Research 8: Katy Perry - Last Friday Night (Video 6)

Last Friday Night is Katy Perry's big hit video. It is told as a short story with a beginning and and ending separate from the music in the middle. There are side clips which have been added in during editing for the sake of comedy. They are relevant but you can tell that they were just having fun with the props and a camera. This video was such a hit that they made side videos starring the main characters of the video. Rebecca Black did not do so well out of it however.

This is how the opening is shot, with a paper boy throwing papers towards houses evidently early in the morning. This is a perfectly viable opening to any film; soundtrack in the background with a shot to set the scene. The genre of the music video is evident already, with the abstract, almost messy font, and the style of music we can hear as the audio.

You know those side shots I mentioned.... Yeah... somebody thought it appropriate to include a chicken as the first shot after the intro. Now if this doesn't sum up the video as random from the word go I don't know what does. This video consists mainly of random shots, combined with planned shots which tell the storyline.

This is a planned shot. I'm not saying that everything happening in the shot was planned to a script, the actors seem to be having a laugh. But it shows that there is a fairly wild party, which is exactly what the music video is about. The mise en scene and clothing of the actors may have been more planned than it seems.

Another, side shot. Whilst shots of the party are going on we see clips of Katy (in character) putting her hand somewhere it shouldn't be. This is the playing about that I was talking about. Where it doesn't seem to go with the storyline, but is funny to watch a geeky girl playing with a 'model-like' guy, even if you know it is all in cheek and opportunistic!

The video also has small episodes where it branches from its own reality and goes into a dream-like state (obviously green screened here), but representing what was happening in a different way. It is all very random and done as a bit of fun. But it has been done with professional equipment and been put together very well and so comes out as a very good music video which has received a few awards.