The developement of image over time through music videos - unit 29: Music video production

Michael Jackson "The King Of Pop"

Michael Jackson was a hugely successful singer/song writer who was regarded as one of the best musicians to ever live.
He was born on the 29 of august 1958 and was 1 of 8 children. He began his professional music career as part of the Jackson 5 in 1964 a soul group which stared him and his 4 brothers. They were responsible for creating songs such as "I'll be there" and "The love you save". Jackson began his solo career in 1971 and from there he became a popular figure in the Pop genre of music, creating hit after hit that reached the top of the charts. Despite a few controversies in his personal life nobody could argue that he was an extremely talented individual and one of the best singers of his era. On the 25th of June 2009 Jackson died whilst at his mansion in LA. Attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful and he was announced dead at 2:26 pm local time at an LA medical centre.

Michaels career began as a member of the Jackson 5 in which he was the lead singer. He was portrayed as sweet little child in his music videos that always had a smile on his face. Their music videos consisted of the group singing the song whilst playing instruments and performing basic choreography. This portrayed the band as a very upbeat group that sang very joyful songs. An example of where this is the case is in the music video for the songs "ABC" and "I Want you Back"
 

Jacksons image developed further in his career when he became a solo artist. He made the transition into a natural performer increasing the amount of choreography in his music videos to match the songs of a higher tempo that he was singing. The music videos also told a story unlike his days in the Jackson 5 where the music videos consisted of just sing and basic choreography. Songs such as "thriller" and "Bad" demonstrate these points.
Jacksons style continued to adapt even further towards the end of his career, he used both his songs and music videos to convey important messages to his audiences and less about entertainment. The choreography from is earlier videos was manly removed in order the put emphasis on the true meanings of the songs. "Earth Song" is the best example of how Jackson expresses what he thinks and makes people others think using the music video and lyrics.
 
"Man In The Mirror" is also a brilliant example of the points above.

As well as his physical changes throughout his career Jacksons style also changed a great deal over time. At the beginning of his Career the record company (Motown) sold the band by placing them on music channels such as MTV and a range of other TV programs. They also had there own style in which every member of the band kept to throughout all of their music videos.
As he became a solo artist his style also changed the costume that was worn in the music videos was relevant to the time and fashion trends. This was also the same with any backing dancers or anyone else that would appear in the videos. Other things such as hairstyles were also used in these ways. The locations that were used in the videos during this time are mostly urban settings. I think this is because of his style of music and also that the majority of people live in urban places making him a more relatable person to the audience.
Towards the end of his career Jackson was world famous and just having his name on a song meant that it would gather a lot of attention. This meant that there was no longer any need for Jackson to be advertised in his videos as much as he was. This left room to place images and footage that were more relevant to the lyrics of the song. The music video for the song "Man in the mirror" does not feature Jackson at all.
Camera work and editing is used to match the style and tempo of the songs. The Jackson 5's music videos featured very little alteration in the camera work and editing this is due to the type of choreography that they used which was very minimalist and also to the fact that they usually did not change locations in there music videos, remaining in the same place for the entire song.
During his solo career editing was used to match the high tempo of the songs with a variety of different shots and angles being used in every video. Editing is also used as the changes in location were often a common occurrence during the songs. For example in the "Thriller" music video many different settings were used throughout including a cinema and a graveyard.
In his later videos Editing was used a very large amount to piece together different footage that was set in different places around the world and even set during different times. An example of this is in "Earth Song".
I think that the main cultural significance of Michael Jackson was his entertainment ability the levels of choreography that featured during his videos were extremely large and he was the first person to really make his style of music popular. However I also think that he was extremely important in the fact that he conveyed messages through his music. When someone as famous as Michael Jackson raises awareness for a cause it is certainly going to get a lot more support.
To conclude Michael Jackson made the transformation from a sweet child to a inspirational entertainer and preacher. He kept up with trends whilst also keeping his own specific style and created songs and videos that got the world talking every single time. Weather it was to do with how fast and exciting they were or how hard hitting the message attached to them was. Michael Jackson truly is the King Of Pop.