Tuesday, 15 September 2015

Music video analysis - Research - A2 Media


Costume:
For most of the video the costumes fro both the main artist and the background characters are very bright and vibrant, this is very similar to the rest of the video that is all very happy and bright, it also is similar to the lyrics as the lyrics are about having a good time and enjoying yourself, so the bright costumes go with the lyrics well.
Katy always has a more vibrant outfit that any of the other characters, in one scene she has a red and black dress compared to the other characters who have black and white dresses on. This makes you want to look at Katy more than any of the other characters.
All of her outfits seem to be very over the top, for example in one scene she is wearing a very bright and short tennis outfit, with extremely high heels on, this makes her as an artist seem more outgoing almost seeming like she is trying to compete with other eccentric artists such as Lady Gaga.
Most of her outfits fit the lyrics that are playing at that time such as when she is wearing a Japanese robe, this matches the lyrics as it is saying ‘getting our nails did all Japanesey’, this makes the video link better to the song more than if the whole video was random like it seems at first glance.

Makeup/hair:
Much like the video the hair and makeup is very bright; Katy throughout the video has bright red lipstick on with lots of bright hair colours. Like with the costumes this goes well with the bright and vibrant video, and the fun and happy song.
However through bits of the video Katy and the background characters have natural looking hair and makeup, in one shot all the characters have 1950’s style hair and hardly any makeup on. This contrasts to the rest of the video, but is also a nice change for the audience watching as it isn’t too overwhelming for them to watch 3 minutes of eccentric makeup and hair.

Positioning:
Throughout the whole video Katy is always center and front of everything else in the shot, any other characters are either behind her or under her, this puts all focus on her while she is lip-syncing. At one point all characters are on podiums, the highest one has Katy on it and the other two are lower down so they are literally underneath her.

Props:
All of the props are very random out of context but do relate to the shot. In one scene there are lots of ping pong balls hanging around, which seems very random but in the scene they are playing ping pong, props like these mainly are used to make the scene more over the top, it also makes the video more fun to watch if it is over the top, compared to if they were only playing ping pong in that scene.

Setting:
Throughout most of the video the setting is a coloured screen with various props in front of it. The colours on the screen are almost always very bright and colourful, this again goes well with the rest of the video that is bright and vibrant, it also matches the lyrics of the song that are fun and quirky.
However there is one shot where the setting is a black velvet backdrop, although this contrasted to the rest of the video, it still worked very well as it didn’t bring the mood of the video down.

Lighting:
The lighting stays the same throughout the video, it is bright to keep the artist well lit, however not to bright that it drowns her out, this is most likely done to keep Katy well lit, but to also not put a dark feel on a fun pop video.
One shot in the video however goes from the normal lighting to dark light so that all that we see is ultra violet light, this is most likely done for effect as it contrasts nicely with the rest of the video and also adds to the quirkiness of the rest of the video.

Camera angles:
 Throughout the music video the camera angles zoom in and out between long shots and mid shots.
This keeps the video simple and not too overwhelming for the viewer.

Facial expressions:
Through most of the video Katy is smiling and the rest of the characters have neutral expressions. This draws more attention to Katy instead of anyone else; it also gives the video a happy and bubbly feel.

Editing:
All of the editing is very quirky like different objects to spell out ‘its no big deal’; this matches the rest of the video that is very quirky and fun.
There are also lots of different transitions such as shower curtains going across the screen to transition to a new scene.
As well as that there are lots of different objects through the end of the video like ice creams dancing and pizza slices walking around, these are animated which adds to the quirkiness and randomness of the video.

Colours:
All colours are very very bright which gives a happy and fun feeling to the video and matches the lyrics well.

Story:
There is no obvious story to the video, so it is most likely that it is purely artistic and for the enjoyment of the viewer.

Representation:
In all the characters there is an equal amount of men and women, however men are mainly dancers and background characters, it is only women in the main and foreground.
Does it fit the genre?

Yes. Pop is usually very fun and uplifting, this video fits it perfectly. Although pop videos usually have a story while this video does not.

Does it fit the genre?
Yes. Pop is usually very fun and uplifting, this video fits it perfectly. Although pop videos usually have a story while this video does not.

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