Make Me Original Video Deep Dive

[Thecodeman25]

20 hours ago, studlygeorge said:

Hi everybody! Recently I’ve been wanting to do a deep dive and in-depth look at David LaChapelle’s unreleased Make Me video. His video has always fascinated me and like many of us my interest grew even more when more photos from the previously-unused album photoshoot were released. My interest piqued ESPECIALLY when a certain LQ photo from the same shoot leaked. It inspired me to go back and watch the video again now that I have more context with the recently released pictures. This is my personal analysis of the video and what the meaning behind certain things could have been. This post is purely my own speculation and observation and in no way am I stating it as fact. Enjoy!

 

Our video starts off with Britney canoodling with a love interest. Our girl is whisked away by someone from her team to film a highly ***ualized video. Britney wears a barely there outfit while dancers grind on and around her. I find this part of the video to be metaphorical in the sense that Britney’s career is highly ***ualized and always comes first before her personal life ie the love interest.

The director calls cut to the video, wrapping up for the day. Britney and her love interest hop into a sports car with Brit driving (do I really need to point out why this part is incredibly ironic?) the two drive out of the sound stage and into the desert. As the two drive through the desert and into the suburbs, Hans Zimmer’s score “Remember” from The Lion King plays. While many assume this to just be placeholder music (considering this video is an unfinished rough cut), I wouldn’t doubt if the choice for this score was entirely intentional. For those who haven’t seen The Lion King or for those who simply need a refresher, during the “Remember” scene Simba is visited by his father’s apparition, who urges him to remember his roots and take back his kingdom that has since been taken over by his cruel uncle and his vicious army of hyenas. In this video, is it possible that Britney is ready to take back something that was taken from her?

Britney and her beau arrive at her home which has an eviction posted on the front door, reading, “The tenants Adam and Eve have been found in volition of Eden Resident Conduct Statue. 1.16 and are hereby ordered to vacate the premises immediately. Failure to complete may result in civil penalties up to and including death by flaming sword.” I find this part of the video significant because Eve committed sin and now has to give up her paradise life in the Garden of Eden. When the video first leaked, many, myself included, assumed Britney and her beau ignore the posted message and retire into the house. With new context given to the video through a leaked photo, it is now apparent that the house is Britney’s punishment and the outside world is her own paradise. What was once her own paradise, a place where she can go to enjoy her own privacy and retire from show business is now her very prison. The eviction notice is pasted on her front door, serving as a constant reminder that she is being punished. For those unaware of which leaked photo I’m talking about, it is this one which shows Britney is chained to a house. I assume this picture to be a still from a missing scene from David LaChapelle’s cut of the music video, which has ironically since become the Glory album cover which conveniently removes an otherwise very strong message.

When the video first leaked, many assumed the next couple scenes were the product of a messily cut video. While this very well be the case, I’m going to assume these next scenes were intentional: When Britney left the music video shoot, she puts on a large denim jacket, covering up her revealing stage outfit. Britney is still wearing this jacket when she arrives home and when she reads the eviction notice, however when she walks into her prison home she is seen wearing skimpier outfits, the jacket that she used to cover herself with for her own dignity and comfort now missing. The outfits change sporadically, almost like she’s putting on a show with 6 or 7 costume changes. Dancers are all throughout her house, signifying there is a constant show going on around her. Adam and Eve were banished to Earth, where they had to live out their life paying for their punishment. In this case, Britney pays for her punishment where she is constantly at work. The very thing she drove away from is now plaguing her own home.

In a small but incredibly impactful scene, we see a leopard is living in the house. When Britney and her beau saw the eviction notice, she gawked and seemed heavily annoyed. She doesn’t, however, seem to bothered by the literal beast roaming around her house. Britney puts out a bowl of food and feeds the beast before she goes upstairs. A TV plays Britney’s video while the beast feeds from the milk Britney gave it. Britney remains on the TV in front of the beast, almost as though it’s watching her.

While Britney is upstairs in her workout room, she continues to be surrounded by her dancers. The TV in the room plays a workout ad before the screen blacks out. I interpret this scene two ways, both very similar in message: The ad is the only thing being shown to Britney, her life filled with constant ad placement and potential profit. In one way I took the scene, she chose to turn off the ad. In another, this is the only thing shown to her before the TV turns off, the blank TV signifying isolation and disconnect from the world. While I believe either may be the case, it is fact that Britney chooses to reject the scenario altogether and throw the TV out the window and into the pool. This act seemingly kills her love interest as he was swimming in the stars pool at the time.

Despite the apparent death of her love interest, the show must go on. Britney is locked in a cage, completely exposed, only covered by a pair of panties and red body glitter (blood?), performing at the site of the death of her lover. It almost seems like her own mistakes are being monetized and she’s forced to market off her darkest moments and/or being forced to ignore her issues for the sake of performing.

In a bizarre twist of events, Britney is now alone in a room with G-Eazy. Britney’s back is turned the entire time and we never see her face. The shot then turns into a POV as we witness the two have ***. We witness this scene with seemingly no sense of control. It’s weird and raunchy, and that seems to be the very intention: to make you uncomfortable. I find the use of never seeing Britney’s face interesting. While her music video was **** and a bit racy, that was all in name of a performance. Here, in her prison, that now seems to be a recurring theme, except it’s now looking more apparent that she doesn’t get to choose when she wants to be **** and when she doesn’t. As a matter of fact, she doesn’t get much choice at all. She just comes home to feed the beast.

Once his verse ends, we find Britney at the poolside, breathing life back into her lover through CPR (lol). The two hug and embrace, the lover seemingly forgiving Britney for her mistakes which in turn harmed him; however, we must ask ourselves if Britney really harmed him or if it was her suffocating situation? Regardless, the two escape the house and bulldoze it. Britney and her lover share one last kiss in the destruction of her mortal prison, this time once again wearing the jacket she chose to cover herself up with, only revealing a little bit of the skimpy outfit in this private and liberating moment with her lover.

Unseen in the video, but seen in the photoshoot for the recently released vinyl is a photo of Britney with a destroyed car behind her as she sits surrounded by mirrors in the same skimpy outfit from the music video scene. She’s wearing sunglasses, seemingly to protect her vision from the bright reflection of what might be intended to be her punishment: to be surrounded with constant reminders of her mistakes.

 

While we have yet to see David LaChapelle’s cut of the video and more pictures from the shoot (and not ones edited by Team B), I still find that there is tons of meaning packed into this video despite being heavily edited by Britney’s team. Many in this fanbase don’t like this video because of how hyper-***ualized and “raunchy” it is, which I can understand to a degree. I do, however, find that those people are missing the point of the video: Britney’s life is hyper-***ualized and has been since she was 17. I believe the intention of the video was to highlight Britney’s lack of control in her personal and professional life. I believe points of the video to be metaphorical in how her past mistakes have influenced her private life ie her home feeling like a prison, affecting personal and romantic relationships, a dangerous beast whom she has to come home to feed, etc.

 

I hope you enjoyed my analysis of the video and thank you for reading, I know it’s a long post. Please your thoughts and opinions!

 

What are your thoughts on this video? What messages do you take away from it?

 

Interesting take, but the photo shoot pictures and video were taken on Separate occasions. 

[britneyluv]

I love this!!! Even if this wasn't the intended message, I think it makes so much sense and it was a really interesting read. Thanks for sharing!

[BritneyLover]

Unlike others, im more willing to read when u guys write a lot with this kind of interest and dedication. Thanks i think ur analisis might be right in many points!!!! 

[CenterOfTheRing98]

21 hours ago, bitbitboi said:

Have you guys seen this website link at the bottom of the eviction note? Has it always been there??: https://www.roofcrashersandhemgrabbers.com/

I skimmed through most of the site (to see if there could be any obvious links to Team Spears, etc) but all I could find was a copy of the eviction notice on the following post, from 2014:

https://www.roofcrashersandhemgrabbers.com/bible-wikileaks/

I think this site is just coincidental as if you search “Adam Eve Eviction Notice” it’s the second thing that comes up in Google Images. 

[Haha-Hehe-Haha-Ho]

Spot on analysis. Sadly, with the exception of the cage scene, none of the other metaphors were executed well enough to piece together a narrative that normies could pick up on or appreciate. It just ended up looking decidedly random and kind of unsettling, which may be a big part of why it was scrapped. 

[Onyx_Zone-89]

23 hours ago, AGUILEGEND IS A QUEEN said:

Once again, brilliant concept. Horrible execution. Britney also looked and felt extremely antsy on set as you can see through her body language. I appreciated that post however. Great analysis!

I actually think the execution was pretty good. Remember we never got the finished project, none of us have seen the polished final edit.  We basically got the rough draft. So going by that, I think the execution was pretty good. It was very similar to the "iconic" Britney that we haven't seen in years. 

[bitbitboi]

3 hours ago, CenterOfTheRing98 said:

I skimmed through most of the site (to see if there could be any obvious links to Team Spears, etc) but all I could find was a copy of the eviction notice on the following post, from 2014:

https://www.roofcrashersandhemgrabbers.com/bible-wikileaks/

I think this site is just coincidental as if you search “Adam Eve Eviction Notice” it’s the second thing that comes up in Google Images. 

omg WHAT......

[kevin.]

4 hours ago, CenterOfTheRing98 said:

I skimmed through most of the site (to see if there could be any obvious links to Team Spears, etc) but all I could find was a copy of the eviction notice on the following post, from 2014:

https://www.roofcrashersandhemgrabbers.com/bible-wikileaks/

I think this site is just coincidental as if you search “Adam Eve Eviction Notice” it’s the second thing that comes up in Google Images. 

Wow that is literally the post on her door. Very interesting. I always have tried to read it but am poor at reading small text

[kevin.]

Adam and Eve has something to do with the dessert too?

https://www.roofcrashersandhemgrabbers.com/springtime-in-the-desert/

[Paolo94]

I think it's a good analysis, but also that maybe we all tend to see in it more than what was meant to be, by comparing every single detail to her private life, while there are often casual things in music videos.

I like how more complex this video is (or would have be), but I still think some passages were abrupt and not too well explained (the eviction notice, the outfits changes, the whole sin and damnation theory). I think it has many good ideas that could've been placed in a more understandable way (I know this edit is not the finished one, I'm only judging what we can see).

Thank you for the deep dive  this will remain a mistery for the ages, like Original Doll 

[asitalian12587]

great in-depth analysis. it does lead me back to the timing of the "leak" of the "original" make me video by her team. many felt it was leaked by her team as a distraction, to keep fans busy and out of britney's personal business with the conservatorship. i wonder if they took the footage they had, edited it to prevent any of the analogies you presented above (prisoner in the house, chained to the house, forced ***ual imagery, etc.) and acted as if it was the "real" version of the video. it would help explain a lot, including why her team scrapped the original video because it "didn't make sense" or "didn't work." the video could've very well been shot, with somethings not clearly expressed to her team throughout the shoot and editing process, and when they finally saw the finished product they realized the message was about their unwanted control over britney and her wanting to be set free. all very interesting if you ask me 

[Body ache]

The photo of her used in the new album cover was taken in the dance scene and later cropped to look like it was taken in the desert. She only wore one outfit in the desert which was the white one and if you look closely you can see that the lighting on her skin is different from the photos of her that were actually taken in the desert. Same thing with the car photo. The chains and tent were also added in photoshop. Either way I find the whole mystery behind it very interesting.

[Luminous]

On 12/15/2020 at 12:10 PM, OnlyBeyonce said:

it's too long to read 

♫ Look at you, now look at me, Look at you, now look at me, how you like that? ♫ 

[Thecodeman25]

2 hours ago, Body ache said:

The photo of her used in the new album cover was taken in the dance scene and later cropped to look like it was taken in the desert. She only wore one outfit in the desert which was the white one and if you look closely you can see that the lighting on her skin is different from the photos of her that were actually taken in the desert. Same thing with the car photo. The chains and tent were also added in photoshop. Either way I find the whole mystery behind it very interesting.

You haven’t seen the original chain photo? She is in fact in the dessert chained to a house they built. She is wearing the same outfits though, yes. The stylists probably had them picked out to use for both. All the photos in the vinyl are indeed from the same white outfit shoot in the dessert. The hair and makeup matches up. Her hair wasn’t styled the same in the make me video. Britney herself posted a video in the desert the day of the photo shoot, separate from the video shoot.

[AlottaWarmHeart]

On 12/15/2020 at 3:36 AM, studlygeorge said:

Hi everybody! Recently I’ve been wanting to do a deep dive and in-depth look at David LaChapelle’s unreleased Make Me video. His video has always fascinated me and like many of us my interest grew even more when more photos from the previously-unused album photoshoot were released. My interest piqued ESPECIALLY when a certain LQ photo from the same shoot leaked. It inspired me to go back and watch the video again now that I have more context with the recently released pictures. This is my personal analysis of the video and what the meaning behind certain things could have been. This post is purely my own speculation and observation and in no way am I stating it as fact. Enjoy!

 

Our video starts off with Britney canoodling with a love interest. Our girl is whisked away by someone from her team to film a highly ***ualized video. Britney wears a barely there outfit while dancers grind on and around her. I find this part of the video to be metaphorical in the sense that Britney’s career is highly ***ualized and always comes first before her personal life ie the love interest.

The director calls cut to the video, wrapping up for the day. Britney and her love interest hop into a sports car with Brit driving (do I really need to point out why this part is incredibly ironic?) the two drive out of the sound stage and into the desert. As the two drive through the desert and into the suburbs, Hans Zimmer’s score “Remember” from The Lion King plays. While many assume this to just be placeholder music (considering this video is an unfinished rough cut), I wouldn’t doubt if the choice for this score was entirely intentional. For those who haven’t seen The Lion King or for those who simply need a refresher, during the “Remember” scene Simba is visited by his father’s apparition, who urges him to remember his roots and take back his kingdom that has since been taken over by his cruel uncle and his vicious army of hyenas. In this video, is it possible that Britney is ready to take back something that was taken from her?

Britney and her beau arrive at her home which has an eviction posted on the front door, reading, “The tenants Adam and Eve have been found in volition of Eden Resident Conduct Statue. 1.16 and are hereby ordered to vacate the premises immediately. Failure to complete may result in civil penalties up to and including death by flaming sword.” I find this part of the video significant because Eve committed sin and now has to give up her paradise life in the Garden of Eden. When the video first leaked, many, myself included, assumed Britney and her beau ignore the posted message and retire into the house. With new context given to the video through a leaked photo, it is now apparent that the house is Britney’s punishment and the outside world is her own paradise. What was once her own paradise, a place where she can go to enjoy her own privacy and retire from show business is now her very prison. The eviction notice is pasted on her front door, serving as a constant reminder that she is being punished. For those unaware of which leaked photo I’m talking about, it is this one which shows Britney is chained to a house. I assume this picture to be a still from a missing scene from David LaChapelle’s cut of the music video, which has ironically since become the Glory album cover which conveniently removes an otherwise very strong message.

When the video first leaked, many assumed the next couple scenes were the product of a messily cut video. While this very well be the case, I’m going to assume these next scenes were intentional: When Britney left the music video shoot, she puts on a large denim jacket, covering up her revealing stage outfit. Britney is still wearing this jacket when she arrives home and when she reads the eviction notice, however when she walks into her prison home she is seen wearing skimpier outfits, the jacket that she used to cover herself with for her own dignity and comfort now missing. The outfits change sporadically, almost like she’s putting on a show with 6 or 7 costume changes. Dancers are all throughout her house, signifying there is a constant show going on around her. Adam and Eve were banished to Earth, where they had to live out their life paying for their punishment. In this case, Britney pays for her punishment where she is constantly at work. The very thing she drove away from is now plaguing her own home.

In a small but incredibly impactful scene, we see a leopard is living in the house. When Britney and her beau saw the eviction notice, she gawked and seemed heavily annoyed. She doesn’t, however, seem to bothered by the literal beast roaming around her house. Britney puts out a bowl of food and feeds the beast before she goes upstairs. A TV plays Britney’s video while the beast feeds from the milk Britney gave it. Britney remains on the TV in front of the beast, almost as though it’s watching her.

While Britney is upstairs in her workout room, she continues to be surrounded by her dancers. The TV in the room plays a workout ad before the screen blacks out. I interpret this scene two ways, both very similar in message: The ad is the only thing being shown to Britney, her life filled with constant ad placement and potential profit. In one way I took the scene, she chose to turn off the ad. In another, this is the only thing shown to her before the TV turns off, the blank TV signifying isolation and disconnect from the world. While I believe either may be the case, it is fact that Britney chooses to reject the scenario altogether and throw the TV out the window and into the pool. This act seemingly kills her love interest as he was swimming in the stars pool at the time.

Despite the apparent death of her love interest, the show must go on. Britney is locked in a cage, completely exposed, only covered by a pair of panties and red body glitter (blood?), performing at the site of the death of her lover. It almost seems like her own mistakes are being monetized and she’s forced to market off her darkest moments and/or being forced to ignore her issues for the sake of performing.

In a bizarre twist of events, Britney is now alone in a room with G-Eazy. Britney’s back is turned the entire time and we never see her face. The shot then turns into a POV as we witness the two have ***. We witness this scene with seemingly no sense of control. It’s weird and raunchy, and that seems to be the very intention: to make you uncomfortable. I find the use of never seeing Britney’s face interesting. While her music video was **** and a bit racy, that was all in name of a performance. Here, in her prison, that now seems to be a recurring theme, except it’s now looking more apparent that she doesn’t get to choose when she wants to be **** and when she doesn’t. As a matter of fact, she doesn’t get much choice at all. She just comes home to feed the beast.

Once his verse ends, we find Britney at the poolside, breathing life back into her lover through CPR (lol). The two hug and embrace, the lover seemingly forgiving Britney for her mistakes which in turn harmed him; however, we must ask ourselves if Britney really harmed him or if it was her suffocating situation? Regardless, the two escape the house and bulldoze it. Britney and her lover share one last kiss in the destruction of her mortal prison, this time once again wearing the jacket she chose to cover herself up with, only revealing a little bit of the skimpy outfit in this private and liberating moment with her lover.

Unseen in the video, but seen in the photoshoot for the recently released vinyl is a photo of Britney with a destroyed car behind her as she sits surrounded by mirrors in the same skimpy outfit from the music video scene. She’s wearing sunglasses, seemingly to protect her vision from the bright reflection of what might be intended to be her punishment: to be surrounded with constant reminders of her mistakes.

 

While we have yet to see David LaChapelle’s cut of the video and more pictures from the shoot (and not ones edited by Team B), I still find that there is tons of meaning packed into this video despite being heavily edited by Britney’s team. Many in this fanbase don’t like this video because of how hyper-***ualized and “raunchy” it is, which I can understand to a degree. I do, however, find that those people are missing the point of the video: Britney’s life is hyper-***ualized and has been since she was 17. I believe the intention of the video was to highlight Britney’s lack of control in her personal and professional life. I believe points of the video to be metaphorical in how her past mistakes have influenced her private life ie her home feeling like a prison, affecting personal and romantic relationships, a dangerous beast whom she has to come home to feed, etc.

 

I hope you enjoyed my analysis of the video and thank you for reading, I know it’s a long post. Please your thoughts and opinions!

 

What are your thoughts on this video? What messages do you take away from it?

 

words can’t explain how marvelous this is..

[Body ache]

42 minutes ago, Thecodeman25 said:

You haven’t seen the original chain photo? She is in fact in the dessert chained to a house they built. She is wearing the same outfits though, yes. The stylists probably had them picked out to use for both. All the photos in the vinyl are indeed from the same white outfit shoot in the dessert. The hair and makeup matches up. Her hair wasn’t styled the same in the make me video. Britney herself posted a video in the desert the day of the photo shoot, separate from the video shoot.

She only wore the white outfit in the desert. The pic of her in the gold outfit was taken on set and later cropped onto the desert photo. The chins and tent were photoshopped in.

[LordofTheMoodRing]

Love how deep you got into this. 

[electricopop]

On 12/15/2020 at 11:55 PM, Fab britney said:

This really could’ve been a career highlight. Make me  could’ve been a staple in her catalogue and not one of those songs that are like oh she’s a mid 30s mom still making music for fun but nothing to take seriously which the video we got made it look

I KNOW RIGHT! UGHH I WISH WE COULD BACK TO 2016!

[BritneyWiki]

Does anyone remember the theory that Britney had a sushi dinner date with one of the backup dancers from the Make Me shoot, slept with him, then it didn't work out and she wanted to scrap the entire video because he was in it? I can't find the picture but either Britney or the dancer posted a picture of them on social media showing them together for a sushi date, then it was later deleted which is how people speculated it had something to do with it.

Personally at the time the video was scrapped I was so angry as a fan, I felt like the video was se-xy and artistic and would have added to her legacy. The officially released reshoot video was tacky and embarrassing, i wanted so hard to believe that Britney would not have trashed such a se-xy artistic video for that generic crap. Yet, the generic video we got was something Britney could have easily thought of as a "cute" concept of her own creation. 

I really want to believe that the original Make Me video was Britney and LaChappelle's artistic vision with an anti conservatorship hidden message. I really want to believe that her management is the reason it was scrapped so we can blame them. But we will never know. Based on the video of Britney upset during the bulldozer scene, it seems Britney for whatever reason really was the one who demanded the original video be scrapped.

It makes me sad as a fan because the original video was so exciting and losing the video really stopped the momentum that was growing for her. It was edgy and cool, then we got stuck with the most embarrassing video that ruined the song for me (personally I don't even listen to Make Me anymore).

But, great post OP.

[Thecodeman25]

2 hours ago, Body ache said:

She only wore the white outfit in the desert. The pic of her in the gold outfit was taken on set and later cropped onto the desert photo. The chins and tent were photoshopped in.

That’s not true. She wore the outfit from either the front or back cover in this video which was from the desert photo shoot.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGqXsIEm8GJ/?igshid=10gmygg6hn0kp