(Task 2.1) Rihanna - We Found Love: Analysis

Rihanna is an artist who has undergone changes and shifts in style over the course of her career and has therefore been hard to generalise into a certain category of artist. Although this doesn't detract from her talent as an artist. With eight Grammy awards and fourteen number one hit singles on the US Billboard hot 100 it is clear to see her success as a musician and song writer.
In 'We Found Love' Rihanna explores the themes of drug and alcohol abuse within a relationship. She also displays themes of domestic violence. She strives to juxtapose the Highs and Low of a relationship to put into contrast the sheer bipolar opposite of how the relationship between two people can be at any given moment.

Genre

The genre for Rihanna's 'we found love' is thought to be elctro house. Electro house's main features is its bass line which is played at a high tempo. Rihanna uses the genre as it's beat is very up-tempo and is therefore regularly used a lot at concerts that are popular with the demographic of teens to young adults. A goal of a concert is to get your audience energetic and jumping to the music. We found love is a collaboration between Rihanna and Calvin Harris, this explains the fast beat and tempo due to Calvin Harris's style, who is also a DJ.

A DJ's main focus is setting a rythmic beat and excite the crowd. This therefore means that house music has became a very popular genre, which is therefore why Rhianna has chosen to go with this style. It is because this style attracts a large demographic of people, therefore making it a safe style to go with. This concert setting can even be seen in the music video

Characteristics

Rihanna's 'We Found Love' is primarily constructed as a narrative based music video. The narrative depicts the troubles and dilemmas faced in a relationship. However the relationship depicted isn't as conventional as most relationships are. This is due to its themes of drug abuse and domestic violence. Rihanna furthers this characteristic of a narrative based music video by dedicating the first 20 seconds of her opening music video which gives some exposition of the situation of the two characters In the music video. It also sends a message and sets the tone for the rest of the music video. Rihanna also shows signs of a performance based music video through lip syncing, however it is done so little that the characteristic is almost negligible, it is clear to see that Rihanna is striving to give off a clear message and narrative rather than a good performance.  

Style

Rihanna's style and way of filming expresses and connotes to us the meanings behind her uses of editing, special effects, camera angles and mise en scene.

A close up shot, angle of which the character is facing and use of lighting sends us a message about the character. Half of his face is dark whereas the other half is lit up with light. Shows the binary opposite and connotes to having a side of good and evil, but that the side that we are seeing is the dark one. 

Rihanna uses special effects to show the theme of drug abuse. This is because the alternating rainbow pattern is very psychedelic and is associated with perception altering drugs such as LSD. Her use of special effects is very limited in her music video, the only other time she uses it is when her character is throwing up. Instead of vomit it is instead replaced by pink ribbons 

Finally her editing also tells us a lot about the music video. She uses the technique of combining both fast motion and slow motion accompanied with non linear jump cuts to confuse and disorientate the audience. This style and mixture of editing reflects the characters states of mind. Showing us a frame of mind heavily under the   

Meaning

Through utilizing techniques such as camera angles, mise en scene (lighting and other), editing and not to mention special effect, Rihanna creates deep meaning an connotations in her work. She furthers this with connotations in her lyrics.

To start off Rihanna gives meaning and rich connotation through one of her initial shots at the beginning in the music video. She's shows the main male role at a close up shot of his face. Through the positioning of natural lighting, half of the male's face is cast in darkness whereas the other half is illuminated with light. Light connotes to purity and kindness, whereas darkness connotes to evil and other such negative things. By juxtaposing half of the male's face in shadow and the other in light this in-turn creates a connotation to the contrast of his personality. This dichotomy between good and evil signifies a bipolar personality due to half of the representation of our male to be good but the other half to be evil.
This idea of bipolarity is also shown in the editing and sequencing of the scenes of the music video. This is seen as the scene changes from the couple being happy and loving to then suddenly being angry and domestic.

Through editing Rihanna also represents the theme of drug abuse through editing, special effects, lyrics and clear denotations in imagery. Rihanna's music video is editied in a style to simulate your mind in an altered state on drugs. She does this through the use of slow motion and fast motion in multiple scenes, which is suggestive of the effects of drugs such as ecstasy. This drug ecstasy is also connoted in the lyrics through "Yellow diamonds in the sky". This is because 'yellow diamond' is a slang term for the ecstasy pill. This connotation is almost made absolute through the imagery Rihanna then uses in her music video. Short scenes such as that of pills falling to the ground and extreme close ups on an eye dilating, which is one of the visual indicators of perception altering drugs like ecstasy. Therefore her message is clear in the idea of drug abuse.

(Task 2.1) Taylor Swift - Blank Space: Analysis

Taylor swift is a prominent singer and song writer. In her song 'Blank space' she visits a common topic and theme that she has made multiple songs about. That theme being the theme of love.  A top ten list shows the plethora of love songs she's made. Taylor often focuses on the idea of heart break and volatility within a relationship. Expressing problems such as domestic abuse, infidelity and emotional instability. Taylor Swift, in 'Blank Space', explores the topics of domestic abuse and also trivialises love by depicting it to be materialistic, lust driven and shallow through denoting superficial desires, such as good looks.  

Genre

The genre of 'blank space' fits comfortably in that of  'electropop'. Electropop is the combination of electronic music, such as that of synthesizers, and normal pop music instruments. Synthesizers of which, are used to create the main beat of the song. This is done to form a snappy catchy beat, which in turn allows the audience to listen to the song and enjoy it, but not pay attention to its meaning. It allows passive consumerism by allowing it for people to easily remember the simple catchy beat and paying little attention to the lyrics. 

Characteristics

Taylor swift's 'Blank Space' primary characteristic is the characteristic of a story driven music video. Which depicts the rise and fall of a superficial shallow relationship. From initially showing us a fairytale-esque relationship where Taylor and her lover seem to be having a good time. But then developing the story to the polarisation of the relationship, where it devolves into domestic abuse and violence due to jealousy and infidelity. The music video ends with the death of her lover and the appearance of her new lover, indicating that it's a never ending circle that is bound to repeat itself. Taylor swift's 'Blank Space' also has the slight characteristic of a performance music video. This characteristic is evident when Taylor lip syncs the words of the song in her music video, however this is only a minor detail and doesn't represent the music video as a whole.

Style

Blank space is filmed in a way, through mise en scene, to show us the time period that Taylor is trying to set her music video in. From the opening scene we can see a vintage car pulling up to an also vintage French Normandy stylised mansion. The car is a 'Shelby ac Cobra' which is a rare sports car from the 'sixties'. This idea of a 'sixties' time setting is further developed when we see Taylor riding a bike which is reminiscent of bicycles from that time period. The time period is a very important device that Taylor is choosing to. This is because the 'sixties' was a time period where the slogan "make love not war" could be used as a staple for that time period. It was also a time period which saw the rise of pre marital sex and promiscuity as sex before marriage became less of a serious principle and sex was normalised and less controversial. This change in society can be seen in data shown through the number of increased premarital  teenage pregnancies since the 1950's. Taylor uses this time period to further her point of superficial shallow love where partners are for short brief moments and not for life under a sacred bond. She shows this in her lyric "I can make the bad guys good for a weekend"

Taylor also uses editing to stylise and give deeper meaning to her work shes uses the use of slow motion to give the sense of being stuck in the moment. By slowing it down she shows us the idea of of stuck in love or living in the moment. She repeats this in multiple scenes and uses it to capture the emotions of the characters by allowing the audience to focus on movements and facial expressions. This allows us to get a better understanding on the characters and how they feel.

Taylor also incorporates camera angles and special effects into her style. With special effects we can see when Taylor throws her lovers Jacket out the window it spontaneously catches fire, which holds deeper meaning as their relationship which was at first okay suddenly 'went up in flames' and turned abusive and painful. 

Taylor uses camera angles to further her style and message. As we slowly the flaming jacket fall down to the ground the camera is placed so that the foreground is completely obscured by the flaming jacket. It slowly falls to reveal the male standing behind it, the juxtaposition between the male and the jacket on fire suggests to the audience that the rage and anger that is being felt by the character. This is because fire connotes to anger and rage. 

Meaning

Taylor uses a mixture of mise en scene, lyrics and other techniques to create meaning in her music video. From mise en scene we can see that Taylor's character is connoted to be a dangerous and slightly deranged character. 

In the first scene that we see Taylor's character we can see that she is wearing a black dress, has a cat draped over her arm and that she is wearing red lip stick. The fact that she lives alone is also pointed out to the audience. This first scene is important because it has foreshadowing of what is going to happen and connotations to what Taylor's character is like. 

Her black dress firstly has connotations and foreshadowing of death. The colour black has strong connotations to death and is usually always the colour of choice at a funeral. 

The idea of her living alone and having a cat has connotations to mental instability due to the 'crazy cat lady' stereotype which is prominent in popular culture.

 This stereotype originates in English history. During the 15th century and up until the 18th witches were wildly believed to be real, which resulted in the deaths of countless women during the periods witch hunts. Witches commonly had 'familiars', which were demons in the disguise of animals. The common representation of these familiars were cats, which is where the 'crazy cat lady' originates from.                                                                        This connotation to being 'evil' and a 'witch' is also further represented later on in the music video.

Later on we can see Taylor with a red apple and red lipstick. The colour red has quite a few connotations due to it being a very emotionally intense colour. The emotion Taylor is trying to give off could be seen as danger, desire, lust and anger.                                                                  

Red lipstick connotes to lust and desire, whereas red apple connotes to danger and anger. This is due to the connotations that a red apple has. Biblical references can be made to the apple of Eden but what I believe the intended viewing of this message is that of poison and witchcraft.

The scene where Taylor goes to bite half the apple and her lover spits out the half as he bites has strong implication the Disney story of sleeping beauty. Where an evil witch poisons the main protagonist (snow white) out of jealousy by giving her a half poisoned apple. Which references the songs theme of infidelity and jealousy in the lyric “Oh my God, who is she?” & “I get drunk on jealousy”

(Task 2.1) Beyoncé - Formation: Analysis

A brief insight on Beyoncé's career would that that overall she has been a very radio friendly and politically correct artist. However not only does Beyoncé talk about controversial topic(Black lives matter) she also uses unfriendly and what could be seen as offensive language in her lyrics with words such as "Negro". 

Implications to women's rights are also made. 

This theme of women's rights can be seen in the lyrics "Okay ladies now lets get in formation". This lyric signifies the unification of women to stand together. This connotes to unifying to fight for equal rights in modern dilemmas such as equal pay and discrimination. However her exclusion of white females and exclusive use of African American women throughout the music video suggests that her connoted message is for black women only. This exclusivity could be due to the idea of white privilege. Highlighting and connoting to the fact that Black women have it 'worse' compared to their white female counterparts.

Genre

The genre of her song is that of bounce music. As can be seen declared on the songs wiki page. Bounce music is a style of 'New Orleans' hip hop style which is said to have originated in the 80's. This choice of genre is fitting due to the depiction of location in Beyoncé's music video. The location depicted is that of New Orleans in the time of disaster it faced when the devastating Hurricane Katrina. The Hurricane took many lives and caused a shock wave through Black communities due to them feeling abandoned and mistreated by their government. This is due to the lack of effort the government had to help prepare for the Hurricane

Characteristics

Beyoncé's formation has a couple of solid characteristics. Her music video is constructed as a live performance. Beyoncé performs with back up dancers in her usual style of dancing, which is also a common convention in pop music in our modern industry. This is due to the fact that it engages the audience and catches their attention when watching the music video, whether it be on TV or on the internet resulting in more exposure.

Her music video is also very abstract due to its non linear nature as it is shown going forwards and backwards in time with little coherence or clear direction.

Style 

Beyoncé uses mise en scene to show different time periods in black culture. This can be seen in scenes such as that which depicts her being in a slavers house. Which were primarily large estates surrounded by,more often than not, cotton farms, where the slaves would pick the cotton and stay in manor. Furthermore the apparel and costumes used also give a strong indication on what time period Beyoncé is trying to express. However not only does Beyoncé use mise en scene she also uses editing to tell the audience what time period we were currently looking at. This can be seen where an overlay is used to give the impression that we are looking at an old TV due to its grainy display and flickering lines. Furthermore, by having the word 'play' displayed in the bottom left of the screen this strongly gives the impression that we were watching a VHS tape. Which indicates that the time period would be the 70's as it was one of the main media formats used at that time.

Meaning

Beyoncé conveys meaning in her music video through connotations in her lyrics and also with her provoking use of imagery. She gives meaning to the empowerment of women, discrimination against black people and meaning to the issue of police brutality.

The issue of police brutality is most clearly seen in the shot where the camera slowly pans from left to right to reveal a wall with the graffiti denoting "Stop shooting us". This slow pan from left to right draws our attention as an audience to the message, the shot is left long enough for the audience to acknowledge and think about the message. 

This shot of the graffiti is then immediately  proceeded by a shot of Beyoncé on top of a police car. By being on top of the police car, Beyoncé sends the message of how black people will triumph over the adversities presented by police brutality. The shot of Beyoncé sinking with the police car symbolises that black people will 'go down' with what they believe. And will take the police down with them if need be. This can be seen throughout America in areas with large black communities, outrage and riots have become a common occurrence throughout the black communities. An article by the national review  furthers this by exploring and discussing the violence and how recently its been on the rise.

Taking a look at her lyrics we can see how Beyoncé promotes the empowerment of women and the reversal of gender roles.

"When he fuck me good, I take his ass to Red Lobster, cause I slay"

"If he hit it right, I might take him on a flight on my chopper, I slay"

"Drop him off at the mall, let him buy some J's, let him shop up, 'cause I slay"

"I dream it, I work hard, I grind 'til I own it"




Beyoncé, with these three lines, challenges the norm of gender roles and flips it to a bipolar opposite. In modern society it is often seen that men are seen as providers/the more dominant sex. However Beyoncé goes against this by saying she will take out her 'man' to treat him to nice things. Take him shopping, take him out to meals and let him ride in her helicopter if he 'satisfies' her. She states how she'll work hard and earn her dreams, expressing how she doesn't need a man to live her life. And also that she is an independent hard working black woman.
This is further conveyed in the line
"You just might be a black Bill Gates in the making, 'cause I slay
I just might be a black Bill Gates in the making"
This lyric tells the audience that her independence and hard work to fulfil and pursue dreams is a message to all her fellow black women. Beyoncé's empowerment of woman however can be seen as racially excluding due to her lack of empowerment for white women  and focus on Black lives only.

Laura Mulvey:The Male Gaze

Laura Mulvey is a feminist film theorist, who is currently a film and media studies professor at Birkbeck university of London. Laura 'coined' the idea of her 'Male gaze' theory back in 1975. Laura can be seen as a pioneer in her field as she is considered to be one of the first to explore the idea of how women are represented in films to appeal to a male audience. She helped set the framework for discussion on the topic and has since been an important figure in film theory to the point where he ideas are still taught and talked about.

Laura Mulvey's theory can also be applied to the medium of music videos. This is because music videos and films share and show the same representations of women which helps satisfy the male audience's voyeuristic behaviour. (Something pretty and engaging to look at for men). Mulvey borrows key ideas to help explain her theory, one of them being from Sigmund Freud. This is the idea of Scopophillia where in pleasure is found through looking. Her second idea is borrowed from Jacques Lacan and is that of 'The mirror stage'.