Russian Roulette - Rihanna (analysis)

The music video has been shot in four different settings. It is primarily narrative-based, featuring Rihanna, who plays Russian roulette with her lover. It is thought to be a metaphor of taking a risk of being in a relationship and which ends abruptly. This somewhat reflects an incident that happened with Rihanna and her ex boyfriend, Chris Brown. However Rihanna and the director of the video decided to make the story of two lovers playing a dangerous game, the subplot. 

The main genres of the song are pop and R&B. At the beginning of the video we are able to hear diegetic sounds such as the the fan turning and something beeping, possibly from the controls. The sounds are echoing and work with the visuals, becoming louder as the cutting gets faster.

These are the four different scenes that the video has been shot in. 

 The video starts off with Rihanna in a gas chamber, being watched by three guards through a window. The scene then moves to another room in the prison in which Rihanna and her lover sit at a table. Between them on the table is a gun. The room is dim lit with two lamps on the walls.

This is another scene in which Rihanna is standing alone in a deserted wood, where a car is  approaching toward her at high speed running her over. The scene has been shot at night, and so it is quite dark.

This is the last scene in the video, showing Rihanna floating in water, getting shot several times. There is a light source shining from above her, as you are able to see the rays of the light. Throughout the sequence there is a use of cross-cutting between the different scenes. The cutting flows with the beat of the song.


This is another shot of Rihanna in the gas chamber lying on the floor. I think the way the lighting has been done in this shot is really clever, with it shining through a hole in the wall focusing on Rihanna, illuminating her. In this frame the spotlight slowly moves as she gradually lifts her head up. The chamber looks dark and claustrophobic adding to the eeriness of the video.

I really liked the way one frames faded out into another. On the left we see the scene in which the revolver is being passed between the two, and on the right we are able to Rihanna in the gas chamber looking quite creepy.

Here we see blood dripping out of her chest as though she has been shot. At this point these lyrics are sung:
'And you can see my heart beating
Oh, you can see it through my chest 
Said I'm terrified, but I'm not leaving...'
This shows that there is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals.

During this point in the video there is a change in the tempo of the song changes. The cross-cutting becomes faster. This is an example of where frames have been used on top of other frames, to create a complicated effect, portraying Rihanna's emotions. There is also a relationship between the music and the visuals. There are a couple of stages in the video where a light is flashed on Rihanna, flowing with the beat of the music.

Throughout the video, Rihanna makes jerky movements as though she is twitching. She looks confused and troubled. These fast movements have been created using fast cross-cutting between different frames.






In this shot Rihanna is floating in the water, and we see her getting shot with blood pouring out. There are three ways in which she dies, getting run over by a car, bleeding in a chair and getting shot in the water.





I decided to analyse this video as I really liked the way the cross-cutting was done between the different scenes and also how the sound and visuals worked together really well.The fast, jerky movements really increased the tension and atmosphere within the video. In my video I want there to be a relationship between the sound and the visuals similarly to how this video achieved it.