Headlights Music Video - Directed by Spike Lee (Out Now!!!)

[mdemaz]

Plot twist; Eminem and Rick Ross have collaborated, and the song is dropping soon.

[shadyblogger]

Need to watch the video again to better assess my feelings on it. Be back in a few minutes

[Emadyville]

the g-shock promotion in the lighters video was also inflammatory and blatant but i feel it was much smoother in respect to the actual flow of the video.

yeah he does seem to show that watch off a lot

[shadyblogger]

Just rewatched it for the first time since Sunday. That Dodge thing really did pop out to me this time and I lol'ed. I guess I must've looked up when they were showing the Dodge brand the first time I saw the video. Overall, the first person view kind of irritated me a bit. The old pics of Em were pretty cool though. The video didn't do the song justice in my opinion though. I felt that a video shot at night with a lot more emotion and more natural transitions would've made the whole thing better.

Oh and also, the fact that the song was edited irritated me too. It's such a beautiful song, every second of it and they had to shave off so much of it and it made the song feel off to me.

[Snakebeast]

Em's next tattoo is going to be a g-shock watch on his wrist with so many layers of ink that it's about the same size and shape as an actual watch.

[mdemaz]

3d printers yo

[Squiggles123]

It seems like there are a lot of directors on this thread

You don't need to be a director to critique a video.

I suppose you enjoy every movie/TV show you watch then?

[Shpongle]

It's aight, not your typical Em video, it's a different approach for sure but it's not as bad some people are saying, the only thing i realy disliked about it was the song being cut...what's up with that, kinda ruined it for me

[EminemBase]

It seems like there are a lot of directors on this thread

You don't need to be a director to critique a video.

I suppose you enjoy every movie/TV show you watch then?

True that.

That point is one of the wackest points thrown around. I even heard Dr. Dre say it once about music critics can't say shit until they have done it themselves. Oh really Dre? So you aren't allowed to dislike a movie, a car, a house, clothes... etc. unless you: build a house first, direct a movie? Lmao. Ridiculous.

Your reaction to something has nothing to do with whether you'd be capable of creating the thing which caused your reaction. Our reactions and feelings on things are pure and absolute. If somebody dislikes something, if it feels cheap or bad to them... for whatever reason, even for reasons they don't understand or can't express clearly - it still FEELS that way to them regardless. Whatever has been created has been created in a way that triggers a relation in feeling to prior feelings of 'bad', 'cheap' etc. due to the creation being constructed in a similar So that is a perspective and an effect it has had on somebody. You shouldn't have to be able to create the thing in order to enjoy it; that would pretty much invalidate all great art ever for anybody other than the artist that created it.

And it's quite easy once you dig around in your thoughts to figure out why something feels a certain way to you. For example, this video probably feels cheap and shit to most of us because:
- It feels partially generic and soulless due to the fact we can only see a pair of hands. Regardless of the intent of doing that, the result is that it's disconnecting and faceless... if it is Eminem's hands then that's different as even his fingers are blatently identifiable to his obsessive fans. Where as to represent his mother, which we know what she looks like... with just a pair of hands which do not clearly resonate as hers, even though we know they are supposed to be... feels... like some cheap trick which doesn't emotionally or visually work.

- The way it's cut together feels unimaginative and uncreative. Again, even if it was intended to be simplistic and home-movie like; clearly that intent wasn't executed properly or that is how it would feel to some of us. But almost all of us agree it feels tacky, and that's because the shots and cuts are simplistic; you don't need to be a director to see and feel that, it's obvious. We have eyes and we've seen better.

- There is nothing to visually elevate the video to anything interesting or unique. The concept is quite good but executed in a faceless (random hands) and cheap (simple cuts, bad acting, boring motions) way.

- Em's rapping has no visual representation from himself or true mirroring of the lyrics (in a non-obvious way of course), so it just feels like something a YouTube fan could have put together quite easily. Feels like a Windows Movie Maker montage with the audio placed on top.

- Em as a child is represented by a young actor who is CLEARLY not him in the face. Whilst this suspension of disbelief is usually fine; Eminem's face and features are SOOO recognizable, even him as a child, to his fans... that this stretch of the imagination, when we can clearly see it not him... just doesn't resonate and further makes it feel like a disconnected, YouTube fan vid of random clips.

Those are just a few points but there's a density of reasoning we can all come up with based on how we feel when we watch it. Definitely don't need to be a director to declare something is even shit or terrible; because we are all the dictators on our perspective. If something feels shit to us then nobody can say otherwise, and the reasoning for it feeling shit is also unarguable. Our perspectives are what they are.

If people didn't share similar aesthetic standards on good or bad then we wouldn't all mostly agree on the top films and albums of all time. And we all mostly do. We don't have to be 2Pac to think a 2Pac verse is good or bad; the aspects which make up the 2Pac verse can be deciphered and our feelings are whatttt theyyyy areeeeeeeeeeeee. Headlights shinningggg up my asshole, I fart onnnnn.

--

Also, that shot where Em is stood in the park then turns around and it reveals it's not him... is ABYSMAL. Like, seriously, Em's back was turned: you could have had the clothed double stand in the identical position to Em then just cut the movement so the visual remains 100% the same to the eye and the turn around really does feel like a surprise. It could have been seamless. Very easily. Instead it's an absurdly blatant shot from another position to indicate CUT and blow the wad of the surprise before it even happens... it is seriously like Spike Lee made the video shit to spite Eminem lmao.

[RSoares]

I'm 100% sure it was him before she touches him. That pointy nose is unique lmao

[DetroitSkills]

I'm 100% sure it was him before she touches him. That pointy nose is unique lmao

it was

[shadyblogger]

It seems like there are a lot of directors on this thread

You don't need to be a director to critique a video.

I suppose you enjoy every movie/TV show you watch then?

True that.

That point is one of the wackest points thrown around. I even heard Dr. Dre say it once about music critics can't say shit until they have done it themselves. Oh really Dre? So you aren't allowed to dislike a movie, a car, a house, clothes... etc. unless you: build a house first, direct a movie? Lmao. Ridiculous.

Your reaction to something has nothing to do with whether you'd be capable of creating the thing which caused your reaction. Our reactions and feelings on things are pure and absolute. If somebody dislikes something, if it feels cheap or bad to them... for whatever reason, even for reasons they don't understand or can't express clearly - it still FEELS that way to them regardless. Whatever has been created has been created in a way that triggers a relation in feeling to prior feelings of 'bad', 'cheap' etc. due to the creation being constructed in a similar So that is a perspective and an effect it has had on somebody. You shouldn't have to be able to create the thing in order to enjoy it; that would pretty much invalidate all great art ever for anybody other than the artist that created it.

And it's quite easy once you dig around in your thoughts to figure out why something feels a certain way to you. For example, this video probably feels cheap and shit to most of us because:
- It feels partially generic and soulless due to the fact we can only see a pair of hands. Regardless of the intent of doing that, the result is that it's disconnecting and faceless... if it is Eminem's hands then that's different as even his fingers are blatently identifiable to his obsessive fans. Where as to represent his mother, which we know what she looks like... with just a pair of hands which do not clearly resonate as hers, even though we know they are supposed to be... feels... like some cheap trick which doesn't emotionally or visually work.

- The way it's cut together feels unimaginative and uncreative. Again, even if it was intended to be simplistic and home-movie like; clearly that intent wasn't executed properly or that is how it would feel to some of us. But almost all of us agree it feels tacky, and that's because the shots and cuts are simplistic; you don't need to be a director to see and feel that, it's obvious. We have eyes and we've seen better.

- There is nothing to visually elevate the video to anything interesting or unique. The concept is quite good but executed in a faceless (random hands) and cheap (simple cuts, bad acting, boring motions) way.

- Em's rapping has no visual representation from himself or true mirroring of the lyrics (in a non-obvious way of course), so it just feels like something a YouTube fan could have put together quite easily. Feels like a Windows Movie Maker montage with the audio placed on top.

- Em as a child is represented by a young actor who is CLEARLY not him in the face. Whilst this suspension of disbelief is usually fine; Eminem's face and features are SOOO recognizable, even him as a child, to his fans... that this stretch of the imagination, when we can clearly see it not him... just doesn't resonate and further makes it feel like a disconnected, YouTube fan vid of random clips.

Those are just a few points but there's a density of reasoning we can all come up with based on how we feel when we watch it. Definitely don't need to be a director to declare something is even shit or terrible; because we are all the dictators on our perspective. If something feels shit to us then nobody can say otherwise, and the reasoning for it feeling shit is also unarguable. Our perspectives are what they are.

If people didn't share similar aesthetic standards on good or bad then we wouldn't all mostly agree on the top films and albums of all time. And we all mostly do. We don't have to be 2Pac to think a 2Pac verse is good or bad; the aspects which make up the 2Pac verse can be deciphered and our feelings are whatttt theyyyy areeeeeeeeeeeee. Headlights shinningggg up my asshole, I fart onnnnn.

--

Also, that shot where Em is stood in the park then turns around and it reveals it's not him... is ABYSMAL. Like, seriously, Em's back was turned: you could have had the clothed double stand in the identical position to Em then just cut the movement so the visual remains 100% the same to the eye and the turn around really does feel like a surprise. It could have been seamless. Very easily. Instead it's an absurdly blatant shot from another position to indicate CUT and blow the wad of the surprise before it even happens... it is seriously like Spike Lee made the video shit to spite Eminem lmao.

Word. I think all of your posts are brilliant.

[Emadyville]

^ that long ass post made some good points

[SliK]

^ that long ass post made some good points

That could have just as easily been made in a short ass post

[shadyblogger]

I like the way EmBase words his paragraphs though. It makes it so interesting to read and his analysis of Eminem is pure fascinating