Michael Jackson – Black or White

DECONSTRUCTION OF MUSIC VIDEO

GOODWIN’S KEY FEATURES OF A MUSIC VIDEO

1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristic (for example stage performance in metal video and dance routine for boy/girl band).

2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

3. There is a relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close-ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).

5. There is frequently reference to the notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc…) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

6. There is often intertextual reference (to films, TV programmes, other music videos, etc…).

FEATURE ONE.

• The main genre characteristic in the music video is that the artist is the centre of attention for almost all of the video, this is a usual characteristic to find in a singer songwriter music video.

• The artist is dressed in casual clothes, being a singer songwriter these artists are expected to be dressed in casual attire which they would usually wear, because their music is associated with being about themselves and experiences in their lives and therefore dress in the music videos how they would in real life.

FEATURE TWO.

• The song is about racism and equality, there are various visuals that match lyrics within the video:- ‘It don’t matter if you’re black or white’, here the singer is seen dancing with Indians in the background who are of a ‘black’ origin.

- ‘And I told you about equality’, here the artist is now dancing with a woman with a different ethnicity which would match the lyrics of ‘equality’.

- The artist throughout the whole music video is seen dancing with various ethnicities, which match the songs meaning of equality and racism.

FEATURE THREE.

• The opening music in the video is very upbeat and happy, this sets the mood for the rest of the song which is that different ethnicities and races coming together is a happy thing.

• The upbeat music gives the audience the want to dance, which matches the visuals of the artist dancing.

• The constant guitar sound is very catchy and therefore sticks in the heads of the audience making them rememberthe song, this matches the visuals of when the artist is dancing with different races and ethnicities, because it will make the audience remember what the song is about.

• The artist dancing to the sound of the guitar which creates the connotation that he is enjoying what he is singing about.

FEATURE FOUR.

• There are lots of close ups of the artists face and just the artist himself, this promotes the singer as a solo artist, because he is the main attraction with all close ups on him.

• Due to the music video being set in what appears to be different countries it connotes with the different races and ethnicities of these countries the audience gathers from the close up shots taken, which therefore relates to the meaning of the song.

• The close ups is a heavy feature related with singer songwriters, because the aim of the close up shots is to make sure the audience establish who the singer is and that they are the main focus in the music videos.

FEATURE FIVE.

• The idea of looking is presented through the boy’s father’s eyes in the music video as watching the artist while he performs. This connotes with the fact the father does not approve of his son’s love for the artist’s music and therefore the video purposely shows him being forced to listen to what the artist is singing about.

• The presentation of the females in the music video are shown as non-voyeuristic, this connotes with the nature of the video being about equality and therefore would not fit in with the song to show females as being presented any differently to males.

FEATURE SIX.

• There is slight intertextuality within the music video, because the whole song is based around racism and equality, which some audiences may only be aware of due to newspapers or the television. This is connoted when the artist is seen reading a newspaper and sings the lyrics ‘they print my message in the Saturday Sun’.• The fact the artist has used a newspaper name

‘Saturday Sun’ makes the song more intertextual where as if he was to just to refer it as a newspaper.

• There is also a clip of what seems to be a news clip on the television showing war, this makes the video slightly more intertextual by now involving the television.