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Visuals
Beyoncé first considered the idea of creating a visual album in June 2013, when only three or four songs had been completed. Explaining her motivation, she said she would often connect images, childhood memories, emotions and fantasies to songs she was in the midst of composing, and that she "wanted people to hear the songs with the story that's in my head as that's what makes it mine". The videos were filmed between June and November 2013 in various countries as the singer traveled on her world tour. Todd Tourso, who directed the videos for "Jealous" and "Heaven", served as the creative director for the entire project. Much of his role concerned liaising between Beyoncé, who for most videos already had concepts, and the respective directors who also had propositions. As most videos were shot outside of the US during the singer's world tour, the crew surrounding the videos was small, consisting only of Tourso, the director of photography and producer, as well as Beyoncé and her stylist, make-up artist and security. When filming in public, Beyoncé would wear in-ear headphones instead of having the music played out loud, in order to maintain the secrecy of the project and prevent any songs leaking.

Several videos were intended to demonstrate the album's central theme of "finding the beauty in imperfection". While working on "Flawless", Beyoncé was reminded of her loss on Star Search, which she saw as a defining moment in her career, and believed that the competition had taught her how to embrace future losses. The video—directed by Jake Nava—was inspired by the juxtapositions presented in the song, as well as its aggressive energy. Filming predominantly took place in a Parisian monastery redressed to look an underground club and was based on 1980s skinhead culture. Nava believed the visual found "correlation between the visceral energy of these old-school, punk-rock parties and the idea... [that] things you perceive people to be are not what they really are, and everybody has this beautiful, chaotic energy just being themselves". The video for "Pretty Hurts" examines imperfection related to body image, its director Melina Matsoukas saying that a beauty pageant was used as its subject to act as a "as microcosm for our society". Beyoncé portrays a pageant contestant who is suffering the consequences of obsession with her image, and is shown using plastic surgery, consuming weight loss medication and vomiting. In one scene, she destroys a collection of trophies which Matsoukas said was inspired by her obtaining a childhood photograph of the singer in which she was pictured afront of a personal collection. She elaborated that this was intended to "represent knocking down [...] beauty standards and falling into a victim of that". Beyoncé reflected that the trophies represented "all of the sacrifice I have made as a kid, all of the time that I lost".

The theme of imperfection was also carried into the creation of the visuals, with videos for "Yoncé", "No Angel", "XO" and "Blue" shot without prior preparation, as the singer found enjoyment in the spontaneity of the filming locations and in resisting the urge to perfect them. "Drunk in Love", filmed by Hype Williams on a Miami beach, was noted for its unchoreographed approach. Beyoncé was particularly fond of the effortlessness of the visual, saying "it was just the two of us, on the beach, amazing weather, and one outfit. It's beautiful in its simplicity. If you want something to feel real and urgent, you can't overthink it". Tourso noted that the video was shot entirely in black-and-white to give it a "lo-fi urgency, yet fashion-y vibe".

Noting some of the visuals' explicit content and exposure of her body, Beyoncé said she found shooting them liberating and expressed her intention to demonstrate sexuality as a power that women should have, and importantly, not loose after becoming a mother. The visual for "Partition", also directed by Nava, follows the song's candid narrative of a couple's sexual encounter in a limousine that Beyoncé had fantasized about when writing the song. It was filmed in widescreen ratio to give the effect that the viewer was watching through a partition. Several locations were used, including the interior of an antique Rolls-Royce and the Crazy Horse cabaret club where the singer performs several choreographed routines.