Texual Analysis 3 - unfinished

Take a bow by Rihanna was a classic pop chart hit in late 2009, the video gained over a hundred million views on the giant called Youtube and is still counting today. Rihanna was able to capture the narrative she produced in her lyrics in the video aswell as a studio based video to break the narrative apart.

The video begins with a track from the weist of the singer up to her face, a close up shot of the first few lyrics; 'how about a round of applause'. Using this striking shot with full eye contact between both Rihanna and the camera to open the video it is representing how strong the lyrics are to the subject but also how strong they want to be put across from her to her audience as well. The fact she is wearing all black and she has black hair connotes to the audience that the song isn't happy and outgoing but a sad or emotional song. We know this because people relate to the colour black as a negative colour, black is a connotation of sadness, black is the colour that people associate with funerals aswell as smart attire. It is also represented as the antagonist in many things, where as white is represented for the protagonist. The simple dove and locket necklaces around her neck could be representing the locked information or secret she has to herself and wants to set it free, it could also be connoting the idea that she is a sealed person and one who isn't unlocked easily, we see this from the mannerisms of Rihannas body language; how she tilts her head to the right and looks away.

The next location we see is an apartment, a large space with a wide open window covered by a light curtain, this is creating a soft tone of light on the subject in the room and the rest of the mise-en scene. This is also the first time we see Rihanna in a long shot rather than medium close up or close up. There is sufficient lighting here so that her face is lit and you are able to see the room. At both the start and end of the shot there is a quick cut therefore the audience is not introduced to any complex transitions of the shots up till this point.There are slow cuts in this section of the song however this is to show a male character; the protagonist of the video. Rihanna introduces her close up shot against the black backdrop here every couple of sections, applying the shot reverse shot technique from the video close up of her to the narrative of the song lyrics. From the apartment scene onwards Rihanna uses a lot of eye contact and gestures towards the camera to reinforce the message of the lyrics to the audience.

Following on from the point about eye contact and gestures the song itself is about a cheating partner. She uses personal tense and first person to sing her song, using this technique and the eye contact with the camera connotes and implies that the song is for the audience. This could be a way of deepening the emotion of the audience, this could almost make someone who has cheated on their partner feel guilty for what they have done. The lyrics are direct and work alongside the song lyric by lyric. This is a direct relation to the video, I think this works well and is a great way to unravel a narrative therefore I believe I am capable of producing something similar for my own video. The shots are fairly moderate in regards to timing, they are not too fast and become slow to emphasise a mood of a shot. The male is stood outside and there is a muted speech shown by him, along with the lyrics 'Trying to apologise, you're so ugly when you cry' here we see a shot responding to that of Rihanna with her back against the other side of the door, this clearly indicates there is