MICHAEL JACKSON CASE STUDY
Billie Jean music video Analysis:
Billie Jean by Michael Jackson was one the most famous videos that was directed by Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones which was recorded in in 1982 which is a pop and R&B song. It is considered as an R&B song as it contains an upbeat (an optimistic atmosphere) whilst the lyrics are in tune with the pop song. There is also a lot of dancing performed by Michael Jackson that also fits well with the pop music. When the audience watches the music video, they’ll automotaically know that it’s pop or R&B as the producer Quincy Jones was very famous for producing this kind of music.
This music video and song was very famous as the video and the lyrics matched very well. The lyrics explains that a girl named Billie Jean lied to claim Michael Jackson about having a baby that was his, similarly, the video shows a man stalking Michael Jackson trying to set him up of a crime even though he’s innocent, this links very well to the story about Billie Jean. This idea is really clever as we might be unsure how Michael felt about it, however showing us the video helped the audience to understand his situation as the audience would me more abe=le to understand the short video rather than his actual situation. An example was in the first chorus when Michael Jackson talks about the son not being his, whilst he does that, the man that’s stalking him shows up from behind trying to arrest him however the camera cuts away when he tries to do so. This may be a curiousity for the audience to see whether or not he got out of it which comines to his actual story about Billie Jean- we’re unsure what happened between Michael and the woman who tried to claim him.
This music video became very famous in the 1980s as there weren’t that many artists dancing in the music videos which gave the audience a show as it was entertaining to watch him dance especially that he was so famous for his dance moves. After the music video came out and became so famous, a lot of artists were inspired by Michael Jackson to dance in their music videos. Even to this day, there are many artists who were inspired by Micahel such as: Chris Brown, Usher, Justin Timberlake who made a reference to the Billie Jean music video therefore it was an intetextual reference.
The camera had shots such as: long shots, medium close ups, close-ups. The long shots showed Michael Jackson’s outfit and dance moves as well as the Mise en Scene for example we could see clearer at what type of area he’s in and we could see the story within the msuic video. The medium close ups helped us to see closer what is going on around him. The close-ups helped us to see Michael’s emotions and what he’s feeling. This means that the camera was mostly concentrated on him- making sure that he’s shown often. There are scenes where Michael jckson walks on the floor whilst the pavements light up, these scenes stand out a lot to the audience as it’s something odd to see- however this represents how good Michael is at dancing and that he’s a talented singer.
To conclude, the video is very entertaining for the audience which shows the idea of pop and R&B music where the camera is just concentrated on Michael Jackson and there’s a strong relationship between the video and the lyrics.