Visual Diary

Haoming Zhou (Gino)

BCE

ID:1456889 Introduction

“Beautiful Now” is a song by Russian-German musician Zedd, featuring vocals from American singer Jon Bellion from his second studio album, True Colors. It was written by Zedd, Bellion, Antoni- na Armato, David Jost, Tim James and Desmond Child. The song was released on May 13, 2015. The song was commercially success- ful and has been featured on a number of worldwide music charts.

On May 8, 2015, as part of his True Colors promotional campaign, Zedd premiered “Beautiful Now” at the Shedd Aquarium in Chi- cago, Illinois. Five days later, he announced that he would release the song onto iTunes at 9:00 PM PST.[1] A few hours prior to its release, he tweeted the lyrics from the song’s beat break: “BAH BAH BAH BABABAH BAH BAH BABABAH BAH BAH BAH BABA- BAH BABABABA”[2] About DJ ZEDD

Anton Zaslavski (Russian: Антон Заславский;[a] born 2 September 1989), better known by his stage name Zedd , is a Russian-German record producer, DJ, musician, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter He primarily produces and per- forms electro house music, but has diversified his genre and musical style, drawing influences from progressive house, dubstep, and classical music. Zedd grew up and began his career in Kaiserslautern, Germany. Zedd’s best-known productions to date are the songs “Stay” with Alessia Cara and “Clarity” featuring Foxes, both reaching the Top 10 respectively in two separate occasions which were in the 7th and 8th position on the Billboard Hot 100. Also as a featured artist, he managed to get into the 4th position with his collaboration with Ariana Grande called “Break Free”. Zedd won a Grammy for Best Dance Recording at the 56th Grammy Awards for “Clarity”. Beautiful Now - Zedd,Jon Bellion I see what you’re wearing, there’s nothing beneath it Forgive me for staring, forgive me for breathing We might not know why, we might not know how But baby, tonight, we’re beautiful now We’re beautiful now We’re beautiful now We might not know why, we might not know how But baby, tonight, we’re beautiful now We’ll light up the sky, we’ll open the clouds ‘Cause baby, tonight, we’re beautiful now, we’re beautiful We’re beautiful Wherever it’s going, I’m gonna chase it What’s left of this moment, I’m not gonna waste it Stranded together, our worlds have collided This won’t be forever, so why try to fight it We’re beautiful now We’re beautiful now We might not know why, we might not know how But baby, tonight, we’re beautiful now We’ll light up the sky, we’ll open the clouds ‘Cause baby, tonight, we’re beautiful now, we’re beautiful We’re beautiful Let’s live tonight like fireflies And one by one light up the sky We disappear and pass the crown You’re beautiful, you’re beautiful We’re beautiful now We’re beautiful now We’re beautiful now We’re beautiful now We’re beautiful We’re beautiful Background

The video intertwines five different stories together. The first is of a woman who supposedly drowned her female lover in a pool; the second involves an elderly Central American man who is journeying on an unsuccessful mountain climbing attempt; the third involves the son of a man whose home is invaded by armed robbers; the fourth involves Zedd portray- ing a liquor store robber who becomes hostile with the management; and the fifth depicts a distraught girl laying down on a railroad. As the song progresses, the video intercuts to scenes of family happiness, good times with friends, dancing and rejoicing before concluding the five stories. The first woman’s lover is pulled from the water before drowning, and the ex realizes the gravity of the situation; the old man attempts to climb the mountain and falls, but survives, without reaching the summit; the armed robbery victim’s son confronts the hostiles at gunpoint and subdues them; Zedd’s character reflects over what sunk him to his current point in life and seems to change his ways; the suicidal girl is missed by the train and reflects on her life and why she chose such an extreme act. All five people in the stories see themselves in a reflection in various surfaces as their stories are closed and they all resolve to be better people. https://youtu.be/n1a7o44WxNo Research

This is the cover I made for the first time for this assignment. It is too concise and the subject is not clear. I can not express the feelings expressed in this song from the front cover. After that, I changed the background photo, changed a typeset- ting method and performance technique, it seems to be better than first one, but still lacks a lot of content, so I did some learn- ing on the internet and I did it again.

The entire cover lacks the mood that the song is trying to express. The style and melody of the song are not very consistent with the cover. This was designed after I listened to this song repeatedly. There are many kinds of emotions in thie song. The music rhythmsounds cheerful and there is a trace of sadness. These two design elements can well include the content expressed by the song. However, the design of the screen is too simple. Although there are many colors, the screen is to simple. This is my final product. I made some adjustments to my previous work. The front cover was a bit monotonous. I added a backgroud and a border to it so that the cover would look full. The colorful letters of the alphabet represent the story, and the stotyline expressing the perseverance and firmness of everyone’s heart. CD CD COVER BACK Reference https://www.pinterest.nz/pin/737323770217984300/ https://www.pinterest.nz/pin/737323770217984304/ https://www.pinterest.nz/pin/737323770217984307/ https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=beautiful%20now%20mv&qs=AS&form=QBIRMH&sp=2&pq=beautiful%20now%20 &sk=AS1&sc=8-14&cvid=0FDD7CEC6D2D44FFB494FFB9D97E4C1D https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=Sg%2bRXao6&id=E6E8CD104EFA87DA03E3DE3B88DDE6CE73C9FCD0&thid=OIP. Sg-RXao6bMetZSkc-Jb5_wHaEK&mediaurl=http%3a%2f%2f2.bp.blogspot.com%2f-eYPdeGp0tF4%2fVweK91Z1SNI%2fAAAAAAAABMc%2fx- mEfpxbQDLUWSLJxvwVL7O7B8Z8KScPfQ%2fs1600%2fZedd-beautiful-now-719328.jpg&exph=480&expw=853&q=beautiful+now&simid=608006572037114473&selectedIndex=4&ajaxhist=0 https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=gXR8LLob&id=1AE7921A1C535473A88C2FC81CCF9D9AE8DFD3E9&thid=OIP.gXR8L- LobreO_BIO6q2KXxwHaHa&mediaurl=http%3a%2f%2fvignette2.wikia.nocookie.net%2fzedd%2fimages%2fa%2fa2%2fBeautiful_Now_-_The_Remix- es.jpg%2frevision%2flatest%3fcb%3d20150630171430&exph=600&expw=600&q=beautiful+now&simid=607990040720640032&selectedIndex=6&ajaxhist=0 https://zhidao.baidu.com/question/938213619993443972.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beautiful_Now https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zedd