Katy Perry- Initial Ideas & Presentation..

From the tracks we were given, as a group, we chose Katy Perry- Time's Up which is of the pop/ rock genre.
For our initial research we decided to look at several of Katy Perry's music videos that have already been released. We did this to see whether Katy had her own style, and what her videos had in common and if we wanted to include any elements in our video. 

Firstly we looked at the video for 'Hot N Cold'. We noticed that it had a linear narrative based around the theme of a wedding. This video shows a fun interpretation of what it is like for a man to commit to such a big responsibility. Katy Perry creates a vibe of the 'crazy bride', chasing the groom around and 'freaking him out' as such. This adds to the surreal experience of the video on the whole.  

The performance and dancing links into the narrative and the lyrics. This dancing is energetic like the tempo of the song.

There were costume changes throughout the video that links well to the lyrics; for example 'you change your mind like a girl changes clothes'. Another element that changes throughout the video is the dominating colours- ranging from white to red and towards the end of the video the colours are bright & vibrant.

The camera shots tend to be wide and close up shots, with the dancing more mid shot/ wide shot- to show the full effect of the dance routines. The direct address in the video tends to be close ups- putting emphasis on the fact she is singing to someone.

We also noticed the comical element, such as when the vicar starts dancing near the start of the song. With humour in her video, this makes it more enjoyable for the audience making them intrigued to watch more. The video also has a surreal moment near the end- with Katy walking towards the man with a zebra. To an audience it would make them wonder what it meant and definitely make them remember the music video and perhaps recommend to others. 

The next video we looked at was Katy Perry's 'Teenage Dream'. The link below:

Straight away with this video you see it is a linear narrative. The idea based around teenagers and their lifestyle. The storyline of a teenage romance with Katy Perry's American way of portraying it- meaning the overall mis-en-scene of costume, location etc. The notions of looking lies with both the male and female gaze- as both genders have attractive cast. There are many sexual undertones to her video- as she sings about love, romance with some lyrics suggesting 'Let's go all the way tonight. no regrets, just love'. There is also a lot of kissing and actions suggesting they are a couple.

The setting varies throughout the video with different locations such as in a car driving down a country lane, to inside a gym, a bedroom, the sea and then in a swimming pool. The time goes from day to night, so supports the idea of it being linear.
As for the costume, there is hardly any change of clothes throughout the video. One particular change you suggest it's a flashback as she has a very different hair style and plain make-up, from that small clip, you get the impression it was the day they met.

This video has a variety of different shots, some moving shots near the start (in the car), many mid/ wide shots and also some close ups. The close up shots put emphasis on mainly her face as she is singing, but also with the couple in the bed- zooming in on them getting undressed.

The song itself has a mid/ fast tempo with a strong bass.. this gave the video an opportunity to include some dance and watch the teenagers having a good time to the upbeat pop song.

These videos would appeal to fans of the artist and to those who like the pop genre, which would mostly be teenagers through to adults in their 20's or older. We would need to think of ideas that people of this age group could relate to and understand.

From looking at both videos we did not find a 'motif' or main element symbolising Katy Perry's music videos, or anything we found recurred in each video. Our song track follows along the lines of a relationship. The lyrics suggest she is singing to a man in her life about a break up- as many of her videos have this in common, you could say her 'motif' is all the videos link to love & relationships.
Some elements of her videos we considered fitting in our music video. Some examples below:

• We find the theme of relationships works well with our chosen song track- with the lyrics being along the lines of a break up between two people.
• We chose for the video to be narrative, as this then links to Katy Perry's other videos, but also because a narrative can be much more interesting to watch with telling a story.
• The narrative then will be fragmented, so the story makes sense, but not necessarily in the right, linear order. 
• The surreal spin she puts on her videos (for example, the zebra in 'Hot N Cold')  is very odd yet interesting and we would consider using something equally as eye-catching as that.
• Her videos are all 'more than meets the eye', with meanings behind them all. We would consider this when thinking about what we want to do and how we can also include hidden meanings in our video.