George Michael - "Outside"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSqI3ve_rgY

(embedding was disabled)

(analysing using Vernallis' theory)
This is George Michael's rather strange music video to "Outside". I have a feeling that he had quite a strong Directorial role as it demonstrates something that happened to him. He was caught fooling around with someone in a public restroom by police, so in this video there are loads and loads of couples fooling around in public. There are even two male police officers who start kissing - something which is still quite taboo.

I think George Michael's message is that he should be free to do what he wants, and that the police were stupid for punishing him. This is quite a childish viewpoint, but I suppose he's brave for making this video.

The music itself is very upbeat and happy in character. It seems like a summery song, but I'm not sure if it matches the visuals. Some of the shots are of sunny landscapes and outdoor swimming pools, which do fit the timbre of the song, however some are people kissing in a skip, or a dark party, which I think would be more fitting for a dance tune, with lower pitches and a darker feel.

The camera goes back to an MCU of George Michael lipsyncing, however it doesn't do this too much. The MCU is a stable point and allows the audience a break from the constant montage of couples kissing in various places.

There is no real narrative in the video as there is no continuous story. There is a dance routine in a party where George is dressed as a police officer. If I to describe it in terms of performance vs narrative, I would say it was mostly narrative, however the narrative is in a montage style, and not a story with a beginning, middle and end.

It starts with a faux film in another language which kind of looks like an erotic film since the woman is moaning and undoing her top. There are credits in the foreign language (it looks similar to German, maybe Norweigan?) and jazz music. There is a CU of the blonde woman puckering her big red lips, which is dissolved into a middle-aged police woman showing her police badge as sirens wail in the background. This is when the song really begins. The opening sequence is convincing as a film because the editing pace is much slower, there is narration, and there are credits. I think the reason for this was to show the kind of film that the people featured in the rest of the video might watch. It uses classic Hollywood continuity editing, which is a contrast to the rest of the video.

There is also diegesis in the opening, when the man is washing his hands, and you can hear running water. This again makes it seem like a real film.

A lot of the video is through the perspective of policemen, for example with the helicopter. When the music begins, a helicopter is shown to be flying in the air. This is crosscut with "frame within a frame" where the screen has a red border to show it is a police camera that is watching people get arrested for public displays of affection, something which happened to George. This is interesting that he wants the audience to see things through the perspective of the enemy.

There are several effects used, for example, the sweeping shots of cliffs (taken from the helicopter presumably) change from full colour, to grayscale, to full colour again, as if a monitor was flickering.

Due to the visuals and the lyrics, it seems that this is not a serious song. The first few lyrics being "It's human nature" and "I think I'm done with the sofa, I think I'm done with the hall, I think I'm done with the kitchen table baby". This suggests that he is bored of having sex indoors, and has now decided to do it wherever, in spite of the law. I think George Michael's aim was to destroy the taboo around sex, and find out how many people agree with him. According to the youtube comments, there are many who agree and some who have been in similar situations....

I think it's a funny song, great music, a great summer dance track. The dance routine is quite funny because of the outrageous costumes (women in their bras, George in a police outfit). This shows that he has a sense of humour, and I think he was trying to get his fans on his side over the public arrest.