Andrew Goodwin: Illustration

Illustration

This is where the video tells the story of the lyrics that are written down.  Dance is often incorporated as to express the feelings/ moods that are evident in the song.

A good example of a music video that follows the idea of illustration is Katy Perry's 'Last Friday Night' that was released in June 2011.

Images in the video correspond with what the lyrics say, below are some examples of when this occurs within the video.  The lyrics are about someone having a wild Friday night and they are reliving it through the lyrics in the song. 

'There's a stranger in the bed.'

Just before the music beings to play there is a short scene where a person who had obviously been at the party the night before goes into Katy's room and thanks her for the night.  The automatically sets up in the audiences mind that the video will be exactly what the title suggests, about 'Last Friday Night.'

'Is this a hicky or a bruise?'

When she poses the question in the song she shows the audience what she is talking about and there is no need for the audience to try and picture it in her mind.

'Pictures of last night ended up online, I'm screwed, oh well.'

Again another short clip showing exactly what the lyrics are saying, there is nothing abstract about the images or complicated to understand it is just straightforward.

There are a couple moments in the video in which one boy that the party imagines himself and Katy together, although not in the lyrics exactly it is only a short sequence, and is just part of the fun of the whole video.

'We danced on table tops...'

She talks about dancing in the video and not being able to remember much which is reflected with how much she is drinking, to many teenage girls watching the video they would be able to relate to a video like this about a night that they may of have that they can't quite remember.

'TGIF, TGIF, TGIF!'

There is also a moment where they get a saxophone player, playing of the roof at the garden party, this is trying to create the idea that it is diegetic music that is playing, making the song brome more of a reality and the lyrics coming to life.

Overall it can be seen that the video reflects what the lyrics in the song are talking about, with many of the images being shown exactly reflecting what the lyrics say that are written down on the page.