Michael Jackson's Vision
It might have been fate that MTV was born at the same time people began to notice the rare talent and artistic ingenuity of Michael Jackson. It proved to be a perfect match between the new television network and the young rising icon. Early on, Michael saw MTV’s potential as a force of its own and understood that it offered him the chance to pioneer a whole new visual style through which people could see music, not just listen to it. For the first time, artists had the opportunity to truly shape a vision of a story around their songs. For Michael, this meant treating the song as a “script” and creating a stand-alone film to tell that story. In fact, Michael referred to each of these productions as a "short film" and not a “music video.”
No other artist contributed more to the development of this art form than Michael Jackson. Just look at the impact of Thriller, which was recently named the first (and only) music video ever to be inducted by the Library of Congress into the National Film Registry - an elite collection of only a few hundred films. In addition to this, Michael’s vision had immense cultural impact . The enormous popularity of his short films proved to MTV Executives that they were wrong about what their audience wanted; it was Michael who broke through that initial barrier and created opportunity for future African American artists.
Here, for the first time, is the complete collection of all 35 of the short films produced by Michael during his career as a solo artist - 10 of which are appearing on DVD for the first time. All of the short films have been meticulously restored and remastered for the ultimate audio and visual experience and a bonus DVD includes 7 additional videos including “Enjoy Yourself” with The Jacksons, “Say Say Say” with Paul McCartney and the Previously Unreleased video for “One More Chance”. This is a true representation of Michael Jackson’s Vision.
DISC 1
1 - Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough (4:12)
Director: Nick Saxton
2 - Rock With You (3:22)
Director: Bruce Gowers
3 - She's Out of My Life (3:35)
Director: Bruce Gowers
4 - Billie Jean (4:54)
Director: Steve Barron
5 - Beat It (4:57)
Director: Bob Giraldi
6 - Thriller (13:42)
Director: John Landis (little more need be said about this one, but it co-starred Ola Ray, and was famously voiced over by Vincent Price.)
7 - Bad (18:05)
Director: Martin Scorsese (co-starring Wesley Snipes)
8 - The Way You Make Me Feel (9:24)
Director: Joe Pytka (with a cameo by La Toya Jackson)
9 - Man In the Mirror (5:03)
Director: Don Wilson
10 - Dirty Diana (5:05)
Director: Joe Pytka
11 - Smooth Criminal (9:27)
Director: Colin Chilvers
12 - Another Part of Me (4:45)
Director: Patrick T. Kelly
13 - Speed Demon (10:08)
Director: Will Vinton
14 - Come Together (5:40)
Director: Jerry Kramer & Colin Chilvers
15 - Leave Me Alone (4:36)
Director: Jim Blashfield and Paul Diener
16 - Liberian Girl (5:34)
Director: Jim Yukich(featuring VIRTUALLY EVERYONE important, hip and happening in Hollywood at the time: dedicated to Elizabeth Taylor and featuring Steven Spielberg, John Travolta, Paula Abdul and waaaaaaay too many others to mention. There's even a cute moment with Weird Al Yankovic who used to spoof MJ! Fun! And shows what clout MJ had to get all those big names.)
Total Disc 1: 1hr 52min
DISC 2
1 - Black or White (11:01)
Director: John Landis (with Macaulay Culkin, George Wendt and a small bit featuring Tyra Banks)
2 - Remember The Time (9:16)
Director: John Singleton (co-starring Eddie Murphy, Iman and Magic Johnson)
3 - In the Closet (6:05)
Director: Herb Ritts (co-starring Naomi Campbell)
4 - Jam (7:59)
Director: David Nelson (co-starring Michael Jordan)
5 - Heal The World (7:32)
Director: Joe Pytka
6 - Give In To Me (5:29)
Director: Andy Morahan
7 - Who Is It (6:34)
Director: David Fincher
8 - Will You Be There (5:55)
Director: Vincent Paterson (Theme from the movie Free Willy)
9 - Gone Too Soon (3:38)
Director: Bill DiCicco (Dedicated to Ryan White, who, before he died, spoke about how much it meant to him that MJ would get in a hot tub with him back when people wouldn't even touch a person with HIV/AIDS.)
10 - Scream (4:47)
Director: Mark Romanek (co-starring the impeccable Janet Jackson!)
11 - Childhood (4:29)
Director: Nicholas Brandt (Theme from the movie Free Willy 2)
12 - You Are Not Alone (5:34)
Director: Wayne Isham (with Lisa Marie Presley)
13 - Earth Song (6:44)
Director: Nicholas Brandt (WOW!! This is the one Joe Jackson proudly called his all time favorite MJ song!)
14 - They Don't Care About Us (7:08)
Director: Spike Lee
15 - Stranger In Moscow (5:33)
Director: Nicholas Brandt
16 - Blood On The Dance Floor (5:27)
Director: Michael Jackson & Vincent Patterson
17 - Ghosts (3:58)
Director: Stan Winston (featuring MJ in a great disguise!! Allegedly spoofing the Santa Barbara DA)
18 - You Rock My World (13:30)
Director: Paul Hunter (co-starring Chris Tucker from Rush Hour! AND none other than Academy Award Winner, Marlon Brando!)
19 - Cry (4:57)
Director: Nick Brandt (a really nice lost gem of a song and video)
Total Disc 2: 2hrs 5min
DISC 3 (Bonus Features)
1 - Blame It On the Boogie - The Jacksons (3:32)
2 - Enjoy Yourself - The Jacksons (3:31)
3 - Can You Feel It - The Jacksons (9:37)
4 - Say Say Say - Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson (4:57)
Director: Bob Giraldi
5 - They Don't Care About Us - Prison version (4:52)
Director: Spike Lee
6 - Why? - 3T (Tito's kids' band) featuring Michael Jackson (4:33)
7 - One More Chance - previously unreleased (4:03)
Total Disc 3: 35min
