Our media studies presentation on James Bay's 'best fake smile' for our coursework

1. Best Fake Smile –
James Bay
By Amie Page and Emily Ware

2. Lyrics
No you don't have to wear your best fake smile
Don't have to stand there and burn inside
Oh oh oh if you don't like it
She's working late and making eyes at the door
She's sick of everybody up on her floor
She wants the sun in her eyes but all she gets is ignored
She used to put it out and get it all back
But now she's slipping trying to carry the act
She's sweating under the lights, now she's beginning to crack
Woah
No you don't have to wear your best fake smile
Don't have to stand there and burn inside
Oh oh oh if you don't like it
And you don't have to care so don't pretend
Nobody needs a best fake friend
Oh oh oh don't hide it
No hesitation now she gets up and walks
She thinks of all the pain and pride that it cost
She empties all the tip jars and won't get back what she lost
Outside the window with two fingers to show
She lifts her head up just to blow out the smoke
She doesn't have to look back to know where she's gotta go
No you don't have to wear your best fake smile
Don't have to stand there and burn inside
Oh oh oh if you don't like it
And you don't have to care so don't pretend
Nobody needs a best fake friend
Oh oh oh don't hide it
If you don't bleed it you don't need it anymore
If you don't need it get up and leave it on the floor
No more believing like it's a voice you can't ignore
If you don't need it you don't need it no
And you don't have to wear your best fake smile
Don't have to stand there and burn inside
Oh oh oh no if you don't like it
And you don't have to care so don't pretend
Nobody needs a best fake friend
Oh oh oh don't hide it
No you don't have to wear your best fake smile
Don't have to stand there and burn inside
Oh oh oh if you don't like it
Oh oh oh no if you don't like it

3. Genre
 The genres that James Bay covers are Indie, Indie
rock, indie pop, alternative rock, folk rock and soul.
 However ‘best fake smile’ is Indie pop as it has a
quicker tempo and more upbeat content.

4. Other video’s that we have watched that are in the
same genre that we have chosen are George Ezra’s
‘Blame it on me’ and ‘Budapest’. We noticed that a lot
of slow motion was used in these videos which is
something to consider when doing our video.
Particularly in ‘blame it on me’ a lot of slow motion was
used which juxtaposed the tempo of the song.
In both of these videos there were a lot of extras
featured, we hope to use around 7-8 extras to try and
incorporate some of the aspects we have noticed in the
videos linking to our genre.

5. Target audience
We will be looking to target a slightly older teen
audience of mainly girls. We feel our video will be
aimed towards girls as our performer and all the extras
will be girls so will be steered into a more feminine
direction. Also, the video will show it from a females
perspective.
Other artists that our target audience will be interested
in will be George Ezra, The 1975, Ben Howard, Ed
Sheeran and Hudson Taylor as they are all in the same
genre, with a few cross overs into pop.

6. Concept of our video
 The idea for our video is to have a strong narrative, with some
performance aspects running throughout.
 The main theme of the video is to show a diverse change in
character from a girl living a strict and oppressive lifestyle to
embracing her freedom and ‘breaking free’.
 We will show this change through the use of costume, makeup,
hair and location.

7. In the beginning of the video we’ll show our main
performer living in a strict house where her parents
expect her to be ‘prim and proper’. Her parents have
very high expectations of her. The pressure that her
parents put her under becomes too much for her and
she decides to go against her parents’ will by becoming
the opposite of what they want; changing her
appearance as well as her attitude.
Tik Tok – Ke$ha

8. From…

9. To…

10. Which conventions will we use?
Lyrics and visuals – As the song is by a male artist and our
performer is female, we can’t have her lip sync the lyrics.
Instead, she will do actions hat match what the lyrics are
saying.
Close ups – We will have close up shots throughout the
video, which will show her progression as a character.
Genre – we will show the genre of the song through the
video by using colour (prominent in pop videos) and aspects
of indie shown through the narrative.
Music and Visuals – We’re going to try and cut some shots in
time with the music. Also, as the tempo of the song picks up
towards the end we will have more quick cuts along with a
change of location.

11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4NpXfRCgGY