Surprised no ones commented yet. This is pretty great, I love to see multiple setups returning to videos.

         

actually felt this video was terrible. bad song with a very dated video approach (the narrative reflecting the lyrics exactly).

         

seems a fitting & polished piece to me.

         

Wached this after seeing Kanye's OMG, NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE/CHANGING MUSIC VIDEOS 4EVER!!?! screensaver. This is better in every way.

         

looks like kahn is stealing ideas again, i saw that wheat field in a chris cunningham perfume advert... just kidding. ace video.

         

grosses me out, its so cheap

         

Love it. Megan Fox was unconvincing though.

         

when i watch this i feel nothing... it's not bad at all... but it's vapid in such a way that i get bored. nothing is convincing. the 'acting', eminem's chemistry with rihanna, the sets, the situation... also, last time i checked if you have a fucking fire burning in your hands, it's going to light up your face. not even a candle flicker around the cheap fire fx. megan could of looked HOT, literally. instead her closeups are flat mud.

it feels like an anthony mandler video without the color, styling or beauty. also, a friend noted rihanna looks like 'she has a cold' in her closeups. it's because the lens produces an awful red element that dances across her nose. multiple people who saw this with me complained of not being able to see through the flares, which didn't bother me as much.

i really did like the shots of eminem in the field. those felt like classic sam bayer mtv meets the superman corn field scene. too bad he's literally singing about superman when the swooping shot happens. ugh.

not bad, but not anything really... i don't know. not a pulse of genuine emotion or tact. but this isn't my thing to begin with (most of the artists this director works with aren't). i suppose it sells the single (rihnna does look like a french fry dipped in ketchup!)

however, this is at least bringing back the theme of the 'epic' star studded video. and this possibly raises the bar for the 5D? i think so... i wonder who shot it.

i will also say, at least this wasn't hyped like kanye west's new vid. this was almost exactly what i expected, which left a much better taste in my mouth. i really want to see kahn do his next feature though. at this point i feel it will define the rest of his career.

         

^ Christopher Probst shot it, and Kahn is in Pre Pro on his next feature, DETENTION, just about everyone who worked on this video is working on DETENTION

         

I guess it should be a recommendation that a video doesn't suck. I do expect better from directors like Kahn and consistency is a big ratio for it. I don't care about the tech stuff I don't care who shot it, I care if it is a good video and it delivers the goods. Granted, it's got two overexposed stars in it (Rihanna is severely in need of a rest) and that makes it hard to fresh the approach, not that Kahn wants to do that. I liken it to Michael Bay, he's found his niche and continues do do so. But someone would agree that for all it's mechanical randomness the result in ineffectual. If this is the best best they could come up with? it's harder than ever to make a star studded video when it shouldn't be. Not that it's bad. It ain't great and that's almost as bad.

         

rihanna's a good country singer.

         

mefi on this video.

         

Joseph Kahn answers your questions! Pretty cool read:

www.formspring.me