Genre: Pop music
Target Audience: Principally young people but also all ages
Lyrics:
One of the verses that Jackson sings continually begins with the line
Annie are you OK?
So, Annie are you OK?
This means that he is continually concerned about his friend’s welfare. She appears to have been kidnapped, and is in trouble. Michael is searching for her and along the way he comes across some criminals, who get into fights with him. But he is more than a match for them saying
You’ve been hit by a smooth criminal.
Along his search, Jackson also predictably dances with a lot of pretty ladies, and even kisses some of them. At this point his feelings are underlined by the words:
Mouth to Mouth Resus” and “Sounding Heartbeats – Intimidations”
His heart beats faster because of the intense situation,with the ladies all being fascinated by his moves. However, Jackson’s main objective is to make sure Annie is “OK”.
Music Analysis:
The music is upbeat pop, with that “must dance to this” feeling to the beat. There are many instruments used, principally piano, trumpets and violins. The music is very dynamic and contemporary.
Video Analysis:
The video starts with a night-time establishing shot of two young children watching Jackson from a fence across from a nightclub. A green door opens and then Michael Jackson walks alone into a 1930’s style lounge wearing a tailored white suit, with white shoes and hat to match, connoting that h
e may be a slick and stylish business man Although the room appeared to be dark, there is a small amount of natural light coming through the windows and dim low single ceiling lights this may connote that there is possible danger a certain mystery atmosphere. The door slams behind him, the place goes silent. The people in the club all looked at Michael suspiciously, connoting the danger and fear in their eyes. He flicks back the right side of his jacket to expose his right hand trouser pocket, he slowly reaches into that pocket, you see an oriental woman stroking a black cat, and two men whispered to each other, a man concealing a gun under some papers. You hear the sound of the pin being released on a gun, connoting everyone is wary of his intentions. Michael flicks a coin across the room; the coin rotates through the air in slow motion, hearing a whizzing noise as it lands directly in the jukebox slot this shows Michael appears to be very magical and impresses everyone around him leaving them feeling astonished and that he really is this smooth clean cut guy with many tricks. The jukebox lights up, the music starts. A woman nods as if to say “he’s ok” the tension in the room disappears, connoting he’s not a threat.He then starts to dance on his own, whilst others then gather around him. He dances with dynamic precise moves, connoting he is in charge on the dance floor. A woman in red appears in the centre of the room whilst stroking her leg, two men fight for her attention, as they toss her aside they end up punching each other. Michael is engrossed with singing on the microphone, as women whispers in his ear, he look across at the two men fighting and runs across to separate them. With a medium camera shot he pushes them aside as he takes he
r hands and spins her around the room, hugging her body close to his. This makes Michael look like a hero who saved this woman and then after wood can have a romantic dance with her showing that he entices woman at the same time as doing all his criminal actions. In another section of the room you see what appears to be men gambling, as money is being thrown onto the floor which may indicates illegal gambling. A man comes along and picks up the money, Michael with one hand flips the man onto the floor and takes the cash and puts it in his shirt pocket whilst continuing to dance at the same time. The lyrics “you have been hit by a smooth criminal” are said by Michael. This shows that Michael is not just all talk and that he can handle other criminals and leaves them on their backs on the floor showing us that he is not to be messed with.Michael dances over to the snooker table, and in a medium close up shot of the camera, he catches a white ball, spins around, having appeared to have crushed the ball, connoting strength and agility. He gets into a confrontation with a mean looking coloured man, who breaks the snooker cue, connoting that he was preparing himself for any trouble whilst Michael blows some of the white powder into that man’s face, leaving him dazed, Michael runs off, slowly pursued by the dazed man and his gang.
Michael runs up the stairs and engages with a woman in the corner, whilst she steals his wallet without his knowledge, connoting a professional thief. As Michael walks on, he is approached by many thugs who want to fight with him, but it appears the women are protecting him. Behind Michael a thug approaches, holding a shiny knife, connoting that he intends to stab Michael in the bac
k, the surprised look on the women’s faces who were standing in front of Michael,may of indicated to Michael that he was in danger, Michael grabs a gun from his top left jacket pocket, without turning he shoots. The guy is thrown back, flying through the air disappearing in a white cloud, leaving the outline of his body indented in the wall, connoting the power of the gun and lack of fear that Michael has. The stairs descend as Michael steps onto them. He jumps off the stage dramatically and begins to dance dynamically; he opens the scene with his magic moon walk step. The dance chorography was very good because the back-up dancers were doing synchronised steps and there was a lot of lifts.He jumps on to the table, spins quickly and points at the roof, where the window smashes in to tiny pieces of glass falling down in slow motion. The lighting is low, creating silhouettes of shadows moving slowly to the music. A black cat walked onto the piano, it appears that Michael has a lot of power and control of the situation commanding respect from the people at the club; they appear to be under his spell. The tempo of the music speeds up and the light becomes bright again, this connotes that some action is about to take place. The movements are as sharp as from the beginning. A little girl clutching a teddy bear pokes her head through the door and smiles at Michael, possibly indicating that they might know each other. Michael leans forward effortlessly, like a statue, holding that pose for a few seconds. A child watches Michael’s elaborate dance moves from a top window outside the club then he climbs down to the street and begins to copy Michael’s moves as if he was Michael himself, my opinion would be that Michael steps have been seen by the boy before and he is familiar with the moves.
There is a cut back into the club where we see a medium long shot of Michael and the dancers starting a new routine, and as the backup dancers join Michael they walk over to hi
m in a zombie like manner as if they are under his command. There is a spotlight that beams down over Michaels head so we know he is the main character and most important person. The music is now coming to an end, we can tell this by the fact that the tempo of the music is slowing right down. Next we hear loud stomping of feet which sounds like soldiers marching gradually increasing. We see the silhouette of several people carrying heavy fire arms connoting a battle is about to occur. Through the bars of the front doors we see a close up shot of a hand with a black glove covers the mouth of the little girl then takes her away. All of the people that are in the club suddenly circle Michael as if to protect him, then all the protectors crouch down and Michael fires a machine gun at all the silhouettes above in a circular motion. The people help him escape through the green door; the door is bolted behind him by an oriental lady. You see a high angle shot of Michael’s back down the dark alley, this shows that the people in the club respected Michael, became his friends and helped him escape safely.Audience Readings:
The preferred reading of this music video is that it is a brilliant track with dynamic dance moves, and amazing actors. Michael Jackson is a smooth criminal, set in the 1930’s.This was the time of the great depression in America which led to poverty. People were on a low income, and found it hard to survive, leading to some people getting involved in underground and illegal activities. This increased the number of gangsters and mafia on the streets. This music video was another super hit for Michael Jackson.
The oppositional reading of this music video is that, it is the same old style of dance video that Michael Jackson has produced before; it is becoming repetitive and predictable.
My opinion is that this is one of the best music videos in terms of dance choreography that Michael Jackson has produced. I particularly liked the magnificent moon walk and the spectacular lean. The storyline and acting in the video is amazing, the music makes you want to dance whenever you hear it.
