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.
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