Thursday 19 July 2012

What makes for an effective music video?



The music video is a narrative performance hybrid as it involves both shots of eminem dancing/ rapping, along with his dancers, and also a narrative involving himself and Michael Jackson.

Instant Impact- The video does make a visual impact on the audience as it opens with a shot of a Michael Jackson look-alike.  As an established music artist, we know that Eminem is not afraid of controversy and so this opening immediately establishes what the video involves.

Non-linear- The video loosely follows a narrative of the Michael Jackson character, however often cuts away to shots of the artist. 

A sense of development- There is a sense of development in the video.  The video continuously introducing new shots so the audience is engaged throughout the video.  In terms of narrative there is some chronological development with scenes in the club etc.

Strong sense of artist identity- The video contains a parody of a rap battle scene from 8 Mile in which it is Eminem, as B-Rabbit, versus Eminem, as Slim Shady.  "Snap back to reality" referring to the song "lose yourself", part of the films soundtrack.  The video shows Eminem at his most controversial.  The video makes reference to child molstation at a time when Michael Jackson is on trial for such charges, and further pop culture references such as the film 'Bad Santa', a film where a mall santa likes younger girls, also supports the recurring theme within the video

An engaging performance- Due to the various shot changes the video is constantly engaging, firslt due to the humour of the video and also it's pop culture references.  The video introduces new shots as it progresses and so so the audience are kept engaged.

References to popular culture-  It also contains several scenes where Eminem is walking down the streets naked. As he is doing this, Dr. Dre is seen driving next to him, looking disgusted. For the music video, the lyrics were edited slightly, notably the phrase "shake that ass", becoming the less provocative "shake that thing". Other changes include the muting of some parts of the second verse, and the phrase "butt naked" becoming "buck naked". Such examples of parodies that are included in this video are Michael Jackson, MC Hammer and his hit single "U Can't Touch This", Pee Wee Herman, Madonna and the movie Bad Santa, by displaying Eminem as a "mall santa" and even going so far to include Tony Cox, the actor who played the elf from the actual movie, as Eminem's helper. Some of the celebrities who appeared in this music video were Paris Hilton, Katie Cassidy, Monica Parales, Erik Estrada, Alyson Stoner, BooBoo Stewart, Mekhi Phifer and Dr. Dre. The video was later nominated at the MTV Video Music Awards for Best Rap Video, but lost to Ludacris' "Number One Spot". Much Music's 50 Most Controversial Videos ranked it #50 for its jokes on famous people.

No comments:

Post a Comment