Task 2-Summer Work

3rd Genre and Artist

Pop - Michael Jackson

As the well known 'King of Pop,' Michael Jackson was renowned worldwide for his incredible talent to both sing and dance, with all routines choreographed by himself, his dancing become as iconic as the music of which he was famous for.
With such diversity to his talent, Michael had an equally diverse portfolio of videos to match; from cultural and ethical videos such as 'Earth Song' and 'They Don't Care About Us,' to the suave and sophisticated videos of 'Smooth Criminal,' and 'You Rock My World.'

Props

The extended video of 'Smooth Criminal' was made in light of Michael Jackson's feature film titled 'Moonwalker,' which provides a more extensive view of the props used within the video.  The video overall is very elaborate which fits nicely with the time of which it is set.

Costume

To capture these images adequately, all aspects of costumes and props were tailored to fit the videos. As an example, in the video to 'Smooth Criminal,' the aptly created set involved 1950's-style 'Gangster' clothing to re-inforce the nature of the song, set in a typical dark and smokey bar full of villainous looking characters.

Video Analysis and Representation

At the start of the video, Michael Jackson enters into the scene and immediately the viewers attention is cast upon him due to the angle of the camera, capturing his whole body and suave clothing. He is wearing a black suit with an orange shirt and a black hat. His suit trousers are shortened and his white socks are visible, an iconic image seen within many of Jackson's videos.
Michael's clothing in this shot reflects the diversity of his music and this new adaption of pop, due to the unusual style that he presents.

 In this shot, Michael Jackson is captured dancing, which was a usual occurrence for him in the majority of his videos. It reflects the rawness of his music, and the down to earth, realism of his musical ideas and passions. It also show cases his talent as a dancer as well as a singer, giving him a performing status, which was very important to him and his pop genre. The camera is looking up at him, with a low angle shot, this makes Michael look larger on stage and really emphasises his talent.

In this scene, Michael Jackson has just flirted with the female at the bar and taken her behind this red screen. It is obvious to the viewer what his intentions are, however the use of the editing technique of the red screen, makes the shot more secretive and represents Jackson as a bit of a lady's man, marketing not only this particular song, but Jackson as an overall artist. He is seen to be charming and flirtatious, this is the image he wants to portray in his videos as it fits with his cool, and sophisticated style of pop.

Task 2-Summer Work

2nd Genre and Artist

Rock - Linkin Park
This gritty, hard-edged American rock band brought forth a new sound of rock, infused with hip-hop elements that made them one of the most successful and unique rock bands in the world. With an interesting mixture of talent in the band they managed to keep to the stereotypical rock image with striking hairstyles, rip-effect jeans, skate shoes or converses, a vast number of facial piercings and a rebellious attitude. However, underneath the band's primary image, the collection of it's members talents meant that they were far from a usual rock group. With a DJ and his PA system using live technology to add to the music, rapped verses typically heard in R'n'B and Hip-Hop and well sung choruses and middle eights, Linkin Park seemed a world away from being labelled as rock.

Props
In their videos Linkin Park perform as a group using the 'usual' instruments seen such a bass guitar, electric guitars and a drum kit but due to their unique approach they also have the aforementioned PA system and the accompanying DJ. The band also boasts several well pieced CGI graphics and other intricate graphical effects within their videos.

Clothing
Linkin Park represented a worldwide fashion image seen amongst teenagers and young adults of the time that exhaled an outcry of rebellious young people who cared little about themselves or others. This selflessness could clearly be reflected by the lack of consideration for self-image, and their negative, rebellious attitude towards others and society, letting music become a dependency of self-justification.

The correlation between image and attitude is clear by viewing certain items of clothing and accessories this particular group of individuals wore. As mentioned above, striking hairstyles and facial piercings are just a minute handful of different attributes that evolved into teenage society, where the consistent battling between public expectation and these young adults' personal preferences occurred.

Pictured Right:
The stereotypical image associated with the band.

Task 2-Summer Work

1st Genre and Artist:

Dance - Tiesto
As a worldwide superstar in the clubbing scene, Tiesto appeals massively to the young generations of modern times and he has therefore become an independent icon from his music, with a recent accessories collaboration with Guess watches and his own 'Club Life' merchandise on sale for those who follow him closely and admire his music.

In his videos there is a clear 'party' message being broadcast to the viewers to reflect upon the feel good vibe and atmosphere that is one of the fundamentals of dance music since it began. In a lot of his videos, Tiesto is featured DJ'ing in a club which portrays a vibrant, eccentric and party-starter image. However, many videos that feature his songs focus mainly on the artist or singer performing it. They also focus on actors to tell a mini-story in connection with the music, lyrics and vibe - of which it is a typical night-life club atmosphere.

Props
It is evident in Tiesto's videos that there is not a vast amount of complexity with little or no special effects or CGI intervention being used like there is in many modern music videos.
It is clear that the prop list in Tiesto's videos isn't extensive but there has been much thought in capturing the correct image to fit the music and overall ambience. The most commonly used props are a DJ booth with Tiesto on the turntables, the club in which the film is shot and the attendants being filmed dancing.

Even though this does not sound elaborate, the end result is by far the opposite with a glitzy, glamourous and high-energy video that fully captures the 'high life' element that is so predominant in all types of dance music.

Costume
Much like the props list, there isn't a vast list of different costumes as seen in many more eccentric music videos, which makes it quite difficult to categorise it as 'dance music.'

Quite frequently Tiesto will appear in casual clothing in his videos such as a t-shirt and jeans, and a lot of the time he will be wearing his own merchandise to market the completed package even more. However, the club's attendants, and more specifically the female selection of clubbers, appear dressed-up and glamorous reflecting a culture of impression setting amongst young females in modern times.

Featured right: A typical picture related to the ambience of a Tiesto concert.