How does a musical artist explore their
star persona through techniques of music video?
Roar & Swish Swish by Katy
Perry
Roar, released in 2013 and Swish Swish, released in 2017 are
two of her up to date music videos, which includes Katy Perry herself as the
main focus point. There are many differences between both of Katy Perry’s music
videos, which shows the change of her star persona whether that is physically
or technically.
In Roar there are many uses of mid shots, close ups and
extreme long shots which shows her confidence within herself but also ensuring
that her appearance is powerful. In Roar she portrays herself as feminine,
which is shown, through her hairstyle, which gives her the feminine look.
However it could be said that her femininity comes to a pause as 1:49 minutes
into the video as she uses her heel to make a spear. Alongside that her
position, which makes her look like she is the alpha links in with her lyrics “
I got the eye of a tiger, a fighter” and “louder than a lion” clearly shows the
alpha feeling she is trying to convey. She decides to have her video based in a
jungle giving a nature theme which again relates to the use of lions and
tigers, which are both powerful and strong animals.
At the beginning of Swish Swish before the music starts there is a real element of it being a real basketball game as there is an introduction to the players given by a commentator witch is apart of the technical codes for music videos. Swish Swish also uses mid shots, for similar reasons , such as to show the setting which in this case it's set in a basketball game. Tracking is also used in both but in Swish Swish more, this shows her importance and allows the audience to follow her every step. However there are not many close ups as there was in Roar this could be because there are more people in this video unlike Roar, with only Katy to focus on. Swish Swish uses an birds eye view to contrast the basketball courts size and who the game is going. From this shot, we can see that her sport skills are not great , which adds to the fact that stereotypes of women such as sports are for men because there much more stronger can be created. Another similarity would be that she is still presented sexually but her less feminine persona distorts this idea. Unlike Roar, she wears a heavy and dramatic eye make up style which can be interpreted as her being feisty and can look humorous. Witch brings me to the fact that Swish Swish mocks Katy as you see special effects making her look like she's flying etc. Little things like this makes her video humorous and most importantly rememberable which Roar doesn't do. This reflects Katy's persona by showing that she is a person who doesn't really care what people say but will always find away to improve / believe what she can achieve (e.g when she begins to believe in herself and her team that they can defeat the opposite team.) Niki Minaj is then introduced into the video. Niki and Katy are an example of binary opposites being used because Niki is the feminine and strong women as for Katy who is shown as the weak looking and silly women who doesn't look very feminine in her appearance. Towards the end in Swish Swish Katy is represented as powerful just like Roar.
At the beginning of Swish Swish before the music starts there is a real element of it being a real basketball game as there is an introduction to the players given by a commentator witch is apart of the technical codes for music videos. Swish Swish also uses mid shots, for similar reasons , such as to show the setting which in this case it's set in a basketball game. Tracking is also used in both but in Swish Swish more, this shows her importance and allows the audience to follow her every step. However there are not many close ups as there was in Roar this could be because there are more people in this video unlike Roar, with only Katy to focus on. Swish Swish uses an birds eye view to contrast the basketball courts size and who the game is going. From this shot, we can see that her sport skills are not great , which adds to the fact that stereotypes of women such as sports are for men because there much more stronger can be created. Another similarity would be that she is still presented sexually but her less feminine persona distorts this idea. Unlike Roar, she wears a heavy and dramatic eye make up style which can be interpreted as her being feisty and can look humorous. Witch brings me to the fact that Swish Swish mocks Katy as you see special effects making her look like she's flying etc. Little things like this makes her video humorous and most importantly rememberable which Roar doesn't do. This reflects Katy's persona by showing that she is a person who doesn't really care what people say but will always find away to improve / believe what she can achieve (e.g when she begins to believe in herself and her team that they can defeat the opposite team.) Niki Minaj is then introduced into the video. Niki and Katy are an example of binary opposites being used because Niki is the feminine and strong women as for Katy who is shown as the weak looking and silly women who doesn't look very feminine in her appearance. Towards the end in Swish Swish Katy is represented as powerful just like Roar.
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