Anthony Mandler is an American film director and music video director best known for directing many of Rihanna's music videos. The document discusses three Rihanna music videos directed by Mandler - "Run This Town", "Disturbia", and "Russian Roulette" - and analyzes themes of darkness, evil symbolism, and links between the visuals and lyrics. Mandler is noted for using cuts that match the beat of the songs and for sexualizing Rihanna through camera angles and revealing clothing, representing a male gaze.

1. ANTHONY
MANDLERANTHONY MANDLER IS AN AMERICAN FILM DIRECTOR, A MUSIC VIDEO DIRECTOR, A
TELEVISION COMMERCIAL DIRECTOR AND A PHOTOGRAPHER. ANTHONY IS WELL KNOWN FOR
DIRECTING RIHANNA'S MUSIC VIDEOS, SO FAR HIS DIRECTED SIXTEEN FOR HER ALONE. HE
HAS ALSO DIRECTED VIDEOS FOR ARTIST SUCH AS BEYONCE, JAY -Z, NE-YO, MARY J BLIGE
AND CHERYL COLE(AND MORE).
I AM GOING TO LOOK AT THREE VIDEOS DIRECTED BY ANTHONY FOR RIHAN NA
• RUN THIS TOWN
• DISTURBIA
• RUSSIAN ROULETTE

2. Run this town was written and performed by Jay-Z, Kanye West and Rihanna with the
assistance of Ernest Wilson and Jeff Bhasker and directed by Anthony Mandler. This
video represents a hip-hop and r’n’b genre. Unlike Disturbia which represents
the genre of dance-pop and electro-pop. Disturbia was written by Andre Merritt,
Chris Brown, Brian Kennedy and Rob. A and directed by Anthony. Russian roulette
was written and produced by Ne-Yo and Chuck Harmony, The video was directed by
Anthony and follows the genre of both pop and r’n’b.
Al three of these videos are an example of how similar Rihanna's videos are and
you can see a trend of evil and darkness, I'm unsure whether this is the work of
Rihanna or the director Anthony Mandler.
Run this town is mostly performance and concept based as there is not much of a
story only symbolism and singing taking place which is very similar to Disturbia.
How ever Russian Roulette is very narrative based and a little bit f performance
and concept based.

3. Rihanna’s videos are said to represent a secret society and evil. This is shown
through the lyrics and visuals in the three videos I chose to analyse.
In ‘Run this town’ Jay-Z says ‘the three masons, ah, martin, margella’ this
links to the idea of a secret society and you can clearly see Rihanna, Kanye West
and Jay-Z bunched together representing a trio symbolising the idea of three masons
which is also a society of evil. This is an example of the link between the visuals
and lyrics.
Disturbia as a title itself links to the visuals due to the ‘disturbing’ was
Rihanna is dancing and acting almost in a scary, possessed manor. A more in depth
example of the link between the visuals and lyrics would be as she said ‘Its too
close for comfort’ the camera cuts to Rihanna standing behind a fire tied up, This
could be symbolising something else but in the video it shows that what ever the
fire is symbolising its too close and she is afraid and uncomfortable. Another
example is when Rihanna says ‘feels like I’m going insane’ as she says this jump
cuts are used on Rihanna locked in a cage, where she looks demon like wearing off
white contacts, which embodying her insanity.
Russian Roulette is very performance and contextual based. An example of the
visuals and lyrics linking are when Rihanna says ‘IM terrified’ and then we see a
quick cut too Rihanna in two situations of death one holding a gun and another
being hit by a car, As most people fear death this is a good emphasise on her fear
and links the visuals and lyrics together.

4. In all these videos there is a cut to the beat this could be seen as a trade mark
by Anthony Mandler.
Run this town: As the beat drops in the introduction the camera cuts too Kanye,
Jay-Z and Rihanna.
Disturbia: As the beat drops in the introduction it cuts too Rihanna in a cage.
Russian Roulette: As the beat drops in the introduction it jump cuts to a collage
of images of Rihanna.
In all three of these video there is a cut to the beat during the introduction
this creates dramatic tension to the video and song. As the beat is very dramatic
the video is shadowing that by adding dramatic and effective cuts. This is also
the same as when the music speeds up or slows down the cuts and movement in the
videos do the same an example of this is in Russian roulette when the music speeds
up and the car speeds up the music drops and the camera cuts away from Rihanna
being hit by the car.

5. Rihanna is very sexualised in her videos this is shown by the males gaze and
her clothing.
Run this town: Rihanna is sexualised through the male gaze’ the camera cuts
Rihanna to Jay-Z looking in her direction various times implying she is the
object of desire and sexualising her as a women from a males point of view.
Distrubia and Russian Roulette : In both of these videos Rihanna
is highly sexualised through the various high angle shots and
Revealing clothing.