​Jordan Scott A2 Media
Rihanna ft Chris Brown - We Found Love
Mise En Scene
The opening scene is a of a block of flats, this type of housing is usually asscociated with people with a lower socio economic background. The audience then sees shots of a young man and woman, which show the true expressions of the characters and they look unhappy and depressed. There is then a shot of the two characters together, although they are physically close together the way they are hardly interacting with eachother which suggests that they are distant from eachother. The camera then repeatedley swithes between times in which they are close and affectiomate and times in which they are like strangers to eachother. The audience then sees a quick cut of lightning in the sky which is used as patheic fallacy as the weather conditions are going to relfect what is happening in the video.
The clothes worn by the characters are young and trendy, firstly the boy is wearing are variety of outfits throughout the video but one in partuiulcar that i would like to talk about it the one he is wearing at the skatepark. He is wearing a grey baggy t shirt which suggesting he is going for the causal look. On his legs he has tartan bottoms which are a bit more smarter and are very out there and not something many people would wear suggesting he is not bothered by what people think and likes being unique. The outfit is finished off with brown boots, these boots like like they would be worn from by people who refer to themselves as 'indie" suggesting he may be part of this group. Rhianna the main character in the video wears a baggy denim jacket for the majority, whch is often worn by teenage girls also from the "indie" group in society.
After the lightning the audience sees a sequences of scenes in which the two characters are getting on extremely well this is shown with them spending a lot of time in close proximity and showing affection towards eachother. The audience then sees Rhianna drinking alcohol while the male character is using setting wool on fire to create sparks suggesting that they both like having fun and are clearly care free. Both characters look extremely happy when they are at the skatepark toegther and it in turn shows they spend a lot of time together. Pills are then shown to the audience followed by the characters eyes changing colour conveying what affect the drugs have had on the couple. We then see how the drugs change the two main characters, they are shown to engage in sexual ativites a lot more now, they are attending what looks like raves and are taking part in antisocial behaviour. This shows that drugs can completely change who you are and how you act. The audience then see a quick flash of a a police car suggesting that when they are on drugs they are more likely to get invovled with crime and then get into problems with the police.
We then see the couple arguing in the car, this is polar oppostite of the way they were acting before, implying that when they are on drugs they are close and they get on well but when they are sober they clash and arguemnts entail. The audience then see the negative sides of drugs as the main woman character is seen to be collapsed on the flooor, without the male character there, which means that the drugs have made her vulrable and it is not a good physical state to be in. We then see the man almost looking dead like on the sofa with his limbs out stretched. It almost looks as if all life has been sucked out of his body and this is most likely to do with the drugs, the man slso looks extremely skinny suggesting that getting a high has been more important than eating and staying alive. The audience the sees the main female character packing her stuff into a bag while the man has adopted the same postition on the sofa but now on the floor, the man is shown to grab Rihanna's leg in order to stop her going but she is set on leaving, suggesting that he has put drugs before everything even the only person he is seen to care about causing her to want something better.
Music Video Analysis 2
Camera Angle, Position And Movement
The first shot used is an establishing shot of two sets of flats, this initial type of shot is used in order to set the scene for the audience. What the audience sees in the establishing shot can also give them ideas about what the video is going to be about or related to, so in this video due to it being of two blocks of flats the audience may associate this with people from a low socio economic background.
Close ups are then used to show the facial expressions of both the man and the woman in the video, when the camera is focused closely on both the characters faces the audience can see their true expressions and both of them looks depressed and distant. There is then a medium shot of the two characters together, although they are physically close together the way they are hardly interacting with eachother which suggests that they are distant from eachother. The next shot is the polar opposite of this as it shows the two characters extremely close both physically and emotionally, the camera is showed to be circling around the couple suggesting they are caught up in something which the audience will later find out what.
We then see a long shot of the weather changing, which then is followed by a lot of quick cuts and fast camera movement, this indicates the change of pace in video. The cuts are very quick when both the man and the woman are at the skatepark this is to mirror the energy the characters have, and how the energy bouncys off one another. The audience then see a close up of a persons eye, the close up suggests the significance of the shot and due to the eye changing colour it conveys the audience exactly what effect drugs can have on a person and it triggers the change of feeling in the video. When the drugs wear off the feeling the video gives across is changed again, as we see the couple arguing in the car. Close ups are then used, as the camera focuses in on the womans face as she walks away from the car, her face is amost emotionless suggesting that the reality of their realtionship when they are not on drugs has drained every feeling out of her. Whereas the close up on the man shows how angry he is as he screws his face up and then you see his arm raise and punch the side of the car implying that he also cannot deal with the reltionship when they return to reality.
Editing
Throughout the video the young woman seen at the beginning is given prevalance all the way through, this is because the more time we see them on screen the more important their role and as this woman is the main character throughout the video so is therefore given. Throughout the music video the editing speeds up at certain points to convey a sense of time moving quicker than usual. Slow motion is used throughout the video, but one place in paticular in which I believe it was very effective is when the man and woman are seen to be engaging in secual activities while they are on the drugs. The slow motion suggests that they are caught up in time and do not have any sense of what they are doing or how long they are doing it for. Special effects are also used throughout the video, at one point the ash on the cigarette turns multi coloured, the audience would see this as very strange but this is the hallucinations people on drugs would experience. Near the end of the video the editing speed increases a lot and the cuts become very fast, untill it becomes to a sudden stop where the cuts return to a slower more normal speed, this is done to show relfect firstly the high you get off the drugs and then how quickly reality can hit you.
Sound
At the beginning of the video non diegetic sound is used as the audience can hear a voice speaking but cannot see the person on screen who is saying the words. The words spoke her set the scene for the video, the audience may suspect that the voice is is echoing the thoughts of the main woman character seen at the start of the video but they cannot be sure. The words are spoke very slowly forcing the audience to listen to what the woman is saying. Diegtic sound is also used, when the audience sees the lightning and thunder which changes the pace of the video completely the viewer hears the noise of the weather changing emphasising its impact on the video even more.