Michael Jackson Music Video Analysis

Eric Robinson Jr
JCM 102
January 24, 2018

"Beat It"

CONTEXT: Beat It was written and directed by Bob Giraldi. It was recorded in 1982. The song was written entirely by Michael Jackson. Michael Peters choreographed the dance, as her performed as one of the lead dancers. The song and video was apart of the major label named "Epic." 

CONTENT: The theme of the video is based off a street gang that Jackson grew up around. It describes a fight that happened between these two popular gangs. It involves gang members leaving the sewers, bars, and even their homes to have a showdown against one another. The two groups arrive with much tension and charge at one another, only to find theirselves joining into a large synchronized dance party.

FORM: Jackson used a lot of wide ranged shots and close ups to tell the story of the gang's alleged tension.

Here a close up viewing is used to portray emotion and concern on the actor's expression.

Here a wide shot is used to show the demeanor and body language of the large group. The same shot is used in the large dance number of the video.

AESTHETICS: Throughout the video Jackson uses a dark theme which adds a malicious and evil look to the video. Through the design and appearance of the actors/dancers, the resemble West Side Story, the musical.

In the Closet

CONTEXT: The music video was directed by Herb Ritts. In the video MJ uses supermodel, Naomi Campbell as his dance partner. Spoken script was the voice of Princess Stephanie of Monaco. It was filmed in late March and Premiered on April 23, 1992.

CONTENT: The video is about Michael's sexual lust about his dream woman. He wants to keep his sexual desires "In the Closet", but he can no longer contains his feelings for her and her appearance. Therefore, he presents these feelings with his sexual demeanor and behavior presented throughout the video.

FORM: The camera pans in and out of the couple dancing. It uses the panning motions to combine with transitions and makes the video seamlessly guide into a different angle or clip.

OBSERVATION: We can see that the entire video is processed in a Sepia effect. This adds a variation the the scenery around the two dancers. Michael and Naomi have a combination of black and white on, covering theirselves in neutral colors. The two dance around each other in a very sexual way, making the statement and theme of the video VERY CLEAR.

You Rock My World

CONTEXT: The video was directed by Paul Hunter. It was classified as a short film because the video is a little longer than thirteen minutes long. The film has appearances from Chris Tucker, Marlon Brando, Michael Madsen, and Billy Drago.

CONTENT: In the short film, Michael and Chris start off with a friendly conversation in the bar. While there, they see a young woman who has their attention via outer appearance. The two men follow her to a bar, where they end up in an altercation with another fellow at the bar. The potiential bar fight turns into a dancing opportunity for Michael Jackson as Chris Tucker tries to convinve MJ to leave the bar altogether. 

FORM: Since the music video is set up to closely resemble a movie as possible, there are a lot of techniques used in the video production. There is a few scenes panning across people. The beginning starts with a small overlook of a woman walking down a dark shadowed street very provocatively. The scenery is obviously based in an Asian providence.

OBSERVATION: We see a great use of colors used in the outfits and scenery of the bars and restaurants. Michael makes the video's progression seem so elegant as he mixes one scene into another. The way the plot turns make the progression of the story seem like a dance version of the classic movie called Rush Hour.