This song and it's video is a great testament to Michael Jackson's career, it was inspired by his personal experience with the media 1993 when he was accused of sexual child abuse. It also represents the strong bond between brother and sister as Janet helped him through this difficult time.
This video is composed of high quality morphing effects which distort the singers faces even more as the scream, creating a feeling for the audience that they are in great pain. The jump-cuts through the video help move the sequence of scenes fluidly, creating a contrast in the wild music. As well as this the action is sometimes slowed down to an extreme case, this is a typical signature move of Romanek's. As an example when Michael Jackson smashes his guitar, his anger and the destruction which moves with it is emphasized by the slow-motion creating a bigger and more dramatic impact for the audience.
The artists are the constant focus of the video, at least of them is always in the frame, and attention is draw towards them by their black outfits against the white walls. Romanek also has Michael Jackson performing some of his iconic moves that he is well known for to draw attention to the artist's popularity and fame; which in the case of the lyrics is being abused by the media.
The music video of Scream went on to be nominated for many awards including a Grammy Award, an American Music Award and numerous MTV Video Music Awards. The Guinness Book of World Records also listed it as the most expensive music video ever to be made t $7 million. It has been influenced by the artistic talents of sci-fi Japanese anime, these pictures can be seen on the screens inside the spaceship, they are usually screaming in time with the artists.
This is a fantastic example of a quality video, the attention to the editing detail has taken a great amount of skill by the editor and the director. On a personal response, this video is something to aspire too, not only was the song personal to the artist but it helped Michael Jackson to connect with his fans and help them to see how these accusations were wrong to the artist. The music and the visuals blend well together to create excellent artwork which has been admired by many.
Good analysis of the music video. For the next one that you do try to also talk about the ideas of Goodwin and do a bit of technical reading - camera work, editing, link between images and lyric, link between images of music etc.
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