just under 9 minutes of Madonna homages.

         

Let's do "La Isla Bonita" juxtaposed against Madonna's other darker images. Throw in some Janet and we're good to go...

         

Where's the cool set design? (aside from that one set up with the snow)

         

Perhaps they ran out of money after paying for that wholly authentic accent.

         

Some cool costumes as always, but I was bored.

Lady Gaga might be the only pop singer that can make being semi-naked instantly unattractive.

And why the hell was this nearly 9 minutes? Some shots were repeated at least 4 or 5 times. Might have been better as a 5 minute piece.

         

Why is the editing of pop videos have to be so unstructured? it's like they don't care. Those old Madonna videos had a structure to them that allowed their concepts to flow instead of intervene. It's a matter of modern video making and it's pitfalls to the audiences who well, don't really care. That's a mandate that repeats to the work of big pop stars such as Gaga. There's alot of money thrown here, a great DP (janusz kaminski) and costumes, for this? I don't think this video plays well, I do think David Lachapelle or Joseph Kahn would have made it more to the point. It's ugly. It's choppy. It's a photographer's dream (Steven Klein) but a music video has to entertain the song not destroy it.

Pandering to gay audience. Bad Romance was her best video. If she keeps this up she'll have to kill herself on camera to top herself. She's already done it all, follow every video has diminishing returns.

         

Nazi-chic

They use the David Fincher Madonna videos as the template since the song sounds 90ish. Yet, its not entertaining as the masterpiece known as "Telephone". This didnt need to be 9 minutes long.

         

Telephone or bad romance were good, the latter more successful implementing her image. This video ends similar to bad romance but it is sorta blah I'm surprised they signed off before a final tweak. QC.

         

intro inspiration? maybe from her last tour to new zealand

         

Oh come on, this is epic. Can anyone name a band or artist who makes better use of music videos right now?

         

OK Go, Plan B, Beyonce, Rammstein...

         

Maybe OKGO, but no one else even comes close.

         

I dunno about that. Bad Romance is her most popular video by far -- and an insane viral phenomenon. It's clocking in at over 200 million YouTube views! It's a freak of nature, and I highly doubt even Gaga would be able to pull off the same thing again. Hell, I doubt she could even tell you why it happened.

Compared to the consistent volume of views Beyonce or Rihanna get per video, one could argue that their use of video is actually more effective. Rammstein's live videos are also consistently over the top in views (tens of millions) which is shocking given the nature of their music, and Plan B's little collection is doing really well considering his relative lack of popularity.

I understand what you're saying, but I don't think Gaga has the market cornered on effective use of video as promo, that's for sure.

         

I think this is pretty amazing. Also i have a feeling if it werent GaGa everyone on here would applaud it for its creativity and artistic merit.

         

machine gun bra! © planet terror?

         

spence: Yick, please. It was a bit middling.

         

Klein isn't able to do in videos what he can do in stills. His approach doesn't translate to motion. But man, this guy's an image maker for sure. Would've been really curious to see Klein and Kaminsky on set. The last person Klein needs to light, frame, or pull off a shot is janusz.

         

Familiar has a good point.

And if I can add to that, it's that Gaga raised the bar so high by current standards (even for herself) that her videos now start to be rehashes of the same routine. It loses it's freshness after awhile but the audience this is for doesn't seem to mind.

Still, a bit of organization and less chaotic mess is what I think makes a good video like this. It really does suck from that level.

So take a page from Madonna or is that a sign of modern taste? I'm old school.

         

NSFW!

         

Victus: I don't know what you're talking about. She still has a long way to go to hit something like NIN's closer video. There's so much further this work could go.

         

why am i watching this?

steven klein is not a director. lady gaga is a ripoff of madonna.

this type of work is not antville-worthy.

         

Part of me wants to like this but I just can't get past the incredibly bad editing and 90's madonna comparisons.

Photographers are not Directors.

         

mmm, such a delicious little trolling morsel you dropped there, k. i really want to take a bite, but i'll just let true_fiction drop some knowledge on you.

         

What on earth are you talking about senility? Trolling? WTF?

I just commented that part of me wants to like it but that the editing (which is undeniably bad) and the 90's madonna references (which are also obvious) irked me. I almost liked this, styling, art direction and photography were great but the whole picture wasn't there for me.

Fucking take a bite and school me Barley. Give me some Photography facts? Anton Corbjin? Timothy Saccenti? La Chapelle? What else you got? These are hardly in the same world as Klein?

The video didn't completely satisfy me and I personally don't think fashion photographers necessarily make good film directors. So what?

         

can't claim to have liked this much either. found victus' comment about 'diminishing returns' really interesting - through all the costume changes and production values she seems to be peddling roughly the same schtick, and you have to wonder where she can go from here. real innovation is about more than what bits to stick on her tits next time, or what giant thing she can sit in/on.

madonna (an unimaginatively obvious infulence here) and bowie were constantly reinventing themselves, both aesthetically and musically. gaga, however, seems shackled to these awful pop songs that show little sign of improving. good god, this one's an abomination.

having said all this, it is great to see someone consistently harking back to an era of bigger, madder video making. whatever you think of her, you kind of want her to be there. glorious, highly flawed nonsense.

         

this conversation is putting me to sleep so I'm going to change the topic. i always thought lady gaga was OK looking until this video came along. really unflattering compositions. it's also funny that she's only 5'1. certified midget

         

Hey, OF COURSE it's better than all the Madonna, NIN, Rammstein, Klaus Nomi, Grace Jones, Janet Jackson and Laibach music videos it copied!

Why? Duh, IT'S ON HD!

         

remember when erykah badu put "Inspired by..." in the beginning of her most recent clip?

         

I think the strangest part about Gaga is that her music is generic - so her "pushing the limits" and "avant garde" videos don't fit her generic music, making all of her stuff feel very fake and contrived. She found that if she dresses weirder each time the more people freak out and the more $$ she makes, when she is really just a generic pop star trying to push boundaries. It all falls back on the music which is why a video like this doesn't work.

Karin Dreijer Andersson and Fever Ray push more boundaries in a single shot of her vids than Gaga has done in her slew of vids. Same with that IAMWHOIAM chick. That feels real because the music adds to the surreal imagery and vice versa.

Gaga has found a niche with the generic 15yr old American girl and the gay populace thinking this is art and exploiting the shit out of them, rather than pushing boundaries with her music.

         

this video transcends space and time. I seriously lost track of who I am and where I was while watching her repeat the same 8 works over and over and over...

         

yawn

         

a lot of dry humping in this video meh and a heavy dose of ace of base - dont turn around