Michael Jackson's Thriller (music video)
Michael Jackson's Thriller is the music video for the song "Thriller" by the American singer Michael Jackson, released on December 2, 1983. It was directed by John Landis, written by Jackson and Landis, and stars Jackson and Ola Ray. It references numerous horror films and has Jackson dancing with a horde of zombies.
Title card
Jackson dancing with zombies in the video
John Landis (pictured in 2005) directed the video.
The jacket worn by Jackson
A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. These videos are typically shown on music television and on streaming video sites like YouTube, or more rarely shown theatrically. They can be commercially issued on home video, either as video albums or video singles. The format has been described by various terms including "illustrated song", "filmed insert", "promotional (promo) film", "promotional clip", "promotional video", "song video", "song clip", "film clip", "video clip", or simply "video".
Musicals of the 1950s led to short-form music videos
The Beatles in Help!
Footage of Freddie Mercury in the "Bohemian Rhapsody" music video during a Queen + Adam Lambert concert at the United Center, Chicago