Chris Brown Textual Analysis

Chris Brown – ‘Don’t Wake Me Up’ music video

The start of the video ‘Don’t Wake Me Up’ by Chris Brown starts off with and establishing shot of him on a beach, with a sun set behind him. He is stood directly in front of this sunset showing he is the main character and the song is based on his feelings. A medium shot is then shown of him and what he is wearing and it then moves on to a low angle of him standing on the beach, the low angle makes him look big and powerful. Another medium shot is used of him in his room with a girl walking out of the room behind him, he has just woken up, where his story begins. We see another establishing shot of his bedroom, suggesting a lot of the music video is from his bedroom. He follows the girl out of the door and ends up in a maze, we see a zoom out on Chris trapped inside this maze, which then becomes an aerial shot to show how big the maze is. He follows the girl around the maze and we see a low angle of him looking up at a wall, which the girl walked through, this makes him look powerful and suggests he too, is going to walk through the wall. A zoom in is then used suggesting he has walked through the wall, and a medium shot is shown of Chris back in his bed. A 2 shot is then used of him following the girl again in a city. A close up of him is used to show his confusion of how he got there and why he can’t get to the girl. A close up of the girls face is then used which shows she powerful as Chris is following her, she very dominant. A zoom out is then used of Chris on a beach dancing, showing his feelings towards the girl. Another medium shot is used of him sitting in a car, he’s looking towards another car that is flying towards him, which he gets hit by. A zoom in and zoom out is then used of him, he’s turned into a robot, this zoom in and out suggests he’s being controlled by love. A close up is then used of a road sign saying ‘Road Closed’, suggesting something bad is going to happen. He falls off the cliff in his car suggesting that he’s fell for the girl. There is then a 2 shot of him and the girl looking at each other in the bed, they have wires on their heads, suggesting their love for each other is really controlling. Finally we see a medium shot of Chris, as the robot dying, suggesting he can finally rest as he has finally got the girl.

Tracking is used of Chris waking up in his dream, which then pans him in his bed looking dazed. Framing is used of the girl on the left hand side of the shot with stone on the right hand side, it shows she’s less important as Chris as he is framed in the middle of the shot. Tracking is used again following the girl in the maze, he’s trying to get to her. A dolly is also used of him in the maze looking around, confused, as he doesn’t know which way to go to capture her heart. Tracking is used again of Chris following the girl around the maze. Superimposition is used on Chris on the beach and in the maze, the images are on top of each other. It is used again, but this time of him on the beach and in the city. Rule of thirds is used of Chris being swept away by a tidal wave, which could represent the girl, and that he is falling hard for her.

A fade out is used of Chris on the beach to him in his room showing he is dreaming. A magical door way is used in his dream, which makes him travel to different places when he walks through it. Cross cutting is used showing Chris is in the bedroom, then on the beach singing and back to him in the bedroom, suggesting he’s got a lot of feelings and a lot of things are going on in his mind. Cross cutting is used again of Chris in the maze and the girl in the maze so the audience can see which way each of them are walking through it. They have also edited the girl walking through the maze wall to the next chapter in his dream, this makes the music video magical and mysterious. The start of the music video is repeated again, and Chris wakes up and walks through the magical door, this time ending up in a city, still following the girl of his dreams. Cross cutting is used again of him in the city to him on the beach, this could be to show that when he’s following the girl everything is hectic, but when hes on the beach hes showing his feelings and everything makes sense. Once again the start is repeated and this time Chris has travelled to a desert in a car. The girl is in a separate car and she hits him. This could suggest that love has hit Chris like a car, its all happened really fast. Cross cutting is used once again from him in the car to him on the beach, this shows a lot is happening to him. He then turns into a robot, cross cutting is used from the robot to the ‘Road Closed’ sign, suggesting that the love he is being controlled by is dangerous and there’s no way out of it.

As this is a music video it is all non-diegetic sound. The lyrics explain a lot about the music video as at the very start a voice over is used of a woman saying ‘Dearly beloved, if this love only exists in my dreams, don’t wake me up’ Straight away we know that Chris is dreaming from this voice over and that he feels so lost in the love of the girl he doesn’t want to be waken up. Later on in the song Chris sings ‘I don’t wanna fall asleep no, I don’t want to fall unless im falling for you’ This is important as throughout the music video he's trying to stay awake and the only time he falls, is when the girl crashes into him and his car falls of a cliff, here he has fell for her because it was her fault he fell off the cliff.

The mise en scene in the music video is important because at the very beginning of the music video Chris is wearing tye die clothes with gold chains on him, this suggests it’s a magical music video as tye dye is very quirky and mysterious. Smoke and mist is used in the music video making it look mysterious and you don’t know what is going to happen. As when Chris is on his own, everything seems clear, but when hes with the girl everything is crazy suggesting that love is like a roller coaster. The dress the girl is wearing in the music video is like a fairy tale dress, suggesting their relationship is very magical and special, it doesn’t seem real. Chris's clothes change, he is then wearing a leather jacket, jeans and sunglasses, suggesting things have calmed down and hes getting closer to the girl. He then turns into a robot, wires are used on Chris’s head suggesting hes being controlled by the girls love. Lighting used throughout the video is different. Natural lighting is used in some parts of the video where Chris is on the beach with the sun set, it makes him stand out, however lights are used on the characters to look like a non fictional character, to make the video look more magical.