Goofs As Katy Perry makes her way through the board game world, she rescues some girls from candy-related prisons and then defeats Snoop Dogg and his gummy bear army with whipped cream. In 1984, Making Michael Jackson's Thriller won the Grammy Award for Best Video Album, and in a 1999 end-of-the-century countdown, MTV named "Thriller" the #1 music video of all time. [8] After originally being screened late at night in the U.S. under the ABC Wide World of Entertainment billing from 1973, some episodes were retitled for U.S. syndication in 1978, and all had additional opening sequences shot with new titles and credits but without the original cast and, for this reason, often only featuring menacing figures seen from the neck down. [29], Jackson's red leather jacket became a fashion icon and has been widely emulated. Epic Records head of promotions Frank DiLeo suggested a third music video, for the album's title track, which wasn't even slated to be a single. If youd like to join in, please sign in or register. TV-MA | 240 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller 7.4 Rate A young couple move into an apartment only to find the body of a young woman that had been missing for 2 years but never registered as missing which leads to a deeper investigation into what actually happened. Filmeditor Marshall Harvey had previously been hired by John Landis to make the behind the scenes footage to his movies An American Werewolf in London and Blues Brothers. [23], Michael Jackson's Thriller was named the "greatest video" by MTV in 1999,[24] and by VH1[22] and Time in 2001. [8], In early August, after seeing his horror film An American Werewolf in London (1981), Jackson contacted the director John Landis. "[8] Jackson's manager Frank DiLeo suggested making a music video for it, and recalled telling Jackson: "It's simpleall you've got to do is dance, sing, and make it scary. The film had a brief theatrical release in Los Angeles at the AVCO Theater - it played for three weeks along with Disney's. Why did you need to stay up late if you were 'tape'ing it? | MC Hammer's video for "U Can't Touch This" is extremely simple. My DS1 does sound more like the OPs, and unlike some children, he is more likely to admit to feeling upset or The storyline follows newly-qualified vet James as he leaves his home in Glasgow during 1937 to start working for head vet Siegfried in the fictional Yorkshire village of Darrowby. Michael Jackson's Thriller is a 1983 music video for the song "Thriller" by the American singer Michael Jackson, released on December 2, 1983. It's hard to forget, and it won a Grammy for best music video. A particular trademark of the series' storytelling was to hook the viewer with a simple yet totally baffling situation, of the kind seen in films such as Les Diaboliques (1955). Adobe Premiere Pro 2023 is an impressive application which allows you to easily and quickly create high-quality content for film, broadcast, web, and more. Directed by Colin Trevorrow. as well as other partner offers and accept our, 300 people dressed as Bush in the red dress, the popular "Michael Jackson eating popcorn" GIF. 'we Need To Talk About Kevin' (2011) Based on Lionel Shriver's novel of the same title, this Golden Globe-nominated film stars Tilda Swinton as Eva, the mother of a disturbed teenager (Ezra Miller) who has committed mass murder at his school. She won the MTV award for video of the year. "I had some intimate moments with him in his trailer," Ray said. With Patrick Gibson . Amazon Studios. She ran around with her friends bothering patrons and employees, trying on a bunch of clothes, and making a giant mess. The Thriller video makes many allusions to horror films. After all, if they're going to pay a few hundreds bucks for a ticket, patrons can at least have some idea of what they're getting into beforehand when they line up to see Mean Girls (based on a hit movie) or Mamma Mia! [1] It is an anthology series: each episode has a self-contained story and its own cast. Jurassic World: Dominion is the third film . Avril Lavigne's disastrous romp through a mall was every teen's dream in the early 2000s. The pair conceived a short film with a budget much larger than previous music videos. Marlon Brando, Fred Astaire, Rock Hudson and Jackie Kennedy Onassis all turned up on set, and Eddie Murphy, Prince and Diana Ross were spotted at the private premiere on 14 November. "In adolescence, youngsters begin to grow hair in unexpected places and parts of their anatomy swell and grow," Landis wrote in Monsters in Movies. MTV paid $250,000 and Showtime $300,000 for the rights to the documentary, Jackson would take care of upfront costs, and the video was able to go ahead, with the label coughing up $100,000. Encompassing just about . It references numerous horror films and sees Jackson dancing with a horde of zombies. So in the beginning of the video, Michael has a message stating that "Due to my strong personal convictions, I wish to stress that this film is no way endorses a belief in the occult". The comic book character later attempts to join her in the real world and eventually does. Thoroughly upset, Jackson ordered his lawyer, John Branca, to destroy the "Thriller" negatives. Lesley Sharp stars as a detective who faces impossible choices in a murky world where loyalties are tested and lines are blurred. The Thriller video sent album sales into orbit, with Jackson's label Epic reportedly shipping a million copies a week in its immediate aftermath. As fun as Smash Mouth's song is, the video is even more wild. features a band called the Love Below performing on a London show as a bunch of women scream in excitement. The zombie's costumes were purchased from The Salvation Army. Blink-182 does parodies of the Backstreet Boys, Christina Aguilera, NSYNC, and more as the camera flashes to different scenes. [16] The director of photography was Robert Paynter, who had worked with Landis on Trading Places. I don't know the answer to that, but I do worry about DCs being desensitised to horrible things. This was the business model in home video for most of the early to mid-1980s: Studios and publishers charged about $90 for tapes and sold almost exclusively to rental stores, which would then charge customers a few bucks to rent it for a day or two. "In many ways, it wasn't something you really wanted to aspire to," he says. The story is great, the scenes are marvelous, the music is fantastic and overall the clip is fun, eye-popping, spooky and is a real spectacle. According to Landis, Michael asked Joseph to be removed; he refused and had to be escorted off the set by police. One such kid was Spike Jonze, who was 14 in 1983. [8] As films required theatrical screenings to be eligible for Academy Awards, Landis had the video played before screenings of Fantasia (1940) at a Los Angeles cinema, though it was not nominated. According to Vanity Fair, Beals passed on the female role in the "Thriller" video, and after a lengthy search, director John Landis cast Ola Ray as the poodle-skirt-wearing young woman in the video's fake horror film as well as Michael Jackson's date who witnesses his transformation into a monster. There's a lot to unpack in Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" video. Spooks (a.k.a. 08/07/2009 18:21. There's running on a moving train, there's dancing in a blue room, there's a dog chase, and a car chase. The image of her white tank and black tie is a definitive one. Set in a futuristic looking white room, the video stands out for the illusions it features. The song was originally going to be called "Starlight". The main point of the video is that Gaga is being sold for sex, and the video switches between various scenes including one where she's dancing in an all-white outfit in a bath house and one where she is dancing for the men bidding as she's dressed in diamonds. Director John Landis Writers John Landis Michael Jackson Stars Michael Jackson Ola Ray It doubled sales of Thriller, helping it become the best-selling album in history, and the documentary sold over a million copies, becoming the best-selling videotape at the time. This short film displays the absolute highest standard in music video and no-one will ever be able to out-beat this 'King Of Pop' masterpiece! The theatre in the movie is the Palace Theatre in Los Angeles, where, The short film was packaged on home video with, The score heard in this music video is actually unused music from composer. For episodes that used a different title in the U.S., the U.S. title is shown in italics underneath the original British title. The mystery and thriller . Samuel L. Jackson in "Unbreakable." Credit: Getty Images. One of the lengthiest music videos made at the time, running for 14 minutes and 7 seconds. Landis and Jackson worked out a story about a guy who takes a young woman on a date and transforms into a bloodthirsty horror movie monster before her very eyes. [40][39], The Thriller dance is performed in major cities around the world; the largest zombie dance included 12,937 dancers, in Mexico City. "Thriller" was one of the first music videos to show that the medium carried the potential for greatness, and not only did critics acknowledge its importance, but they kept doing so for years afterward. [8] It was backed by successful music videos for the singles "Billie Jean" and "Beat It", which are credited for raising creative standards for music videos and demonstrating their promotional power. "[11], Thriller was the first time Jackson had interacted with a woman in a video, which Landis described as a "breakthrough". The stories were often set in the London commuter belt. Her 10-year-old son recently learned the routines at a holiday kids' club in Turkey, reminding her of the huge impact it had on kids in the 1980s. Before We Die. The metamorphosis of the polite "boy next door" into a werecat has been interpreted as a depiction of male sexuality, depicted as naturally bestial, predatory, and aggressive. Feel free to tell me if you think I'm being over protective but I'm really not happy that my son's Yr3 class has been shown the full version of Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' video this afternoon in school. Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson had a hit with "Uptown Funk," and the vibrant, simple video was the perfect fit. But the video ends with a shot of her in bed. The scenes incorporated claymation, pixilation, and stop-motion animation to come to life. [2] With an eye to the American re-broadcast market, most episodes, especially from the second season onwards, featured at least one American principal character, portrayed by an American actor. To be eligible for the Oscars, it needed a week-long theatrical release, so Landis arranged for it to open, bizarrely, for Disney's Fantasia at a single cinema in LA. It starts with the boy band as puppets being controlled by a giant woman. With James Purefoy, Charlie Creed-Miles, Sasha Behar, Dervla Kirwan. And it ended up being the most iconic," she said. [20] In 2009, Jackson sold the Thriller rights to the Nederlander Organization to stage a Broadway musical based on the video. | Michael Jackson seems like this kid who loves music, horror films, special effects, makeup, zombies and wants all of those things in the video. The video was directed by John Landis, written by Landis and Jackson, and stars Jackson and Ola Ray. One exception was the story "Nurse Will Make It Better"; however, this too exists in PAL/original format on the later 1" videotape format as a dub from the original master tape (this version was broadcast on the satellite channel Bravo in 1996). "It was the first time an artist had considered the pop video as a legitimate art form. In August 1983, film director John Landis received a phone call from Michael Jackson. Jackson embraces her, but turns to the camera and grins, revealing his werecat eyes. This brilliant video won the VMA for video of the year. 5 Virtual Insanity Jamiroquai. She screams and wakes up, realizing it was a nightmare. She said: "You look at those early videos and they were shockingly bad. A night at the movies turns into a nightmare when Michael and his date are attacked by a hoard of bloodthirsty zombies - only a "Thriller" can save them now.A night at the movies turns into a nightmare when Michael and his date are attacked by a hoard of bloodthirsty zombies - only a "Thriller" can save them now.A night at the movies turns into a nightmare when Michael and his date are attacked by a hoard of bloodthirsty zombies - only a "Thriller" can save them now. Jackson called his assistant, John Branca, and ordered him to destroy the negatives. [8] According to Landis, the response was "a surprise to everyone but Michael". Kendrick Lamar's "Humble" is an incredible video. "I loved it," he says. From Michael Jackson's zombie dance in "Thriller" to Miley Cyrus' naked wrecking ball ride, certain visuals stay with the viewer long after the video has ended. "Music videos in the early 80s started as a little cottage industry in Britain, really," says Brian Grant, the British director who made the Private Dancer video for Tina Turner and Whitney Houston's I Wanna Dance With Somebody. [42], number of copies sold were 900,000 at a price of $30, Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, YouTube video of more than 1,500 prisoners performing the dance, Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, "Director: Funds for "Thriller" almost didn't appear", "Michael Jackson's "Thriller" is the eternal Halloween bop and so much more", "John Landis says Michael Jackson was too 'grotesque' to film: Howell", "How Michael Jackson's Thriller changed music videos for ever", "Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' is the eternal Halloween bop and so much more", "Michael Jackson's Life & Legacy: Global Superstar (198286)", "It Happened This Week in L.A. History: Silver Screen Thrills Los Angeles Magazine", "Michael Jackson's videos set a new standard", "VH1 Names '100 Greatest Videos of All Time', "Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' Added To National Film Registry", "MTV: 100 Greatest Music Videos Ever Made", "The 30 All-TIME Best Music Videos Michael Jackson, 'Thriller', "Jackson "Thriller" film picked for U.S. registry", "Michael Jackson's Thriller added to US film archive", "Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' remains a Halloween hit", "Barack and Michelle Obama make Halloween a thriller for DC kids", "John Landis on 'Thriller 3D', the 'American Werewolf' Remake, & Lucasfilm's Director Troubles", "Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' Could be Broadway Show", "Review: Masterful Plants vs. Zombies Proves Less Is More", "Plants vs. Zombies (Windows, Mac OS X) - the Cutting Room Floor", "Michael Jackson Estate Forces 'Plants vs. Zombies' Update", "Monster Metaphors: Notes on Michael Jackson's Thriller", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Michael_Jackson%27s_Thriller_(music_video)&oldid=1142427273, This page was last edited on 2 March 2023, at 09:09. "I auditioned a lot of girls and this girl Ola Ray first of all, she was crazy for Michael," Landis said. Vaughan Arnell, who had videos on MTV in its earliest days, and has gone on to make 12 promos for Robbie Williams and three for One Direction, remembers Thriller with some trepidation. Panic! [1] It is an anthology series: each episode has a self-contained story and its own cast. In 2006, the Guinness World Records listed it as the "most successful music video of all time. And so, that's what happened, although Jackson's character doesn't, per common knowledge, become a werewolf. He took both "Beat It" and "Billie Jean" to #1, debuted his signature "Moonwalk"dance move to stunned and delighted fans, sold millions of copies of his album Thriller, and then starred in one of the most popular, famous, and well-produced music videos of all time. Anjelica Oswald. "The Thriller video became a worldwide megahit and an iconic pop culture phenomenon that has continued to generate profits for defendants Optimum Productions and Michael Jackson, who have wrongfully refused to pay or account for such profits to plaintiff," the suit read (via The Guardian). The massively successful "Thriller" video was a close collaboration between performer Michael Jackson and director John Landis, although it would seem that of the pair, only Jackson greatly benefited financially from the project. Ola Ray took home a lot of memories and stories from her time co-starring in Michael Jackson's landmark "Thriller" music video. "It had some magic that made it shine. The video has received over 700 million views on YouTube. The premise of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" music video is fairly straightforward. Tom Petty channeled "Alice in Wonderland" for the "Don't Come Around Here No More" music video. [8] According to Ray, the chemistry between them was real and they shared "intimate moments" during the shoot. The groom's family is filled with circus performers who interrupt the wedding. What worries me a bit is the kids who have a bit of bravado, and don't admit they are afraid, and then have nightmares. It's also one Jackson felt personally compelled to include. I just wanted to create something that would do justice to the song and I was excited about making, and I think Thriller was the same way.". Michael Jackson's "Thriller" clip permanently elevated the medium of music video to artistic and cinematic relevance at a time when it was still relatively new and directionless. 3 Take On Me A-ha. Directed by F. Gary Gray, who also directed "Straight Out of Compton" and "The Fate of the Furious," the "Waterfalls" video is emotional. Then the scenes begin to shift between Houston in brightly colored dresses and makeup in various different scenes. No wonder we readily accept the concept of a literal metamorphosis. Trudy Bellinger was studying art in Brighton when it first shown and it inspired her to start making music films herself. All eight episodes of Prime Video's new show The Consultant made their debut last week, allowing folks to fly through the entirety of the workplace saga like the levels of an . "Thriller was important because it was the first time anything this ambitious had ever been attempted," a spokesperson for VH1 said yesterday. However Harvey declined and then suggested another director who did in the end make the documentary. The 13-minute film that resulted changed the music video for ever, becoming less a promo clip than a cultural phenomenon. According to NPR, government security consultant Byron Garcia instituted an exercise program in the mid-2000s at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center. In 2017, Ray had to file a lawsuit again, when she alleged that she wasn't paid her share for a 3-D re-release of the "Thriller" video. In one scene, Michael's right "cat's eye" contact lens is askew and not in straight. The video was directed by John Landis, written by Landis and Jackson, and stars Jackson and Ola Ray. Michael Jackson is amazing. I don't think we had video recorder then. It starts with a woman flipping through a comic book when the character reaches out to her and pulls her in. The legendary video has been honored countless times. Directed by Spike Jonze ("Her"), the "Buddy Holly" video places the band in Arnold's Drive-In from the show "Happy Days." Between Britney Spears' flight attendant uniform, diamond and nude body suit, and black cat suit, all of her outfits are memorable. They eventually head down a river to a rave in the forest. [39] In 2010, Jackson's estate objected to the Jackson zombie in the game. The "Life on Mars" music video was filmed for the song's release as a single. In 2009, the Library of Congress added "Thriller" to the National Film Registry, naming it part of its collection of films that should be "preserved as cultural, artistic, and/or historical treasures for generations to come," according toLA Weekly. Eventually, she stands on the edge of an overpass preparing to jump when her ex shows up with a bunch of cops. The remastered 3D version first premiered at the 74th Venice Film Festival on September 4th, 2017 alongside the 'Making Of' documentary. A making-of documentary, Making Michael Jackson's Thriller, was produced to sell to television networks. It's amazing. At the inaugural MTV Video Music Awards in 1984, "Thriller" surprisingly lost Video of the Year to the Cars' "You Might Think.". It was Landis's producer George Folsey Jr who came up with the idea of the making-of video, which could be sold to networks as bespoke content. Branca wouldn't do it, and he instead locked up the footage and gave Jackson the idea to let "Thriller" out, but just with a denouncing disclaimer tacked on to the start. The video was a bit controversial for its sexual visuals. This did not stop him being threatened with expulsion from his church because of the film's subject matter. [13], Other memorable episodes include: "Someone at the Top of the Stairs", one of a handful of forays into the supernatural, in which two female students move into a boarding house and begin to notice that none of the other residents ever go out or receive any mail; and "I'm The Girl He Wants to Kill", in which a witness to a murder finds herself trapped in a deserted office block overnight with the killer, and is forced to play a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with him to survive (there is barely any dialogue throughout its second half). Then she wakes and crawls outside to walk along the ledge. The "All the Small Things" video is a hilarious parody of other boy bands and pop artists of the '90s. The girls are together when the guy comes knocking and slam the door in his face. Stars: Alexander Arnold, David Bamber, Claudie Blakley, Denise Gough Votes: 3,682 3. Michael Jackson, at the time being a devout Jehovah's Witness, feared that the video would go against his fans' religious beliefs and feared backlash. The first collaboration between Alicia Silverstone and Aerosmith featured Silverstone as a girl who catches her boyfriend cheating. The video for My Chemical Romance's jam featured a main character in a hospital bed who is eventually led by Death to the Black Parade. The video's budget was five hundred thousand dollars. The "Ironic" video stars Morissette getting into her car at a gas station and then driving into a wintery landscape. [17], On November 14, 1983, Thriller was shown to a private audience at the Crest Theater in Los Angeles. Nearly 100,000 viewers voted in the VH1 all-time greatest 100 poll, which also saw Jackson at No. Inspired by the reaction to the Beatles performance on "The Ed Sullivan Show," "Hey Ya!" Nevertheless, the Thriller video was set to be so expensive $900,000, to pay for not just the filming and effects but 10 days of dance rehearsals that Landis and Jackson had to find a way to fund it (Jackson had paid the $150,000 cost of the Beat It video himself). Strictly Come Dancing have reportedly lined up Loose Women star Sophie Morgan to be the show's first ever wheelchair-using contestant. Jackson's success ensured the lifting of a ban on black video by MTV in the US. The music video for "Survivor" takes place "somewhere in the South Pacific," as stated in the beginning and begins with Kelly Rowland, Michelle Williams, and Beyonc shipwrecked on an island. Michael Jackson had a huge 1983. However, after the new channel Showtime agreed to pay half the budget, MTV agreed to pay the rest, justifying the expenditure as financing for a motion picture and not a music video. Most of the video is a close-up shot of Sinad's face as she sings the song. ", The sound of the growling animal during the transformation is the same sound from. It briefly regained the position in July, before being displaced by Synchronicity by the Police. "I won't say that I have seen him in his birthday suit but close enough.". MI-5) If you want a long-running procedural about the inner workings of Britain's premiere counterterrorism unit, Spooks was created with you in mind. This particular Thriller musical is not to be confused with Thriller Live, a Michael Jackson-themed theatrical experience that ran in London's West End (the British Broadway) for well over a decade. According to The Guardian, Jackson made up a lot of the difference out of his own pocket. The floors appears to move as the walls stand still, furniture seems to glide, and the titled camera makes viewers feel a bit sideways. [10] MTV paid $250,000 for the exclusive rights to show the documentary; Showtime paid $300,000 for pay-cable rights. Landis told The Guardian that they initially planned to make Jackson turn into a four-legged creature. They run naked on a beach, they wear ridiculous outfits, and they rock out in front of crowds of people. He suggested that Jackson should become a werewolf in a 1950s setting, inspired by the 1957 film I Was a Teenage Werewolf. Thirty years ago this week on 21 November it was first shown to the public. [12] Nina Blackwood, a former MTV executive, said music videos improved after Thriller, with more storylines and more intricate choreography. I didn't have this thought intellectually at the time, but when I watch it now I realise that there's no reason for a lot of it; it's so free and loose. Jackson urged the Epic executives Walter Yetnikoff and Larry Stessel to help conceive a plan to return the album to the top of the charts. Mumsnet carries some affiliate marketing links, so if you buy something through our posts, we may get a small share of the sale (more details here). 7 Fastlove George Michael. Could you want anything more in a video? Six Girls Aloud videos later and Thriller is still part of Bellinger's life. She was the mother of the character Ken Reeves from the TV Show "The White Shadow". And as later legal filings would indicate, that's about all the actress and model took home. The black-and-white "Rhythm Nation" video is known for its military-style outfits, warehouse setting, and choreography, which has inspired numerous dance routines since the video was released. He changes back into a human to sing the choruses. They are all dressed in lingerie in a cabaret setting resembling the real Moulin Rouge. After falling asleep and dreaming that a saint statue turned into the man, she wakes up, goes to the prison, and tells them that the man is innocent. It really opened our eyes to music videos as a creative form of film-making, and a potential career." The video finishes with the bed being set on fire, burning the man who bid on her. The "Honey" video starts with Mariah Carey as a Bond-esque spy named Agent M who is being held hostage by an organization known as D.U.N.C.E. "I absolutely didn't expect that.". In 2017, it was remastered from the original 35mm negative and converted into 3D under John Landis' supervision. Joseph denied this. It took videos to another level, but in my world and in the world of artists I was dealing with, it's almost like it didn't relate.". Title track "Thriller" was the seventh and final Thriller single, released to stores and radio in January 1984, well over a year after the album debuted. It has that spirit to it that must have been contagious; it spoke to other kids. It ends with the groom as the actual ringmaster. Prior to its production in 1983, music videos weren't taken seriously or considered anything more than a way to cheaply promote a single or an album. Taking place on New Year's Eve, the video shows J-Lo and her friends getting ready for a party. It's incredibly simple, with David Bowie just standing in front of a white background for most of it, but with his orange hair, powder blue suit, and blue eye shadow, the visuals are vibrant and mesmerizing. Jackson's sixth album, Thriller, was released in November 1982 and spent months at the top of the Billboard 200, backed by successful videos for the singles "Billie Jean" and "Beat It". The original UK title sequence featured still shots of locations in the story, devoid of people, shot through a fisheye lens, bordered in bright red and set to Johnson's eerie, discordant theme music. Eminem impersonates various TV shows and people throughout the video for "My Name Is." Love it or hate it, labels are obsessed with it and it's here to stay. They pass a graveyard, where zombies rise from their graves and surround them in the street. Jackson and the zombies chase his girlfriend into an abandoned house. But the image forever in people's minds is Lopez dancing around in the forest with green lasers behind her. [8] Vestron Music Video offered to distribute Making Michael Jackson's Thriller on VHS and Betamax; this was a pioneering concept, as most video cassettes at the time were sold to rental stores rather than directly to viewers. It's full of genius symbolism and won Lamar a Grammy for best video. Fall Out Boy's video for "Sugar, We're Goin Down" alternates between the band jamming and a love story between a boy with antlers and a normal girl. He reaches out to her but can't pull her back up and she falls. The bride leaves the altar, and when the groom follows, he sees her making out with one of the guests outside. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is considered one of the greatest songs of all time, and the video is a testament to the song as a teen rock anthem. The proposed cost of the "Thriller" video: slightly less than $1 million. And then, at midnight on 2 December, after weeks of trailers and hype, MTV showed it to the world. 1. [25] In a poll of over one thousand users conducted by Myspace in 2010, it was voted the most influential music video. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title.