Music Video Analysis

I am analysing the music video by the artist Katy Perry titled “firework”
The video starts with panning shots of a city, before the song has actually begun, we hear typical noises you would expect to hear traffic cars, etc, giving us the feel of people going about their life.

The camera moves upwards revealing the artist, looking very elegant and sheek in beige dress. She walks towards a balcony overlooking a city, as she begins to sing “ do you ever feel like a plastic bag” we get the feel that she is singing to everyone, the song is aimed at people in society. We then cut to an over the shoulder shot of a young boy and girl hearing their parents rowing, looking very unhappy. Then soon after the shot goes to a teenage girl, sitting still surrounded by a lot of people running around jumping into a pool and having a great time. She is asked to go in, and with a close up shot of this young woman we see her shake her head, this girl doesn’t feel like she fits in, she is unhappy like the first scene we saw. Thirdly we see a figure walking into a hospital room, with a young girl on the bed, with no hair, giving us the impression she is suffering from a terminal illness, with her hands on chin emphasising her boredom and depression.

We then go back to Katy Perry, in the same situation as previous, but as the chorus begins “ you just got to ignite the light and let it shine” she has what seems like fireworks coming out of her chest. This firework represents the light in everyone’s life, we gain the concept that firework is a metaphor for the own light in each of our life’s. We see a shot looking up from where Katy is, and see the young girl from the hospital see this firework going off. The firework itself seems to be getting rocketed off, and goes back to the previous scene with the young boy who breaks up the parents when the fireworks ( his own light) starting coming off him. He has let his power come out. Then it cuts to a club scene with a boy sitting watching what’s going on around him, before we see the young woman from before stand up from her chair and begin to undress. This video so far gives a sense of change within people, and is based more on the stories within the video than the artist herself.
Katy Perry now begins walking through the street, surrounded by people as she continues to walk through them, with the words “your original you cannot be replaced” we see the story of the young man in the club continue, the scene is an orange colour, giving off a bright aura something warm and happy is going to happen as he rises up.

The shot quickly cuts into the woman undressing to her underwear, before quickly going to a dark alley with a man who seems to be getting jumped by a group of men, who are over powering him before they step away as he pull out tissues from his pocket which are similar to those that a clown tricks us with when we are innocent children they back away as two beautiful doves release from him and fly into the sky. The dove itself symbolises a lot of things in society today, the Holy Spirit, peace, hope and faith.
With the next chorus, “ignite the light and let it shine” We see instead of Katy realising the firework within her, the young ill girl, witness’s a woman giving birth who is sparking lights around her, she stares deeply into the fireworks, and we see a close up shot of the girl with the sparks in the shot. Could this be the moment the young girl realises her inner light? This question the scene gives us is answered as we go back to the previous stories, the man in the club glides up to the other man and kisses him, both smililing as fireworks spark off them, they are happy, like the lyrics within the song “ your original” they are being who they really are. The ill girl before takes her first step of freedom, with her bare feet, symbolising a new beginning, a happy life for her. The man who had previously been seen nearly getting mugged, is sparking off his own light, doing a magic trick, while the other men stand in ore.

Katy is running along with people smiling singing, with shots up in the sky, fireworks going up in the air as we move slowly back to the running crowd. There is a beautiful scene where all these people begin letting off their fireworks within themselves, the camera works outwards and we see a distance shot off the people and their fireworks. This gives us the audience the concept that everyone has their own light within themselves, their own willpower and their own freedom to be who they want to be, whether its their sexuality holding them back, their illness, their home life, it doesn’t matter you can still be happy if you just “ignite the light and let it shine” It is a very powerful video in many ways, as it ends with close up shots of Katy , and panning shots of the surrounding area and the people dancing it changes the concepts of music videos as we know it, as they can promote a meaningful message, something to help society as well as promote the single in a fantastic way. The last image as it fades out is a shot of the sky completely covered in fireworks, bright and beautiful, these being a metaphor for us as individuals.