What happens when you don't hire good people....

Just to instigate more internet violence, let's not talk about Gangnam Style then. Let's not be idiots. We all know quality when we see it and hear it.
These little exceptions pop up now and again but they're nothing to aspire to. C'mon, we all know it.
 
the sad thing, if a famous cinematographer was attached to the same production, even more people would blindly justify the production.
 
Amr Rahmy said:
the sad thing, if a famous cinematographer was attached to the same production, even more people would blindly justify the production.
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Were a 'pro' attached... I don't think it would have turned out the way it did...

Call it habit, instinct, training, whatever, a 'pro' has to work to not do things 'right'...
 
Let's all not forget that the true value of any music video is not in how close it comes to being art, but rather, how many units it moves.
Only time will tell if the producers were very foolish or very clever.
 
I really think they were just having fun with it and didn't really care about ultimate "production value." I see what others are saying- the creative choices were odd, the editing, the silly dance in the driveway...but just because it doesn't float our boat doesn't mean others won't like the novelty. I am a very poor judge of what people will like- Countless horrid pop artists (to remain nameless) have sold millions of records to my utter shock and dismay.
 
Liam Hall said:
Watching the video the first time I thought it was a spoof
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Okay, I'll admit -- first time I saw it, I thought for certain that was a Travolta impersonator with the worst spray-on hairdo I'd ever seen.

I was floored when I realized it was for real.

I think it's fair to say that the overall quality level of the video is not what we would have expected from stars with the storied careers and name power of ONJ and John Travolta. They are/were iconic for their roles in Grease, after all, so the line-dancing segments in this video are little less that startling, to me at least.

Could they have done much better? Of course. Could folks here have put together a better music video for them, on the same budget? Of this I have no doubt whatsoever.

But did they accomplish what they set out to do? That I don't know. It all comes down to -- are ONJ and JT happy with what they got? And for the answer to that, you'd have to ask them.
 
This ranking moves around a lot. Last night it was at #56 on Amazon's ranking. Right now it's 36 and falling again. Funny that even though it was released November 13th (less than 1 month ago) it's been on the charts for 54 days. A bunch of people ordered before it was released? Didn't realize they did their charts that way.

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Edit: Read some of the Amazon reviews. Most are very favorable, but this one was as amusing as it was scathing:

It's hard to make a more disappointing 'follow-up' than Two Of A Kind, but John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John have managed it with This Christmas! This is Olivia's third Christmas album, and the third to include a version of Silent Night! As far as her Christmas albums go, This Christmas isn't as bad as 2001's woeful Christmas Collection, nor is it as good as 2007's Christmas Wish, which at least had a little thought put into it's arrangements and song selections.

Yes, I know This Christmas is for charity. That's for all the bores who assume a project like this is beyond criticism. And that includes you, Olivia! But you'll be hard pressed to find as lazy and half-assed Christmas album as this one in 2012. It's not just the songs, though it's not the first time around the mulberry bush for quite a few of these tracks for ONJ, it's the slack production, the phone-it-in 'guest stars' and the whole 'Oh, It'll do' ness of the thing.

Take for instance Barbra Streisand popping up on I'll Be Home For Christmas for about 30 seconds. Why? It doesn't need her. It already has ONJ and JT, it's not a choir! Same thing with Tony Bennet slopping his way through Winter Wonderland with our ever-loving Grease chums. 'Oh John, Oh Tony' coos Olivia at the end. Oh, f*&% off!

Another thing is Travolta himself. Hardly a great singer, is he? He barely manages to keep in tune throughout but at least this is the most wholesome thing he's been involved in all year! Olivia, to be fair, does sound really good , a bit too 'bright' here and there... It just makes me long for the days she made proper albums. How many more chances will she get? Half-hearted charity albums like this (of which ONJ has made more than a few) don't sell anyway so what's the point?!

Back to the songs, the supposed selling point of this is the duos' reteaming with John Farrar on I Think You Might Like It (don't bet on it...). It's a new recording but is so dated it could have come from the Soul Kiss sessions. It's staggeringly false and cheesy, but at least it's new!

After this you get Xmas veteran and ultimate show-off Cliff Richard singing appallingly on Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, James Taylor adds a little class to Deck The Halls and Olivia does Silent Night. Again!

I have to mention the cover. I can only assume the money 'raised' from this album will go to the John Travolta Decent Wig Campaign. Can you believe he goes out like that?!
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