Whilst trying to further my knowledge of the conventions of music videos - typically R&B videos as that is my chosen genre - such as intertextual references and the reltionship between lyrics and visuals,I am analysing the music video ‘Next To You’, sung by Chris Brown and Justin Bieber, and directed by Colin Tilley. The genre of this music video is R&B combined with Pop. Some examples of the broad R&B characteristics the video has would be the dancing and the artists heroic portrayal
In the first verse, which Chris Brown sings, his movements imitate the lyrics and therefore the lyrics are being illustrated by the visuals Whereas, when Justin Bieber sings it shows clips of the girl in his lyrics, so even though it’s a different technique, the visuals are still connected with the lyrics. The main story in the video, is that the world is ending, which the chorus to the song is about;
“One day when the sky is falling, I’ll be standing right next to you, right next to you.Nothing will ever come between us, cause I’ll be standing right next to you, right next to you.”
Therefore, the lyrics to the chorus are being amplified by the visuals and also explain the narrative, which both Chris and Justin are trying to find their girls before the world ends.
In the scene changes, or even just the change of camera shot/angle, the cutting almost always matches the music. For example; there is a drum beat in the background of the song, and at the start of the video the cutting only ever occurs on a drum beat. Also, the pace of the editing generally matches the pace of the song, such as the start of the chorus is quite up beat so the editing is rather fast. However, referring back to the editing in the beginning, even though the music was quite slow, the scene changes seemed quite sudden, although this could be an effect used to amplify the narrative instead of the relation between the music and visuals. Another important aspect displaying the music using the visuals, is towards the end of the video when the volume decreases, ambience noise is added and then the music is rewound when Chris Brown decides to and then jumps over the split in the earth.
Both Justin and Chris are well known singers, so their videos don’t need to promote them fame-wise. This is usually why a lot of close ups are used in music videos, either to promote the artist or promote a new look. Therefore, I think the director found using close-ups wasn’t necessary, whereas portraying both artists as ‘heroes’ or ‘romantics’ would help their image more. This is because of Chris Brown’s recent unpopularity due to the situation with Rihanna, it would be beneficial to have him conveyed as a loving, heroic character. While it might benefit Justin Bieber, because being displayed as a romantic, courageous boyfriend, would make him appear mature and counteract people’s view of him as a ‘child’. Chris Brown is featured dancing, in various sections of the video, which is a characteristic of his image as an artist, so even though this video is been used to show a change, his dancing image has remained. Justin on the other hand, usually looks deep into the camera in his music videos when singing about a girl and this motif has been featured a few times in this video too. Even though this narrative is completely different, to that of any music videos either artist has had, it still includes Chris chasing after a girl, similar to his video to ‘Yo.. (excuse me miss)’ and a girl looking for Justin, like in his video ‘One Less Lonely Girl’.
This video could have intertextual references to a number of films based on the end of the world, such as 2012. Also, both the song and video could be relating to the conspiracies of the world ending in 2012. However, there are no direct or obvious references. The video also includes little voyeurism, as there are no screens within screens and no characters featured have been sexually displayed.
The video is mainly narrative based, told in chronological order although includes a few flashbacks. It has a section as the beginning, before the song begins, showing scenes between the two couples, including Justin’s girlfriend been taken away by her father. According to ‘Todorov’s Theory’, this would be the equilibrium, flashbacks of this are used later on in the video. During this section before the song, the ‘Disequilibrium’ occurs, when explosions and earthquakes etc. start to happen. Once the music starts the narrative begins, I think this video skips the ‘recognition stage’ as it would have come immediately with the disequilibrium. The next stage would be ‘Reparation’, where Chris Brown is looking for his girlfriend and Justin Bieber stays on the rooftop where his girlfriend left him. The ‘New Equilibrium’ would be when Chris Brown is reunited with his girlfriend and Justin’s makes her wake back to him on the roof top. When applying ‘Propp’s Theory’ Justin and Chris would be the heroes, as the artist is usually conveyed as the hero. The main girls in the video would be the princesses, and Justin’s girlfriend’s Dad would be the villain in his case. ‘Levi-Strauss’ Theory’ cannot really be applied to this video, as there are no right and wrong, however Justin could be seen as the ‘right’ side whilst his girlfriend’s Dad could be the ‘wrong’ side. Although, because of the section before the music and the flashbacks, were are able to see examples of ‘past and present’, as well as ‘normal and past’, with the beginning and flashbacks being the past and normal, whilst the rest of the video is the ‘strange and present’. Despite the main idea of the video being narrative based, there as short sections which are performance-based. Where Justin and Chris are either singing or dancing, sometimes alone or together in the streets. Also, towards the end, half way through what would be the ‘New Equilibrium’, other people dance with them on the street, making it more performance than narrative.
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