Music Video Deconstruction

Rihanna & Eminem "Love The Way You Lie"

The videos about a couple in a relationship where one minute their in love and the next their fighting. The video casually flashback's to the past where they were happy. The video also shows the domestic abuse between the couple.

The story:

There is a narrative story throughout the video and alternates constantly between the running storyline and Rihanna and Eminem singing. It switches between the good times and the bad times in their relationship.

It starts off with a close up of Rihanna singing with flames in the background. It then alternates to a scene with a couple laying on a bed and then back to Rihanna. It then again switches to a room with the girl sitting on the floor holding fire in her hands.

When the verse starts the girl is laying on the bed and as soon as the beat introducing the verse begins she opens her eyes simultaneously.

During the verse Eminem is in a desolated field. It switches to a scene where the girl looks at her boyfriends hand and notices a girl’s number on it. She then angrily throws his arm off her and gets out of bed. She starts fighting with him on the bed and he pushes her to the mattress and she responds by spitting in his face. As Eminem raps im leaving you, the girl says it at the corresponding time. She punches him in the face and they begin fighting again. He pushes her up against the wall and punches it. When the chorus begins the camera goes back to filming Rihanna singing, whilst the storyline goes to flashbacks of when the couple were happy and their making out. You then see the guy sitting on the sofa thinking and the scenes flicker between them both at home with their head in their hands and then scenes where their sitting at a bar and have just met. As it gets back to the verse it goes back to filming Eminem in the field.

The scene that follows shows the guy stealing alcohol from the shop. Their then sitting on top of a liquor store making out. It then switches back to the house with the girl sitting on the floor in the corridor and the guy walks up to her and gives her a teddy with a flower.

Again it reaches the chorus and goes back to filming Rihanna standing in front of a burning house.

You see the couple sitting in their living room on the floor together and making out. You then see the couple fighting in the bar as the guy punches someone. Eminem now joins Rihanna in front of the house. You see the girl trying to get away by running through the house and locking a door as the house burns the guy slaps the girl and knocks her to the ground. You now have a 2 shot of Rihanna and Eminem together. The girl and the guy are made to look as though their burning along with the fire and at the end you see them back sleeping on the bed. The story goes round in a complete circle and so we finish where it started.

Most of the camera shots of rihanna are close ups showing the intensity and passion of what she's singing about. Nearly all the camera shots of the couple are 2 person wide shot to help establish that their in a house together and that there must be some special connection and relationship between the due implying their a couple.

Most colours used are dark deep colours and most include reds, oranges and browns which connotate the colours of fire which of course in the video the house is burning down.

In nearly every scene there is some form of red (eg. Rihannas nails and lips are red, in the house there are red ornaments) this connotates danger (the fire and abuse) and also love ( the couple relationship).

There are special effects used to create the people burning and the fire that they hold. Also a camera flare is used as eminem raps in the field to suggest its day and the reflection of the sun.

Music Video Deconstruction

Lady Gaga " Paparazzi"

The Story:

The video is shot at a seaside mansion with a sea view balcony and the sound of seagulls in the background. Lady Gaga and her boyfriend are making out on the bed, they move to the balcony and continue. A hidden photographer starts to take photos and Gaga soon realises she is being used by the man for him to become famous and so attempts to push him away and stop him. He then out of anger pushes her over the balcony and kills her. The paparazzi come flooding around her and start taking photos of her lying dead on the floor whilst every so often a tabloid newspaper would pop up on the screen saying "Lady Gaga is Over".

The song starts with Gaga getting out of a stretch limousine and straight into a wheelchair with the help of males alongside.The camera switches from between 2 different scenes, 1 currently in the wheelchair pushed up along the isle and the other with Gaga on a couch just singing to the camera. She then gets us and walks down the rest of the isle using crutches. On the beats at the end of the chorus the camera changes to different scenes with dead maids. She starts to make out with 3 other girls on the couch. It then goes back to the scene with her on the isle but with a different costume of a white body suit. There's a lot of flashing lights whilst she wears a filmstrip dress as if its taking photo after photo.

The next scene you see Gaga with her boyfriend reading a magazine on the sofa. She again has another costume change and wears a yellow jumpsuit and black sunglasses. She pours him a drink and releases a white powder out of the ring into the drink. He drinks it and it kills him.

You hear in the background Gaga call 911 and admit she just killed her boyfriend. Forensic scientists and police come round and discover the body and Lady Gaga is arrested in handcuffs with paparazzi taking photos and again tabloids just like at the beginning but now saying "She's Back".

The song was written to portray her struggles with the quest to fame. The lyrics describe a stalker following someone to grab the attention of the media and gain fame. The music video is trying to show Gaga as famous whilst being hounded by photographers and who is almost killed by her boyfriend. The video tries to show her survival/ comeback/ revenge and her experiences with fame.

I think it tries to show what celebrity's have to go through when they become famous and how their harassed by the press and followed constantly. It also shows what extent young people will go to to become famous and how far their willing to put themselves out there and do things to become recognised.

Throughout the video the mise en scene used is black and white. This connotates with the colours of newspapers which paparazzi work for. You also constantly hear non digetic sound of clicking cameras and the sound of flashing lights which make you feel as if the paparazzi follow your every move and you can never get away from them.

Here is Lady Gaga's Music Video.