You Belong With Me - Taylor Swift Analysis

You Belong With Me is one of Taylor's earlier music videos and I have always liked the way it has been filmed and the storyline which is behind it. There is a full storyline within the music video, starting with a teenage crush and ending with a happy ending, which is what the audience would expect a 'happy ending' to be like.

The video begins with an ES of two houses, establishing the scene of where the two teenagers live.

The effects zoom in closer to the house and then use a dissolve transition to show the teenage boy on the phone to his girlfriend, clearly having a heated argument due his hand/facial expressions. As the song begins to start, just before the lyrics are apparent, the camera shows the boy out of focus and is framed behind him, showing Taylor in the other window across the way.



"Your on the phone with your girlfriend, she's upset", fits in very well with the shot that is shown at the moment in which the lyrics are sung. This shows how the editing has been tightly thought out, enabling the lyrics to fit in well with the narrative.

After the boy has been arguing with his girlfriend, Taylor holds up a caring note asking "You ok?", with his reply "Tired of Drama". This shows how the pair have a connection and can care for each other.

As Taylor begins to write another note to show her crush, he is shown to be closing the curtains, and she then holds up her next note, "I love you", which is obviously can't see as he is behind the curtains, showing that she has the confidence to say it to him, however has missed her chance.

Her saddened expression is then interestingly shown in the reflection of the glass, which I really liked. During my 'Missing' piece for AS, I had some footage of my reflection in the van window, however it didn't work well in the quick, fast pace editing that I used, so I didn't include it within the video. So possibly for this music video, I could have some interesting shots from different angles/reflections.

So, as the lyrics fit in with the narrative, Taylor starts to try and justify why her crush is with the other girl that she doesn't like and she singing about she is classier than the other girl and sings "I wear t-shirts" and this fits in perfectly with her dancing:

She also sings "I'm on the bleachers, dreaming 'bout the day you wake and find that what you're looking for has been here the whole time". As the song kicks in, she starts to dance around her room and on her bed singing along to the song as if she is a teenage girl in the privacy of her own room singing into a hairbrush. A series of different shots are used to show her during this scene including, LS, MS and slight zoom from MS to CU.

There are many focus pulls throughout the video, which i'd really like to re-create as I think it looks extremely sophisticated and fits in perfectly within the whole 'music video' scene. Taylor is shown reading her book and the camera tilts down and has her hands out of focus as the lyrics explain him walking towards her: "walking the streets with you and your worn out jeans".

This next shot kind of links into the Lady Antebellum song where the girl is dreaming about her dream relationship and then wakes up, as Taylor is dreaming about the boy placing her hair behind her ear and then the camera shows the two in a MS which then zooms out from them and she "can't help thinking this is how it's ought to be".

As the boy seems to be 'bitching' about his girlfriend to Taylor, she is shown singing to him, bringing out his qualities, really respecting him, however then his girlfriend turns up.

"You've got a smile that could light up this whole town, I haven't seen it in a while since she brought you down" is sung as this MS of his 'devil' girlfriend is shown. She is obviously Taylor, playing this other character, however she is shown with darker hair to connote her dark side.

This CU immediately shows that his girlfriend is extremely sneeky and looks like trouble with her expressions. This allows the audience to gain a better understanding of the girlfriend and see her in the same light as Taylor.

"She's cheercaptain and i'm on the bleechers" is sung as this MS of his girlfriend is shown, again linking the lyrics in closely with the narrative.

A CU and then a LS shows Taylor singing and aiming her lyrics towards her crush:

A very interesting focus pull is used here to fit in with Taylor singing: "You belong with me":

He is pulled into focus as the lyrics are sung.

After the rugby team find out that they've won, the boy walks over to his girlfriend to find her flirting with another boy and the camera cuts between Taylor and the argument of the boy and his girlfriend, as she shows her shock:

Above, the argument has been shown from Taylor POV and this allows the audience to see the boy walk away and realise that Taylor acutally has a good chance to show her feelings now.

There is one moment in the video where the lyrics don't exactly fit with the narrative, however the narrative is ongoing and it can't really be interupted. Taylor sings: "You driving to my house in the middle of the night" and its the two teenagers sat writing notes to one another, which is shown below. So possibly, the narrative doesn't have to directly fit with the lyrics in every part of the video.

After the camera pans to follow the boy leaving the pitch, the scene jumps to the houses again and jumps between Taylor and the boy and he holds up another note asking if she is going to the ball tonight:

With her reply then:

And the audience then begin to feel that the boy actually has feelings for Taylor as he then replies with, "I wish you were":

After he is shown leaving to go to the ball with his suit jacket over his shoulder, Taylor peels back her work to reveal the paper saying "I love you".

After the transition is used to 'fade to black', Taylor is shown entering the ball in her innocent white dress and the path clears as she walks in, treating her like an angel. Everyone is shocked by her appearance as they've never seen her so beautiful.

Fade to black:

Taylor's entrance:

As Taylor enters, the camera jumps between her and her crush. "Why can't you see" is played as a unsteady zoom/track is shown of her crush, showing his shock of Taylor appearing without her glasses and looking beautiful.

Taylor actually sings during her entrance, so this is particularly interesting, however she doesn't sing all the through. "You belong with me" isn't sung as her and her crush meet eye to eye.

The boy is shown walking towards Taylor is a steady shot, however his ex-girlfriend appears in a red dress, immediately allowing the audience to think about the connotations of red and her evil/bitchy side. The boy is shown out of focus, putting the light on the evil-ex girlfriend, allowing the audience to focus on her.

The camera jumps back to Taylor and an upward tilt is used to allow the audience to reflect on her innocence and the whiteness of her dress.

Taylor is then show in a shallow focus MS, showing her importance and also her opening up her letter to the boy:

There is then a jump cut to show a MS of the letter open, which is quite jarring, but works:

The boys facial expression is then shown to express his reaction and a series of different shots are used to do so and then it jumps to him holding up the open note:

After the boys ex-girlfriend is shown in the background looking disgusted at the two getting closer together, Taylor and her crush are shown getting closer and he isn't shown from her side, the shots are just shot from his side once they get closer, however before hand a SRS is used. Taylor sings "You belong with me" as the two go in for a kiss.

So, I absolutely love the narrative of this video, however I think it would be extremely hard to recreate as it includes window chats, a rubgy game with a cheerleader routine, a ball and a lot of scenes that would cost a lot of money and time to make! Although I couldn't recreate these particular scenes, I could possibly use the idea of an on going narrative with the main singer lipsinging in parts.