roar – katy perry

Roar Katy Perry

Roar Katy Perry

Amanpreet Bhopal

Narrative

The music video for Katy Perrys Roar includes a narrative of her and her boyfriend landing in a jungle after a plane crash. The boyfriend doesnt seem to treat Perry very nicely which can be seen through the beginning of the video. For example, when he gives Perry the bags to carry after taking selfies on his phone and leaving her. However, he gets eaten by a tiger which leaves Perry on her own to fend for herself. As she began to get used to the jungle she began to become a part of it and made friends with the animals and became the queen of the jungle.

The boyfriend taking selfies

He then gives Perry the bags and leaves

Here, the tiger is about to eat the boyfriend and this links with the lyrics as the next line Perry sings is You held me down, but I got up. The tiger is used to represent the pressure put on by her boyfriend and also when he gets eaten, it symbolises that she has moved on and she doesnt need him anymore. It can also be used to show Perry as fighting back.

In the middle of the video we see Perry swinging of a vine which links to the narrative as it symbolises her freedom after the boyfriend got eaten and how she is now much stronger than before. Her costume shows that she is now a part of the jungle and she has accepted it. This also has conventions of Tarzan as he uses a vine to swing off.

The beginning and end borrow ideas from old cinema and has a comic feel to it due to the way the title and backgrounds have been drawn on. This gives the effect that Perry is telling an old tale through the song and she is spreading the message of getting back up after having your heart broken.

Camera

At the beginning of the video, the camera tilts downwards to show the setting where Perry and her boyfriend have landed. This high angle makes her look small and vulnerable which contradicts the song as the song refers to her being strong and an empowered woman.

Here we can see a low angle which illustrates how Perry is gradually growing her confidence and independence and also strengthens the message of the song. This goes against what we previously saw (the high angle) which can be used to show that although she is an empowered woman, she still has obstacles and that the world around her is still bigger than her.

Near the end of the video, we see the camera placed behind her so that we can see how high up she is. This can be used to symbolise how far Perry has come in terms of finding herself and being strong. It also allows us to see all the land that she has conquered. She is holding a monkey which shows how she has made new friends along her journey and she has made a fresh start in her life. Since this is placed at the end of the video, it shows what she has accomplished throughout the song and it makes us feel like we are behind her, on the tree. It allows the audience to feel as though we have been with Perry throughout her journey and that we (as the audience) can also get through difficult times if we try.

At the start of the video, the camera is quite instable and moves around a lot. This can be used to show instable her relationship is with her boyfriend and also how she is unable to do what she wants to when he is around as he always takes control. This can be further reinforced by the first verse of the song as it just tells the audience about how she had to behave with him, for example So I sit quietly, agree politely. Furthermore, this is also demonstrated in the music video itself as we can see that Perry is given the bags and she is always behind her boyfriend which connotes that her boyfriend doesnt take care of her and pay attention to her.

During the chorus of the song, the camera tracks out so that we can see the fire flies come together and form a tiger while Perry sings youre gonna hear me roar. The fire flies can be used to connote her broken pieces coming together and fighting back. The tiger would represent her being strong and it also links to the title of the song roar.

In the second verse we see a dirty shot which could be used to connote her past still lurking around her and still affects her. This contradicts the lines she is singing I went from zero, to my own hero. On the outside it appears that she is fine but on the inside, she is reminded of her past. This changes when further on in the video, she comes out of a cave after being inspired by cave drawings dressed up in leaves to represent her becoming a part of the jungle and leaving her past behind.

Dirty shot

Perry coming out of the cave

Fire flies forming a tiger

There are lots of close ups within this music video and most of the time she is looking at the camera. This makes it seem as though she is singing this song for the audience as if to tell a story. We can also see her facial expressions as well such as in the first image we see her looking quite frightened and this was when she was with her boyfriend. In the rest of the video she seems happy without the boyfriend.

Editing

The majority of the video is lip synced and this makes it feel more like she is telling us a story rather than us just hearing the song. It also puts her in the spot light a lot more as we can see her face when she is singing and we can see her expressions. At the start she seemed quite upset but as the video progressed she gets happier and in the end we see her smiling.

Straight cuts are mainly used throughout the song to allow the audience to remain undisturbed and for us to not notice the cuts. It allows the video to run more smoothly so we can concentrate on Perry more.

Near the start of the song, there is a fade which is used to show time passing. It also gives a dream like effect to the scene and this connotes how Perry feels as though her relationship was like a bad dream. This can be strengthened by the fact that she is wearing ripped clothes and the lighting is darker than what we see further on in the video. It also has a very mono-tone effect due to the lack of colour. However, when she wakes up from this bad dream, she is wearing much brighter clothes (such as the leaf skirt) and the lighting is much brighter around her.

The lighting here is darker compared to the lighting here:

In the middle of the song we see Perry go into a cave where we see live cave drawings. These drawings involve a tiger scaring away people who are trying to kill him which inspires Perry to fight off her feelings and memories for her boyfriend and move on fearless. We see the mouth of the tiger become the opening of the cave in which Perry steps out of which connotes how she has had a bad past but she is stepping out of this cave ready to fight back and to move on. This also illustrates the lyrics as she says I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter. Which further strengthens the idea that Perry is strong and is going to successfully move on.

Near the end of the clip, Perry has a mini face off with a tiger in which she manages to become the dominant one and tiger becomes the submissive one. Through the editing, we see that Perrys inner tiger comes out and scares the tiger. It reinforces the ideas built up previously about how she is now stronger and she has changed. She is now ready to stand up against anyone and anything. She also says Roar whilst her inner tiger is seen and the editing amplifies her voice by us being able to physically see the impact of her roar and so we can see how strong she actually has become.

The artist plays a big role in the video as she is the main character. She plays the damsel in distress at the start of the video but then breaks this apart and becomes her own hero. It highlights the idea that this is her story and she is telling us her story. It wouldnt have the same effect if it was someone else performing instead of Perry as it would seem as though she is telling a story on their behalf.

From this video we get the impression that Perry is a strong person and that she too has personal problems like everyone else and she has the will to overcome these issues. We also get the impression that she is light hearted as she didnt choose to create a depressed feel to the video like most break up songs do. Instead she made it bright and colourful.

There is also some voyeurism within this video when Perry is having a shower with the elephant. This emphasises the idea that Perry is a light hearted character. It can also be argued that the video itself is voyeurism as we are looking in on a personal matter and we are being invited to watch how she moves on from an old relationship. This may have been done to create a relationship with the audience as many people have tough relationships and to see Perry go through one may give someone a sense of hope and that even famous people go through the same things the audience does.

Perry has shown a mix of personas within her album Prism. For example, her songs such as roar and this is how we do are very light hearted and bright colours where as songs such as unconditionally are much darker. Her darker songs are a big contrast to her previous appearances as during her concerts it used to be very pink and bubble-gum and so were her songs such as California girls. However now, she has seemed to matured and does a range of different types of songs and videos rather than having a girly and pink theme.

Illustrate, contradict or amplify?

Overall, the video generally amplifies the song due to the use of editing. For example, when the fire flies came together to create a tiger and when we saw a tiger in the reflection of the water at the start. It adds more emphasis to the idea of Perry being a tiger and also relates more to the title of the song roar.

However, when Perry was in the cave and we saw the cave drawings, the drawings illustrated the whole song. For example, at the start Perry was being pushed down by her boyfriend and at the start of the drawings, we see the tiger being attacked by humans. We then see Perry find her strengths and stand up for herself, which is what the tiger did.

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roar – katy perry

Education