Anthony Mandler

ANTHONY MANDLER

ANTHONY 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 RIHANNA

• RUN THIS TOWN

• DISTURBIA

• RUSSIAN ROULETTE

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.

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.

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.

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.