Vibrate

Vid
Title:	Vibrate
Creator:	Jess (jwadleigh)
Date:	c. March 2006, posted on YouTube May 6, 2008
Format:
Length:	02:56
Music:	"Vibrate" by Rufus Wainwright
Genre:	slash. Brian/Justin
Fandom:	Queer As Folk (US)
Footage:	original source material
URL:	• Vid on YouTube • Boys of Babylon Productions (archived link)
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Vibrate is a Queer As Folk (US) vid by Jess. It is a slash vid with the pairing of Brian/Justin. It was posted to YouTube on May 6, 2008, though the vid was made at an earlier date in 2006.

Reactions/Reviews

This vid was reviewed by Anoel on the reel vidding community on May 29, 2007:

Overall impression: This vid focuses on showing how Brian allows himself to be open to Justin coming back to him through hard times and does a good job in portraying the song's mood through the use of an effect and clip choice. Although it is a bit too literal at times and could use the music to greater effect, it has some nice lyrical interpretations that allow the vid's message to get through.

Titles: The vid begins with a couple second simple credits with a black background and white text, clearly identifying the title and vidders name. I particularly like the fancy font which is still easy to read and hints at the old yet elegant nature of the music. At the end of the video, credits of the same style are repeated fading in and out with the vidders name, email and artist's name and give the audience enough time to read it.

Music choice: As mentioned above, the song has an older, drawn out feel with delicate string notes in the background. The song is relatively the same throughout which hinders the video in that it doesn't have anywhere to go except for a few crescendo and added instrumental parts. However the singer's voice is very emotional and rises to create more feeling for the listener. The lyrics fit Brian's and Justin's relationship, especially the latter seasons although the repeated lyrics especially in the choruses make it hard to say a lot about the relationship.

Narration, Tone and Movement: The video doesn't have a chronological narrative but rather frames the video with Brian and Justin calling each other and always coming back to one another throughout their relationship. The video begins with the phone call from 501 in their separation in terms of distance and later shows the scene again in the middle of the last chorus with extra meaning with other clips around it highlighting Brian's need to bring Justin closer to him. The vidder closely follows the lyrics and is sometimes a little too literal in clip choices that distract from the central point of the vid. However the metaphor of a phone call and reaching out to the other person have a separation (such as a breakup) is shown throughout the vid and strengthens the message of the vid. The vid does a great job of showing Brian opening up to being with Justin from the prom scene, season 4 illness storyline and the 510 bomb hug which is especially well chosen in that it shows Brian not just waiting for Justin's call (shown in the 308 reunion scene) but actively going to find him. In this way, the video highlights all the growth Brian has made in allowing himself to love someone romantically. The clips could have been a bit less random in terms of order at times (especially in the choruses) but most of the time the meaning was appropriate and helped the video.

The movement in this vid varied from static head shots to ramping shots but both fit the song rather well with both the slow beats and quick string notes. For example, the "karaoke" Babylon shots don't seem to fast, even if they weren't slowed down and provide some visual interest for the previous static phone scenes. There could have been a better use of internal motion to match these notes but clips such as the flashing lights in the 510 hug clip and the feet circling in the prom scene in which the slow motion did help the clip match the music. There were some internal motion that matched the music but it was hard to tell which were deliberate or not. The three ramps in the middle part showed a great use of motion in the contrast between them and provided more visual interest. A lot of circling shots weren't entirely appropriate for the song so I can understand the lack of them. The clip choice supported the tone of the song with the old romantic feel of the Prom, the moments of contemplation, simple moments of reconnection and deeper moments of reunion.

Cuts, Transitions, Effects & Colouring/Coloring: The song is slow and the cuts match the pacing of the song although I do think sometimes the clips linger a bit too long. About a third or so of the cuts are dissolves and while they fit the song and history of the vid, they seem somewhat random although they don't distract from the vid.

The most obvious effect is that throughout the video, a filter of of old film or something similar. This was an understandable choice as it fit the music very well as well as showing the history and Brian's transitioning to becoming older. The faded film lines (excuse my lack of terms) also work well with the string notes in the background. I think the vidder may have leaned on this effect a little too much and could have done more with internal movement and possibly another effect to highlight the music. It would also have provided more contrast to have some parts of the music to not have this effect and be colored such as the present time or perhaps even a time of calling/being together. However, I can understand with the mostly same sound of the music how the choice of having it all be the same effect was made.

Specific vid & music notes: (Time marked points of interest)
0:14 The Babylon scenes seem to start a little too soon and I think these are a bit too literal. Some great dance scenes such as 103, 118 forever young or the 309 reunion could have made a point of Brian reaching out to being with Justin.
0:26 dance Britney Spears made me laugh a little in that to Brian, the prom dance was like dancing to a popular song that he doesn't like but it worked for me in showing how he had to make an effort to do it
0:39 I think this phone clip was too literal, you don't need to go back to the phone as this is a largely unknown and unmeaningful phone call
0:53 The new drugs seems a little bit too literal for the vid's main point. I would have liked to see a clip of Justin loving Brian which to him is like a "new drug" which causes him to want to come back to Justin.
1:00 I really like 510 being where Brian has no more fears and is ready to do anything for Justin and the tears was a good literal clip for showing the negative effects of love that Brian must face.
1:16 see above with the over literal phone clip
1:30 My favorite part of the vid. I love Pinnocchio being Brian in the pilot, to him turning into "boy" by loving Justin in 201 but wanting to turn into a toy by being shell shocked in seeing Justin. I'm unsure about the prom shot being included in terms of logical sense but I can see it as him wanting to regress and I do love the repeated ramp shots.
1:56 I like how the shot of Brian in 101 shows the difference between Brian being confused why Justin is still there to 510 in wanting him to be with him. [...]
2:09 I like how Brian talking to Justin and then Justin coming back in 308 makes it seem like he wants Justin to come back in 501 like he did before
2:52 I like how the ending shot shows Brian overcoming the hard parts of being in love to offering himself up to it

Final Notes: Overall, I liked the vid and think it did a good job in doing what it was trying to do. I would have liked to seen more variety of clips as some that were used were a bit overused but many such as the Prom scene worked particularly well for the song. I think scenes from the last episode could have been used to make the point that even though Brian and Justin end with separation, Brian will always be there for Justin whether in calling him or either of them coming back to each other. Even without it, that came through and I like how the song choice and effect distinguish this from your average B/J vid.

Feel free to disagree, I hope it was useful!