Yep Rihanna has done it again incorporated some element of love, sex and drugs in her music video but no that is not why I love the video so much. After going through previous handouts given to us on Andrew Goodwin I came across this statement 'The visualisation of a song may go beyond the original meaning. Sometimes the video provides a visual pleasure that encourages repeated viewing which therefore promotes the music.... the video might be promoting other commodities' This video does exactly that. After I watched it the first time, something inside of me told me to go back and watch it, again and again and again. I personally think the video slightly promotes a hipster lifestyle and fashion minus the drugs which some may argue she condones but I personally think it is a part of the structure of the narrative. After watching the video like 6 times within 3 hours (note it hadn't come out on TV yet) I decided to analyse it like the good media student I am.
The first thing I noticed was the location, as an American artist I was slightly confused as to where she shot the video. After watching it the second time I came to a conclusion that she shot the video in the UK. The reason being is because in the opening scene we see a block of tall flats, which look like they are in England, there is a scene of her and her co-star in a Fish & Chips shop which is one of England's trademarks, in the arcade she inserts pound notes. Although I wondered why she chose England and not one of the fifty something states in America. It then occurred to me that the lighting was very dim, and slightly grey and when many visitors come over from the USA the first thing they notice is how 'grey' England is in comparison to America. So I think it fit perfectly. Although after doing some research I found out that it was set in Northern Ireland (close enough).
The video is central to Rihanna and her 'boyfriend' and we see plenty of jump cuts, and fast edits of them in different situations which may connote a day in the life of the two. We see them in both love and hate scenarios, the use of the drug overdose depicts their actions through fast and slow editing which is parallel to the tempo of the song itself. I really liked this idea because although my groups song choice is quite slow we have elements of the narrative that are both fast (such as the running) although we also have scenes that will be edited parallel to the song tempo.
Drugs are used very cleverly as a form of mise en scene in this video. It represents an addiction and we see how love is compared as a drug and an addiction between her and her partner. We see the ups and downs of the relationship throughout the video and how toxic and heated it can get which is also illustrated through the drugs and overdose. For a while it is a lot of fun although there are also a lot of dangers and we see this through her being sick which is also editing effectively.
Not only is the song great but, the video is as well. The concept was thoroughly thought out and a big risk because it has been compared to her own situations. Despite that I absolutely love this video.
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