Music video analysis- Rihanna man down

Rihanna- Man Down


This video is by Rihanna called man down.
The video starts with the star image, Rihanna and her being the main star. She comes from a dark lighting in a room and watches the man get shot in a crowded area. This is a very strong start for the video but could be due to the problems Rihanna may have faced during the time around the making of this video. One thought is towards the complicated relationship with Chris Brown after the big beat-up things have been on and off in terms of their relationship. I feel that there are many scenes in this video expressing the way Rihanna may be feeling. It moves to  a black screen, then shows text saying, 'yesterday morning' and it moves straight back to the star, Rihanna. Her image is shown as playful and as some sort of local queen. She is happy with everyone and the people are happy with her and this is including children.
After this local scene and her on the bicycle, establishing shots, it moves onto her around with some of her thug mates, these could be there to show she is protected and to act strong even though she is to be insecure and hurt from the incident with Chris Brown.
Again it goes back to story and performance, but mainly to the shots where Rihanna dominates the screen and she is the visual. Soon after she is at a party and is with dancing with another man, could be signify or Rihanna's way of sending a message to Chris Brown. She goes and takes off at the side, this could be a signifier in the story part where she is waiting got be approached by a target of some  sort. She is approached by the guy shot at the beginning and they start ot dance. From here is what she could be relating to what actually happened to her in real life, in accordance with the incident involving Chris Brown.The man who is later on shot, follows Rihanna and this is attraction of sort and from here on the man gets a bit aggressive and forces him self to be with Rihanna. This could be seen in comparison to Chris Brown being aggressive and assaulting towards Rihanna.
In the end it shows the Rihanna to be running to the draw and getting hold of a pistol, which was therefore used to kill the man, leading to one thing and answering who the killer was.

Target audience to Rihanna on the whole is; mainly girls and some boys ages 19-21 with them being White and black. Also due to her clever marketing, the fans she had are crazy about her star image, who is alos a fashion icon and is a big trend-sitter. Who can be said ot be a big role-model for the audeince who may have had relationship problems or feel they can realte to her music. Rihanna is also an artist who stands fro womens and that of empoweremtn, this is something that is shown through her new image and videos.
 In terms of her image it has definately changed and i also have a post upon this top and you can find this stopic elaborated more on teh post.
Throughout the video is voyeurism and this is the normal image shown throughout Rihanna's videos due to her new image and this is something that is there to in a way satisfy some of the people who watch the video. She often expresses sex appeal and mostly wears tihgt clothing for the gaze in attraction or for the seducement of some. Getting so much intrest and gossip over her, and basically a lot of attention, something the audeince feel they ened and so follo the way she dresses or acts like her.
All in all i think that the video is Rihanna's way of expressing the events, showing her opinion and her thoughts but also a consequence and a message possibly to Chris brown. Although this contradicts to what is happening now, with the two doing a song together.