777' analysis
TRANSCRIPT
Front cover
The front cover is in some ways unconventional. It looks more like an album cover than a DVD
cover. For example, a ‘parental advisory’ label is stuck at the bottom right. This is commonly found on album covers that contain explicit music. Rihanna is known for making explicit music.
Therefore the audience understand that this is a tour DVD rather than a film about Rihanna.
Unlike the ‘This is us’ DVD, there is only a main image. The image is very striking as like the one
direction image on the back cover, it shows the artist in her element, rocking out on stage. The
pose Rihanna does almost takes up the whole frame and accentuates her body as a woman. Her
leg raised, arm back, head to microphone makes her body curve and form a zig like shape. The
aim of the image was to intentionally sexualise Rihanna. Her costume sees her wearing sexy red
stilettos, a tied up shirt, and red lipstick and nails. The colour red produces strong connotations of
love and lust. Furthermore her gold jewellery presents her to be opulent and objectifies her as an object.
The title of the film is ‘777’. The title would appear to be very uninteresting and strange, however
a deeper meaning lies beyond the same number repeated 3 times. ‘777’ is seen as a lucky number
within Christianity. Christian denominations consider seven to be a holy number because Genesis
says that God rested on the 7th day and man was created on the 6th day. Thus, it could be said
that Rihanna is incorporating her faith within the DVD to show wider aspects of her lifestyle other
than singing and dancing. Her audience will love this as they will presume that they’re getting to
know the real Rihanna when they purchase this DVD. The fonts used for the title of the film aim to
mimic handwriting. ‘777’ is scribbled in black which contrasts heavily against the main background
image. This was done to appear as though Rihanna had handwritten the title herself, as at the top
she has signed her name. The cover therefore looks as though she’s si gned a picture for her fans,
which could reflect how the DVD is for her fans and so the audience feel a closer bond with
Rihanna, as they feel as though they have something signed personally from her. The only aspect
that turns this into a DVD cover is the subtitle at the bottom which reads ‘A TOUR
DOCCUMENTARY’. This is written in a different font from the title in order to make the title stand
out. This font itself is very formal in contrast to the other ‘scribbly’ font which allows the audience
to clearly read about what they’re purchasing.
Back cover- Stills from the film
As we have seen previously it is conventional for a DVD cover to have a selection of stills from the film
itself in order to show off the best aspects of the film to further persuade the audience to make a
purchase of the DVD. Rihanna’s stills appear to have vintage style filters over the images. This is rather
popular to do amongst mainstream artists as retro has become a recent trend from fashion, to films,
music etc. Therefore her fans will perceive Rihanna to be a cool, up to date, popstar rather than viewing
her as someone who isn’t in touch with technology or isn’t in touch with the modern world.
Back cover- main image
The main image follows similar principles from the
front cover’s main image. Rihanna is again on stage,
appearing in a leather bra style top and is decorated
in jewels and a smile. These features of her
appearance depict her as a rebellious, sexy female
singer. From this her artistic image is reinforced. We
get to see Rihanna as being thankful and happy to be
a performer, seeing her this way draws in the
audience to support her brand as they feel that they
are buying into a brand that is trustworthy and
reputable. Again, like the stills above this image of
Rihanna has a filter plastered over it to follow the trendy retro theme.
Back cover- Credentials and other necessary information about the film
Following convention, Rihanna’s tour documentary cover has the credentials and compulsory information at
the bottom of the cover. This includes the DVD logo, record company name, copy right terms etc. Rihanna
has gone onto leave a link to her website, bringing her audience into another media platform (e -media) as
well as creating a ‘world of Rihanna’ as the audience can listen to her music, watch the DVD, visit her online
site etc. Following tradition the age certificate and barcode are placed exactly where they’d need to be in
order to efficiently scan the barcode at checkout.