Case Study of Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson is an incredibly important figurehead within the music industry, named the King of Pop he has made a substantial impact on the music industry and most would agree, the world.
Michael Jackson is an incredibly important figurehead within the music industry, named the King of Pop he has made a substantial impact on the music industry and most would agree, the world.
Jackson 5 - Rocking Robin
The first song that Jackson did was during his time with the Jackson 5 consisting of Michael and four of his brothers. The song was created in 1971 and when compared to modern videos it is very basic and there isn't really much happening. The entire storyline of the video is based on the Jackson family performing together and rocking out. The mise-en-scene in this video is really only their costume changes, which is fairly frequent. The outfit changes range from simplistic black and white to vibrant bright colours. It appears the main focus of the video is their simplistic dance routine.
Michael Jackson - Billy Jean
The first major video that Michael did on his own was Billy Jean. This video is famous for its breaking of the traditional lip syncing nothingness that was popular at the time, and actually contains some form of storyline. The video consists of Michael walking whilst singing about his love for Billy Jean and searching for her. This is a debatable subject however due to his use of the line "Billy Jean is not my lover" however one would believe that this is similar to how people deny feelings for someone due to awkwardness.
Michael Jackson - Beat it
Beat it was his next major creation, by this point his fanbase had skyrocketed into the millions so the video was extremely well anticipated. This video continued with his efforts to break the stereotype by containing lip syncing and a storyline within one piece. This video is well known for its ending because it contains a very famous dance routine that is now known by every middle aged woman you could possibly think of. This video is very well made as it works with camera angles and long to close up shots to create a high quality piece.
Michael Jackson - Thriller
This is possibly the most famous music video ever created, many people credit it with that title. Thriller changed the music industry for a lifetime and it was added to the National Film industry by the Library of Congress in 2009, being the first music video to ever get that honour. The video is 14 minutes long and is closer to a miniature film than it is a music video. The storyline has a couple visit the cinema to see a horror film, leave early due to it being scary, Michael serenading her as he walks her home and then turning into one such monster himself, before bursting into a riveting dance routine with an entourage of ghouls. Everything about the video has quickly become Iconic. the dance routine, costume and lyrics. Due to the length of the video, MTV used to only show a shortened 4-5 minute version, however as it was so popular people would make the trek down to the cinema just to watch the whole 14 minutes worth. This song was credited in the Guiness Book of world records when its casette player sold a record number of 9 million.
Michael Jackson - Bad
After Thriller Michael became the most popular pop star worldwide, for good reason. Bad was his next song and it did not shame his reputation, by this point Michael was so popular that every song release hit the news, It was a worldwide event that brought people together. The music video became so popular that the BBC would play it live at midnight, having extremely high viewing ratings as people would sit up to watch it.
Michael Jackson - Black or White.
At the time that this video was released there was a huge controversy about Michael cosmetically changing his appearance from being a Black male to being White. This hit his fan base hard as many of his black fans thought he was ashamed to be black, this song was born as a result as he wanted to share a message that it didn't matter what your skin colour was. Michael was a strong believer in racial equality and thus he wanted to appeal to every race. His attempt at proving that it didn't matter what skin colour you was was very successful and his fans quickly came back.
