Joseph Kahn
Joseph Kahn was born in Jersey Village, Texas and was born October the 12th 1972, as a young man Kahn attended Tisch School of arts but then later dropped out to begin his career as a music video director, in the late 90’s Kahn started his own production company called Supermega which is now housed under HIS productions.
Over the years Kahn has worked with big names in the music industry such as U2, Britney Spears, Blink 182, George Michael, Eminem etc.
As a young boy Kahn was interested in comics and movies and was really into popular culture, much to the dismissal of his parents who tried enrolling him into prestigious medical schools. But Kahn begun his love for video directing while shooting skateboarding videos of his friends taking on many part time jobs to fund his passion.
In his low budget videos Kahn had taught himself film making skills and took on the roles as cinematographer, editor and Product designer, it was in 1995 when his career really took off.
He won his first Grammy in 2002 with Eminem’s video for ‘Without me’ which was Eminem‘s controversial kick back video and one of Kahn‘s most successful videos as well as Britney Spears ‘Toxic‘, Kahn is known for working with a diverse range of stars but is mainly known for his hip-hop videos.
I think that you can tell his love of popular culture through the style and you can really get a sense that the directors own creative vision involved of each of his videos, they’re all fairly bold and eye catching and sometimes quite controversial but always tend to do the artist well and are always a success.
I think as a generalisation his intended audience are young people, as he is an unconventional director and creates videos that will stick in the mind of viewers, I think this factor has pushed boundaries of music video culture and moved his career forward successfully as a new generation director .
I also think his diversity and controversial style appeal to the young audience more than an older audience, for instance I think that a younger more rebellious audience would enjoy the ‘Piss take’ element of the videos he’s directed for Eminem, with the outrageous costumes and that the whole kicking back at the world kind of feel to them appeals, but also the bright eye catching sex appeal of the Britney Videos and the Destiny’s Child Video’s he has created. I think that they are cleverly put together and his gutsy creativity is appealing to his young audience.
Audiences seem to respond positively to his work;
‘He pulls off blockbuster special effects with a light-hearted sense of humour that betrays his penchant for humanistic optimism. You can sense an almost child-like glee in his work, with influences firmly stitched into his sleeve.’ This is a review I read on a website which has only positive quotes to match a very good interview with the Joseph Kahn to accompany it, The critic has nothing but positive remarks and I totally agree with the statement above.
And remarks made by fans on you tube quoted that the Eminem Video ‘Without me’
Was ; ‘Awesome’ and ‘F**kin Genius’, 'OMG!make more vids i love it', For Katy Perrys ' Waking up in vegas' fans also gave positive feedback to the video in some cases more so than the song,'Great video the song sucks!', but Kahn does also recieve bad feedback for his controversial styles Gwen Stefani's 'Sweet escape' which is a simple video of her in a gold jail trying to escape, 'This song is amazing but once I saw the videos my image of the song escaped',' Really weird video. But I like the song.','One of the most overplayed songs of all time, but still it's a top choon! Well written, well remixed, well produced and well performed. Not fussed on the vid though!' Although mixed with some negative feedback it is mainly positive and I’d say that the video matched the audience profile.
Tuesday 3 November 2009
Task 2- Contemporary music video research
Eminem- Without me
Video analysis
The Video for Eminem-Without me was directed by Joseph Kahn and released in 2002. Without me was one of Eminem’s most successful singles with a very successful video to accompany it, the video received MTV Video Music Awards for Video of the Year, Best Male Video, Best Rap Video, and Best Direction, as well as gaining nominations for Best Editing and Viewer's Choice. It also won Best Short Form Music Video at the Grammy Awards of 2003.The Video has a big emphasis on the controversy surrounding Eminem and his music and it ridicules his critics such as MTV, the FCC, and Dick Cheney etc. This is shown in the lyrics of the song and mocked further in the video, it is a parody andthe visuals do match the lyrics in an unconventional form, the video has more than one narrative within it, all with Eminem dressed in an assortment of costumes, as he humorously mocks many different celebrities, all set in a sort of comic strip style, with the speech bubbles and story board style text in each shot. And also there is a relationship between the music and visuals of the video, as Eminem dances to the beat of the song; I think Joseph Kahn has cleverly done this to further emphasis the ‘Mickey Take’ factor of the video, as dancing and dance routines are a bit of a cheesy cliché especially in his hip-hop genre.
The video is very performance based, it keeps the audience watching with its many different storylines within, I think it keeps the audiences interested with the different controversial costumes, they wonder how far Eminem will actually go, for instance the most controversial part of the video has to be the end with him dressed as Osama Bin Laden dancing in a hide-out, at the same time as it being funny I also think it made people bite their tongue as it may have been a touchy subject in America at the time. Also when he’s dressed as Elvis and pulls a sandwich out of the toilet. I think the video was meant to shock, and it’s either a love or hate type of video, like the artist himself.
I think that Eminem also attracts his audience with his humorous style further as it does emphasise the fact he is just a regular guy, a lot of his videos are done in a similar style as ‘without me’, videos like ‘My name is…’, ‘Just lose it’, ‘We made you’ etc they all follow the style and make the audience laugh, they aren’t all done up to promote image and don’t include materialistic things but he has done more emotional and serious video’s such as ‘mockingbird’, ‘Stan’, ‘Beautiful’ which have created a much more emotional reactions from audiences, I think that the fact that not all of his songs are serious make the ones that are more poignant, and his audience really feel that what he’s talking about is real, and I think that this is an important factor to his strong fan base that he has built up over the years.
I think that the video is quite eccentric for the Hip-Hop/Rap Genre as its not the normal video you would expect to see, as hip-hop videos usually include girls, money, branded clothing, etc and their usually quite ‘cool’ and serious, whereas Eminem’s ‘Without me’ is totally different as the artist himself dresses up in silly costumes and dances and is pretty much a Mickey take out of the genre itself.
Although it’s unusual for the hip-hop/rap genre I don’t think it’s unusual for the artist himself, as everything about Eminem and his career is controversial. The main difference between Eminem and other hip-hop artists is the very obvious point that he is white, and when he started to make it big in the late 90’s there was a lot of debate around whether Eminem was a real hip-hop artist or if he could be truly excepted into the genre because he is white, Eminem was the first white rapper to make it big and is a pretty epic artist to the genre, now other there are loads of other white rappers on the scene all influenced and felt more comfortable to be in the hip-hop genre because of Eminem.
The video and song ‘Without me’ is a total a kick back from Eminem himself basically ‘taking the piss’ out of his critics and to anyone that doubted his success, because he has made it big and actually changed the hip-hop/rap genre despite all of the negative press he may have received in the past. You can even quote this from the song ‘Cause we need a little controversy, cause it feels so empty without me’. I think that the video was a really brilliant video to match the song and bring Eminem back into the limelight; I think it really did promote the song well.
Britney Spears – Womanizer
Video analysis
The Video for Britney Spears ‘Womanizer’ was also directed by Joseph Kahn
It became a worldwide success after it premiered online, in then went on to win ‘Best Pop video’ at the MTV awards. It was released in 2008 and shot over three days.
After mixed reviews the single was deemed as Britney’s ‘Comeback single’ and ‘Womanizer’ became the biggest digital single in the United States.
The plot of the video is Britney following her womanizing boyfriend in various costumes, and includes scenes of Britney naked in a steam room, which was apparently Joseph Kahn’s idea after the spiteful comments from critics and reviews made about her weight in the past, perhaps this was to emphasis her comeback in her music career and after her personal struggles in recent years with her image and her children. I think this video to show that the successful artist and strong female role model that Britney was at the peak of her career was back and shown to stronger than ever.
The video starts with bold text saying ‘Britney Spears – Womanizer’ the way its shown is like a cinema style, perhaps to show that Britney is back in a kind of epic cinema trailer style, the next shots of being in the steam room also show this, it grabs your attention to Britney and she’s looking good, it’s a positive way to show her after all of the negative press she’d received before this, this is probably why it received mixed reviews, as she seems to be back to the old Britney after all the turmoil surrounding her career.
Firstly in the video she is making breakfast for her good looking boyfriend, and the next scenes she is in the office dressed as someone else and he comes on to her, it then goes on to her being disguised as a waitress, also in another outfit.
The video is her really being a powerful ‘Alpha female’ and getting the better of a man.
The video fits the pop genre including lots of dance routines, bold outfits and good looking dancers, the video can also be related to Britney Spears ‘Toxic’ also directed by Joseph Kahn, they both really emphasis Britney’s sexuality and appeal to men, and her being a strong woman.
I think the video has made a lot of sales because of her sex appeal, as well as having a strong fan base created over the years and this being a poignant song in her career which made it a very successful video.
There is also a relationship between visuals and lyrics as the video is telling a story with the lyrics of the song, it is mainly focused on the performance rather than the concept and there is just one set narrative within the video, it’s an easy video to follow.
Task 1 - Purpose of music videos
Purposes of music videos
Music videos are a short film or video that goes with a piece of music or a song. Usually produced to promote the song and image of an artist and encourage sales of that particular song or the album, also they can promote clothing and they can demonstrate the characteristics of a music genre.
Usually it’s easy to identify the genre of music with the visuals of a music video, and I think this is important for promotion which is the main factor of a music video. A genre of music usually have a niche market, and you have to include certain things for them to appeal, for instance metal bands have dark, aggressive videos and pop videos have dance routines and are very posed, grime videos are usually set in area that the artists come from and also quite dark and aren’t all posed up. Of course this is very stereotypical but this is all a part of a music video, they are used to reel in the viewers mostly looking into the type of person that listens to a certain music and make them appeal to them, say hip-hop the targeted audience are teenagers to young adults, mainly men (without sounding sexist), and hip-hop videos include cars, under dressed attractive women, money, fashionable clothes ect. So you'd expect the viewer to watch the video and then want to go out and by the song or album and maybe even clothes they've seen in that particular video, music video's are usually all about promoting the artist.
The way in which a music video are shot can also promote the artist, lots of close-ups can be used to emphasise and image of a band, I think image is important and this is mainly put across in music videos because its part of a genre, people, especially young people are influenced by the way their idols look and dress as music and fashion are closely related, so a style can be copied from a certain music video and this is also promotion, for example a certain hair style like Rhianna, or say men in skinny jeans promoted by bands like Green Day. You can also develop visual motifs, perhaps a certain sign or symbol or dance move that can always be related to an artist if its always featured in music videos, for example Jay-Z has his hand symbol.
Sometimes a music video can tell the story or the song/lyrics and illustrate the song maybe to help give a better meaning of it, usually there is a relationship between lyrics and visuals, so basically what is being sung is being illustrated or acted out, sometimes you can derive a totally different meaning of a song after watching a video rather than just listening to it, visuals can give a better understanding. Or maybe the way a song is performed in a video can express the emotion to the song.
Also another main factor of a music video is to create a reaction, artists like lady Gaga like to shock, and are very controversial the music video has make the song one to remember whether it be an outfit or a dance move or just the song, the video has to promote the artist well, and has got to be entertaining, if a music video is good it can keep you watching or listening, if someone doesn’t like necessarily enjoy the song or the artist, they might love the video which will make sales.
I think a memorable video to match a song, is really important to the sales and promotion of a band. We know music videos are important because of how their popularity has grown through-out the years and how we now have television channel dedicated to music videos, I think fans enjoy music videos as it’s a good way to watch an artist you enjoy without having to go to a gig.
Music videos are a short film or video that goes with a piece of music or a song. Usually produced to promote the song and image of an artist and encourage sales of that particular song or the album, also they can promote clothing and they can demonstrate the characteristics of a music genre.
Usually it’s easy to identify the genre of music with the visuals of a music video, and I think this is important for promotion which is the main factor of a music video. A genre of music usually have a niche market, and you have to include certain things for them to appeal, for instance metal bands have dark, aggressive videos and pop videos have dance routines and are very posed, grime videos are usually set in area that the artists come from and also quite dark and aren’t all posed up. Of course this is very stereotypical but this is all a part of a music video, they are used to reel in the viewers mostly looking into the type of person that listens to a certain music and make them appeal to them, say hip-hop the targeted audience are teenagers to young adults, mainly men (without sounding sexist), and hip-hop videos include cars, under dressed attractive women, money, fashionable clothes ect. So you'd expect the viewer to watch the video and then want to go out and by the song or album and maybe even clothes they've seen in that particular video, music video's are usually all about promoting the artist.
The way in which a music video are shot can also promote the artist, lots of close-ups can be used to emphasise and image of a band, I think image is important and this is mainly put across in music videos because its part of a genre, people, especially young people are influenced by the way their idols look and dress as music and fashion are closely related, so a style can be copied from a certain music video and this is also promotion, for example a certain hair style like Rhianna, or say men in skinny jeans promoted by bands like Green Day. You can also develop visual motifs, perhaps a certain sign or symbol or dance move that can always be related to an artist if its always featured in music videos, for example Jay-Z has his hand symbol.
Sometimes a music video can tell the story or the song/lyrics and illustrate the song maybe to help give a better meaning of it, usually there is a relationship between lyrics and visuals, so basically what is being sung is being illustrated or acted out, sometimes you can derive a totally different meaning of a song after watching a video rather than just listening to it, visuals can give a better understanding. Or maybe the way a song is performed in a video can express the emotion to the song.
Also another main factor of a music video is to create a reaction, artists like lady Gaga like to shock, and are very controversial the music video has make the song one to remember whether it be an outfit or a dance move or just the song, the video has to promote the artist well, and has got to be entertaining, if a music video is good it can keep you watching or listening, if someone doesn’t like necessarily enjoy the song or the artist, they might love the video which will make sales.
I think a memorable video to match a song, is really important to the sales and promotion of a band. We know music videos are important because of how their popularity has grown through-out the years and how we now have television channel dedicated to music videos, I think fans enjoy music videos as it’s a good way to watch an artist you enjoy without having to go to a gig.
One day Lip-sync project
This is our one day lip sync project, we had to get into a group of 3, (our group was Georgia, Elliot and I). We got given a song and we had to make a music video and mime to it, then once we had done that we had to edit in sync with the music.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)