music video research 1 artist: Michael Jackson song: Billie Jean

The song Billie Jean by Michael Jackson has a very popular music video that makes excellent use of certain editing techniques as well as some simple but effective imagery.

The visual style is rather generic but it would be best described as rough or realistic in certain aspects. The streets that Michael Jackson (keep in mind that he is portraying himself in the music video) is walking down are all quite dimly light with very large shadows being cast around scenery; a later scene in the video give the viewer a full shot of the sky, which appears very dark and gloomy, possibly indicating that it takes place during the evening or nighttime. In addition to these hints the streets also appear very dirty with litter and animals running about at certain points (these animals could also just be a metaphor for the relationship between Michael and the press but that'll be discussed later on). This goes against standard conventions for the pop music genre as generally pop videos are usually well lit and take place in rather pleasant looking locations.

Billie Jean has other factors that defy its genre's conventions. the narrative is centred on Michael having to deal with the press (or preferably not deal with them) over a woman, called Billie Jean, claiming to have Micheal's son which he denies throughout the song. Romantic relationships are one of the most common aspects of pop song narratives, but this relationship between Michael and Billie Jean isn't desired; contrary to most other pop song romances were both people involved want to be together. Another way in which Billie Jean differs from the normal pop song is that it never directly shows the character of Billie Jean directly; this could be considered a strange choice as this would make it harder for people to identify with Billie Jean but I believe that was the intent behind that decision. Most songs reflect the Artist's thoughts or experiences at least somewhat, so this song might reflect his experiences/fears that anyone could be that 'Billie Jean' and ruin his public image. One of the main purposes of a music video is to promote an artist and to help convey a narrative and in the event that a real life 'Billie Jean' did come forward then Michael would want people to identify with his dilemma more than hers.

The music video does a fantastic job of conveying Michael's thoughts of the press. Everywhere he walks the ground and other objects light up like a spotlight, which while it does show how highly that the world thinks of him (he must have done some good performances to earn the title 'king of pop') it also leaves a literal trail for the paparazzi to follow him. In the beginning of the video the alley is filtered to be colourless (black and white) and it remains this way after the paparazzi man enters with the colour entering only once Michael appears; this and the cropped display for the first minute of the video may help reflect Michael's view of the media, people who aren't interested in the details (the lack of colour) and just want a juicy story (the cropped image not giving us a full perspective).

There is a recurring shot of a trash can. The first shot of it has a cheetah cub dash out from behind it, representing Michael. the second shot features the cub jumping out again but this time a domestic cat goes behind the bin in its place, which clearly represents the media following in Micheal's footsteps for seemingly no purpose.This shot may be the artist trivialising the importance that the media puts on celebrities, regarding him as better (cheetah) than everyone else (ordinary cats).

The use of lighting is by far my favourite aspect of the video for several reasons: it provides a way to symbolise Michael's struggles with the paparazzi and because it is often in sync with the pace of the song it provides a more interesting visual element to get viewers interested.

(video directed by Steve Barron