Andrew Godwin wrote a Music Video Analysis within ‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory’ (Routledge 1992) he states the various elements to look for when analysing a music video and I will apply this when evaluating Katy Perry’s music video to her single ‘Hot n Cold’.
The video was filmed in 2008 by Alan Ferguson who also directed a number of other pop videos for artists such as; Nelly Furtardo, Natasha Bedingfield, Gym Class Heroes, Fall Out Boy and many others.
Hot n Cold falls into the genre of Pop music. This is evident through the bright, block colour scheme of pinks, blues etc. as well as the obvious narrative and dance routines throughout. The lyrics are light-hearted and help portray a clear narrative to run through the video. The fact that the music begins and ends with acting helps set out the video with a strong narrative making it easier for younger audiences to understand as the pop genre is listened to by all age groups.
Goodwin, within his music video analysis, talks about the relationship between lyrics and visuals within music videos and how these can either be; illustrative, amplifying or contradicting. Within Katy Perry’s video the relationship between visuals and lyrics tend to be illustrative. The lyrics are expressed in many ways, Katy does hand movements and dance moves that reflect what is being said within the song, such as “we kiss” when she blows a kiss to the camera, as well as “someone call the doctor” when she mimes a phone to her ear. Within the chorus, the lyrics are amplified throughout, the lyric “out” is shown when the groom bursts out of the church. The lyrics “you’re up and you’re down” are shown when the Groomsmen are up high at the top of the church and then the camera cuts to the Groom running away and going down the stairs. “It’s black and its white” is illustrated by the groom in his black suit which then immediately cuts to the bride wearing a white dress. Continuously through the video the lyric “you” is greatly amplified by the artist exaggerating a point towards the groom, camera and other characters within the video. The lyric in the hook “you change your mind like a girl changes clothes” is largely exaggerated by the amount of costume changes by the artist herself, which also amplifies the idea of “bipolar” as in different outfits she has different moods, e.g. the wedding dress = sad/upset, rocker outfit = anger and the street dancer look = happiness. Also, the idea of “hot and cold” is subtly shown through the video as its set on a hot day with sunshine or in the rave but then there are signs to signify cold such as ice cream, watermelon etc.
Andrew Goodwin also says about the relationship between music and visuals and how these can either be illustrative, amplifying or contradicting within a music video. In terms of the Hot n Cold video, the relationship seems to be differing between illustrative and contradicting. The camera at the beginning cuts at various times when the beat is clearly steady, this is part of the contradictive relationship between the music and visuals, these randomly timed cuts keep viewers exited and doesn’t cause for a boring video. The camera also cuts on the quick, double-beats in the chorus to keep the pace fast and variant as the chorus has a faster beat than the verses. The various, small instrumentals are shown through dancers and not the artist, as well as lots of camera cuts to get a full idea of all the craziness within the video. In terms of amplifying the beat, as soon at the song cuts in, the wedding party all bounce in time with the beat.
The demands of the record label have clearly included a need for lots of close-ups and camera time on the artist herself. This is because Katy Perry is a well-liked figure in the media and public eye and so having her in a vast majority of the video is a great way for the track to sell. Having Katy Perry in a number of different outfits within the video show audiences that she is versatile and can fit into any situation with anyone, making her liked and watched by a wider audience, however this isn’t the real her. This supports Richard Dyer’s theory that a star is completely constructed and has nothing real about them.
The theory by Laura Mulvey about female representation within videos talks about the male gaze, how men look at women as objects and not much else is shown within this video. This theory is clearly supported at the end of the video there is a point of view shot from the groom as it reveals Katy Perry slowly with an upward pan shot from her legs to her face.
It is clear to see that Katy Perry has developed a specific look and motif that is formed throughout her videos, these include the bright colour schemes, obvious/strange narratives as well as dance routines and the artist herself becoming a character.
The video is a combination of performance and concept. The performance side is shown through the artist lip syncing the song throughout and dancing to it. The conceptual idea is obvious as the video is a dream sequence and therefore allows for strange mise-en scene and ideas to be portrayed.
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