It's a wikipedia list... anyone can change it xD

yeah, some of the sources for the list are very fishy also, especially the one for the video placed one, the video is said to be 13 million but the only source is some list that doesn't include sources at all? enough reason for me to not believe it, such an expensive video would have gotten MANY news reports

Well, yeah... but all the sources are cited which means the official costs were published somewhere. I don't think Ayu's blog is counted as an official source since its a personal blog. That's what I meant. ^^

Saw the You were... PV. The song is pretty average and I didn't like the PV in the least. I'm not a big fan of "Ayumi PV symbolism." Too weird for me.

^
^
the sources are just random websites that often dont cite any sources, rarely the list is based on official sources

You were... is certainly one of her best PV since... a long time^^ Although the song is highly forgetable, the PV is not. For sure, she looks beautiful, but I prefer the clown skaters (I immediatly though about the joker in Batman lol) and the pasteboard set.

i absolutely LOVE the song now that i've heard the full HQ version :love and surprisingly, despite the PV being pretty weird (and i have no clue what the actual storyline was :P) i really liked it. i dunno, because it was so different (to me, at least) i just enjoyed it so much and i really liked it. i hope BALLAD will be a bit better, though. but regardless, i'm satisfied :D

oh and i LOVE the teddy bear (or was it a teddy bear puppet?) at the beginning of the video. whenever i see it, it makes mme happy :tipsy

Love the song, glad to be able to hear a good quality version of it. The video is very beautiful, kinda boring though (Reminds me a bit of Jewel). I love the wintery feel of it.

Also idk if anyone pointed this out (I havent taken the time to read back through the thread) but I thought Ayu looked kinda similar to the White Witch from Narnia.....

What dancers? :roflmao

I swear this PV was the first time I really noticed any dancers. But maybe it's because I never really pay attention to Ayu's dancers in the first place.

But that wasn't my point. My point is she hasn't really relied on ridiculous props or extravagant PVs this year. Her dancers are always going to be there as surely as she is. They're part of the "certainty list." In life there are three things that are certain, death, taxes and Ayu's dancers. :laugh

My interpretation of "You were..." PV
 

I don't know if my thoughts are correct... but I've been trying to get with some meaning for you were... PV...

Maybe I would had to post it in the thread of "you were/BALLAD thoughts", but it ended being really long... so I though it was better to create a new thread... If not, move it to that thread, and sorry -_____-


____________________________



For me this is about the entertainment world and how this affected Ayu's life. I'm going to explain, or try at least, which is the meaning of what we can see in this PV.

First, all the lights, all the brilliant things... this PV is full of lights... i think this is the symbolism for this artists world. Artists are always in front of focuses, they have always a focus pointing at them... and also people, fans, think of this world like something far from us... I mean... at least when I think of Ayu, it's like she has some aura around her... I don't know if I explained it well...


http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/4791/71431774.png


Then all the "characters" we can see in it... I think they are a personification of Ayu's feelings or attitudes.

The first one is a girl, dancing, she looks beautiful, with a nice dress, she looks happy and free, and we can see her face... she's still her... this is like the beginning, the beginning of being a singer.


http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/9793/66611024.png


then we can see something similar, the one that is skiing, we can still see her face, she's living in this place she found...


http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/3980/22330129.png


This 2 characters, we see how they move smoothly, fluently, with freedom...

The next character, her face is covered, we can't see the real person behind it, her movements are static... then we can see this same character, moving like a marionette, it's being controlled.. the flower she had covering all her chest is gone, an we can see some lights just were we have our heart, this are like pieces, her heart is broken...


http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/4352/72189233.pnghttp://img189.imageshack.us/img189/87/46923957.png


after this character we see for the first time the stage, her path... The background... this fake trees, is like a stage, she is in a stage, this is what she chose years ago, and we can see in this stage a path. She always talks about this path, the path she chose to take and keep on going, this path of being a singer, she is in this path, she can't change it. We see ayu in this path, facing it, she's still, maybe she is sad and has been hurt, but she faces it...


http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/594/52081333.pnghttp://img229.imageshack.us/img229/5033/78954883.png


the next two characters are completely like robots, their movements are limited, they can't move. I think that these are two attitudes for facing this situation, they are together and they are like fighting a little... which is the correct way of acting?? Accepting everything, the world is like this, I can't do nothing, or can I still believe that there's hope, that I can wish for happiness?


http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/6493/30892368.png


the last character we see is a girl around sparks, she's being cornered, she can't move, and she's moving desperately... and they focus her head, and we see she has two faces, and one is starting covering the real one... I see her like the original self, the one inside us, she's like trying to take it out, wanting this mask to disappear... we see again this "fake" face and her hand with a light that fades away.. I think of it like she is seeing how her essence is disappearing, she knows it...


http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/7180/56496293.pnghttp://img189.imageshack.us/img189/7243/85566840.png
http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/4931/44095629.png


Where I see the meaning of that two characters that are together?

There's one that wears like a warrior, and this clothes give me a feeling of something strong, like a shield that protects the person inside it, instiead of fighting, this one protects herself and do nothing... she wears a mask, but this mask has something that hang from it... I think of it as tears... she is inside it, she wants to accept it, but she still cries...


http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/3898/36456414.png


this is also the character that holds the brain, I don't know what to think about it, maybe it's like "I have to abandon my own standards"...


http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/5631/57464715.png


after that we see this character around fire, standing, without moving... it gives me more the feeling of "there's still feelings inside her", there's fire, she's still not totally "dead"...


http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/5318/22846169.pnghttp://img341.imageshack.us/img341/109/59119268.png


the other one, we see her trying to move with more freedom, when she turns her head, looking up, a light appears... this light of hope that shines... this is what makes me think this character symbolizes the desire of hope, to believe that there can be something more if we fight....


http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/3786/43212152.pnghttp://img80.imageshack.us/img80/5589/18674871.png


Then we see Ayu's face, still, like a doll. This is the result, she's posing... Seeing her eyes, I have the feeling that inside her there's this character, the one with a second face almost covering the real one, that is seeing this and cries... she is broken inside...


http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/8532/14495468.png


But like everything in this PV, it fades away... and finally we see Ayu standing in her path, but this time she's not standing without moving, she is fighting, she wants to shine with her own light, not the one that others want.


http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/5064/97151652.pnghttp://img42.imageshack.us/img42/531/33948896.png


the tree at the end, the only one that is brown... I understand it like... how to explain... With winter the trees are "dead", they are covered with snow... but when winter ends, this trees will live again when spring comes, they will grow strong and flourish again... that tree in this scene, between trees all "dead", one is starting to live again, spring is coming...


http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/3154/53934495.png


I see it like, she is starting to be happy again...


_____________________



Okay, this is my interpretation... For me the PV is talking about her live like an artist, maybe from the beggining, the first years, maybe she felt like this, what I explained, and since then she has been fighting... She has been always an artist that tried to make all the way she wanted, this has been her fight, to shine with her own light...

I know this has nothing to do with "You were..." lyrics, but this love that ended, maybe she thinks that this path she chose to take has the fault of its ending.


So, this is only MY OWN interpretation, I'm not pretending to say this is the TRUTH xDD maybe you'll agree with me, maybe not, and maybe some people will understand this PV more ^^


so here it is...



P.D: sorry if some explanations are bad or difficult to understand, I'm not that food in english and it was difficult for me to explaing difficult interpretations in another language ^^'

wow...i love your explaination.i agree with this statement

BALLAD: wayy better than You were.. but its so creepy how much it sounds like alan's BALALD :o >_>
but i do enjoy & appreciate the flute and the orientalness of it <333

Who's this alan person everyone keeps mentioning? :eyebrow

Cheap and glamorous aren't the two ends of the spectrum though. It can be high budget/professional looking without looking glamorous.


The trees certainly wasn't the part that looked cheap to me, they actually made the video sorta artsy looking. I think the editing was one of the main reasons, specifically the transitions, how it turned into bokeh or whatever.

http://img709.imageshack.us/img709/4...nap5914190.png


Then there was the lighting of her by the trees, those scenes just screamed cheap at me. By the end when the light was changed, it looked at whole lot better. Overall the video just didn't look like it was from 2009 to me :no

http://img682.imageshack.us/img682/5...nap5914354.png

http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/9...nap5916003.png

I was referring to what you wrote about the tour. :)

Ah, I honestly haven't seen the entire thing, so I don't know if there were more than usual. But like I said, her dancers are going to be around no matter what lol.

I like your interpretation, walking.proud. Really beautiful. However, I didn't think too complicated like this, my understanding about this PV is quite simple and follow the lyric.

And here is my interpretation. Of course, it's just my point of view.

Note:
* words in quote is "You were.." lyric, I took it from the translation of tenshi no hane.
[translation + romaji] You were... by tenshi no hane

* And images, I used these in walking.proud first post ^^

--

In the beginning, a bear-glove appears, rite? This is symbolize for the whole concept of the PV and the meaning of lyric. It represents for "Ayu" - she still remembers her love.

She walks in the street she has ever walked with her ex-love, then she stops, and stands at the place they used to see each other when dating. She puts her arms behind her back, kicks her feet while waiting. After watching other couples pass by, she feels very lonely and walks away.

* everybody in other thread think the teddy bear is a male, for me is "Ayu" so I think teddy bear's gender is female :P

http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/4791/71431774.png

Then real Ayu appears. But forgot this real Ayu, she is just the singer who sings the song, LOL :D

http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/9793/66611024.png

I thought the colorful clown is Ayu herself in the past. Because she was in love, so she was very colorful, even in the dark background, we still can see she shines very brightly.

http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/4352/72189233.png

This clown with a flower in the chest appears when she sang this line, so I thought this is the time when the couple separate, then she is heart-broken. We also can see in PV that this clown later was exploded, rite? I think this clown represents her hope with this person. But now it is over.

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/87/46923957.png

The next clown, I don't care about the appearance, I just notice about the action. She moves like a marionette. I think it is the reaction of losing her love. It is so painful that she even lost her mind.

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/6493/30892368.png

... I'm still thinking about the meaning of those 2 robots ^^ however, due to the lyric, these two are not Ayu. One is her ex-love and one is his new-love (maybe :innocent)

http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/7180/56496293.png

I think she is wonder how long she has to suffer this sorrow?

http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/4931/44095629.png

For me the fireworks she is holding in her hand is "the dream". Last time, they always talked about the future, maybe they wish for a happy family or success in their jobs together... However, they were separated so the dream looks like fireworks, it broke and disappeared. Nothing left.

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/5631/57464715.png

The clown holds the brain means she still respects for her memories. She wants to throw all away, in the other hands, she wants to keep even a single moment because that all she have about her precious love.

http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/5318/22846169.png

A light appears, rite? For me this light is the kind and the warm memories that help her a way out of the silence and sorrow.

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/3786/43212152.png

We can see the clown clearly now. It means Ayu is recovered. She is back to herself, continue to live without him. The black and white color is opposite with the colorful in the beginning ^+^

--

I myself think that "You were..." has a connection between the lyric and PV. The PV is just represents Ayu herself since the time she was happy in love, heart-break and then being recovered. Other weird characters (clown or marionette) appear is just her subconscious due to her emotional state.

P/S: sorry if I wrote something wrong because my english is not good, even I want to say a lot but I can't ^^'

miayu's theory is exactly the same as mine but yours was interesting too, I never thought about it that way!

That's the exact feeling I get while watching the PV.
Sure, there is a deeper meaning behind the PV and it's somehow connected to the lyrics, but it's just too much symbolism at some points. And symbols and metaphors don't have to be weird to deliver a meaning.
Don't get me wrong, it's ok. The PV is better than S/S for sure, they try to do something different or/and something the older Ayu would have done, that's great.
It just don't get me interested enough to watch it more than once. All those weird symbols are just too much, it puts me off.
A little bit simpler, just one or two pairs of weird dancers, to make it more understandable would have been better.

I don't get it how the PV looks cheap.
I assumed that nobody never see a cheap MV :shrug.