Rihanna Comparison Textual Analysis

Rihanna is one of the most critically-acclaimed artists of our times. She has 8 Grammys, 2 BRIT awards, 6 VMAs, 14 U.S Billboard Number Ones along with a huge amount of other awards. Her youtube has over 9.63billion hits, which showcases how successful her music videos are. In this essay I will compare one of her first videos, SOS against a video she released 10 years later, Needed Me, which was released in 2016. I will compare how the director has used narrative and mis-en-scene to create successful music videos throughout the artists development.

The video for SOS is a performance based video as we see Rihanna the artist singing and dancing to her song. It is an upbeat song which the video represents through the fast pace editing and use of bright colour.


The video for Needed Me is a narrative based video, as there is a strong story line throughout the video but the artist doesn't sing along to her track.

First of all I am going to analyse the lighting in both videos. To begin with, the SOS has majority of low key lighting. This creates a club feel to the music video, which is where the song would have been played when it was released. In one location for the music video a spot light it used to highlight Rihanna and a male dance, which creates shadows of their silhouettes behind them which is visually pleasing. Furthermore, a lighting effect is used to symbolise diamonds in the background, this makes the music video look more expensive. Another light effect that has been used in a location where Rihanna is surrounded by a maze of mirrors. The visual created is of pink lights, complementing her pink dress, shining out from her hands. This creates the image of Rihanna being magical and creates more interesting visuals for the audience to look at. The whole feel of the second video is much more mature. This is due to all kind of factors such as her maturing as an artist over the 10 years, the lyrics having a stronger narrative and then the way that the music video industry has changed. As she is such a well known, respected artist now there are higher exceptions for her videos, which her dancing around in different locations will not live up to. The lighting of the Needed Me video begins high key, displaying Rihanna in a high class location and her figure is explicating on show, which is something else she is highly recognised for. Throughout the video there is both high and low key elements. The high key scenes are all outside and show the area and location that the video is located in. The high key lighting at the beginning allows the colours to

be extremely bright, which tells us the video is high quality which is what we expect from a Rihanna video. A close up shot shows Rihanna  smoking showing that her good girl image has disappeared. The low key shots are used in the locations for the strip club scenes. The narrative follows Rihanna searching for a male that is in a strip club. The strip club also shows how Rihanna has developed as an artist as she would of been able to have such an explicit narrative before she was famous as people may have been put off her.

Next I will look at how the costumes have evolved in her video. Traditionally in pop women wear revealing outfits, which coincides with the Mulvey Male Gaze Theory. This is highlighted in the SOS video when from the start Rihanna wears a short, slinky green dress. The location where there are diamond flashing lights is the main dance location. Here Rihanna wears a crop top, hot pants, stockings and stiletto's. This is a revealing outfit which along with her sexualised dance moves creates the male gaze theory. The fashion taste from 2006 has obviously changed hugely, we can acknowledge this when Rihanna adorns a Pink Frilled playsuit which now looks very outdated. The outfits in this video create the image of Rihanna as a fun, young party girl along with the nature of the video. When looking at the Needed Me video we see a different side to Rihanna, some of which can be seen through how she dresses. The first outfit we see Rihanna in is extremely revealing, showcasing that her character image has changed extremely. The beat of the music is lot more relaxed and in a way mysterious as well, creating mystery with the viewer to how she has changed. The second outfit Rihanna wears is a metallic tie up dress, which is very in fashion at the moment. Rihanna is huge in the public eye and has become very well known in the fashion industry. She is frequently sitting FROW on the most respected fashion walks in the industry. This influences her costumes in her videos now as she will not be seen in something that is 'unfashionable' as she is so high up in the fashion industry.

Another element of mis-en-scene I will compare is the setting. The SOS setting is very generic for a POP music video. All aspects of the video would have been filmed in a studio using green screens.
The  effects are very basic including the spotlight scene and mirror location. In the Needed Me video the locations seen are much more interesting and real life locations. This shows that Rihanna's budget has increased. Although some of her videos may use green screens in studios, the effects used would be much more advanced then the ones seen in SOS. Needed Me was filmed in Florida Miami, and the city takes a huge role in the video. Due to Rihanna's star status, she will have location scouts go out and search for locations for her videos, meaning she will get the best setting and best videos.

The spacing of a music video means where the artist is in comparison to everything else. In the SOS video Rihanna has only one co-star who doesn't appear much within the video. Her props are also limited, maybe due to her budget not being as high as it is today. Most of the shots used are mid shots or close up shots, meaning we are quite up close and personal with her meaning that we feel like we get to know her quickly. This differs to the Needed Me video, as Rihanna appears in rooms full of people. This creates the idea that Rihanna is a much more poplar artist now. However there are also scenes where she appears on her own, however the shots are varied from wide and close ups. There are two main types of spacing used in this video. The first is when Rihanna is on her own with the city in the background and the second is where she is in the busy strip club.

The last element of mis-en-scene I have to analyse is facial expressions and body language. In terms of music videos we can look at them artists are shown in close up shots. In SOS, her facial
expressions once again sell her as a fun, friendly character. However we also see a sexy side to the singer when she pouts and stares at the camera. This shows the looking theory as well. Rihanna comes across fiesta through her body language and her choreography. This is quite similar to the Needed Me video as she is shown as feisty however she is not shown as a fun and friendly girl. Her facial expressions are mostly straight faced and she is seen as a serious more mature woman. When she is in the strip club the close up shows her looking angry, which is then further proven when she goes on to shoot a man. After we see the man fall to the floor, Rihanna smoothly exits on a yacht not seeming to be bothered about what she has just done in the slightest. Although Rihanna is obviously acting in the video, the fact she is now acting out a much more serious narrative compared to her just dancing in the SOS video showcases another way that she has matured and developed as an artist.