Rihanna (ft Drake) - What's my name

Mise-en-scene
Urban setting, America. The stereotypical New York yellow cabs are featured to determine location. The costumes worn such as Rihanna’s hot pants and stripy blazer would be seen as standing out from the crowd, juxtaposing the narrative of “meeting a man over a pint of milk” turning the ordinary to the extraordinary. Everyone appears to be extremely casual and emotionless, in contrast, Rihanna is dancing through the streets and singing showing nothing is unordinary in such a location as no one takes a second glance.

Editing
Blured backgrounds occur in many shots, with Rihanna in the foreground, suggesting her importance within the video. We could also denote that no one in the world matters to her as long as she has the man within the video. Slow motion has been added when Rihanna and Drake are laughing together to emphasise their happiness to the audience. People in a crowd, their faces start blurred and then come into focus with slight eye contact to the camera, suggesting a “nobody” can become a “somebody” in today’s society.

Shot composition
Many shots of Rihanna’s different tattoo’s to show the audience her edge, typical convention of R+B. Lots of shots remain below Rihanna’s eye level. This suggests her dominance within the city and reflects that she is now in control of her life, rather than the city controlling her successes. The sunlight if always shown to be behind her. This suggests that she is “the new light” in the shot as she is blocking it from reaching us. Lots of close up’s occur between the couple, to suggest their closeness and affection for each other.

Narrative + comp
During the video, she walks past many people going about their everyday lives, tourists, people at work and none notice her. This goes against the idea of Rihanna’s fame and everybody knowing who she is, suggesting to us in this video that she wants a man who likes the real her, not her fame. The video also shows a lot of musicians who are currently unsuccessful, walking through the city giving us the idea of Rihanna once being like that, and the importance in her being well known through her music.