California Gurls - Katy Perry ft. Snoop Dogg
(Mathew Cullen, 2010)
As my first convention analysis to look at this video because, to me, it has some obvious stereotypicalpop conventions within it. This video came out in 2010 as has strong influences from its artistic director, Will Cotton and other works its taken intertextuality from include, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the boardgame Candyland.
LYRICS/MUSIC AND VISUALS
There is an obvious link in with the lyrics in the song and the visuals that are on screen, one of the lyrics says "so hot we'll melt your Popsicle" and on screen in the image of a animated popsicle melting. This helps the audience watching remember the lyrics and the song itself, and maybe possibly encourage them to buy it if they see the record in a shop.
In another part of the song, the editing matches both the timing and the lyrics of the song, while Snoop Dogg is rapping he mentions Katy's name and the shot cuts to a close up of her, it does this several times which is also a recognisable convention in pop music videos.
CLOSE UP SHOTS
Close up shots are always a huge success in pop videos as usually the artist involved, is extremely popular. The audience love to see close ups of the singer and this leads to imitated facial expressions and motifs. The record companies normally demand a range of different styles e.g. pretty, icon, silly and sexy therefore largening the target audience to both genders.
MALE GAZE
Another convention used to attract a wide audience is male gaze, often used more in pop videos but particularly female videos because obviously a female artist cannot be successful if she isn't naked lying on a candyfloss cloud. The shots of Katy Perry baring all is to help bring in the male audience, therefore sexualising her helps to do this. Throughout the video she wears sexualised outfits as part of the story showing her legs and chest.
MULTIPLE OUTFITS
Throughout the video Katy changes outfits to keep the video interesting, another example of this would be Lady Gaga, she changes outfits numerous times in her videos. The two outfits here are very different but also quite similar as the signifers are polysemic. In the shot to the right she is very sexualised with short shorts and a low cut top with strategically placed cupcakes. Here she is showing a lot of skin and is aimed to attract both the older teen target audience and the male audience. Whereas the picture to the left she is dressed as a brownie/girl scout, this is to attract the younger audience. However, although it is a young girls outfit it is very short so again its sexualised like the top picture.
DANCE SECTIONS
Another common feature of Pop videos is a dance section(s). Dance sections are put in videos to help break up the video and keep it interesting, it also acts as a reminder for the audience as younger members of it will learn dance routines and this will promote the song and hopefully get people to buy it.
DRAMATIC ACTIONS
In the video Katy is very dramatic and at times could be considered quite fake. An example of this would be when the animated gummy bear swears at her and her reaction is a dramatic hand over her mouth looking disgusted. This also helps her image as a role model to a younger audience as she is frowning upon profanity. Although this is then countered as when Snoop Dogg starts to rap he uses mild language. Again this is a commonconvention as pop artists have a reputation and fans to think about when making videos.
INTERTEXTUALITY
There is tonnes of intertextuality throughout the video, some already mentioned. Others include the squirty cream bra which is much like Madonna's cone bra she famously wore, also on the same note the costume Katy wears with the bra is very Wonder woman-like. There are numerous odes to the state of California within the video, including the Hollywood walk of fame, the Hollywood sign and also some of its beaches are recreated in candy. Snoop Dogg also pays tribute to the Beach Boys' song California Girls by saying at the end that he wishes all girls could be like the ones in California.
(Mathew Cullen, 2010)
As my first convention analysis to look at this video because, to me, it has some obvious stereotypicalpop conventions within it. This video came out in 2010 as has strong influences from its artistic director, Will Cotton and other works its taken intertextuality from include, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the boardgame Candyland.
This video follows a clear narrative structure with a story. At the beginning of the video we see what looks to be a box of the board game "CANDYFORNIA" where Katy Perry is stood dressed in a brightly coloured outfit and lilac wig. In the background there are candyfloss clouds thatconnote a happiness and sweets. This makes the audience think that its a "tween-like" video as its presented as a sickly sweet and cutesy video.
LYRICS/MUSIC AND VISUALS
There is an obvious link in with the lyrics in the song and the visuals that are on screen, one of the lyrics says "so hot we'll melt your Popsicle" and on screen in the image of a animated popsicle melting. This helps the audience watching remember the lyrics and the song itself, and maybe possibly encourage them to buy it if they see the record in a shop.
In another part of the song, the editing matches both the timing and the lyrics of the song, while Snoop Dogg is rapping he mentions Katy's name and the shot cuts to a close up of her, it does this several times which is also a recognisable convention in pop music videos.
Close up shots are always a huge success in pop videos as usually the artist involved, is extremely popular. The audience love to see close ups of the singer and this leads to imitated facial expressions and motifs. The record companies normally demand a range of different styles e.g. pretty, icon, silly and sexy therefore largening the target audience to both genders.
MALE GAZEAnother convention used to attract a wide audience is male gaze, often used more in pop videos but particularly female videos because obviously a female artist cannot be successful if she isn't naked lying on a candyfloss cloud. The shots of Katy Perry baring all is to help bring in the male audience, therefore sexualising her helps to do this. Throughout the video she wears sexualised outfits as part of the story showing her legs and chest.
Throughout the video Katy changes outfits to keep the video interesting, another example of this would be Lady Gaga, she changes outfits numerous times in her videos. The two outfits here are very different but also quite similar as the signifers are polysemic. In the shot to the right she is very sexualised with short shorts and a low cut top with strategically placed cupcakes. Here she is showing a lot of skin and is aimed to attract both the older teen target audience and the male audience. Whereas the picture to the left she is dressed as a brownie/girl scout, this is to attract the younger audience. However, although it is a young girls outfit it is very short so again its sexualised like the top picture.
DANCE SECTIONSAnother common feature of Pop videos is a dance section(s). Dance sections are put in videos to help break up the video and keep it interesting, it also acts as a reminder for the audience as younger members of it will learn dance routines and this will promote the song and hopefully get people to buy it.
DRAMATIC ACTIONS
In the video Katy is very dramatic and at times could be considered quite fake. An example of this would be when the animated gummy bear swears at her and her reaction is a dramatic hand over her mouth looking disgusted. This also helps her image as a role model to a younger audience as she is frowning upon profanity. Although this is then countered as when Snoop Dogg starts to rap he uses mild language. Again this is a commonconvention as pop artists have a reputation and fans to think about when making videos.
There is tonnes of intertextuality throughout the video, some already mentioned. Others include the squirty cream bra which is much like Madonna's cone bra she famously wore, also on the same note the costume Katy wears with the bra is very Wonder woman-like. There are numerous odes to the state of California within the video, including the Hollywood walk of fame, the Hollywood sign and also some of its beaches are recreated in candy. Snoop Dogg also pays tribute to the Beach Boys' song California Girls by saying at the end that he wishes all girls could be like the ones in California.
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