(Blog 14) Michael Jackson

Blog 14:
Michael Jackson




Early Pop Videos with The Jackson 5:

"Rockin Robin" 1971

Basic Video - Promoting song
Limited sophistication
Lip Synching


Michael Jackson - Rockin' Robin



Analyses:
"Rockin Robin" was the first ever pop video that Michael Jackson was involved with. It was also the first Jackson 5 song and music video. The song was made in 1971 and compared to the music videos of today, it was a very basic and didn't really have anything special but the song was big back in the day. The video was based on Michael Jackson and his family (The Jacksons) singing and playing their instruments whilst showing off their talents. Over the past years, the Jackson 5 have changed thier costumes numerous times from colours like black and white to bright rainbow colours. I would say the mise-en-scene wasnt very constant but it was lively and widely ranged. There was a simple dance routine in the music video, which is one of the key features of music videos.




Michael Jackson - Billie Jean




Analyses:

The very first major music video that Michael Jackson ever done when he split up with Jackson 5 and became a solo artist was "Billy Jean". This video was famous for it 's the simple lip-syncing as this Music video does contain some kind of story within it. As well as having the lip-syncing in the video, the story in this video is about Michael walking around the town while singing about a woman called Billie Jean and searching for her. The lyrics of the song is illustrated throughout this video and Michael repeatedly says "Billy Jean is not my lover" and is constantly seen to be by himself. This goes with the lyrics and the lyrics and the visuals is another key feature of music videos.



Michael Jackson - Beat it





Analyses
The next music video that Michael Jackson made as a solo artist (Not with the Jackson 5) was "Beat It!". Each music video that Michael Jackson released was anticipated by millions of people across the world, he was very popular and successful, he was the fan favorite from the Jackson 5 and that was why he decided to do solo songs. This video is also unique as it was a video which was able to combine lip-syncing with a story line. "Beat it" is also well known for it's ending because of the well choreographed dance routine that is shown,  It is definitely well rehearsed and thought of. There's many of close up shots of Michael throughout the video which is another key feature of a good music video.

Michael Jackson - Thriller Music Video



Thriller by Michael Jackson is considered to be the most famous music video of all time by the Library of congress, which added it to its National Film Registry in 2009. "Thriller" changed the way that music videos were seen and made. The music video is 14 minutes long, longer than most music videos as it was made like a mini film. It really set the benchmark for all future music videos, and was definitely a video that improved the standards of videos with its costumes, dialogue and dance routines. MTV used to show the short 4-5 minute version of this video, but it was so popular that people used to go to the cinema and be able to watch the whole version of this video. The video was made in 1983 and was paid for and directed by a man called John Landis because Jackson's own record company refused to pay for it. This Music video was also the winner of many awards at the 1984 MTV Music Video Awards including Best Performance Video. This video started the trend of group dance scenes in pop videos.




Michael Jackson - Bad

After making the  "Thriller", Michael was the most popular music artist in the world. The next video after Thriller had a big reputation to live up to. The next video that he did make was for the song "Bad". When Michael released new videos, they were seen as being real events as his video made the news because of how popular they was. The music video was so popular that it was shown live on the BBC at midnight, and millions of people stayed up until midnight just to see this video. People were very excited to see the new material that Michael Jackson was creating. There are frequent close ups of Michael Jackson, and obviously the reputation of having unique dance routines, a key feature in music videos.

Black and white




Michael Jackson - Black or White

At the time of the release of this video, there was many rumors going around about how Michael Jackson tried to change his skin colour from black to white through surgery. As a result of this, he lost a lot of his black fan base, as they felt they he was ashamed to be black, such was the reason that he wanted to change his skin colour from black to white. To try and win these fans back again, he made this song called "Black Or White". The main message of this song is Michael trying to say that it doesn't matter what skin colour you are, and he is trying to promote race equality. He wants to appeal to all races, and say that he shouldn't be judged based solely on his skin colour. This video always demonstrates a unique Michael Jackson dance routine which is something that is repeated heavily in all of his music videos.