NARRATIVE DECONSTRUCTION Rita Ora – Poison

This video shows a linear narrative that surrounds Rita Ora being exposed to a “celebrity lifestyle”. It opens with her being “spotted by a photographer”. The composition of the camera leaves Rita in the centre of her friends, suggesting that she is the “leader” of the group or the focal point of this narrative.

A photographer who takes an image of from afar. The notion of looking is used because the actor takes a picture of the camera. This is to put the audience in Rita’s point-of-view in order to understand her frustration that follows.

The clip is edited to flash cut from a mid-shot to a close up of the camera as the picture is taken– offering the viewer a sense of being trapped, showing how intrusive the actions of this character are.

The second editing technique used is a transition from Rita reading the address on her palm, to being at the actual location. The use of an editing ellipses creates urgency and allows the audience to “fill in the gaps”. It doesn’t show her finding the location but tells us that it was immediately after.

The costume code changes throughout the video to reflect the mood and varying environments we are experiencing. Here, Rita wears an elaborate white dress with a matching head dress – contrasting from her initial presentation which consisted of a more casual look. (i.e.. Jeans)

She appears to have been introduced to a world that is superficial and this is reinforced through the framing of the shot below. The make-up artist is cut off in the right corner, demonstrating her insignificance in comparison to Rita. The rest of the crew in the image above are faced the opposite way. This brings a message about the idea that people in these environments benefit from “the help” but do not credit them or give them the spotlight. In this way, the hypodermic needle theory can be applied which argues that the media can inject particular messages to their audience.

There are conventional performance shots used to adhere to the pop genre but these shots also push the narrative. We are first presented with this shot of Rita by a window. It suggests that she is possibly looking for an escape or a “way out” of the scenario. These performance shots feature close-ups of the singers face and are embedded within the narrative to give exposure to the artist from record labels.

The performance set-up below is presented midway through the video and features a bare, black background . The protagonist is stripped in contrast to the elaborate dress code and appears more dishevelled, but still wears heavy make-up. This could indicate that she is a hybrid of her experiences.

It could also suggest that whilst she is surrounded by darkness –she is the “light in the dark” because of how the shot uses a warm, bright light on her entire face. Here, we can see Rita as “the hero” in Propp’s narrative character types because we associate the light with positivity.

At the climax of the narrative, we are presented with flash cuts of the previsions events. This bring intensity to the video because the viewer is disorientated whilst watching seconds of unordered clips interjected with the same shot of Rita. This is known as the Realisation stage of Todorov’s narrative theory – when the character becomes aware of the chaos.

This portion of the video allows us to infer that she is reflecting on past events and, because of the fast pace of editing, she can begin to see how the situation has grown in a short amount of time.

A shallow depth of field has been created to suggest that Rita has been caught in the blur of her surroundings – linking to the plot. The sound aids this concept because the music is at a halt as the shots are shown – she has drowned out the noise and began to find herself unhappy with her realisation.

The video ends with Rita running away from her love interest. The tracking shot follows her escape in slow motion. It’s effect is to hyperbolise or “highlight the beauty of a simple physical act.” The exaggerated shot connotes that it is an important part of the story and the narrative revolves around her. Source of the quote: https://ardfilmjournal.wordpress.com/2008/12/27/basic-film-techniques-slow-motion/

The burning image suggests the destruction of Rita’s former self. It could also signify the danger that she is running from since the clips immediately follow each other.