The entire music video is filmed in a single room, with the main focus being Rihanna dancing for Drake in a sexual way. Throughout the entire video, there is clearly sexual chemistry between the two artists, which is something audiences love about this couple that collaborate on a number of tracks together.
Rihanna sings to the camera, looking directly at it the majority of the time, making the video personal and more engaging. It even makes it more sexual as she dances at the same time to match the song and lyrics. Drake is seen enjoying the scene infront of him in the back of the shot. He is blurred out and as all eyes are on Rihanna as she is the main focal point of the video, when it turns to Drake's verse, he also is put into focal point and Rihanna is blurred out to put emphasis on the fact that it is his part in the song and all attention should be on him.
MISE EN SCENE -
The first noticeable aspect of mise en scene is the coloured lighting in the room. The room is illuminated in a purple/pink colour, a colour that instantly connotes romance and lust. This instantly allows the audience to know that the video is going to be centered around a love theme. The colouring of the room also matches Rihanna's see through violet top, and the fact that it is see through further suggests the love aspect of this music video.
Rihanna has simple makeup on, a tight miniskirt, see through top, and long black hair, all of which have connotations of sex.
The lighting is mid low key, and the props in the back of the room further set the scene and make the room less bland and boring.
CAMERA -
The camera uses many different shots, but the majority of them are a mid shot view of Rihanna from the front, in fact, you never see the room from any the angle. The camera does include a series of close ups on both artists when they are singing, as well as close up snap shots of the two getting intimate. There is also long shots, where you see a full length Rihanna dancing and Drake's reaction in full view, as well as the entire room being shown, allowing the audience to see that the pair are alone. As the video comes to an end, the shots become more and more frequent, and the number of close ups increase to pull the story to an end and thus end the song with a music video that in a way has told a story as well as being a satisfying visual for a popular song.
EDITING -
In terms of editing, there is continuing straight cuts throughout the entire video. The video is very bland in terms of editing, as there is nothing interesting happening as this video does not use editing techniques to attract audiences but instead uses the artist.
There are some simple quick edits used to capture small fragments of the video, this chops the video up and creates more to look at rather than just watching Rihanna dance without editing as that would not entertain the audience. On Drake's verse, there is much more editing and straight cutting to a long shot of him talking directly to the camera, or to a close up or even a mid shot. The camera jumps round the artists, and editing is threaded in to ensure the creativity of the music video is up to a high standard. As the music video is clearly more of a relaxed, romantic video it may suggest that the lack of editing techniques is down to this, as the audience is not expecting a jam packed fast edited video.
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The visuals on the
screen have a relationship with the lyrics, as in the song Rihanna seeks a
deep, meaningful connection, however the male character she sings to (played by
Drake) is only interested in sex. This narrative is similar to the pair's
previous collaborations, 2010’s “What’s My Name?” and 2011’s “Take Care.” Rihanna is
seen in the video performing a sexual dance, whereas it is Drake that
looks like he is interesting in her, and not just sex. This contradicts
the lyrics in the song, another one of Andrew Goodwin's key features of music
videos.
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