Analysis of narrative/performance/lip sync music video

https://youtu.be/4V90AmXnguw = Michael Jackson Thriller

Camera Shots, movement and angles

The first camera movement is a descending tracking movement that goes from the top of the cinema to the bottom where MJ walks out with the girl.
When the are having a conversation and Mj saids "It's just a movie", the movement changes to a over the shoulder shot during their conversation. When they are walking past the graveyard, the camera does a ascending tracking movement, giving the audience a clear view of the graveyard location. The camera then shifts to a long shot of Mj and the girl surrounded by the dead people. The camera then shifts to a mid-shot, showing their frightened facial expressions as they are circled by the monsters. The camera then shifts to a mid-shot of the frightened girl, which then immediately shifts to a mid-shot of MJ....transformed. The camera then goes back to the girl in a mid-shot to capture her terrified reaction, then changes back to Mj in a close-up shot of his new state. The camera then expands its view from just MJ to the Zombies and MJ. Then it's a long duration of long shots of them dancing, Some from above, some from below and some from eye level (making the audience feel more included in the scene...creating the fearful emotion that the video creates in the audience a lot of the time).
When the lip syncing starts, the camera displays close up, mid and long shots. When the location changes to the home, there a first a close up shot of the girl screaming. Then a mid shot of MJ asking her "what's the problem". The camera then shifts to an extreme close up shot of the girl's terrified expression. Finally, towards the end of the video, the camera remains in mid-shots.

Editing

In the Video, there is no major transitions or cuts. It remains just basic cuts. This contrasts the variety of camera, movements and shots. I think the directors had to keep simplicity in the video editing for that reason. During the dance sequence, the cutting was very fast and sharp, to reflect the scary and upbeat nature of that part of the video.

Mise en scene

The costumes include the signature red thriller outfit of MJ. The girl's makeup was natural up until her lips which was red. There is a lot of red in this video, which could symbolize evil due to the zombies and unnatural events taking place, as well as love between MJ and the girl. The three locations in the video are the cinema, graveyard and house. The lighting in the video is mainly low key which creates a scary and horror atmosphere which is the mood Thriller intends to create. The diegetic sound in the video is the narration at the beginning as well as at the end with MJ and the girl. The non-diegetic sound was the lip sync and voice over just before the zombies appear. The makeup for the zombie-dance scene was heavy and emphasized false wrinkles and bony skin. This allowed for them to look as frightening and deformed as possible. The werewolf mask was also a handy prop that brought the video to life.

Combination of lip sync and narrative 

The music video is a combination of lip sync and narrative. Lip sync in the scenes where MJ sings Thriller and narrative in the whole story of the music video where Michael takes his girl to the cinema, she gets scared during a movie and rushes out, Michael rushes out with her, They walk past a graveyard, the dead wake up and turn into walking zombies, surround MJ and his girl, MJ turns into a zombie himself, they dance, the girl runs home in fear, the zombies and MJ break into her home and the scene ends with MJ turning back into normal and taking the girl home. However, not to forget the iconic last scene of MJ's eyes. 

Representations

MJ in the video is portrayed as a man who loves his girl and wants to take care of her, yet fails to acknowledge the darkness that followed them in the video (at the end when he asks what the problem is) and failed to understand why his girl was so scared (at the end and beginning when she ran out of the movie). He was portrayed as someone with both human and supernatural attributes (half human half supernatural). The girl was portrayed almost as a victim, scared and confused. This is shown at the beginning, zombie scene and ending). 

Performance

Thriller also includes some elements of performance (The dance scene). What makes it so iconic is that it is lip sync, performance and  narrative all combined. This is creative genius.