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I'm glad I didn't rush into print on this subject, because I'd probably have made a fool of myself. At the time of writing this, the "3" video is No.1 on the iTunes video download chart. Yet when it came out, many fans were extremely doubtful about it and I have to admit that I was one of them. I thought, and probably still think, that some of the fan-made re-edits are better.
It seemed to me that the "3" video project had started out with a shedload of great ideas - maybe TOO many. And, in an attempt to cram as many as possible of these ideas into the video, each one was edited to hell so it didn't make any sense, either logical or visual.
Then the whole assemblage of bits and pieces was strung together. The end result was that a lot of things seemed to begin, but very few seemed to finish. People saw Britney below the horizontal pole, for example, and were convinced that, given a few more seconds, she'd have done something with it. But she never got a chance and we were left somewhat bemused about the point of the scene and why she was in it at all, since she was just standing there. Fans were disappointed.
Some fans described the video as "an animated photoshoot", and they did not mean that as a compliment. But it seems that Diana Martel, the director, actually INTENDED something like this. Some bloggers learnt early in the production process that it was to be "a series of glamor shots and dance breaks". Once you know that, it all makes a certain kind of sense. It is no more, nor less, than it appears to be and there is no point looking for deeper meanings.
One could, however, argue that even with this limited remit, the video was only partially successful.
We'd been promised by Diane Martel that there was going to be some amazing dancing. But if there was, it must have been "left on the cutting-room floor". Britney managed a few moves, but as with most things about the project, never got a chance to develop anything. Fans were disappointed again.
One thing almost everybody remarked upon was that Britney "looked amazing". And in this truth lies the unexpected success of the "3" video. It's crammed with stunning visual images, even if they do pass us by in a flash. As a series of glamor shots it adds enormously to Britney's rebirth as a beautiful celebrity. It only took a few days in late 2004 to convert one of the most alluring female images in showbiz to that of a girl who made the legendary "girl next door" look gorgeous by comparison.
The road back to being admired for her beauty has taken years. But at last she's getting there.
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I think the 3 video was just rush released before she went to Australia, I think it's just a no brainer video.