"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.
