The
Katy Perry ‘Firework’ video opens with a tilt shot, where you see Katy Perry
for the very first time. She is wearing a light coloured ball gown, and she is
standing on a balcony calling out to all people within the city. It is then cut
to a close up of her face which she is heavily made up, and looks incredibly
pretty. She is looking straight at the camera which makes the lyrics that she
is singing so much more personal to the viewer of the video. The significance
of Katy Perry with all of the fireworks mixed in with her video is that she
seems to be the first one who you see fireworks coming out of her chest. Her
fireworks are seen for miles and the first person to properly see them is the
patient in the hospital. This shows that Katy Perry is the one who is going to
open up the others who have narratives within her video. This could be a strategy
used by the producers to make Perry seem more in touch with those of her target
audience.
The
video has many small narratives throughout the first narrative we are
introduced to is a young boy and girl with their parents fighting. At first
both the girl and the boy look incredibly scared, this is shown through a pull
focus shot as at first you see the parents fighting, and the young boy is out
of focus. Later the focus pulls so you can see the young boy’s face and you can
see that he is scared. However, after you see the fireworks coming from his
chest, he gains the confidence to try to stop his parents from fighting so that
him and his smaller sister don’t have to be scared any longer. The next
narrative you see is the one of the girl sitting at the pool too scared to jump
in. Although the actor is trying to play it off to her friend as being okay
with the fact she doesn’t feel comfortable with getting in this pool, it
becomes clear that she isn’t as the camera shoots a close up on her face.
However, after the ‘spark’ is lit inside of her, she jumps in, and the shot is
in slow motion showing that she doesn’t entirely care what people think of her
any more. The next narrative you see is the narrative of the patient in the
hospital. She starts in a dark and gloomy room, and then she gets the
confidence to wander outside, and it’s at the doors of the hospital she was the
first to see the fireworks from the Katy Perry video. Another narrative we see
is of the boy in the club, who is clearly into another boy that is in the club,
yeah he doesn’t have the confidence to approach this guy. However, when the
fireworks begin to come out of his chest he is finally confident enough to
approach the guy across the bar. The significance of the short narratives is
that the viewer gets to see the overall effects of being who you are and how
you shouldn’t be afraid; which is a common theme that Katy Perry reinforces
throughout the video.
The
overall message of this video what Katy Perry is trying to show to her target
audience, which would most probably be teenagers, specifically girls, is that
they just need to light up a little spark that they all have inside of them in
order to boost their confidence. This is shown mainly through the last scene in
the video; so after the video has been progressively getting more vibrant, the
end scene shows a lot of different people dancing around Katy Perry in the
formation of a firework. Katy Perry is stood at the centre as all of these
people dance around her, this signifies the importance that she holds and how
she is the one that has set these people free from all of their insecurities. Also
the use of low angle shots at the end further signify the importance that Katy
Perry holds, as she is singing down to the camera. Which could show that she is
the ultimate powerful force that can be the main thing to boost her fans’
confidence.
‘Firework’ by Katy Perry was a top hit in 2010, it came from the album ‘Teenage Dream which was released in the same year. The music video for ‘Firework’ presents Katy Perry as some kind of saviour to her fanbase. This is a main factor in the music video as the producer is using narratives throughout the Katy Perry music video in order to construct representations of Katy Perry’s target audience.
ReplyDeleteThe first narrative we are introduced to is a young boy and girl who are witnessing their parents argue. At first both the girl and the boy look incredibly scared, this is shown through a pull focus shot as at first you see the parents fighting, and the young boy is out of focus. Later the focus pulls so you can see the young boy’s face and you can see that he is scared. However, after you see the fireworks coming from his chest, he gains the confidence to try to stop his parents from fighting so that him and his smaller sister don’t have to be scared any longer. The next narrative you see is the one of the girl sitting at the pool too scared to jump in. Although the actor is trying to play it off to her friend as being okay with the fact she doesn’t feel comfortable with getting in this pool, it becomes clear that she isn’t as the camera shoots a close up on her face. However, after the ‘spark’ is lit inside of her, she jumps in, and the shot is in slow motion showing that she doesn’t entirely care what people think of her any more. The next narrative you see is the narrative of the patient in the hospital. She starts in a dark and gloomy room, and then she gets the confidence to wander outside, and it’s at the doors of the hospital she was the first to see the fireworks from the Katy Perry video. Another narrative we see is of the boy in the club, who is clearly into another boy that is in the club, yet he doesn’t have the confidence to approach this guy. However, when the fireworks begin to come out of his chest he is finally confident enough to approach the guy across the bar. The significance of the short narratives is that the viewer gets to see the overall effects of being who you are and how you shouldn’t be afraid; which is a common theme that Katy Perry reinforces throughout the video.
The way Katy Perry is represented by the producer by eliciting value-transference of Katy Perry through showing her a someone who always remains looking very glamorous and beautiful. The opening scene is a key example of this as the first time the viewer sees Perry, she is standing on a balcony in a crème coloured dress. She is all alone calling out to the city; during the long shot of this scene she is seen to be in an almost angelic stance. This is key in showing the producers representations of Perry as an artist, as they are trying to represent to her target audience that Katy Perry will be the one that will help them come out of their shell. As her target audience is mainly teenagers, the representation of Perry is key, as most teenagers only seek to be accepted; yet when Perry is the one that is urging them to just be confident and acceptance will soon come, the impression of her they will have in her mind will be incredibly idyllic.