Music Video Analysis 2

Micheal Jackson - Earth Song

The narrative of this music video is about how the world today is being exploited and ruined by the human race. There is a very powerful message in the lyrics to this song and the music video shows this message very clearly, with very powerful imagery! This song covers issues such as deforestation and war. Therefore again the narrative of the video match the lyrics of the song. The lyrics 'look what we've done to the world, look what we've done' sum up the whole song as there are images of trees being chopped down and dead animals. There are also images of destroyed towns after war which is obviously human caused. 

Camera Movement.....

When the video first starts we can see a low-angle shot looking up at the trees, moving slowly around showing off the rainforest's beautiful scenery. This particular camera movement is very effective in showing the viewer the beautiful surroundings because it gives the viewer a chance to view everything. This low- angle is also very effective as we can then see the sun shining through the tress adding to the emphasis of the lovely surroundings. Whilst this opening shot is occurring, atmospheric rainforest sounds can be heard. As the music begins to start at 0:30, we can then see a vehicle coming towards the camera which is destroying the beautiful trees. The camera is situated here so that it looks like the vehicle is coming towards us so that we are fully focused and shocked at the event we can see occurring on screen. We then see a variety of camera shots and movements throughout the music video. We get long-shots, mid-shots and close-ups of our main star who is singing the song to us and telling us the story. We also see panning shots of particular moving scenes. Throughout there are many effective close-up shots of the characters reaction in the music video to what is happening. This creates sympathy from the viewer. 

Mise-en-scene and imagery...

As mentioned before, it is clear that the imagery and mis-en-scene included in this particular music video is very moving, poignant and powerful, especially in portraying the narrative and meaning behind the lyrics. The mise-en-scene of where we see the majority of the star Michael Jackson singing is of an area which would have been a forrest that is on fire and destroyed, giving off a sense of loss and destruction. We are then shown contrasting images of before and after shots of some of the places that have been destroyed. Here are some examples:

 Throughout the video we are then shown some other moving and even disturbing shots that show how humans are exploiting and ruining the earths natural surroundings:

Towards the end of this video there are some special effects. It seems as though all the destruction that has taken place is amending itself. We see people, Michael Jackson included holding onto tress whilst a strong wind seems to pass through and fix all the issues we had seen throughout the video.

This effect makes the watcher believe there is hope and will most likely make them think about their own actions in how they may exploit the earth or could help prevent those who do.

The last image is of a healthy rainforest. This last image again stresses to the viewer that exploitation is wrong, further emphasising the message of the song and video. 

When looking at Goodwin's take on music videos, this video is a good example.

As discussed it does show that there is a relationship between lyrics and videos and between music and visuals. There are many close-ups of the artist to promote him and his music.