Michael Jackson - They Don't Care About Us - Directors Commentary

Michael Jackson - They Don't Care About Us - Audience Feedback

Michael Jackson - They Don't Care About Us (COMPLETED MUSIC VIDEO)

Question 2

The effectiveness of our main product relates to our magazine advert and CD cover as the power of the image reflects the emotions of the song. At the start of the video, we intended to create a mysterious effect to the song by hiding the performers face and we continued to use this concept throughout our magazine advert and CD cover. Within the video we used an effect to reveal the performers face which he then emerges into the energetic performance, this is continued throughout our video as it connects to our initial idea portrayed through the song. As we had many dance scenes in the video, we decided to use the scenes where only the silhouette of the performer can be seen, as this showed the image we wanted to create of the performer, which the pose reflected the power of the song. This idea was used within the album cover, the inside and back cover, as well as the magazine advert which includes a pose of the performer with his hand clenched, held high, which reflects the power symbol, and implies, that it is actually the people who have the power to change the world. The magazine advert and CD cover helps to sell the product as the black and white effect and the silhouette adds a mysterious effect the song, so would make people want to find out what the song is about, as the images are powerful. The idea that was used for the advert of the original ‘They Don’t Care About Us’ song was different, as Michael Jackson was already classed as the best entertainer of all time, people already knew who he was, however Michael Jackson intended to use his emotion to sell his product, as opposed to previous album covers and adverts, he looks angry, which he uses costume and a background from the prison version of the video ‘They Don’t Care About Us’. As in our music video the performer wouldn’t be known to the public, the power of the image would be enough to sell the product, as this relates to the theme of the music video. The title ‘They Don’t Care About Us’ has enough impact on itself to appeal to our target audience as ‘They’ could be anyone. It’s up to the audience to decide who is ‘They’ which the video questions who is responsible for some of the issues raised. By using a silhouette, this takes away the attention from the artist, to the title of the song which is the most important technique in advertising our product. This concept links to the conspiracy theory Michael Jackson raised in his versions, as some might suggest killuminati is responsible, whereas others may believe that government is. There are many situations within the music video when the performer is not clearly visible, which suggests the same idea as the magazine poster and the album front and back cover, which the power of these connotes anger and mystery.

Question 1

In our music video, we intended to draw attention to important aspects of people’s lives, which they would usually ignore. Our music video was inspired by the original concept created from Michael Jackson’s version of ‘They Don’t Care About Us’ by shooting extreme poverty in the streets of brazil, including a black civil rights campaign ‘Olodum’ and the energy of the aggressive performance from Michael Jackson himself. Our video was also inspired by other Michael Jackson songs and videos with the same purpose, such as ‘Bad’, ‘Human Nature’ and ‘Beat It’. We intended to address the same concept in our music video by similarly using an aggressive theme to the performance included in the singing and dancing, and using footage of former president of the United States: Franklin Delano Roosevelt as well as the black civil rights movement: Martin Luther King Jr. However we also wanted to capture the attention of the audience we would most likely attract by filming homeless people, cold, and begging in the dark which relates to the intention of the video, filming the performer singing and dancing in dark scenes around the Castlefield area located in Manchester, and shooting in remote areas which like the black and white effect in our video, connotes a dark and dull theme to the video. The originality of our music video comes from the dance style and the performance, as the guitar solo is the most powerful part of the video as this is when the performer expresses the meaning of the song using dance moves from the original video which is also included towards the end of the song. These ideas have been adopted from other Michael Jackson music videos previously mentioned in the blog as each video has a specific dance theme related to the genre of the music video, the lyrics, and time zone as Michael Jackson has a different dance theme for each video such as the difference between the image portrayed from the dance moves from ‘Billie Jean’, to the dance moves from ‘Bad’, as the dancing in both videos was an expression of the meaning to the song. Our music video broke the usual conventions of a music video from a similar genre as rather than using imagery to portray the meaning of the song, our performance was a key source in sending the message to our viewers by limiting the effects we would add to the music video. The video also breaks the conventions as the performance enhances the narrative of the song by building up the emotions of the viewers which are expressed through the dancing scenes in the song. The overall intention of our music video production is to create a more modern outlook to the current issues often raised in today’s society as the video relates to the problems, which the video addresses who is responsible for these problems and who’s actions have impacted on the world today in a negative or positive light in terms of the situations that commonly occur in today’s world.

CD Cover Finished

Our final magazine advert had very few minor changes.

Firstly, the quote was changed because within our group we agreed a more intellectual quote would be more effective. We also changed the name of the newspaper that quoted the song because The Guardian is stereotypically read by those more intellectual people.

Secondly, we changed the stars. We created our own star using a different application and then inserted and duplicated the star in order to make the rating more obvious to the viewer. The bold yellow colour which is used to fill the star is the only bright colour on the page, and for this reason makes the stars stand out to the viewer and the colour helps to catch the corner of their eye.

Thirdly, we added a link to the official Michael Jackson website. We made this text smaller as it is less important to advertise the CD but it informs the reader that they could find out more information by visiting the website.

Finally, a slight change in the position of the parental advisory image to the bottom right hand corner. We made this change because we felt that it was still necessary to have this image on the poster so that the listeners are aware of the explicit content but it shouldn't be next to the text as it could be misleading and viewers may think that the explicit content was on the poster.