Katy Perry's California Gurls music video is a example of a amplified video with disjunctive elements. The song lyrics are directly about girls in California, however the narrative that is created is set in a fairytale land cover in sweets, and about Katy defeating 'Snoop Dogg' and his army of gummy bears inside 'Snoop Dogg's' board game. This narrative is completely unrelated to the meaning of the song but is a successful video because its narrative is so unusual and creative it keeps its viewers interested.
However there are elements of amplification as some of the lyrics of the song are used to create a implied meaning. For example at the start of the video 'Snoop Dogg' says 'lets take a journey' and then we see 'Snoop Dogg' put a cut out of Katy Perry by a start sign as if he is playing a board game we then see a zoom into a fairytale world as Katy Perry starts singing.
The video is so busy with effects, colours and different scenes the viewers could watch it a number of times and each time spot something different that they haven't seen before, hence keep them engaged. There are examples of synaesthesia in the video as the set, costumes and plot is very bright, colourful and cheery this matches the mood of the song, it's catchy and upbeat. We also see cuts on the beat of the music occasionally, this seems to be towards the climax of the video and song to help create a bigger impact on the viewer.
The pace of the song is reflected in the videos editing. Each verse in song is used to help illistrate the videos narrative idea; we see Katy exploring this candy world and she finds two different girsl trapped in sweets by 'Snoop Dogg' and rescues them. As the song progresses to the chorus we see 'Katy' on a cloud singing, a variety of these shots are always shown in the chorus of the song. In the middle chorus we see a dance routine with other dancers but with the main focus of camera on Katy. This is to add to the climax of the song as the pace of editing start to speed up.
In the video she wears a dress made out of sweets and has purple hair, this all adds to this star persona she has already established. Similarly 'Snoop Dogg' wears a brightly coloured suit, these costumes also match the set design of pink clouds and candy snakes in the forest.
'Tinie Tempah''s Frisky video is an example of video created by amplification. Goodwin's theory suggests that videos that use amplification use the visual aspect of the video to add meaning to the song, this is not like illustrative videos where the they act our exactly what the lyrics are saying, instead it creates a extra layer of meaning, a different interpretation of what the lyrics could mean. This is a common technique used in many music videos by record labels and it is used to aid advertising. Creating a video that has a underlying meaning and a separate narrative to the lyrics keeps viewers interested which makes them more likely to buy the record.
Creating a star persona is particularly important to establish an artist; the artist is the product therefore the record label are branding and advertising them. To do this music videos contain many close ups of 'The Star' and they get the most screen time in the video. In this video most of the shots are of 'Tinie Tempah' or from his perspective. There is particular use of close ups and extreme close ups of the star. He is also shown in the middle of the frames in wide angle shots and often spotlighted, to the audience draw they're attention and watch him as 'The Star' of the video.
This video shows a clear example of Goodwin's theory of synaesthesia. As we hear the techno beat we see blue and green spirals of the beat on the screen this image is a direct correlation of the sound. This adds to the the racing dynamic of the video. The cuts of shots get quicker as the song builds up to the chorus, they also tend to cut on the main beat of the music; the main climax's in the song are in the bridges leading up to the chorus's, A mix of jump cuts, change of location and costume and rapid editing extenuate the bridges, the editing becomes slower in the verses than in the chorus. The lighting used also changes colour often and this is particularly noticeable because the main lighting is quite dim. The set is also very closed and at one point looks like part of it is filmed under a brick bridge;
,this is to create a intense and enclosed effect; an example of illustrating the mood of the music.
There is not a particularly strong narrative in this video however the lyrics are about woman. Therefore there are many close ups of woman in the video. The woman are slightly sexualised, by wearing tight clothing. This is something stereotypical to modern music videos, as it helps gain more views of the music video on sites like 'YouTube' and initially advertising the song. We first see woman dancing in the first bridge as the video builds up, there is also a change of location; this gives the video a sense of a narrative.The clear indicator of the amplified meaning of this video is that we see woman being unveiled and they pose and dance seductively the lyrics at this point are I'm on a mission I don't even wanna kiss her. Honey I won't even miss ya when I'm done with ya.' These shots are often filmed as the camera is panning; quick cuts back to 'Tinie Tempah' singing the lyrics link the lyrics and the visual narrative idea together; giving an interpretation of the lyrics, an example of Goodwin's amplification.
Although this video would be considered an amplified video, there are small disjunctive features, which make the video more intriguing for audiences. The costumes for the woman are unusual, not stereotypical costumes for the upbeat club song that this is. The girls are dressed in black and white and abstract style dresses, there hair is tied up and they are standing in a odd stance with their eyes closed. This abstract image of the woman does not relate to the lyrics of the song or the mood of the song; however it's contrast adds a eerie unusual feel, which then keep audiences fixed and still watching for the whole length of the video.
Part of the music video look as if they are filmed in black and white or sepia, like shown in the shot above. And other parts are in colour. These effect could have been produced in the editing process of the video; constant swaps between these adds another layer of dynamic to the video, and is another technique used to keep the audience gripped while they watch.
