Favourite 3 Music Videos

In this post I will analyse my personal favourite 3 videos from the '100 Greatest Music Videos' list. I will analyse them in terms of Mise En Scene, Cinematography and Editing.

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

This video uses Mise en scene, cinematography and  editing very effectively. The concept of the video is a reporter following Michael Jackson trying to get a picture, for a story. The story is of a woman who is claiming Michael is the father of her child. In the video Mise-En-Scene is used, it is set in a peculiar place where there are hardly any residents around. In the video every Michael becomes very bright, playing on the phrase "everything I touch turns to gold". Also whenever the reporter gets close enough to get a good photo, Michael seems to disappear into thin air, which could be re-enforcing the fact that he cannot be linked to the story. The visual quality of the video is not great but this is quite an old video and so it is expected. The director uses quite long shots, with glimpses of quick edits. He also uses a range of shots, Medium shots, Close Ups and Long Shots. This is used to allow the viewer to get the full feel of the video.

Outkast - Hey Ya

This video was quite controversial at the time of it's release. This is due to the fact that at this time the duo Outkast were going through a rough patch, whereby neither the media nor fans of the group knew whether they were still together. In the video one member of the group 'Andre 3000' performed as every member of the band from the singer to the drummer. This caused as a stir as it could have been making the statement that he was the only one in the group and the rumours of a split may be true, however the other member of the group 'Big Boi' appeared at the start in the form of Andre's manager. The song itself has an old school feel to it, and seemed like a song that would have been released in the 90s. This aspect was illustrated in the video as it shows a singer and band performing at a show with ladies dressed as though they were from the 90s, the whole video had this sort of feel. Also parts of the video are shown through an old TV in black and white, and the band are all wearing matching colour schemes in their outfit. All of these features, along with the polaroid pictures, illustrate the 'old school' nature of the song.

Eminem - Stan

This video was used to tell the story of a crazed Eminem fan who was driven to homicide due to Eminem not replying to his fan mail. It was quite a dark story and caused a stir in the industry however it was a very successful song which also helped in the success of the album 'The Marshall Mathers LP'. The song also used a sample from the song 'Thank You' By Dido, who also appeared in the video, which helped to launch her stardom. The video begins with a shot of heavy rain as the camera moves towards and through a bedroom window; the rain was used to re-enforce the spooky feel of the song and it is also accompanied thunder and lightning which are often perceived as scary types of weather. Throughout the video there is not much lighting as it is supposed to illustrate the dark nature and help to fit in with the story of the crazed, homicidal fan. Many close ups are used on the character 'Stan' to show the emotion in his face as he narrates the lyrics.