This Is It: Michael Jackson

This post has nothing to do with photography, but it does deal with documenting family heritage. I approach photographing family events, from weddings to family portraits, with the point of telling a story. The following post is pertinent.

While I was making television shows for MuchMoreMusic, I produced a documentary on The Jacksons. I was intimidated when I took it on because the family has such a checkered history. I knew it would be difficult to tell their story without it being sensationalized, especially since it was going to be part of a series entitled Celebrity Nosedives.

I never thought of the Jacksons as a celebrity nosedive. Not in the least. Theirs is a unfortunate family story. And I think my documentary portrayed that. How many fluff pieces have you watched about celebs that is such an obvious attempt to make those involved money? Too many.

So when Sony Pictures announced a few days ago that the feature length documentary about Michael Jackson was now in theaters, I read some reviews about it. Not only was it produced quickly, it is supposed to be an intimate account of Michael and the rehearsals for his comeback tour which never happened due to his unfortunate passing away. All shot in high-def in real time, with a somewhat cinema verité approach. Roger Ebert gave it a glowing review which you can read here.

l’ll inevitably go to see “This Is It”.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, November 1st, 2009 at 3:18 pm. It is filed under family, miscellaneous and tagged with family, miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.