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Music Video details
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| First aired:
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Week of 19 June 1989
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| Producer(s):
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Greg Feinberg (Propaganda Films)
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| Director:
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Albert Magnoli
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| Related home video/DVD:
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Nothing Compares 2 Him
Batman (2-DVD Special Edition)
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| First (Commercially) Released:
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18 October 2005
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Awards
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| Date
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Institution, Country
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Award
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| This music video has not received any awards in the USA
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Batdance is a Prince video released for broadcast and to promote the single.
The video was directed by Albert Magnoli, director of Purple Rain and Sign O’ The Times, and who by 1989 also acted as Prince’s manager. The video was to be choreographed by Paula Abdul, but this could not be done due to scheduling conflicts.
Shooting took place on 27 & 28 May 1989. The video features Prince as himself (surrounded by his instruments) while he watches a complexly choreographed ballet of Batman, Joker and Vicki Vale dancers.
In their midst is also the Prince-invented character 'Gemini', (played by Prince) whose right half is Batman (without the face mask) and left half is The Joker (complete with face paint and green hair). The half good / half bad 'character' seems an unintentional reference to 'Twoface', another famous Batman character.
As 'himself' Prince plays various keyboards and a bass guitar, while he watches the ballet on a bat logo shaped screen. The Gemini character sees himself surrounded by five Batman- and five Joker dancers who fight-dance their way through the song, meanwhile never interacting with Gemini who sings Prince’s lines from the song.
For the second part of the song (the Vicki Vale part) the five Vicki Vale-dancers make their entrance and are being harressed by the Joker dancers. The electric chair from the lyrics is also depicted, with smoke coming off it as if an execution had just taken place on it. Eventually the video ends with Gemini hitting a detonator, exploding it.
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Shooting Information
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Shooting Sessions
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| Date
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Location
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Additional info
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| 27 & 28 May 1989
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Culver Studios,
Culver City, CA, USA (assumed)
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Cast
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- Prince
- Five (unidentified) Batman dancers
- Five (unidentified) Joker dancers
- Five (unidentified) Vicki Vale dancers
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Crew
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- Greg Feinberg - producer (Propaganda Films)
- Albert Magnoli - director
- Barry Lather - choreography
- Marc Reshovsky - cinematography
- Helen Hiatt - costume design
- Susan Stella - costume design
- Robyn Lynch - make-up (Prince)
- Jim Bienke - make-up and masks
- More information needed
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Versions
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Released Versions
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Broadcasts/streaming (only)
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| Title
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Length
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Released
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Version
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Additional info
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| Batdance
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4:49
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promo only
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short version
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| Batdance
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4:10
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promo only
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The Batmix Edit
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| Batdance
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4:12
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promo only
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Vicki Vale Mix Edit
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Additional Information
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See Also
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Quotation & triva
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- Two seldom seen variations of the Batdance video exist, "Bat Mix" and "Vicki Vale Mix". These two videos were made up of alternate and some unused footage from the regular Batdance video.
- Nominations:
- - Best Video: 10th BPI Awards (18 February 1990).
- - Best Music Video: 4th Soul Train Awards (14 March 1990).
- - Best Video from a Film: 1990 MTV Video Music Awards (6 September 1990)
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References
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