What is a music video

Media A2 analysing a music video

Music video-  Rihanna ft. Drake: ‘what’s my name’

The music video which I have chosen to analyse is ‘what’s my name’ by Rihanna ft. Drake. This is a narrative based video, but it also has some performance based aspects included in the video as well. This mixture of more than one genre type of video has become more common over the years and is shown well in this video.

    The start of the video is of Rihanna, this shot is a extreme close up  of the lower half of her face, the camera then zooms out to show her whole face, this is still a close up. The propose of this would be to convey to the audience the expression on Rihanna’s face, in a way this sets up the narrative which is to come in the rest of the video. The look on her face illustrates her to be to be in a peaceful mood, this is conveyed through the Rihanna’s eyes being shut and she tilts her head back there is a slight smile on her face which then suggests the calmness. In some ways this then reflects the purpose of the song being; that Rihanna loves being with her boyfriend and they make each other feel special, by then having each other they feel complete, and she talks about how they can’t help giving in to each other. This therefore justifies the idea of Rihanna being calm at the start because she is happy with everything in her life right now in relation to her love life. The music also starts instantly. 

The second shot is then of a different location of what looks like a skyline of buildings, the locations switch continuously to different shots of New York city; this is also set early morning as the start of the day. This would also connote the idea of the start of a  new day and the start of a story. The next significant shot is inside a corner shot type place. The audience then sees a close of money being up onto the counter to pay, the camera then moves up and then the audience sees Drake his eye cross over to Rihanna. It is then clear that he will be playing a main part in the narrative of the song. This would be the main part where both of the main characters have been established for the rest of the song.  This conforms to the stereotypes, codes and conventions of a music video for R&B videos where the majority of the video is narrative based. This therefore conforms to the generic conventions of a R&B music video. This tells the audience that something will be going on between these two characters. As Drake turns around he then kicks off the main lyrics of the song, he is singing to Rihanna although he is doing this it is still made out to be a narrative while the story line is going on. It is also made obvious that he is talking about Rihanna when the camera shot then moves to her when he is describing what she looks like and so on. The narrative begins to move forward more when he moves over to her and hugs her from behind and where it looks like he is talking to her, he is still singing. The editing of this song is all in sync, this is shown where Drake stops singing and gets pushed away by Rihanna that is one example where everything moves with the beat.

    Most of the shots in this song is made up of close up and extreme close ups right the way through the song. This is created to connote the passion the couple has for each other and it also just further to illustrate the affection both of the characters are showing for each other. I also think that this is one way of moving the time forward in the song as once the cameras have zoomed out there has been a change in time.

    The purpose of this music video is to show the relationship between Rihanna and Drake and in some ways to show that they have a normal relationship just like any other couple and to show that they are not always in the spot light of the media. As this video conveys them as being normal people not celebrities. This is conveyed where at the start of the video where both of the characters are in a shop which looks like an off licence and they are in there just buying normal products such as milk, this conveys that they do live normal lives and do stuff for themselves. This could also illustrate how the couple could have met. It is then later conveyed again further on in the music video where Rihanna is walking down the street she is just walking like any other normal person on the street. Again conveying that the couple lead a normal relationship as well as normal lives. I think that there is another purpose to this that this narrative shows how much the couple love each other; the video also illustrates the couple being affectionate towards each other. This then links to the lyrics to the when Rihanna says lyrics such as, “baby, you got me, and ain’t nowhere that I’d be, than with your arms around me, back and forth you rock me, so I surrender” these lyrics makes it clear how much the couple love each other and how the two easily give into each other. Again showing the purpose to be conveyed is the love relationship between the two.  

Some of the conventions of an R&B music video are evident throughout this R&B music video.  One of the conventions which are evident in this music video is the choice of using a narrative and performance based music video as this is something which occurs commonly throughout R&B music videos as there is usually some aspect of the artist performing to the camera this is usually done to help them to connect with their audience. Then the narrative is usually used to convey some of their wealth or to try and convey some of the lyrics and visuals again to try and help the audience to understand the purpose of the song. This is evident in this song where Drake and Rihanna first meet when they are in the off licence then later in the narrative they are both up against the fridge where they are intimately looking into each other’s eyes. During this time they are unaware that there is a camera watching them, this is just one of the occasions which help to convey a situation where people wouldn’t really watch people that are having a moment to themselves. But there are also performance based aspect of this music video as well this is where Rihanna is singing and dancing down the road and she is looking into the camera to do this. This is an easy way for her to connect with the audience as it appears like she is singing to them and thus making them feel more connected to the song and could encourage them to want to watch the music video. This is a typical convention of an R&B music video and this is just one example of where this has been used other examples could be Beyonce, Jay Z, Rick Ross etc. Another conventions which is also followed is the one to where to have both a male and a female in the music video showing off some of the expensive items which they may have this. This is evident as there is Drake in the music video throughout even though he only sings at the start of the song; he continues to be part of the narrative. The use of expensive items is a little more subtle this music video as it is more about their relationship but where there are a few close up the audience can see the branded jumper which Drake wears during some of the music video, and in some of the close up shots the audience can see the chains and the jewellery which is worn by both of the characters. Then throughout some of the music video the characters are both shown drinking wine, this could again illustrate the wealth of the character that they can afford to drink wine in the middle of the day. These are just two examples of where some of the conventions of R&B are evident through this music video.

     The purpose of this music video is to give the audience something to watch while they are watching the music video. But music videos have a whole range of different purposes some of which being the to provide the audience with something to watch so that then the music video gets stuck in their mind and could encourage them to want to watch the music video again. Other purposes could be to try and convey something about the artist, and portray themselves how they want the audience to see them and perceive as a person and artist. This could thus lead to the audience becoming attached to the artist and listen to more of that artist’s song. Another purpose to have a music video is so that the artist can sell themselves as a brand so that they are perceived in a certain way and if they are seen indorsing a brand for example then this could easily promote their brand for example Rick Ross and the rest of the Maybach Group all drink ‘Cronic’ in their music video this promotes that brand of alcohol. This could also be done if the artist has their own brand for example if they have a perfume out and in their music video they have themselves putting on that perfume; this is something which Britney Spears has done. A music video can also target a new audience as well if an artist has generated a style this could attract more people to want to listen to the music and could lead them to want to watch the music video. Other R&B artist do this to just match the lyrics to the visuals and tell a story of the visuals with the song most of the time the lyrics will match the visuals which will then either tell the audience about the artist or about the purpose of the song, this can this just provide entertainment for the audience. Other artists do this to convey a moral or a meaning of a song, to convey a moral so something which they have become to learn and something that they want to show to their audience or they could be showing that or if they want to tell their audience about something which has happened to them in their life and they want to tell their audience about it or tell them about the lessons that they have learnt. This could then make them seem like a good person and they could want to convey them as being a good person this could then encourage people to want to listen to their music and like them as well.