It's funny to see how R'n'B music videos today share many clichés...

Let's watch Timbaland and Keri Hilson's The Way I Are, and Rihanna's Don't Stop The Music.

Big lights in the background

Big lights in the background

Closer shot of the big lights

Complex lighting schemes

Two people, two different colors:
Two people, two different colors

Different light sources on one person:
Different light sources on one person

Playing with colors

Green background

Two frames later...
Two frames later, red background

Extremely artsy shots of body parts

The lady with half a face

Medium shots / close-ups of people against a solid background

Rihanna against a solid background

Shaky camera, and frequent fades to black to create a stop-motion-like image

Yep, that's black.
Yep, that's black.

And now... this is where their inspiration came from:

CSI-like picture

CSI picture

CSI!