Rita Ora Poison Research 4

Camera/Editing/Mise en scene

This music video first opens with a long shot of a group of friends including Rita, they are sitting on steps outside a building. The audience are made to feel what they are up to or planning. The group are dressed a some would call it unusual, Rita has tassels on her leather jacket, this makes the audience feel interested in their style as it is unique compared to others. There is then a close up shot of a blonde boy who is holding a camera in front of his eyes, this hides his identity from the audience and creates a mysterious mood. Another close up shot is used and it shows a boys hand with two rings on and across four fingers the letters L, O, V, E, are spread. This shot allows the audience to think that he is looking for comfort. Up to this point, there is no actual song yet it is just general non diegetic sounds such as police sirens. The song then starts and Rita walks away and into the place where she is modelling. As she is modelling in the video, the camera zooms in. We can see that she looks confused to why they want her on her own but then smiles as she becomes nervous. Rita changes outfits to a black and white striped, tight jumpsuit, this symbolises how she has good and bad in her from the colours she is wearing. The music stops and this builds up tension as it seems that chaos is happening as the editing picks up the pace and the sounds of camera shots can be heard which creates a tense atmosphere to what is going to happen. There is a medium shot of Rita and she is wearing black underwear and seems to be revealing. This outfit implies that she is changing and now has more freedom. At the end of the music video there is a medium shot behind Rita and she is watching her canvas burn down.

Narrative

The story is about modelling and consequences it faces. Rita starts off with her group of friends who I believe are interested in the modelling industry too. She seems to be loved by many of different people such as the person modelling the biker but they all seem to not fit the category she wants to put them in. The blonde male who has the camera seems to get annoyed when he sees Rita doing all the modelling. This creates the impression that she is just selling herself when she is worth more that what she is doing. In the gallery scene, the person who provides the shoots for Rita tries to give the blonde male money, this implies that he is selling Rita without her knowing. This makes her close friend angry and he walks out because he knows it is wrong what is happening to Rita and he just can't face it. Rita goes to find where he was and she then finds him modelling, this makes her angry as it was her role that he is trying to take. Rita then walks out and burns the canvas in the gallery of herself. The ideology created is that women shouldn't look at themselves to impress everyone, they should be who they are and be proud.

Conventional/Unconventional

I think the music video is unconventional because it is based around a career which is the modelling rather than the relationship between Rita and the different males she attracts due to her appearance. It is also unconventional because it switches from different settings which are the steps outside, to the modelling shoot, then backstage where hair and make up is done for Rita then to the gallery where her canvas is. This keeps the audience interested whilst listening to the song.

What works/doesn't

I think the best thing is the enigma created which is why does she want to choose this career. The pathway she is following is stupid in my eyes as it doesn't reflect yourself as a true person it just shows the appearance people want to see and wants to be impressed by. I think the worst thing about this music video is the lack of interesting camera angles, there are mostly long shots and close shots in this video therefore the backgrounds aren't shown as much so the story is kept to a certain extent.