9 Frame Analysis

By Robyn Painter

Katy Perry – Wide Awake

I chose both these close-up shot to symbolizes the difference between Katy Perry in this video. In the video Katy portrays to worlds, in the first one she is very colorful and typical Katy wearing pink and has a wig on, but as she looks into the mirror. The camera pans across and reveals the darker side to Katy, she now is more angry with her blue hair and paler completion. To me this shows two different worlds that Katy wants to show us through this video, she has the real world were she is a a mega star but in her eyes when she looks into the mirror she sees a world that she thinks she has, the darker side to her being a mega star and all the set backs she has. The change in her facial expression also shows this different persona that she portrays in the ‘mirror’ world, in the ‘real’ would she looks more worried and scared, but in the ‘mirror’ world we see that she is more angry and seems to be less venerable than she does in the other photo. The contrast between the pink and the purple also shows the 2 different people. Pink is more of a bright and calming color, were as the purple is more dark and portrays her feelings on the inside.

This is an establishing shot of the world that Katy sees when she looks into the mirror, it is a dark world with weeds growing but still there is a little shining light upon the top showing that there is still hope in this evil world. We see the world as being a dark and dull place to live, this is the world that Katy sees when she thinks she lives in when she looks in the mirror. There is also a maze type feel to this world that we can see that we are at the start of the maze and if we want to get to the light at the end we have to go through the maze to get there, I think that this is a symbol that the light is ‘fame’ and that the maze shows the struggle and journey that you have to go on to get to wear you want to go. Katy had to go to through the maze to get to wear she is now in her life, we can see that she is trying to show that the journey is hard and isn't a very nice one, due to the fact its dark and they are weeds growing out of the walls etc. but that little bit of light at the top of a hill shows that they is always a good outcome to your journey, and that bit of light shows that the journey will be worth it.

In this part of the video we see Katy stood in a very narrow part of the maze, we see all the weeds and its still very dark, she is dressed almost like a witch, wearing a cape and still dressed in the dark clothing, the walls of the maze start to close in on Katy but she doesn’t seam phased by this, still have that hard look on her face a small ball of light starts to appear at the bottom of her and goes up into her heart and push's up through her hands to push the walls out and stop them from closing in on her. This could symbolize the pressures that the ‘music industry’ puts on people and that in this world Katy would push them away and break out of that life.

This is a imagine of another character that we see in the music video, to me this is the younger version of Katy Perry who start off in this world, this world is more like a dream world and Katy was dreaming of being a famous singer since she was younger so this is the girl who started this dream/world off. Another reason why I thought that this would be a younger version of Katy, was the fact that the first time we see her is in the same way that we seen the darker Katy in the video, it’s a close-up of her face with her eye brows together in more of angry way, but she is also still young and innocent with her wearing pink, just like Katy in the real world does. She has also been affected by this dream world as she seams more angry at this moment in time just lie the older darker Katy does.

This looks like the pair are connecting, and to me looks like a mirror imagine of the young Katy who would dream about a life were she would be a famous singer and very successful and happy but this is the Katy that has come out of this dream world but them two connecting has opened up a new brighter part of the world. The older Katy has recaptures her youth so to speak and gone back to the world she first though of when she was a child. The weeds are disappearing and there is a bright light shinning through but what also looks like little bits of dust coming though, this could show that they hasn’t been light in this world for a while and the reconnection of these two characters has added light into the world. We once again have a connection to a mirror.

This again is another link to the mirror world but only in this image Katy is breaking that mirror with the help of her younger self, and her showing Katy the world that she dreamed of isn't what she has created for her self so she is now fighting back and is breaking down that wall between her life's and making the life that she wants, this is the bad side to fame is now gone because she is back in control of her world. She has lost the dark outfit and is wearing more of a pale color with butterfly's on her dress, this is another link to her wanting to be free, the smashed glass turns into butterfly's and links into the fact that butterfly's can fly away but Katy can’t so she wants to be a butterfly. She can only break the glass with the help of her younger self showing that she needed support from who she used to be to turn into who she wants to be, with the help she could fight back against the evil photographer and stand up for herself.

In the image we see that the fighting back took its tool on Katy and ended up getting ill, could possibly of have to seek mental help as it looks like she is in a mental institute but is still being helped by her younger self, her body seams life less and has almost give up on trying to fight everything, she has a strawberry in her hand with adds a bit of color to the shot, this could stand for her still having a bit of hope to get better. To get out of the funk that Katy has seamed to get her self into, her younger self stands up to the guards and breaks the floor so that she can break Katy free and get her out of this place were she doesn’t really need to be, young Katy was saving her self from being trapped before she got in to deep.

After all the troubles that they went through in the maze the girls have come out at the bright end, younger Katy has guide her older self to this world that is better for her and made her safe and out of the maze at the better end. We still see the bad side to the maze in the background but we see the girls are out of the worst part of it and don’t/should look back they should now focus on the good. We also see the butterfly's coming in with Katy, showing that she is finally free like the butterfly's.

Even in the ‘good’ world we still have things that can trick, in this shot we see the man is lying to Katy, he looks like the prince charming who has come to take her away and they will live happily ever after but really he is just the same as every other man and will break her heart, but thanks to the younger Katy she realizes and gets rid of him before he can break his heart. Katy has come out of this a stronger person and now defends herself without the help of her younger self. This shows that even in the good world there is still bad things but you don’t always have to go down that path you can save your self before you get in to deep and cant get out.

This is now proof that this is the younger version of herself, and now she can go on and be herself and play on her bike like normal children should, she can be a child before having to go through the maze herself.