Normally we like to reivew one music video a week, but this week we are going to do something different.
I’d like to point everyone in the direction of our message board/forum and a section of it that is just for music videos. We have recently had some great music videos posted by Mr. Tac aka Chocolate, Instruments of Love, Broad and others!
That’s right folks, it’s Sunday evening and it’s time for our Music Video review.
I drew first dibs on it and was given, “Medicaid - a tribute to our healthcare system” by Christina Forrester. In the email, where we asked for a description of the video, we were sent this:
The video is for my song, “Medicaid” and is a sarcastic “tribute” to our healthcare system. The video is funny, silly and illustrative of the song, but also tells a true story - and a seriously sad story for many Americans. So it brings about a big point in a ridiculous and sarcastic way. Keep in mind the video was done on a Kodak Digital Camera with homemade props and NO budget or professional equipment. I created the idea, scripting and props myself and did all the editing in Windows Movie Maker and Nero.
Let me say this, for those of you that already know me you can skip this, I’m not really one for people who try to use music to point out a problem that we all already know. I think we all know the health care system is crap in the United States and it needs a change, but what is a song going to do about it? O.K. with that said I happen to also applaud creativity, and I also applaud effort. And with all of that being said she was making the song to be a wise ass…Being a wise ass my self I kind of dig it.
Here is the video, then we’ll review it:
Ok…so did you watch it? Good. Now let’s do a super happy fun time review of it! The first thing I noticed is that Christina probably doesn’t listen to our show…If she did she’d probably know that Boomer and I are not HUGE fans of musicians, or anyone, trying to put their political views on anyone else. We think it’s a choice, that shouldn’t be influenced by anyone but the candidates. Voting for a president isn’t about being cool, it’s about picking who you agree with most, and if a music video is what you use as one of your reference guides…you shouldn’t vote. (Just a side note here, I don’t care who you vote for, or if you vote. I only would want you to vote only if you are SURE of who you’d like to vote for. If you don’t have any idea…don’t vote…Puffy is wrong you won’t die.) But again, the wiseassism (Not a word, don’t use it on your ACT/SAT) comes through, and I can feel it homie!
That said we can review the video.
I actually kind of liked it! Which I bet you all didn’t see coming. I’m ignoring the message and treating it like a music video! Weird right?
It’s a very cool indie video, you can tell she did all of the work on her own and really seemed to take pride in it. The music video had a story line, it had a point, and wasn’t just a bunch of dancing around with groupies (although if anyone is going to film a video and they need a popular radio DJ to hang out with chicks all around him give me a call!!!) The video starts off with what appears to be some sort of power walk/jog, heck no one can run fast and have a good dialogue asthma or not, I’m lucky if I can run and breathe at the same time. The main character, Christina, talks about having asthma issues and tells about how expensive it is to treat her condition. I can relate to this…I have had my share of medical issues. Well that’s basically the story for the whole video, health care is expensive!!!!
Alright, what about the quality? Well like I said you can tell she did all of this on her own, and it was a pretty good job. I think we all know how hard it is to do videos on your own and make them not suck. In fact if you have seen any of the Date the Intern videos you would know that we aren’t sure how to make a good video that we do on our own. The thing I like about this video is that it doesn’t have any fancy graphics (If you ignore all the Vote Democrat stuff) or lenses and Christina uses what she has around her house. That’s kind of exactly what this video review is about, seeing what people can do with what they have. (I’m not saying it’s wrong to have a high budget, awesome, babes all over music video. But THIS song doesn’t need that.)
What about the song? I mean you can’t have a video with a terrible song, and Christina doesn’t. It’s a solid song, and she is able to stay on point (I may not like songs with political messages, but if you have one you better damn well stay on topic, and she does). The song is perfect for the video, when you watch the video it just sort of feels right. When Christina is outside performing in the “Performance shots” in front of a house, at night, with just a spot light, that feels right. It wouldn’t make sense if she had shots with 1,000’s of fans all bumping to this track, it’s an intimate track with an intimate message, it’s not a party song (But it is a smart alec kinda track, and it plays around with that in the vid).
That’s an important thing to point out; Christina knew what sort of track she had and made a video to it. When you don’t link those two things up you see music videos that just don’t fit the song - Nickleback, I’m looking in your direction.
Did Christina break down any walls and make the greatest music video of all time? Nope, but I’m pretty sure that isn’t what she was going for. She made a music video that fit and she made it with the equipment she had.
When I first was told about the video I had to review I wasn’t thrilled with the message, but that isn’t what I’m reviewing, the song and video combo kind of won me over. The video is good, the quality is good for what she had to work with, and she did it on her own. I love all of those things about the video but with all of that said the video isn’t GREAT. It’s just pretty darn good, I can watch it and not shudder and I understand what is going on…that’s saying something compared to all of the videos that are out there today.
Final Score
***
3 Stars out of 5
(It’s Good)
If you are unsigned and want your music video to be reviewed hit up our media guy Doug D!!!!
