Rihanna – We found love video analysis
In my opinion this is the best music video of then year! The video directed by Melina Matsoukas is shot in England and reminds me slightly of the film “This Is England”. The video begins with a monologue from a British girl who narrates the opening clips talking about the ups and downs of love. While this is happening the audience is introduced to the two characters the narrator is talking about. It begins with a very unglamorous shot of the couple sitting in a bath fully clothed, the female (Rihanna) has make up running down her face. This instantly will shock the audience, as it is not a social norm, which will immediately show the audience that something dis-functional is going on. The transition from the monologue to the actual music video has been created quite cleverly as the monologue is quite depressing and then the song is a dance song which almost represents the opposite emotion, so the sound of thunder is used to create the transition allowing the two to flow quite smoothly. The whole video is very fast paced cutting between shots every two to three seconds representing the pace of the song but also keeping the audience engaged and intrigued. Ninty percent of the shots appear to be handheld as they move around a bit, pan at strange angles and almost look like they’ve been recorded for a friends point of view. I think the director has chosen to do this because it creates a more intimate and personal feeling for the audience almost allowing viewers to be apart of the characters life and feel the emotions they are going through.
The video portrays the stereotypical view of “young love” as it shows many shots of the couple kissing and getting physical, but also shows non stop partying and the use of drugs. The interesting aspect of this video for me is to see Rihanna an America based artist, in England, acting the way the youth are portrayed in the media in England. However in America young people are portrayed a lot more positively, which leads me to think, has the writer or producers specifically chosen to shoot the video in England because of the way the Youth are seen over here.
I think the theme or message that is trying to be portrayed for this video is the destruction of love. When the actual music video begins the visual images all appear to be quite fun and happy images of the couple enjoying each others company however as the video progresses it displays more negative images of hate and arguments.
I think the word I previously mentioned of “destruction” is actually more of a theme than I had originally thought when looking at the video in more depth. When Rihanna is singing the lyrics often projections of building collapsing, explosions and bombs going off is shown therefore putting more emphasis of the message of the song. I think this music video sets its self aside from others at the moment by representing the lyrics in different ways. I think this because more than eighty percent of the video is actually a constructed narrative and only ten percent is the artist miming to the song. This is quite the opposite to other music videos around at the moment such as Beyoncé’s, “Single Ladies” which is one hundred percent miming to the song. The video fits very well to the song and the director, producers and whole crew have thought in detail about the songs message and how they could illustrate the message. In my opinion I think the video may be better than the song, however they are both two very strong platforms, which compliment each other very well.
Overall I think this is the best music video of the year and I feel like I could watch it over and over again and still notice other aspects, which I had not seen before. I would highly recommend this not just to Rihanna fans but everyone who takes an interest in video production, as I’m sure everyone will individually take from it what they wish.
. David Bird Media . 