Micheal Jackson King of pop videos

Not just ‘King of Pop’ but ‘King of the Pop Video’

Micheal Jackson first appeared in music videos early in his career as part of the Jackson 5 in the music video 'Rockin Robin' in 1971. This video is very basic made to promote the song , there is use of lip syncing and close ups of the artists and a few cuts however there is not much sophistication in the editing. 

In the 'Rock with you video we begin to see a lot more sophistication in the videos. Micheal Jackson is seen is a shiny and interesting costume. There is very good use of light in the video to create an interesting background and silhouettes. There are a few close up and use of continuity editing such as fades.
 



His video Billy Jean was the first time were he didn't just lip synch. There was a story to this video , unlike his other videos they edit to the beat. There are a lot of visual effects used in the video and special effects to create an artificial background.




The music video for beat it shows much more prorogation , the choreography is much more eloquent and the story is much more clear , even Micheal Jackson's performance has improved in this video.




Micheal's most famous video was Thriller.This music video is considered the most famous music video of all time, at least by the Library of Congress, which added it to its National Film Registry in 2009, the first music video in their registry.

The video was a cultural milestone introducing elaborate choreography ,costumes and dialogue

         and the  concept of the long-form music video, where a mini-movie was made for a song, the edited down for the short version.

Over 100 million views when it showed up on YouTube. MTV usually ran the short version, which ran a little under five minutes but still contained about a minute of non-song content in a storyline that omits most of the movie the couple is watching at the beginning. The long version of "Thriller" runs nearly 14 minutes, but had remarkable longevity, easily racking up 

The video cost about $500,000 to make. Jackson's record company had no intention of paying for it, since the album was on the downswing and they had already financed videos for two of its songs. According to John Landis (Director), Jackson really wanted to turn into a monster, so he offered to pay for the clip himself. Landis took on the project because he saw it as a way to revive the short film genre, which he loved.

Jackson didn't have to pay for the video out of pocket because they made deals with Showtime and MTV to cover the costs. Showtime got to air a one hour special with the "making of" documentary and the 14-minute film before it was broadcast anywhere else. When MTV heard about this, their executive Bob Pittman decided that losing a Michael Jackson video to Showtime was unacceptable, and paid $250,000 for the exclusive broadcast rights once Showtime's window ended. MTV was founded on the principle of not paying for videos, so Pittman got around this by paying for the documentary, even though the money was really used to pay for the film.

You could buy a VHS or beta copy of Michael Jackson's Thriller, which included the full video and also "The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller," a behind the scenes documentary. This tape became the bestselling music video at the time, and was later certified by Guinness World Records as the top selling music video of all time, moving 9 million units. The timing helped, as the video was released a few weeks before Christmas.

Following Thriller Mickeal Jackson was no the biggest pop star in the world. So much that he mad the news , the music video for 'bad' was a major event shown on for the first time on BBC. People wanted to see his new image and dancing. The choreography in the video is dazzling and he new image stands out among the background dancers.




This music video was a response to allegations of 'white skin'. People were criticizing him for hating his black skin and not being proud and in this video he justified himself. The music video was very inventive and expensive. Throughout the video he dances amount different cultures.

Sexism in pop

Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze theory

The theory suggests that the male gaze denies women human identity, relegating them to the status of objects to be admired for physical appearance. The theory suggests woman can more often than not only watch a film from a secondary perspective and only view themselves from a man’s perspective. 

Miley Cyrus 'Wrecking ball' 

This video came as a shock to people as it was completely unlike Miley Cyrus's Disney image. Hannah Montana was a female role model for young girls she had the good girl image that many parents liked to expose their children to. This very sexually provocative video came as a shock and sparked a lot of controversy Miley's nudity and sexually provocative actions (such as licking the hummer) in this video is a completely contrast to the emotion in the song. This video is Miley's way of getting rid of her 'disney' image. Part of this could have to do with the record label that she signed to , her image would have had to be updated because 'sex sells'. Sinead O’Connor warned Miley from her own experience that she was being exploited which I believe is true. The music industry is very male dominates therefore the female artists they produce are male objects of erotic desire.

This video is a prime example of the male gaze being present in a video. Throughout the video there are many shots Iggy and Jennifer's 'booties'. Their clothing revealing and their body body language is sexually provocative.




This video sparked a lot of controversy. Calling the song offensive definitely have a strong case. After all, the song is about "liberating" a good girl by showing her that she actually wants 'crazy wild sex' that she isn't asking for. Robin Thicke keeps repeating 'I know you want it' while his musical partner T.I. casually mentions 'I'll give you something big enough to tear your ass in two.' This video also uses woman as objects in the video , we see them dancing around as accessories to the singers. At one point T.I brushes the girls hair like she's a doll. There is actually an explicit version of the video where the girls  






Lilly Allen's hard out here opens with Allen lying on an operating table undergoing liposuction as a manager berates her nearby. It’s a deeply personal visual. Allen has faced years of a cruel tabloid press speculation about her body. In May 2007 she published a tearful post on her Myspace page:

'I used to pride myself on being strong-minded and not being some stupid girl obsessed with the way I look. I felt like it didn't matter if I was a bit chubby 'cos I'm not a model, I'm a singer. I'm afraid I am not strong and have fallen victim to the evil machine. I write to you in a sea of tears from my hotel bed in Seattle. I have spent the past hour researching gastric bypass surgery and laser liposuction.'

Later that year she dropped from a size 12 to a size six. Headlines continued to chronicle her strained relationship to her body image, from 2011’s 'I don’t care about weight gain' to 'I have Body Dysmorphic Disorder' just months later. Allen’s first solo single since 2009 manages to scapegoat not just rappers but black women for all the insecurities she’s been grappling with over her career. The song begins with her scoffing at what is meant to look like a rap video complete with women of color body rolling in shorts. Lilly Allen is mocking and challenging how woman are depicted in rap videos and presented and erotic props. 

Beyonce's 'Run the world' could be a video that is seen as empowering to women. At the start of the video she is riding a black horse in white clothing here she takes on the persona of a 'prince charming' character showing that she is powerful and is not a 'damsel in distress'. Though they dance sexually in the video it's used in a way that intimidates the men in the video and gives the 'girls' control. She is seen holding wild animal's on her leash which makes her seem very dominating. The mise on scene shows tall on their own conveying that women can 'run the world'. The clothing in the video is  fashionable , stylish  and sexy which relates to a younger generation target audience of girls by showing that 'sexy can be powerful'.

Case Study - Alex Southam

• To begin with Southam undertook all the tasks on his videos – a ‘one man band’.
• Camera
• Lighting
• Editing
• Now uses a Director of Photography

  Has worked for Agile Films who describe him on their website as:

‘Alex Southam is an exciting new talent, working in a dizzying variety of styles across live action and animation. Entirely self-taught, his inventiveness and creativity have caught the eye with a series of diverse promos for the likes of the Walkman, and Lianne La Havas. Alex joined Agile in August 2012.’

Southam likes to format music videos as 'you can try new techniques and can have real artistic freedom'. He is less keen on commercials as they allow for ‘much less freedom’. He uses Vimeo to showcase his videos – this is becoming an increasingly important platform as it is considered to have ‘higher statuses than YouTube

•          His breakthrough came with the video Tesselate for Alt J
•          Budget £10,000
•          1 day shoot
•          Large cast
•          Special effects – used After Effects

This video is based off of the painting the school of Athens By Raphael. It uses a lot of close up , pan's  and zooms. This keeps it exciting and interesting to watch. Many of the visuals are amplified repeatedly because not much goes on but this keeps the video fast paced. There is a use of rewind when the dice goes back into the players hand we notice that the video is rewinding in the second half.