Genre Characteristics
Even though the genre of this is pop, Sigismondi helps to defie its genre with the strange scenes, for example, revealing her half goat legs at the end of the video when we would be expecting them to look human to show some flesh of a woman because it is hardly shown at all (some pop videos do try to sexualise their females to appeal to a wider audience). This video wouldn't appeal to everyone because it refers to a particular sub-culture and ideology rather than a popular music video. Also, it has put emphasis on Sigismondi's artistic qualities rather than just an informal craftsmanship of a video. It is also reflecting progressive developments as it is in the future/another world rather than keeping with the existing trends. However, the music helps it to stay as a pop music video because the beat encourages dancing. There are quite a few of Sigismondi's signature styles in this video, for example, the music video does feel like a short artistic film, she includes the 'jittery' motion of the camera, there are slow-motion shots which then speed up with inhuman speed. The video starts of dark with dirty metal pieces everywhere and litter, which although this is similar to other videos directed by Sigismondi, it is not typical of a pop video. There are violent scenes shown when animals attack each other, this is unusual for a pop video, which shows that Sigismondi wanted to defy that genre giving it a more sinister and mysterious feel to it. Katy's wardrobe changes a few times which generally happens in a pop video, but when she is falling through the planet's atmosphere her dress becomes white connoting to an angel. Once she has landed her dress becomes black like she has become a "fallen angel".
Lyrics and Visuals
In the video it starts off with some music from an older decade, "Where in this wonderful World, is there someone for me?" As this music is playing there is a dismal setting and just a robot lying there, hinting that this robot is possibly going to be Katy's love interest in the video. As Katy sings, "Wanna be a Victim," images flash up of foul play between animals which leads to a victim. Kanye West raps, "alien sex," and at this time the visuals flash animals mating.
Music and Visuals
The visuals show at the start a very desolate and deserted place full of litter and destruction, the music that plays over this is something from an older time like music that would have been played during the second World War.
Demands of the Record Label
Katy is in the video for most of the time with many close-up shots even though she is a well-established artist, however you get the feeling that you are meant to feel some intimacy towards her. Kanye West has featured parts and during that he has many close-ups as well.
Notion of Looking
After watching the video multiple times I still couldn't find any other notion of looking. This could possibly suggest that the director didn't want the viewer to feel a part of the video, like they could see what a character saw.
Intertextual References
The whole music video is like a science-fiction film. I also noticed that some of the added shots that contrasted with the video were of animals and nature, a shot that reminded me of the TV programme 'True Blood' and its title sequence where a fox is shown decaying in a very fast speed.
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