1. Luce Tshibangu
Media Studies
Task 2: Case study (research)
Rihanna- Man down
1-Synopsis:
- In this music video a female artist sings about taking
revenge on a guy that raped her outside a club and she does
this by shooting him the day after
- She continuously repeats how she shot a man down in
central where there were a lot of people and how she didn’t
mean it
-She mentions that it’s too late to turn back from what she done which may imply that she regrets
her actions
- Within this music video there’s only one artist who sings but other characters are used to make it
look realistic
2-Video Type:
-This music video is conceptual as it relates back to real life
situations but mostly narrative based as it tells a story from the
beginning where there are shots used that is originally meant
to be at the end of the video but its put at the beginning. The
video tells us the reason why the man got shot at the beginning
so that we could understand.
3-Themes/Motifs:
-Themes used within this music video happiness/ fun lifestyle,
this is shown through different shots of her lifestyle in Barbados having fun with family and enjoying
her time there
-There is also another theme used is the feeling of being scared/traumatised and this is shown
through her facial expression in some shots. In the end we are shown where she goes to look for the
gun in her house to shoot the guy that raped her. These two
contrasts as we are shown how she is happy at the beginning
but when she got raped this theme was shown to us by how she
looked and acted.
4- Representation of artist/s:
The artist within the music video is represented as a young
black female who has be presented as a typical girl whom you
may find in the carribean girl. She is dressed in colourful clothes
and has bright long red hair. As an individual artist she is not
represented as a party female/carriebean female although we know thats her origins but this was
done to also represent her other side as a female artist.
5-Camera angles, special eefects, mis-en-scene and editing techniques:
- There is a use mid shots to show the audience the characters outfit, could also be done to
show how it fits in with the whole setting/environment.

2. Luce Tshibangu
Media Studies
- Continuity editing used to create realism within the scenes which makes it look more like an
everyday occasion, they do this by including a narrative which the audience can understand
and relate to. Within this they’ve portrayed the female artist to act as though her life is fun
by including shots of her at at a party this could be a way to create realism through the
different shots used in that location
- Establishing shot is used to show the audience where the music video is based, by us
knowing this we could fantisize on on other things within the shot (her surroundings and
how it looks like)
- A close up shot of the artists face is used to show the her facial expression and how she
could be possibly feeling after what she did, this works well as a shot because it goes in
sequence.
6- Target audience:
This music video is aimed at men and women over the age of 16/17 as it contains features and
scenes which may not appeal or be appropriate for the younger audience, such as when the artist
uses the gun to kill the male character. It could appeal to a specific audience which is people from
the carribean because that is where the music video is based. Those from that area could relate
more to it.
7- Ideas:
From this music video I think that I would like to take the way they’ve reversed the video. They used
the shot of what was meant to be at the end of the video and put it at the front and then they
showed the narrative till where she was looking for the gun. I think that is affective because as the
audience we know she shot someone but why so therefore it makes more interesting to watch.