The creative background and appreciation of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" MV

"Thriller" MV director recalls the MV shooting

While preparing for the "Thriller Special Night" for the Tribeca Film Festival, director John Landis accepted the "New York Subway" The interview with the magazine told the story of when he shot the greatest music video in history:

How did the whole project start?

Oh, it was Michael Jackson who called me suddenly. He watched Rick Baker's masterpiece, "An American Werewolf in London," which turned a man into a wolf. Michael was fascinated by this form of transformation and said he also wanted to make a movie in which he could transform into a monster. Rock music videos at that time were generally designed to help sell records, so I wasn't interested at all. But of course I was interested in doing a short film because Michael was so prominent, so I knew there would be people interested in showing it. It was also an opportunity to find great dancers for a musical and to shoot it properly.

Was it difficult to find investment for this project?

We calculated that the film might cost $500,000. For that time, it was already quite a lot, because at that time many people only needed US$50,000 to US$70,000 to make a film. Columbia Records and Sony Video told us to get lost. The album has already spawned two successful music videos: "Beat it" and "Billie Jean". Besides, the album was already a number one album and sold more copies than any album in history. So Michael said, "Okay, I'll pay for it." I said, "Absolutely not." He was still living with his parents at the time. He said, "Why don't you film how we made this video? We could do a 'Making of Thriller' so it would be 45 minutes long and the video itself would be 15 minutes long, so that would serve as a The special was on Showtime. "When MTV heard that we were going to pitch the film to Showtime, they said they wanted to buy it first.

The rest is history.

Well, it was first shown as a short film in Los Angeles for a while with the movie Fantasia, and it caused a huge stir. But Columbia gave me a hard time because they sent the video to all the TV stations in the world for free. Once "Thriller" appeared on MTV and other international television stations, it seemed to be played 24 hours a day. The album also returned to the top spot and sold twice as many copies. It completely made MTV and cemented the power of the medium. And then I got a call from Austin Furst, and he said, "I want to release Thriller and the making-of footage on VHS home video." I said, "It's free on TV. Who's going to buy it?" He said , "I'm going to price it at $24.95." I thought, no one would buy it. As a result, 500,000 copies were sold. It created a home video business...

The 14-minute music video directed by John Landis cost more than $1 million to shoot. It premiered on MTV in the United States on December 2, 1983. The premiere version also carries the following disclaimer:

Due to my strong personal beliefs, I wish to emphasize that this short film is in no way an endorsement of belief in the supernatural. Probably due to Michael's identity as a member of the "Jehovah's Witnesses" religious movement at the time)

It was first broadcast on the British Channel 4 The Tube program at 1 a.m. on December 3, 1983. The music video was replayed late that night in response to public demand.

Michael said that this was "the most fun short film or video he has ever made": "I really like to become a monster. Because this way I have the opportunity to become a monster." It's a completely different person. It's so fun to hide behind that mask and let out a part of yourself physically or emotionally? It's so exciting for me to be able to do that. And those face changes, those fun things - it's so unforgettable!"

It is reported that Michael's sister Janet played one of the zombie characters in the "Thriller" music video.

Grammy Awards: Best Pop Vocal Performance (Male Vocalist), Best Video Album (Awarded to Home Video Album "Making Michael Jackson's Thriller")