Rihanna's song 'California King Bed' follows a very stereotypical approach to a female pop artists song video. The use of sex appeal is a clever way of attracting all sorts of viewers, as the male audience will find Rihanna attractive and this will draw them into watching the video, and the female audience can see Rihanna as having the perfect lifestyle/figure and can aspire to be like her.
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1- From the first image, we can see the 2 contrasting colours immediately. As the white clothing she is wearing, although it shows wealthyness and purity, also clashes nicely with the deep red of her hair which can be used to connote her deep love or feelings for the man in the video. However, taking some of the lyrics into consideration when she talks about 'being apart' this red in her hair could be used to depict her anger.
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2- This second image I have chosen shows the kind of location that she is in. It looks very peacefu and calm and this could further show her wealthyness as her location could be seen as a kind of idealistic world. However the dark red of the trees also goes with the dark red of her hair and that kind of sinister feeling is portrayed the whole way through the song.
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3- This third image shows her luxury appartment, which is a pure white colour and this tops off her location as to how wealthy she is. However, this setting can be seen as her kind of 'Utopia' as the clouds and the blue sky in the background aswell as clashing with her red hair, show how calm and peaceful the area is, and that she appears to be there care free, besides this trouble with a male character. This could be seen as an aspirational lifestyle to all of the audience watching.
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4- The fourth image I have chosen is a full body shot of Rihanna, and by chosing this one, you can see the full diversity of shots contained in a music video. As well as jsut showing the range of shots, you can again see Rihanna's red hair clashing with the blue background of the sky to show that she is the most important thing in the environment. Also she is in the centre of the shot, which shows that the audience are meant to be focusing on her rather than anything else.
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5- Like the majority of music videos, there is a bit of intimacy shown in the video, and shot number 5 shows that, as she appears to be laying in a mans arms. However, this is very contradictory of the lyrics as she is singing about how far apart they are.
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6- This image links perfectly to the last, as this image shows her on the opposite side of the bed to her man, and even though she is not in the centre of the shot, she still stands out the most because of her vibrant red hair, which again shows she is the most important in the video. The song title 'California King Bed' suggests, that the man on the far side of the bed could be the king and her the queen, however it appears as if he is paying no attention to her which could possibly be why in the next shot...
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7- She appears to be looking out to the viewers lustfully as if she needs someone else's attention because she is not getting enough with the person she is with. Here she again uses her sex appeal to attract the audience into her gaze, and she is yet again right in the centre of the screen. However we can only see one of her eyes as her hair covers the other, this could add to the mysteriousness of her character.
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8- This is a very unique part of the video as not only does the music tempo and style change, but al of the colour seems to drain out, and the only thing that stands out are her white garments. This is very clever as it could be seen as her losing all hope, as she sings 'just when i felt about giving up on us'. This then leaves the last shot very clever as it finished the video like a fairytale ending.
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9- The last image of the video is very appropriate as when the colour floods back into the screen she appears to be back closer with her partner, and this finishes the video like a fairytale ending with the cliche 'happily ever after'. As well as getting what she wants (being the man) she is still in her Utopia like environment, with her white satin clothes, expensive apartment and the bright blue sky, and fluffy clouds in the background.
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