Nisha Velji 12CT3

How is the star image enhanced by key themes semiotics and representation? Rihanna- Unfaithful http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rp4UwPZfRis&feature=relmfu The song Unfaithful By Rihanna, uses a lot of conventional features to enhance key themes semiotics and representation. The video tells a story about the young women cheating on her boyfriend as she is happy with someone else, however throughout the song she feels bad and doesnt want to keep cheating on her boyfriend. The different shots of Rihanna at the beginning of the video with the slow piano music playing at the background symbolises she is living a happy life with the guy she is with right now. However as soon as the music gets faster the scene cuts to a low key lighting environment- which tells the audience there is something wrong. Straight away we see the young women being the dominant and almost Evil one due to the costume code. She is dressed in a body conned black dress- which makes her stand out and show she has more power over both relationships.(Roland Barthes theory).The symbolic code used in this video almost gives gratification towards the audience as they can straight away see that Rihanna is the main character which caused this problem. Throughout the video the female character changes her clothes quiet a lot she goes from wearing a black dress to wearing casual clothes: jeans, red jacket. The red may symbolise the love she had for this new guy therefore her old boyfriend is fading away. She then changes into a white shirt- this could be a symbolic code as the white represents purity and innocence. The dress codes correspond with her feelings and lyrics. Furthermore Rihanna is almost seen as the main Male gaze as her clothings more open and revealing. The low key lighting also symbolises that she fells depressed and the dull environment empathises what she is doing is wrong. The video has a illustrative meaning therefore it uses the (Goodwins theory) as the images within the video provide a literal meaning/representation. Rihanna is feeling bad for cheating on her boyfriend and moving on to someone else, the song lyrics match this meaning with the words used. Throughout the video the colours used are dull depressing colours which show that she regrets doing what shes doing to this boy. In this video the female character subverts from a stereotype- this is because we dont usually see the girl cheating on a boy. The audience can identify that the video is specific targeted at a young audience due to the conventional feature used within the pop music video. The main premises of this song are about love and Rihannas relationship falling apart/fading. There are repetitive features in this video which brings the audience back to sympathising with partially the girl but mostly the boy as he is seen as the victim in this relationship as he doesnt know that he is being cheated on. (Vladimir prop theory).

Nisha Velji 12CT3

The main story line for this video is the female cheating on her boyfriend this presents a unique ideology as it shows that females can also be like men and could be the main cause of a break up within a relationship. Throughout the video Rihanna is subverting from a stereotype therefore the main message given is that girls could also cause disruptions within the relationship. Overall this pop music video- Unfaithful by Rihanna, uses many conventional features, with a range of different theories as stated above. The dress code and colour scheme also relates back to the lyrics and contrast with each other. Furthermore it also tells a story to the audience as they can straight away link it and figure out what the video is trying to say.