Analysis

The song that we are using in our music video is the Michael Jackson 90s hit Jam, from the 1991 dangerous album. It became universally popular through the music video, as the most famous 'Michael' in music, collaborated with the biggest 'Michael' in sport at the time, which was Michael Jordan the famous basketball player. They both faced each other at their own talents, Jackson teaching Jordan how to dance, which Michael Jordan admitted was rather embarrassing, and Michael Jackson playing basketball against Jordan, which again seemed an unfair match.

The song was about people finding their peace in their own talent, and dancing relieving a natural feeling, as he quotes 'it ain't too much for me to Jam', meaning it isn't too hard for me to dance. Throughout the video he shows two young black boys playing brass instruments, which contrasts stereotypes and connotes people finding their own joy in whatever they do. The video also shows a young white male in urban clothes imitating Michael Jackson's dance moves, also contrasting to what you wouldn't know about this boy if you took a glance at him, which shows the power of talents showing everyone is unique. However the two main talents that were shown was basketball and dancing, but the message being whatever you wish to do you should do. It was also powerful in the sense that Michael Jackson was protecting his innocence in this song as some of the lyrics stated 'I told my brothers don't you ask me for no favours I'm conditioned by the system don't you talk to me don't scream and shout'. This refers to the alienation of the population that's expected, he then quotes 'I have to find my peace coz' no one seems to let me be', which then he refers to his innocence and protests that he is finding his peace to 'Jam'.

The camera work in this video was indispensable, as the shots created the theme and our group noted patterns with the camera shots, there were a lot of low angle shots of Michael which added to the illusion of his dance moves and makes him look like the superior dancer he is, a pattern of tracking shots and panning shots were used and merged with the theme being fast and up beat. Also medium shots, close ups and extreme close ups were used with some of the characters to show specific detail of the props (the brass instruments).

In terms of the mise en scene, the costume of Michael jackson matches Michael Jordan with the orange shirt and orange vest, which also matches with a key prop (the basketball). This creates a colour theme and a colour association, so when people think of the video a colour association of orange comes to mind, which became inspirational in our ideas. Additonally the distinctive white socks of Michael Jackson was important, as it is part of his trade mark and tells us he is dancing. Also Michael Jordan's sporty kit is used as most people picture the basketballer in his kit, so we know it is Michael Jordan. And the lighting is important as it is used on the basketball court, or uses natural lighting. Most of the transitions are cuts as it is an up-beat tempo, also camera shots is used with close ups, extreme close ups and long shots are used for almost a cataphoric reference of what the video is going to be about. With shots of Michael Jordan bouncing a basketball with a silhouette effect. Additionally most of the lip syncing has a close up of Michael Jackson, with a silhouette effect using natural lighting beaming from the window. The motion is played with as either increased, or decreased motion which is effective as a fast beat song.