Music Video Analysis - 'Love the Way You Lie

8/4/2019 Music Video Analysis - 'Love the Way You Lie'

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Matthew Dalby

Love the Way You Lie Music Video Analysis

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Analysing Professional Music Video Texts:

Track Title: Love the Way You Lie

Song Genre: Hardcore Hip Hop

Band/Artist

Name:Eminem ft. Rihanna

Single Release

Date:17

thAugust 2010 (USA)

FEATURES OBSERVATIONS/EXAMPLES OVERALL EFFECT

GENRE

CHARACTERISTICS

When Rihanna is singing, thenarrative becomes less tense and

so the pace of the editing is

softened. However, as Eminem

starts to rap, the violence in the

narrative begins and so the editing

becomes faster paced.

Immediately, the audience beginto make assumptions that it is the

male characters fault that the

violence occurs (because of the

mid-shot of Cindys number on

his hand).

RELATIONSHIP

BETWEEN THE LYRICS

AND VISUALS

The fire used as a special effectlinks to the lyrics when Rihannacompares the relationship as to

herself burning but then also

goes on to suggest that she enjoys

it because of the sexual aspect

(which is quite a common attribute

in modern pop/hip hop music

videos).

The audience can then see thatthis is a love/hate relationshipbetween the two characters and

that Rihanna represents the

female character (Megan Fox) and

Eminem is singing in the males

perspective (Dominic Monaghan).

RELATIONSHIP

BETWEEN THE MUSICAND VISUALS

The music very much matches thenarrative of the music video

because the music gains pace as

the story is told to the viewer

through the visual. There arechapters to the narrative to the

music video as the audience see

how the relationship progresses.

These chapters match thebreakdown of the verses to the

song and the chorus. The rapping

also is when the violence is

generated in the visual and so theaudience gain a link between

street culture and violence.

ARE THERE CLOSE-UPS

OF THE ARTIST AND

STAR IMAGE MOTIFS?

There are mainly close-ups ofRihanna more than Eminem and

this could be to portray her

femininity and to gain the

audiences attention to her and

the female viewpoint of the

love/hate situation.

This could maybe be a techniqueto show that the woman is more

affected by the love/hate

relationship and that the audience

should feel more sympathetic

towards the female character.

IS THERE REFERENCE

TO THE NOTION OFLOOKING?

The majority of shots that arefocused on Rihanna are close upsand the Male Gaze can be applied

Because Rihanna is using asuggestive look towards theaudience, this could be used to


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Matthew Dalby


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to this because she has the

suggestive look.

increase repeatability because it

makes the audience feel more

involved with the narrative.

INTERTEXTUAL

REFERENCES

This music video could be the basisfor a film because the audience

see the two characters progress asindividuals and shows that their

relationship simply does not work.

There is a hint that the

relationship completely falls apart

at the end because of the setting

behind Rihanna throughout (of the

house of fire). There is also the

shot of the female character

holding fire in her hands which

could link to the saying playing

with fire because of the volatile

state of the relationship.

Musical Synaesthesia the pianois the dominant musical

instrument at the beginning butthen the drum dominate the

musical arrangement creating a

tenser mood and generates more

interest into the narrative because

the audience do not know what

the outcome of the relationship

will be until the end. This also taps

into the audiences prior

knowledge of street culture

because it has links towards

violence and rapping and so the

narrative can be enhanced and

then increased repeatability.

CATEGORY

(ILLUSTRATION/

AMPLIFICATION/

DISJUNCTURE)

Overall, I think that this music video goes into the category of amplificationbecause the artists are not actually involved in the narrative themselves

they are outsides describing the characters impact. However, towards the

end of the song, Eminem becomes involved because he himself sets alight

and flames consume him. This then illustrates the lyrics and visualises the

whole impact of the narrative just by this visual metaphor.

SCREENSHOT OF MUSIC VIDEO ASPECT EXPLANATION/ANALYSIS

(Low AngledShot from Love the Way You Lie Music Video)

STAR IMAGE MOTIFS A

reoccurring thing that seems torun through all of Eminems work

is the font in which he uses for his

name on the album

covers/advertisements and

sometimes in his music videos.

This creates a regular brand that

the audience can look for because

when they see his name in that

font, then they can be aware that

they know that it is his genuine

work.

Another reoccurring action that

Eminem does in his music videos

is reaches out to either the

camera or out to an invisible point

in the distance. I think that this

amplifies the rap/hip hop aspect

of his songs because rap is about

society and it is as if he is reaching

out to the audience because the

majority of his songs have a goodmeaning behind them.


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Matthew Dalby


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(Long Shot from Not Afraid Music Video)

(Shot from Love the Way You Lie Music Video)

LIGHTING The backlighting

through the curtains in this shot

could signify hope (a ray of

hope). The mise en scene in this

shot looks slightly odd becausethe curtains are drawn (and it is

clearly light) and yet the lamps are

on to give the rooms light. This

could suggest that the relationship

is artificial; like the lighting in the

room and that they are blocking

out any outside help to solve their

problems.

SPECIAL EFFECTS The fire that

Megan Fox is holding could implythat she is playing with fire by

being in the relationship with him

and so the audience see that the

relationship is unstable and that

they need help to resolve it.

In conclusion, the reason that I have analysed this music video is because I wanted to look into one

that has a good and strong narrative but still has that performance aspect to it (by Rihanna using the

suggestive gaze to the audience). The lightning goes from very dark (during the close ups of Rihanna

near the burning building) to very bright when Eminem is standing outside in the cornfield. This gives

the audience a chance to assume their own opinions of the characters because at first Rihanna and

the female character seem to be innocent (because of the shot of the male picking up alcohol), but

the lighting being very dark and the light source being the flames can give the audience mixed

opinions and therefore increases the repeatability because every viewing of it creates a different

perception of the characters. I think that the opinion aspect of the narrative corresponds to other

music videos of the hip hop genre because many people have different views on that genre of music

depending on the persons background (age, class, ethnicity and gender).

Hopefully, this analysis will give me inspiration when trying to decide on a narrative for my own

music video (because I want to include a visual plotline) and this may represent me as beingsomeone that wants to be more creative in the mise en scene as well as the lighting, editing and

cinematography.

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Music Video Analysis - 'Love the Way You Lie