Music Video Analysis 1 - Michael Jackson's Thriller

Genre: Funk/Disco (Concept/Narrative/Performance)
Directed by John Landis
Released on 2nd November 1983

This video can be said as one of the most popular and successful music videos of all time. Director John Landis released this phenomenon of a video in 1984 under the album which is thought by many die hard fans as Michael Jackson's most popular and successful music of all time.
 

Thriller is a music video that blurs the barrier between fiction and reality, a video about a typical girlfriend-boyfriend situation that does turn quite hairy. I would say that this video pays homage to the horror genre: scary bloodthirsty werewolves, undead zombies, deserted graveyards and the distinctive voice narration by Vincent Price. Vincent Price has been associated to the horror genre (well before Thriller was produced) with works like the 1953 horror film, ‘House of Wax’, the 1958 monster movie ‘The Fly’ and a 1959 horror-thriller, ‘The Tingler’.

Another genre tie-in is the abandoned house. I believe that this house is very similar to that of the abandoned house in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 thriller, ‘Psycho’. The scene in the abandoned house is very similar to the one in ‘Night of the Living Dead’ where people are trapped in a haunted house while the zombies surround them. This scene also follows an idea thought up by Carol J Clover. In her book, ‘Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film’, she suggests that in most horror/thriller movies (particularly ones that involve a psychopathic killer) that a female character in such a movie would be the ‘last one standing’ or the one that confronts the killer. She called it ‘Last Girl’. In a sense this hypothesis can be applied to this video as Jackson has fallen and has become a zombie himself and Ola Ray (Jackson’s girlfriend) must defend herself from the coming horde of zombies.

The video follows quite a puzzling narrative. From the start to the abandoned house scene it seems as though the events surrounding Jackson and his girlfriend is real which is reinforced by the low key lighting which added a sense of realism and a creepy atmosphere. But the dream is finally shattered when Ray wakes up before she is about to be ‘zombiefied’. She sees that a rather calm, normal looking Michael Jackson lifting her up, putting an arm around her shoulder and about to take her home. But before they reach the door, Jackson turns around to face the audience, showing his devilish yellow eyes and the video ends with a spine chilling laugh by Vincent Price. Although the video does arrive to a climax, the audience is still left unsure as to whether the end scene of the video is the dream or the reality.

This video does use plenty of music video conventions like choreographed dancing (which have become iconic), following a narrative and lip syncing. Early 1980’s clothes were used as they were modern at the time, indicating that Jackson had the young Americans in mind in terms of target audience. This is reinforced by using the horror genre which is often associated with young adults as they are known for preferring thrillers over rom-coms or animated movies.

Seamless or continuity editing is used throughout the whole video which is preferred by the younger generations. This also allows the audience to focus on the going-ons in the shot. Semi-long takes allow the audience to carefully study the shot: the dance routine, Jackson and the location. These long takes have allowed the audience to replicate many of the internationally famous dance moves. Short takes are also used, especially in the werewolf scene to increase tension and speed up the pace of the scene. High angle shots are used to show Ray’s feeble and low stature as the zombies crowd her. Long shots are used to show the choreographed dancing to express the hard work put in by choreographers. Towards the end of the video Jackson is shown looking down at Ray in a low angle shot. The light behind him makes him look angelic, he has been sent to save her from the zombies by waking her up.