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This Is It: A Last Look At The Man Behind The Mirror
Photo Credit: Photo courtesy of Google Images
Michael Jackson performing at his final dress rehearsal at Staple Center two days before his death
Written by Zach Ellman, Online Entertainment Editor
Opening last weekend, Michael Jackson’s This Is It soared in high at the box office earning $101 million in its opening weekend. This Is It shows Michael Jackson at his best preparing for his final performance at the London O2 Arena before the King of Pop passed away on June 25th, 2009.
This Is It starts off talking about how the filming of the rehearsals were originally for Michael Jackson to look back on in the future. With the permission of The Michael Jackson Company, This Is It was released to the public to view the vision that MJ had.
Starting from April 15th, This Is It shows how everyone was involved in the tour, such as showing auditions for the dancers, going over the special effects and making adjustments to some of the songs being performed.
Jackson performed many classics like “Thriller”, “Billie Jean”, “Smooth Criminal”, “They Don’t Care About Us”, “Black or White” and “Man In The Mirror”, but with a little modern twist to it. He even performed the Jackson Five hit song “I Want You Back”.
While preparing for the fifty-day concert tour, Michael chose Kenny Ortega to direct the concert. Ortega is very well known for directing and choreographing all of three High School Musicals and Dirty Dancing. Ortega is usually seen throughout the course of the movie creating special effects for the concert. For example, Ortega talks about how the beginning of the show will start with a montage of historical events, such as collapse of the USSR, and clips of people in their typical daily life. This all happens on a “projector suit” until it opens up and Michael is seen inside and enters the stage.
In addition, Jackson decided to bring back his “toaster speed mechanism,” which was a high speed elevator inside a trap door that propels someone into midair, like that of a slingshot. Jackson also used this in his performance at The Super Bowl XXVII Halftime Show.
What also appealed to most viewers of the movie was the Australian lead guitarist, Orianthi Panagaris. Some people have even said that she is a female-version of Eddie Van Halen.
After his death, Panagaris was asked to perform at his memorial service, which took place at Staples Center in Los Angeles. Since the film’s release, Panagaris’ hit song “According to You” was the Single of the Week on iTunes.
In general, This Is It gives a chance for not only Michael Jackson fans, but fans of music in general one last look at the King of Pop at his best. It also shows you how the purpose of his artistic work was to give hope and joy to people. This Is It shows you one last look of how Michael Jackson wanted to be remembered: the King of Pop, the man behind the magic, the man behind the mirror.
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November 9th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
How about some stories about the marching band? They have worked hard, had many performances and lots of successes. It would be nice if your paper and the school took nice.
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