Task 5 - (Research - Michael Jackson's 'Scream')

"Scream" by Michael Jackson featuring Janet Jackson was recorded in 1994 but released in 1995. It is the most expensive music video ever to be concieved, at an astronomical cost of seven million dollars. This crazy cost, in my opinion, seems to have been wasted and not used affectively. Its impossible to know exactly what they spent that fortune on but one website breaks it down like this ;

Computer-generated spaceship: $65,000

Breaking guitars: $53,000 <<< they must have been platinum!

Morphing artworks: $50,000

Michael's makeup: $3,000

Janet's makeup: $8,000 a day <<< Jealous women everywhere

Choreography: $40,000 <<< thought they were amazing dancers?

Giant video screen: $80,000 <<< surely could have used CGI ?

Lighting: $175,000

Total cost of 11 sets: $5,000,000

Now to me that is absolutely staggering! A complete waste of money. With his massive reputation and respect, for his musical abilities, surely he didn't need to use so much money on promoting his video. He could have got an A-Level student to make a video with a £500 camera and still sold millions! But if you take a different a outlook on this, you could argue that this was not actually a music promo but a piece of artwork. They decided to spare no expense and make it look exactly how the envisaged. If they were trying to make this video an artwork, they succeeded because it won multiple awards for it. Although it would have won more if the song was actually half decent.

This song is meant to be a retaliation towards the media, over their handling of the accusations that were made against Michael Jackson regarding paedophilia. Throughout the song there are many examples of their disgust towards the media, here is an example of this ; 'You (the media) tell me I'm wrong, You better prove your right'. This is a quite blatent dig at the media. This just shows how angry they were, this is also represented in the look of the video. It is black and white which gives it a dark feel. Janet Jacksons make-up is extremely dark. Her eyes are surrounded by a very black make-up and her hair is wild and it gives her such an angry feel to her persona. Although the lighting is very bright in all the shots, you can still sense the anger that is being portrayed by the siblings.
There is numerous hints towards the media such as at 2.05 'Media' comes up on a small screen. There is also a visual representation of Michaels skin changing from Black to White at 0.34 one of them scrapes a tar like material off of their legs. This is obviously relevant to the media because they covered his illness intensely.

Now on to the mise en scene. Im just going to break it down into sections.

Lighting → It is very very well lit by unnatural light. I don't really see a connection between sexuality or gender regarding the lighting.

Costume → They are both dressed in similar attire which makes them seem as if they are the same gender. Janet wears a top which shows her breasts, this shows she is definitely a woman.

Make-up → There is lots of it, they are both covered. This maximises Janets femininity, destroys Michaels masculinity and possibly throws his sexuality into considerable doubt.

Set → This is very futuristic and it is in space. This just shows how Jackson wanted to leave this planet and get away from all the media attention he received on a daily basis.

Blocking → some of Janet's movements are rather sexy at times which doesn't really represent these things but with Michael his movements are really feminine which goes against the conventions of a man.

Props → The only prop that assists the understanding of gender is when Michael is smashing the guitars up, he almost looks more manly.

décor → The décor is very bland. Black, Grey and white. These colours are very usually more masculine because women are drawn to colours.

In summary Michael is made to look like a man really badly. The only way I can think of is when he smashes the guitars, this is a pretty aggressive act which is usually associated with men. But to be honest he even smashes the guitars in a feminine way added to his long hair a masses of make-up he really doesn't portray masculinity very well. With Janet they do a good job of making her look feminine even though she is clearly angry. She is wearing make-up which is definitely a girl thing, she also has a very revealing top on which definitely accentuates her feminine parts. This is for the male viewers because without this little glimpse of her breast this video would have no sex appeal for straight men.

Task 4 (Research - Music Promo Research)

In this task I will be referring to Goodwin's 6 Areas of analysis which are as follows;

Conventions - These are the generic things that occur in specific genres.
Links between Lyrics and Visuals - Do the words match what you are seeing.
Links between Music and Visuals - Do the speed of cuts increase as the tempo increases.
Selling the Artist - Does the video portray the artist in a good light.
Intertextuality - Is there references to other people in the song or video.
Voyeurism - is there nice things to look at, like women in underwear.


Master Shortie - Dead end.

This video is a very upbeat, urban track. Master shortie is a relevantly unknown artist who has got a few well known records but this one is definitely a more mainstream approach by him. The song is about him seeing loads of attractive women and wanting them but he then has to remind himself that he has a good girl at home.
The shots used give the video a light hearted feel to go with the fairly funny lyrics such as 'Like a toaster I collect dough'. He also says 'I clock Bnp argh no!' which is a bit deeper given the light 'heartedness' of the video because the BNP are a white supremisist political party and he is black. This is a good example of intertextuality.


Another reference to race is at 1.26 and there is a poster with Mussolini and this is a clear reference to this. There is also a theme that runs through this video and that is that he sees a beautiful woman and then next shots are him with the girl in her underwear crawling around in a bed. Which was probably his idea.


The shots in the bedroom are quite hazy and may be representative of him imagining these scenes. All of the scenes and shots are very well lit, they are all bright and airy. The voyeuristic values of the shot above are clear. This helps to portray the happiness and fun of the video. In regards to mise en scene, the lighting is bright and as I mention before it makes it feel happy and upbeat. The costumes that he wears are all very 'indie' and modern. He looks very casual and comfortable which makes it look like an every day occurrence for him. The women in the video all wear their every day clothing until the shots wear they are in their underwear, which is very nice. All of the women are wearing make up which helps them all to look flawless. The set is made up of a very bright town, possibly an italian town, which as i said before adds to the positive feel of the video. The other scenes are in a bedroom as he is fantasising about being with these women there.




Chase and Status ft Plan B - Pieces.

This video is a bit darker and 'Grittier'. It features some sexual scenes and a little bit of fighting. This video shows the anger coming from both sides. It isn't a very conventional video and it does push the boundaries of what is acceptable. The video starts with Plan B singing and playing the guitar, this is a direct link between the music and the visuals as is the amount of cuts that occur when the tempo increases, as the music picks up so does the amount of cuts to make the video seem more action packed. A link between the lyrics and the visuals happens when the words are 'I remember when I used to feel somethin (repeated) but now I'm cold inside!' when its says the remember bit, the shots show old memories of Plan B's birthday, which is when the crazy ex felt something. When the lyrics say now I'm just cold inside, the shots begin to show the ex ruining his flat. This is a very clear link. The shots in the flat have a green tint which is saying that it is dark and they are using night vision to film it.

This picture shows how the night vision is used and also how angry she looks.
The video is not really one to sell the artist but just to aid the meaning of the video. Chase and Status are the two blokes in the studio with Plan B and they are not particularly shown as a main character or even hightlighted as important. Plan B is a main character and it does sell him as a good actor as the emotion he shows looks very realistic. The Voyeurism in this video is the girls touching eachother and a few other 'sexy' shots but the main bit is when the mental ex is having intercourse with a man in the toilets, some people may find this arousing if they enjoy spying on people 'making love'.

This is the 'Love Making' scene.

The lighting in this video is dark throughout apart from in the memories of Plan B's birthday, this helps us differeciate between which is which. The costumes are all average clothing which makes it feel like a normal house party, other than one man in a costume which does add to the craziness of the party. The sets were Plan Bs flat and the music studio, these are two very fimiliar places for B.

Task 3 (Research - The Growth of Music Videos)

Task 2 (Research - Genre Comparative Study)

The two videos I have chosen to compare are Chipmunk - Muhammad Ali and Bashy - Who wants to be a Millionaire. The reason was because I like the two songs basically. As i did in the first task, I will compare them on the 6 different areas.

The conventions for this new Grime genre are not very clear but i think i know what they are. Both of these videos have shots in the streets, this is definately an occurance in all grime videos. This is because the genre originated from the streets and estates of London, therefore they like to show where they come from and however wealthy they become that they won't forget where they have come from. In both of these videos they are seen going through a market , chipmunk was jogging and bashy was pushing a trolley. In these sequences they use fast cuts, this is because the songs themselves are fairly upbeat and lively. Bashys song is the quicker of the 2 and this is represented purely by the vast amount of cuts. i had a rough count and within 30 seconds there was about 30/40.

One thing that stands out to me, being a follower of the genre, is the amount of intertextuality that is included in these two tracks. The lyrics have a few examples of this but the video does have some as well. In bashys video the first example in the lyrics is when he says 'Lemme see ya go down low, Wit ya head shoulderz knees n toes!' The second half of the line is from another song from a group called K.I.G. and they appear in the shot when he says this line. Also Adam Deacon, an actor in aDulthood which bashy made the main song for, made a brief appearance. In Chipmunks song the most obvious part is when he says 'i float like a butterfly, sting like a bee' an obvious tribute to Muhammad Ali. Most of chipmunks stuff is in the visual stuff such as at 0-50 he bumps into skepta, a more experience MC in grime, at 1-30 he is with tinchy stryder who is also an MC, 1-37 he is with Bashy who sing the song i am compare this to, 1-44 he is with ghetto i am sure you can guess what he does and at 2-27 he bumps into DJ ironik. All of these artists are from London and it shows he has links with other big stars from this genre.

In Bashys tune there is a couple of examples of links between the visuals and the lyrics as there is in chipmunks. the most obvious in bashys is when the chorus starts and he is collecting the bags of money from his followers another is when he say 'I'm on my grind ima grizzly bear' and his head changes into a bear. The next is when he says 'Bashy! big beard No trim... big hair' and it shows two people with a big beard and big hair. In chipmunks the most obvious one is whenever he says Muhammad Ali, there is a graffiti portrait of him with Muhammad Ali scrawled underneath it. Other than that there isn't many more examples of this.

In both videos there is attempts to sell themselves. Bashy shows himself to be fun and versatile. He just looks to be enjoying his time and this will have a positive effect on the person watching this as they feel the urge to move. He even has a little dance, which is very unusual for a rapper to do. Normally they just stand there acting gangster but he threw a few shapes. Chipmunk is made to look hard working and serious but with a funny side which likes to have a laugh. The hard working bit is when he is in the gym and jogging, which is a metaphorical representation of how he practices his rapping. The fun side is shown by his general look on his face, he always looks to be enjoying it and having a laugh.

In conclusion i feel that they videos do have quite a few similarities and it is obvious that they have the influences. Yet they do have their differences which makes them unique in their own special way.

Task 1 (research - Initial Six Stage Analysis)

Kano - Hustler

Conventions- This artist falls into, the rather new, Grime genre. As it is so new, it doesn't really have many conventions. Therefore it is a guess as to what they are. So I think that it does follow the conventions such as being set in a London estate and having a drug dealer theme.

visuals + lyrics- The only time that the visuals and the lyrics convey each other is when kano says 'fire like i got the nine on cock, brap!' he pretends to cock back his shotgun. This is the only example I could find.

visuals + music- As above the time when he cocks back his imaginary gun, the music has the sound of a gun being cocked back. Other than that you would be at a push to find another time.

Intertextuality- This was very hard to find a link to anything else but I did find one. Kano says ' Everyday i hustle like a rick ross rhyme' This is a link because Rick Ross is an american rapper who has a record called hustlin'. So this very insignificant line in the song can be linked back to an american G.

selling the artist- Kano is made to look like a Drug Dealer who is leading his scantily clad army of female workers who are packaging his goods. Although he is not actually a Drug Dealer as such, the drug is represented by his music, and his followers are shown as the addicts that need his music.

art of looking- In this video there is a few women who are in just underpants. They do have their breasts out. Some people may find this offensive but most wouldn't really care too much. This may be for the viewers enjoyment but they are not the most amazing women I have ever seen.