Music Video Analysis - Thriller by Michael Jackson

‘Thriller’ was released in December 1983 worldwide by the ‘King Of Pop’, Michael Jackson for his studio album ‘Thriller’. The music video for ‘Thriller’ is 14 minutes long and was directed by John Landis. The official music video was released by Epic Records and Vestron Video. The video was also released via Michael Jackson’s VEVO channel 8 years ago and currently has over 450 million views.  

This music video is a mix two styles: it is narrative based but contains performance to the audience as part of the narrative story. This music video makes use of lip-syncing throughout. I would say that the video relies heavily on mise-en-scene to make the narrative realistic. There was clearly a lot of effort that went into the production of this music video, specifically the mise-en-scene and the dance routine. For this reason, I think that the music video would have been very time consuming and expensive to produce but it was clearly worth it due to its success.  

Mise-En-Scene

As this is a partly narrative based music video we would expect a few props. Props used in this music video include: the ring me gives to her, his popcorn, and a the car that breaks down. At the beginning of the music video, a teenage Michael and his unnamed girlfriend are featured. He is wearing a classic red varsity jacket, blue jeans, white socks and dance shoes. His costume, particularly the varsity jacket works to make him look like a teenager in the 1950’s. His unnamed girlfriend is wearing a pink and purple 1950’s dress with white socks and a pair of Aris  1950’s swing dancing shoes. Both her shoes and dress are typical pieces of fashion from the 1950’s – dresses with a bell shaped bottom were very popular for women in the 1950’s.

Both her shoes and dress are typical pieces of fashion from the 1950’s – dresses with a bell shaped bottom were very popular for women in the 1950’s. Both of their costumes work effectively to ensure that they match the narrative – this scene was meant to be set in  the 1950’s. 

Both of their costumes work effectively to ensure that they match the narrative – this scene was meant to be set in  the 1950’s. In the other half of the video, teenage Michael Jackson is wearing an all red outfit that consists of a red leather jacket, red trousers and dance shoes. His unnamed girlfriend is wearing a denim jacket and low heels with pink/purple three quarter length trousers  which were a popular fashion statement during the 80’s (the time around the video was filmed).  As for location, the beginning scene at the movie theatre was filmed at the Palace Theatre in downtown Los Angeles.  The zombie dance sequence was filmed at the junction of Union Pacific Avenue and South Calzona Street in East Los Angeles and the final house scene was filmed in the Angeleno Heights neighbourhood at 1345 Carroll Avenue also in Los Angeles. I would say that low key lighting is used throughout the video because the narrative is at night. 

Camerawork

In terms of camera work, there are a wide variety of camera shots, due to the film being narrative, it is almost like a mini film which would usually require multiple camera shots to appropriately capture what is going on. A long shot and head on shot are used at the beginning in the shot where the car is being driven towards the camera. Over the shoulder shots are used when they are talking in the car, this is effective as they are having a conversation; it puts the audience into the perspective of the characters. After this, various close ups are used to capture the close relationship between the two and establish the characters to the audience. A pan upwards is used when they are walking to put focus on their
costumes.  

Close ups, medium shots and over the shoulder shots are used during their conversation in the street. Close ups are again used specifically when Michael Jackson is turning into a werewolf, the reason for these close ups is that they allow the audience to see the characters’ emotions and empathise with them.  


There are also extreme close ups of his ears and hands changing. Long shots and medium shots are used to capture her running away into the woods and him chasing her through them. Close up shots are also used to show them in the cinema. A long shot is used when they come out of the cinema to establish location and costume. Head on shots are used when the zombies are coming towards the camera. Medium shots are used to show the group of zombies dancing.

Sound

Since the music video is largely narrative based, the music doesn’t actually start until 4.13 and the lyrics don’t start until 4.43. The whole song is only sung by Michael Jackson himself. The song is about the genre of thriller and things that happen in a supernatural world. The beginning (narrative only) section features sound effects like screaming, growling and some suspenseful music in the background. There is a backing track which was made from two modified minimoogs playing in unison. (A minimoog is a type of synthesiser which generates sound electronically). 

Editing

The music video starts with a black screen and text that reads “Due to my strong personal convictions, I wish to stress that this film in no way endorses a belief in the occult. Michael Jackson.” As Michael Jackson was a Jehovah’s witness as the time and believing in zombies and other supernatural occurrences was frowned upon, he was saying to the audience that although the music video features examples of this, it does not reflect his own personal beliefs. Followed by this comment at the beginning of the music video which fades to black comes the song title which fades in, presented in thick red lettering before it too fades to black. As far as I can tell the only video transitions are cuts and fades to black At the end of the music video, there is a series of credits that are presented in white gothic style writing. 

▶    Discuss the representation of people especially focusing on gender identity including voyeurism

The main characters in the music video are teenage Michael Jackson and his unmade girlfriend (Ola Ray). I think that this music video presents women in a negative way based on the fact that throughout the video, she is portrayed as helpless and vulnerable to both the zombies and him as a werewolf. For example, she gets scared in the cinema and runs out which leads him to leave to make sure she is alright. Another example is at the end of the video when she is hiding in the house and he saves her. The fact that throughout the video she is helpless to the zombies without him make him appear as if he is superior to her and she is just a damsel in distress type character. 

▶    What can you say about the record label behind the production this? Has this influenced the final product? If so, how?

The two record labels behind the production are Epic Records and Columbia Records. Both of these record labels are owned by one of the big 3 – Sony Music Entertainment. 

One of the reasons I think that both record labels didn’t influence the final product is because the idea for the music video came from Jackson having seen Landis’ previous work on the horror film ‘An American Werewolf in London’. After seeing this, Jackson decided he wanted his main character to go through a similar transformation. Michael Jackson also stated that his idea was to make the short film with conversation – consisting of a beginning, middle and end similar to the style of a story. He also said himself that he was very much involved with the production and planning for the music video, this is evident through the music video itself. For this reason I think that the production of the music video wasn’t influenced by the record labels that distributed it. However, it could be argued that the record labels, being based in America did influence the choice of location as it was all filmed in Los Angeles. 

▶    What audience has been targeted and how can you tell? What makes it suitable for them? What type of audiences wouldn’t it be suitable for and why? Are there any secondary audiences?

Based on the concept of the narrative and the fact that it featured zombies and werewolves, I don’t think that the audience would have been young people and by young people I mean children or young teens. I think as an artist, Michael Jackson’s music appealed to a very wide audience. I think in terms of the main audience, the older generation would be targeted due to the fact that it is assumed that younger audiences prefer the pop and R&B genre rather than the disco and funk genre however, I would say that the secondary audience would be young adults/middle aged adults as all his music was very unique and iconic would appeal to them.

Watch the full music video here: