I direct and edit everything I do. Every shot you see is my shot. Let me tell you why I have to do it that way. I have five, no, six cameras. When you’re performing––and I don’t care what kind of performance you are giving––if you don’t capture it properly, the people will never see it. It’s the most selfish medium in the world. You’re filming WHAT you want people to see, WHEN you want them to see it, HOW you want them to see it, what JUXTAPOSITION you want them to see. You’re creating the totality of the whole feeling of what’s being presented, in your angle and your shots. ‘Cause I know what I want to see. I know what I want to go to the audience. I know what I want to come back. I know the emotion that I felt when I performed it, and I try to recapture that same emotion when I cut and edit and direct.
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[The industry], it’s at a crossroads. There’s a transformation going on. People are confused, what’s going to happen, how to distribute and sell music. I think the Internet kind of threw everybody for a real loop. ‘Cause it’s so powerful, kids love it so much. The whole world is at their fingertips, on their lap. Anything they want to know, anyone they want to communicate with, any music, any movies… This thing, it just took everybody for a loop. Right now, all these Starbucks deals and Wal-Mart deals, direct to artist, I don’t know if that’s the answer. I think the answer is just phenomenal, great music. Just reaching the masses. I think people are still searching. There’s not a real musical revolution going on right now, either. But when it’s there, people will break a wall down to get to it. I mean, ‘cause before Thriller, it was the same kind of thing. People were NOT buying music. It helped to bring everybody back into the stores. So, when it happens, it happens.
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I remember doing the performance so clearly, and I remembered that I was so upset with myself, ‘cause it wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted it to be more. But not until I finished. It was a little child, a little Jewish child backstage with a little tuxedo on, he looked at me, and he said [in a stunned voice] ‘Who taught you to move like that?’ [Laughter] And I said, ‘I guess God… and rehearsal.’
http://www.ebonyjet.com/culture/music/i