Research & Planning: Music video analysis [5] Rihanna - Man Down

This music video was released in 2011 from the album 'Loud' with a reggae influence.
This video has a clear narrative from beginning to end, going along with the beginning of the day to the end of the day (night time) and fits with the lyrics as it is about shooting a man down, which Rihanna ends up doing and we see this at the very beginning of the video. We first see Rihanna coming out of darkness into the light looking as if she is about to do something bad, looking down at the people in search for a certain someone, this shows voyeurism.
As soon as the music starts we see a close up of Rihanna's face, smiling in the streets of Jamaica. In the mise-en-scenes we see a lot of the streets of Jamaica such as the people walking past, riding bikes, cutting coconuts emphasising the music and genre as it is a reggae song therefore being shot in Jamaica would portray this. Throughout the video, the footage all seems to have a slight red tint to it highlighting what the song is about, shooting a man down and red connotes blood, which we see right at the start of the video. The close ups of Rihanna's face whilst she is singing the lyrics illustrates her emotions through what she is saying as she looks unhappy.
We then see Rihanna on her own with a hat on with a black background and red lights, the red lights tend to flicker, which could reflect a siren that is heard in the music and also relating to a police siren as she has committed a crime, linking to the narrative and lyrics as she says "now I am a criminal, criminal, Lord have mercy, now i am a criminal".
There is also a scene of a party where people are dancing around, which is typical for the Caribbean islands to do and dance in this way e.g using their fingers to look like guns, which could also some reference to the song (shooting a man down).
The video leads to the man attacking Rihanna, which is what the narrative is about so now the audience knows what had happened to explain the beginning of the video. The cuts here a quick as there is something important happening at this point and leading up to the suspense.
By filming the streets of Jamaica and the party scene, gives the video more of a realistic touch giving the audience a feel to what the real lifestyle of Jamaica is like. Whilst seeing the streets of Jamaica and the lifestyles, the footage has been slowed down a bit to show what is going on and not rushing so the audience can see clearly what is happening.

History of Caribbean music genre
Definition of reggae music:
"Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady."
Reggae developed from the music genre of Ska, mento and R&B in the 1960's. The tempo of the reggae music is more slow paced. One of the most recognised Reggae groups would be Bob Marley and The Wailers. Bob Marley is the biggest Reggae star known today, due to his chill-out reggae beats as well as his lyrics. 

Songs like these from Bob Marley were very famous back then and even more so today, his lyrics would touch people and make people really think about what is being said as well as enjoying the reggae beats. 


Majority of people think that Reggae is the only form of Caribbean music, this is not the case. Reggae was originated from Jamaica and is most commonly known due to the music from Bob Marley, however there are other sub-genres of Caribbean music including:

• Soca
• Calypso
• Dancehall
• Dub
• Mento

etc...

Soca music originated from Trinidad-Tobago in the Caribbean in 1963, inspiration from Calypso music. Soca music pretty much a mix between Calypso and Soul music, therefore the name comes from both genres mashed together. 

An example of Soca music, Ras Shorty - I Push On


Calypso music is also another genre that originated from Trinidad-Tobago. The roots of the music comes from enslaved Africans, who were not allowed to speak to each other therefore communicated through song. 

An example of Calypso music, Harry Belafonte - Banana Boat (Day-O). This song reflects dock workers working the night shift loading bananas onto ships.