hurts”, ables her younger audience to relate to her, about todays generations struggle of the way we ‘should’ look.

Narrative Events- At the start of the video we immediately know that it is set as though we are watching a real beauty pageant. We are then fronted with extremely heavily made up girls with little clothing, additionally with the traditional sashes and a number we get the impression that these girls are not important and that there just a number. This links back to the message in the story “pretty hurts “. At the end the winner is reviled, which is clear to the audience that she has had plastic surgery. Beyonce shows throughout the video the struggles of today’s generation that has to fit a perfect image. When asked what she wants in life she replies “Happiness”. This states that no matter what you fix with yourself it will never make you happy. Another line that stands out in the song ”Tryna fix something but you cant fix what you cant see, it’s the soul that needs the surgery.”

Iconography - There are many iconic props used throughout Beyonce’s music vide; for example the scales and the mental waist belt are all iconic issues of the decease bulimia. The girls are all stood in a line in front of a mirror “fixing” themselves before they enter the stage. “Brush your hair, fix your teeth. What you wear is all that matters.” Is direct links to the girls competing that are in this hyper real world of perfecting themselves. Beyonce is told to breathe in and loose weight by her coach. All this issues are issues are is growing more popular with younger girls, and with the decease. Another symbolic prop is when her character at home Is over exercising on the bike to become this “perfect” image. This whole music video brings alive the real struggle of beauty pageants.

Setting - Throughout the music video there are several different settings. To start we are at the stereotypical pageant stage where we have the host calling out the girls. Next we have the backstage room where the girls get ready. This sets the scene well, as all the girls are panicking running hectic. There is also a shot of the judges on the table; this is stereotypical of the genre, with the contestant being judged. To add to that we then have a scene of Beyonce in her home environment on her bike, with a metal waist trainer round her waist which states again the pressure that the girls are faced in the world of beauty pageant. This shows ever outside of the contest she still focuses on her appearance to another extreme.

Technical and Audio Codes - In the music video cross cuts are used to show difference and change in the characters. For example, one scene will be of Beyonce over smiling then next vomiting and then over exercising. This shows to the audience all this facial expression is an act, when really she is unhappy. There are several long shot used to show the petite girls in a line standing perfectly straight, this exaggerates the setting to the audience, and how fragile the girls are to the real world. Additionally long shots are used of the girl’s faces to infer how much surgery that they have had done. “It’s the sole that needs the surgery” This implies how unhappy the girls life is in a pageant world, that the plastic is a cover up. When the video starts we enter with high key lighting to show how the pageant world looks from the outside, to girls that aspire. Although when we go backstage the lighting is dark to show the mood change and how unhappy the girls really are. We also dear diegetic and non-diegetic sound throughout the video. The diegetic sound is the presenter talking to the girls, then the music playing in the background is the non-diegetic sound. The message behind the video shows to girls that look at pageant girls as role models, really have a negative dark life that isn’t portrayed in the light it should.