Ideas Blog

Ideas Blog

Rehab, Rihanna ft. Justin Timberlake

The video will be based around the relationship between the male and female in this video. It will show their relationship from a happy start to a bitter end so that the visuals are in correlation with the lyrics; a convention of Goodwin’s theory. As the song is called rehab, the relationship between male and female will be presented as a similar relationship a drug addict has with drugs. For example, the male will not make the female happy; she will try to leave, however she goes back to him because she feels she can’t sustain herself without him but she realises her life isn’t any better and talks of ‘rehab’ or in other words, getting rid of him.

Before the music starts, the frame will show various quick shots of both pictures and footage of the relationship between the two main characters in the video. They will increase in speed to show to progression of the relationship to where they are now; they will also be in black and white to show that the footage is from the past. There is then a transition using a straight cut, to show a close up of the artist performing the song; another convention of Goodwin’s theory. The close up will show the artist as teary to convey to emotions of her break up and will continue to be in black and white through editing as this shows her lack of joy as well as her retrospective perspective. When the lyrics get to, ‘I never felt something so strong, you were like lover…’ the audience will see the main female character on her first date with her love interest in the video; both characters will be happy to match the lyrics and show the audience that the couple were once content. This could take place at a restaurant with both characters looking glamorous as this will attract the target audience through the short representation of the artist’s luxurious lifestyle. There is then a ‘drop’ within the beat of the song in which this will cue a straight cut back to the artist singing in order to balance a performance and narrative based music video; this shot will be a mid-shot. When the lyrics go ‘all of a sudden you went and left…’ a straight cut will show an argument between the couple in their flat becoming very heated, with close ups of the artist to convey her anger and emotion and tracking shots of the male to emphasise that he is leaving as the lyrics say. Again, a straight cut will be used to transition the shot to the artist performing again. When the lyrics come to ‘And I’ll never give myself to another…’ she will perform to the camera as if  talking to her love interest becoming angry to allow the audience to understand more about the song as they know how the artist feels about what she is singing, also allowing a relationship to be built between artist and audience. She will then turn her head away and this will become a shallow focused shot to distort the artist’s face to display that the artist almost wants to hide from her problems by not facing them. The frame will then go back to the narrative to when after the male has walked out; this will be a long shot of the artist looking out the window directly to her reflection to convey her loneliness and vulnerability. It will then show the male walking out of the building with his belongings when the lyrics go, ‘and you’re the one to blame’ to ensure the audience are aware of the artist’s situation. The frame will then quickly show the artist performing, once again very emotional while singing to convey her despondency. A straight cut will then show a mid-shot of the artist sitting on the end of the bed smoking a cigarette while the lyrics go ‘you’re the reason why I’m thinking, I don’t want to smoke on this cigarette no more…’ The cigarette is used to represent a substitute addiction as she isn’t able to be with her male partner, her current harmful addiction. She will then look at the front door to suggest that she is going to run after the male to stop him leaving and attempt to reconcile the relationship. There is an extreme close up of the cigarette being put out to convey her ending this addiction in order to pursue her addiction to her boyfriend. There is then a tracking shot of her running after her boyfriend to get him back. A straight cut is used to now show the artist singing, consistent with her emotional performance. As the lyrics say ‘next time you wanna go on and leave, I should just let you go on and do it…’ she gestures her hand as a signal to leave. There is then a wide shot showing the artist running after the male calling his name. He then turns around and begin to kiss to show them being back together. The couple remain kissing in the street, showing mid shots of the people walking in the street looking at them in a confused or disgusted manner to emphasise the idea of ‘blind love’ as not only is it appropriate in public but who she is kissing is an addiction rather than true love. The lyrics then go on to the second verse, going back to the performance of the artist when the lyrics are ‘Ain’t it crazy when you’re love swept, you’ll do anything for the one you love’ however begins to smile when singing almost laughing at her stupidity in regards to her previous actions, continuing to build the relationship with the artist as they understand more of how she is feeling. It then shows the artist running up the stairs to see her boyfriend to the flat in which both characters live, starting with a long shot of her walking in the building and then a high shot to look down at her walking up the stairs. The camera then follows the artist to the bedroom in which she finds her boyfriend with another woman so that the visuals are identical to the lyrics, ‘the only problem is that you were using me, in a different way that I was using you’ in which this line, the lyrics identify the boyfriend as a drug/addiction. This is shown through the visuals as the artist was rushing to see him in order to ‘use’ him whereas she was seeing someone else, ‘using her’ in a different way. The artist once again argues with the male, providing close ups of her face to show her anger and  long shots of the male to show that he was in bed with another woman. Followed by this the camera tracks the artist while she leaves as the lyrics play ‘You gotta go, I gotta wean myself off of you’ suggesting she is attempting to leave the male for a second time. The camera then follows her back down the stairs as she begins to take out a cigarette and light it; reinforcing the substitute addiction idea. There is then a mid-shot of the artist walking out of the building, followed by her looking to the right, the panning to the right to emphasise that she is looking at where she is going. Finally, the frame straight cuts to the artist performing and sings ‘and you’re the one to blame’ pushing the camera to the side as if slapping the male she is singing about. The camera falls to the floor as if a real person and lays on its side. In the frame we can see the artist walking away to confirm that she is in fact ‘going to rehab’ as she has ended the addiction she had with her boyfriend.