By Michael Jackson Music Video Analysis Billie jean By Michael Jackson Music Video Analysis

Genre and characteristics Billie Jean seems to be a Pop/R&B styled music video and so seems to follow those characteristics but is heavily dependent on a narrative and having a dose of showmanship mixed in along with Jackson's own flair. Pop and R&B music nearly always has an upbeat tempo that’s catchy and makes you want to dance along with it, something that Billie Jean has with it’s tempo and continuous beat. The music video has a definite narrative but uses a lot of devices that are related to performance videos, the main character sings to the music and there is a strong correlation between the visuals and the music. Therefore the music video is a mix between performance and narrative.

Relationship between lyrics & visuals Michael Jackson doesn’t use a lot of lyrical mimics in his music videos, he favours the use of subtle ones rather than obvious ones. When the lyrics read “round” the main character spins round. The lyrics are more loosely mimicked through references rather than visually replicating them. In the second image the lyrics are talking about him not being the babies father, which is what he’d just been accused of in real life, whilst there’s someone walking behind him either by the look of it to plant something on him, arrest him or attack him, it’s not clear which by just watching the music video though we later find out that this character is part of the press.

Relationship between music and visuals There is a clear link between the music and the visuals. In a section of the video the street panels light up to the main characters footsteps in time with the beat of the music. Another moment when this is particularly obvious is in the beginning when the main character is dancing, all of his steps and moves are in time with the music and never seem to be out of the beat. This creates a polished and smooth look for the music video that conforms to the conventions of a performance music video, as to sing in time and have other synchronised features you must practice it. It also fits the pop genre as the accurate timing is satisfying on screen and appeals to an audience interested in pop.

Star imagery and the gaze This music video uses star imagery. Michael Jackson is an extremely well known popstar and so the heavy use of his ‘look’ is not surprising. The video features close-ups depicting him from a low angle, causing the audience to look up at him, the presents of his dancing is another example od how the video uses star imaging, as Michael Jackson is particularly well known for his dance moves, this is something he exploits. The male or female gaze is present in the video. Conventions of pop videos usually over-use the male and female gaze in addition to star imagery to create extra incentive for its audience to watch. Michael Jackson is shown in a voyeuristic way throughout the video with the dance moves including a lot of pelvic motions and him posing in front of the camera flipping his leather jacket and matching jeans.

colour The video features a large amount of purple and pink colours throughout the video, this is interesting as neither colour is particularly warm, but nor is it cold. It creates a different feel to the video, and is not out of place as a pop video. While watching, the audience will see the colour differently depending on the narrative, sinister as the main character is being stalked by the member of the press, and positively when the main character is conformably walking down the street with it lighting up to each footstep.

Conclusion The video conforms to many aspects of mainstream pop music videos, there is the presents of star imagery and voyeurism, the colour works to distance the video from conventions but the mixture of narrative and performance through the relationship between visuals and music only supports it pop genre. In this sense the video is a good example of a sample pop video, if, when creating a music video of my own, I decide to use a pop song I know the presents of the male and female gaze would be a way to conform to a popular structure of video. Star imagery would not be something I would be able to do so perhaps dissenting from other conventions is an option. However, overall the music video is strong, it uses conventions to boost an audience and a peculiar colour of shots to help it stand out.