Before creating my video I must analyse a series of videos and research them efficiently to be able to construct a successful video of my own, I have chosen to analyse Katy Perry: analyse “Thinking of you” due to the beauty within the lyrics as well as the delicate nature within the footage/ music video. I am particularly interested within the music video as the narrative of portraying a death is something in which I wish to achieve, however this has proven difficult due to not having the accessibility to specialist equipment. For example at first I wanted to illustrate the death, and show the audience. I wished to show the actress dancing and falling to the floor, and as she fell, imagery/ video footage of the actor would be illustrated within a tragedy, for example a car crash. Although I believe this to be effective and to connect with the heart of the audience having limited time and equipment unfortunately lead me to change the narrative slightly within the video. I have chosen to analyse “Thinking of you” to connect with the typical conventions of illustrating a death without creating stereotypical footage. The narrative and lyrics illustrate she is having an affair “when I’m with him, I am thinking of you” or indeed caught within a love triangle. A repeat of religious references are portrayed, and unfortunately Katy’s true “Love” passes away within action, therefore Katy is left portraying the narrative to the audience. Thinking of you is written and sang by Katy Perry, released January 12 2009 by the label Capitol, and is a collaboration of pop and soft rock genres. I believe that the ideology behind the video was obviously to promote Katy Perry but also to represent the narrative. The ideology relates to old traditional times, representing a 50s musical era, this is presented through the sepia toned footage and repeat referencing to biblical environments and mise en scene. “The music video is presented as a flashback montage with a young woman (played by Perry) whose lover is killed in France during the Second World War”

Whilst analysing the narrative for “Thinking of you” I have come to the conclusion that on narrative term it relates highly to Kate Domaille, her theory is that every narrative can be fitted within one of the eight narrative types, each of the following narrative types have a source and a story in which others are based; Achilles, Greek hero or Trojan War; the fatal flaw in which leads to the fatal destruction of the previously flawless. The Candide, the hero who cannot be put down, James Bond for example. Thirdly the Cinderella; the fairytale story which came true for example Pretty woman; having nothing, and finding that one person who means and has everything. The Circe is the innocent and the victim, the chase. The Faust is selling your soul to the devil, where in first act may bring you riches and happiness however within the end your soul initially belongs to him. The Orpheus which is the loss of something personal or in fact a tragic loss, this narrative was foreseen in the film Law abiding citizen, where the father loses his child and wife. The Romeo and Juliet the typical cliché love story featured in most narrative equilibriums. Lastly the Tristan and Iseult; the love triangle where in narrative a cheating scandal may occur or simply two people fall in love however one is already occupied within a relationship. “Thinking of you” initially can relate within two of the eight narrative theories; The Orpheus and the Tristan and Iseult. The Orpheus concludes where Katy loses her true love, her something personal and tragic was drastically taken away from her within a battle at war, close up cinematography of his photograph’s are portrayed as well as a letter documenting his death, close up cinematography is used regularly within the video, close ups of Katy crying whilst applying her lipstick shows an in depth raw emotion as well as implying the bleeding mascara cliché. However the narrative conveys mostly their life’s together, and not the tragic loss, therefore I feel the narrative relates most strongly to the Tristan and Iseult theory, due to the fact of the narrative insinuating Katy was cheating on her former boyfriend with the man she lost “When I’m with him I am thinking of you”, the narrative illustrates her past memories within their relationship and how happy she is, however with her former boyfriend a weakened confidence level is portrayed through to Katy not looking directly within the camera as well as looking away, conveying the illustration that she is ashamed of herself or guilty.

The mise en scene within the narrative of the video portrays strong religious beliefs and biblical references, these however relate to Katy’s upbringing as a child as her family where extremely religious whilst growing up, in argument the narrative conveys a hidden respect for her family and religion due to her knowingly stating the right from wrong “I was disgusted with myself”. One of the main focal points of religion within the video is the repeat illustration of a crucifix, a principle symbol for Christians and the redemption of man kind. A crucifix also demonstrates a belief in faith, the narrative within the story portrays Katy losing something so close and valuable within her life, that to keep her strong she must believe and have faith. Faith is a beautiful quality repeated within many of her lyrics, the song “Firework” for example “After a hurricane comes a rainbow” illustrating that after something terrible, something beautiful must follow evidencing the religious qualities within her lyrics. I believe the lyrics “Apple hanging from a tree” is influenced through Adam and Eve, another biblical reference. Eve takes the apple from the Garden of Eden due to the seduction of the serpent, the serpent within the narrative being the man she lost, her second lover, the temptation. Adam and Eve due to temptation lost everything, where as similarly Katy has lost everything in a sense that she loses her love within the narrative as he is killed in action and secondly she loses her husband, this is portrayed as he removes his wedding ring. After attending a Katy Perry concert she explained to the audience that the lyrics “Thinking of you” conveys choice, and illustrates a love triangle.

The Mise en scene repeatedly illustrates a differential time frame from when it was released; therefore the biblical references and sepia colouring have purposely been portrayed to illustrate the difference in time, which also conveys the difference within people’s moral and ethnical values, mainly within religion. The narrative portrays a woman having an affair on her husband, within religious and the old fashioned time period adultery was scowled upon deeply, especially within religious families. Woman who had been caught having an affair or accused of cheating within an older time period would be stoned, an audience would repeatedly torture and threw stones at their victim until they died, however ethnical values have changed. “Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone” the quotation taken from within the bible references the change of adultery. Jesus wouldn’t allow the woman to be stoned as the men who had caught her where within sin themselves, therefore they were hypocrites. The repeat of close up cinematography of Katy looking within the camera conveys her raw emotion and evidences that she feels guilty. Within the cinematography Katy feels so ashamed she cannot even look at her husband, she is portrayed facing away, slightly after the audience see him removing his wedding ring emphasising that their relationship is over. Again divorce or the end of a relationship is something that was slightly scorned upon within religious families. The constant repeat of biblical references emphasizes the sentimental nature and her graceful persona. Sepia colouring is repeated throughout Katy’s double life love scene, with again references to time, however may also convey a thought or feeling, for example when is she within her “loves” company the colouring is brighter therefore she is portrayed as happier whereas where she is within her husbands company the colouring within the video is darker and sepia. Close up cinematography of Katy stood behind a window pane is conveyed illustrating a prison related environment conveying entrapment. Again the close up portrays Katy’s raw emotion, that she is trapped within her double life and the love triangle. A black and white photograph is removed from within a bible, again connoting religious references and beliefs. The photograph references an indication to time, the representation to their time and age.

Within the first few seconds of Thinking of you, a repeat of diagetic sound is illustrated, a clock ticking conveying an indication of time, or portraying that she is waiting for her “Love” to come back to her. Immediately the vintage inspired clock conveys to the audience the differential time scale. The mise en scene within the narrative is the strongest relation and evidence to time. An opulent perfume bottle again vintage inspired illustrates old fashion connotations, and indicates a reference to a glamorous lifestyle or indeed that she is groomed. I believe that the perfume bottle is an indication to her second life, as she applies her perfume she looks back, as if she is ashamed indicating that she is applying perfume for her “love” her second man. The marital home within the narrative is conveyed within a sequence of sepia lighting, and religious connotations. The repeat of the crucifix and bible indications portrays the home to be a stereotypical religious lifestyle, rather than an actual home and happy marriage. In every sequence where Katy is portrayed as a wife and seen with her husband she is always within their house, and never outside portraying a sense of entrapment, constantly she is within the house, stood behind a window pain, or sat behind a desk, each of these features connate entrapment and prison like connotations. However in juxtaposition when she is within her ”Loves” company the lighting is bright, and stereotypically the sunshine is shining illustrating happiness, these scenes in which include her second lover are the first scenes that she smiles within the video. The scenes are portrayed outside emphasising on their freedom within the relationship whereas in contrast with her husband the lighting is dark portraying unhappiness. Her husband is illustrated in reading glasses, a shirt and tie, conveying a professional man with strict values. Another difference within the mise en scene within both relationships are the costumes. Bland shoes and smart decreased dresses are worn when she is within the company of her husband, portraying a traditional sentiment. Nude nail varnish and a nude dress are used within the first scene illustrating a delicate and graceful nature as well as portraying purity and innocence which contrasts slightly with the adultery based narrative. The bland use of costume for mise en scene emphasises on a rather boring and traditional lifestyle however within the company of her second lover, she wears summery clothes and the clothes are shorter, illustrating a sexy persona emphasising that when she is with him, she can be who ever she wishes to be, she can be herself. I believe that the narrative has been influenced through personal past experiences, the religious traditional family narrative is the lie, the life she has been living to please people, for example to please her parents. The narrative within the second relationship is the life she wishes to lead, however feels guilty, I believe that the narrative is a short sequence of personal past experiences of what she feels she must do and what she wants to do.

The mise en scene is the language of the moving image, it portrays everything which is shown before the camera, and illustrates that each distinct quality gives a unique meaning to the narrative. Thinking of you is based solely on the narrative, however shows indications of performance clips but within the narrative. Therefore conventionally performers create a narrative and have them outside of it performing, where as within Thinking of you Katy has collaborated both narrative and performance, this beautifully challenges the conventions of narrative and performance clips, and although I believe it does work, I wish to create a music video where the lyrics create the narrative, therefore I would have an actress singing, and then a different actress conveying the narrative, rather like Eminems and Rihannas, Love the way you lie music video. Another aspect of the video I feel which challenges the conventions are shots being slightly titled towards a strange angle, take the screen shot above for example, Katy is slightly positioned towards the left of the video illustrating the bland room. The simplistic room conveys bland walls evidencing a basic and prison like environment, portraying that the marital home is dark, boring and prison like. The room is presented within darkness, the only light is reflected from within the mirror. The window which is situated behind the mirror is the only light source which is presented, again emphasising that outside of the marital home and outside of the window is light and happiness. The reflection within the mirror of Katy conveys happiness; she is smiling whilst holding the bible and the black and white photograph of her loved one. I believe that the reflection portrays Katy reflecting back on happiness, and when she was with her “Love”. The video portrays flashback montages of Katy with her husband and with her “love”. However again the conventions of the music video are challenged, flash backs are usually portrayed within a black and white sequence or a sepia colouring, however the flash backs use brighter imagery indicating her happiness and how strong their love was. Recent footage of her and her husband is portrayed within dark and bland colouristic; completely challenging the conventions however works perfectly, as it illustrates raw emotion and direct feeling. I believe that the narrative and use of challenged conventions interact with the audience. The audience feed of the emotion and relate to it, especially those who can connect to the reality of the narrative. The mise en scene conveys Katy’s dressing gown slightly slipping, and showing reference to skin, the imagery slightly shows the straps of her bra, indicating a sexual reference and portraying equilibrium. The back is foreseen to be an extremely sexy feature, this small indication illustrates a differential side to Katy, that she is lustrous and sexy. The lustrous side is limited when she is within her husbands company, hence the dressing gown. However when she is within her “loves” company the clothes are all which is limited. Repeatedly imagery within the video shows a direct indication of time, the crucifix hanging from the mirror, the Vintage inspired dressing table and the vintage inspired circular boxes. Pearls are illustrated on her dressing table and shown throughout the music video; they evidence the indication of time, and represent vintage inspired qualities. However theory suggests that each pearl is made from a pure tear drop, and are regularly associated with heartache. I feel that the pearls portray her raw emotion; her former lover has died in action. The pearls evidence her heartbreak.

Above is a screen shot I have subtracted from” Thinking of you”. I feel that this evidences perfectly the contrast within footage from when she is within both of the men’s company. As I have already mentioned when she is within her husbands company, the colours used are dark, almost black and white and sepia toned, challenging the conventions of footage which isn’t an actual flashback. However this image is a flashback, it shows Katy and her “love” before he was killed. The bright colouring and summer time clothes challenge the stereotype of typical flashbacks. Within the image we see glimpses of light shimmering through the trees. The light just breaking through illustrates the essence of freedom and relief, the light manipulates the use of an extended metaphor and illustrates happiness attempting to break through, just like the light from the sunshine. I believe this to be one of the strongest qualities throughout the video, as it conveys her happiness and connects with the audience. Summer like qualities are portrayed throughout the sequence of footage, she is presented in smaller and skimpier outfits. The small red dress conveys sexual qualities as the colour red presents the audience with a lustrous stereotype. A repeat of flesh is on show, again using equilibrium to attract the audience. He is presented within a yellow polo shirt; stereotypically yellow conveys indications of the sunshine and represents happiness. This presents to the audience how happy the couple are again this is evidenced through Katy laughing, laughing so hard that her head is tilted back onto him, also portraying that she trust him, as he is holding her full body weight. Together they are portrayed riding a bike, representing freedom however in juxtaposition this could show an indication of running away from something? For example running away from her husband, the lies, her double life? The last piece of mise en scene I find creates strong narrative are the trees within the background, they illustrate the beauty of nature and natural qualities? Again I believe this is an extended metaphor and conveys to the audience that them two being together is natural.

The cinematography represented within music videos shows great understanding of narrative, each shot is distinctively used in purpose to create an effect. Extreme close ups and close ups are using repeatedly within the video to create the effect of raw emotion. The lyrics themselves are very emotional however the continuity of emotion between lyrics and footage also show great emotion. When creating my final outcome of a music video I hope to use close ups of lip sync as the artist sings, I believe that this will create a strong focal point of emotion. A distinct range of still cinematography and hand held cinematography is repeatedly used throughout the narrative, alongside slow paced editing evidencing the emotion within Thinking of you.