1. Codes
For half of the song we get cuts of big close ups of the artist Rihanna.
This shot lets the audience really focus on the facial expression that’s being
performed by Rihanna. Furthermore the camera’s depth of field is deep,
allowing us to focus on the make up, costume, and hair of Rihanna. Rihanna
has lip gloss which highlights her lips, and the way she moves her lips really
attracts attention as we see in the picture, this will certainly appeal to the male
audience watching this. Rihanna‘s hair is deep red; this represents her as
fiery and in addition complements the lyrics of this song.
The flickering flames of the burning house are deep in the frame which
provide enigma for the audience thus keeping them engaged, near to the end
of the song the burning house is revealed, revealing the whole narrative of the
Music video
Her black costume, which reveals a lot of her legs, really represents her to be
dark and full or hidden pain. This costume really fits well with the emotion of
the song. The artist Rihanna here is represented as a sexy emotional singer
which reinforces her image which she developed from her last dark album “R
rated” .

2. On the other hand Eminem is not part of the narrative to begin with. The
location we see him in is a field. In this isolated field Eminem is represented
as the storyteller. Furthermore the extreme long shot really emphasises the
vastness of the field, which is a beautiful golden scene with the sun at its
peak. Furthermore to make his performance more interesting we get to see a
variety of shots, for example a high angle extreme shot, a medium close up
and a low angle shot. In addition there is also camera movement such as
tracking and movement done by a crane. This is done to give
the audience a better visual experience, allowing the audience
to fully appreciate Eminem’s performance for example hand
gestures and facial expressions.
Moving on to the end, we see that the performers and actors
merge together. Due to the fact that lyrics in the chorus refer to
fire, which symbolises how relationships burn throughout time,
we see both Eminem and the actors’ burn which inexplicitly
shows the audience the link between Eminem and the story he
tells. The audience will feel closer to Eminem as he is
portrayed through this as a normal man with relationship
problems that normal people go through. He is not
represented as a star living a lavish life, if he was represented
like that, many would say that the song will lose its realism and
the video will be less effective.
Moving on Eminem’s costume is a simple white vest top with black trousers.
We see though his costume that he is not represented as the conventional
“bling” rapper, however he is represented an average rapper caring about
things other than materialistic goods. His performance is full of emotion which
may insinuate that the song is personal to him. This is essential because
looking at Eminem’s past video and the topics he raps about, they are usually
very close to him, and so this reinforces that image of a self conscious rapper
that Eminem conveys.
The editing of the video cuts between Eminem’s, Rihanna’s and the actors’
narrative performance, the purpose of the editing in this video is to illustrate
the lyrics of the song. The editing of this video does not follow the tempo of
the song; this makes the music video look like a short film. Furthermore the
editing is fast paced which illustrates the crazy intense emotions expressed
through the lyrics. In addition many people would agree that audiences in this
current era have a lack of concentration, which then means they have to be
entertained with quick snappy editing which will keep them alert and
concentrated.
Furthermore, the reading of this song from the perspective of the audience is
preferred. The audience can all relate to the fact that relationships have there
ups and down and at times can see very complicated. So even though
Eminem’s video may seem extreme, the audience can definitely relate to this
video. As for myself, this video has longevity and that is what makes it a good
video. The performance is performed to an exceptional standard, which in my
opinion makes the visuals more engaging. The effects used at the end of the

3. video gives it the “Wow” factor and is visually entertaining. In addition this
video never seems dragging or boring, the use of many shots, location, mis
en scene really make this on of my favourite videos.