 The parties that Perry attended were real , and its participants were unaware of Perry 's presence ; the organizers believed they had signed up to star in a reality show called " Birthday Blowouts " . Similarly , the majority of events that took place during the visual were staged without the knowledge of the celebrations ' organizers and guests . For example , the car crash that occurs in the video left several children who observed it frightened and crying . Perry deemed the video " very intricate to make and shoot " and her " most insane " to date . A teaser for the video which introduced the characters was released on April 22 , 2014 whereas the complete video was revealed two days later . 
