Music Video Analysis.

The video I’ve chose to analyse is Katy Perry – wide awake, it uses many different techniques to intrigue the audience including bright colours and an interesting narrative that entertains the audience. The target audience for the music video is a young female audience, however she also appeals to the male audience too as she’s seen as a sex symbol and wears revealing costumes. The narrative of the video is to show her journey through fame to the audience, it includes a young girl who is portraying her younger self also giving her an insight into the lifestyle. At the beginning of the wide awake music video, Katy Perry finish’s filming her previous song California Girls before walking off set to prepare for her next song; this makes the audience feel more involved on a personal level as it doesn’t cut straight to each music video but includes the audience in behind the scene aspects too.

The show shows Katy Perry finishing her song through the camera which also shows the image she portrays to the public; it could represent the front she puts on to the media in order to maintain her image, however the shot is colourful and bright connoting her whereas through the camera lenses the shot becomes grey and less bright which could represent the effect the media has on her and the image she has to maintain. The shot has a personal aspect as you can see the filming behind the camera man giving you the impression of involvement however the camera adds glamour too the video as the finalised version shows Katy Perry on a cloud of candyfloss whereas in reality its edited on a green screen, the insight could portray that she wears a mask and conceals a lot from the public,  although it’s a previous music video the footage is included in her current video which could show that she’s showing the real her now by revealing the footage before it was edited and released.

After this particular shot Katy Perry cheers that the music video seems to be finished, this could highlight the fact that she’s pleased it all over so she can begin to reveal herself in the video for Wide Awake which begins to play. The close up shot of Katy Perry closing the door on a member of the team shows her escaping the limelight before it cutting to show her removing her wig that she wore for the video, she allows the audience too see this as if beginning to remove all the false factors that make the image she maintains in the song California Girls also preparing the audience to see something new of her that they might not of seen before.

This shot shows the realisation after removing her wig as the background slowly pans through a forest to show Katy Perry in a completely different way, her hair is a darker colour which could connote the reality, as California girls the wig is pink and the fact that she removes the wig for the audience to see highlights how false the scene was whereas the darker purple hair could represent her darker intimate side with the high angle shot showing her as inferior. Previously Katy Perry was positioned on a cloud appearing happy yet the narrative links to the lyrics which read “falling from cloud nine” giving the audience a sense of foreboding as we get the idea the rest of the video will be different from her previous work. The lyrics could also represent the fact that her personal life has influence the lyrics making It more real and relatable o the audience as it highlights the fact her life is not perfect and despite a lot of success and fame she considers herself to be ‘falling’. The following shot shows Katy Perry entering a maze yet not hesitating connoting that there’s only one way out, the dark colours could reflect the fact that she’s unaware of what is yet to happen, it could also represent personal issues as black is the colour of mourning and she had just publically divorced her husband, it could hint that she blames fame for that and appears lost in the video without the reality.

The pace is slow at the beginning of the video giving the impression of slow motion despite the fact she doesn’t hesitate near the maze, the slow pace could represent things happening around her and not being familiar with them which leads to curiosity as she enters the maze anyway, making the audience feel involved as she seems to be intrigued yet unaware similar to them despite the mutual feeling of foreboding.