How to do the thriller dance video

Thriller: 7 secrets of Michael Jackson's iconic music video

Michael Jackson in 5 legendary performances

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By Manon Garrigues, translated by Kitty Grady and Mini Smith

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Frightening yet magnetic

When Michael Jackson approached John Landis to write and direct Thriller, he also hired his team. Having already collaborated with Rick Baker on An American Werewolf in London, John Landis turned to the makeup artist again for Thriller. In the making-of documentary, Rick Baker can be seen creating a face mold of the singer, to later create the famous werewolf head. The goal? Make Michael Jackson scary, but not ugly. The singer's face transforms into a dark creature, but we're still oddly fascinated. For the zombies' makeup, Rick Baker worked around the artist's face, accentuating the prominent bones (the cheekbones, the nose, the eye sockets…) and darkening the shadowy areas (dark circles, cheek hollows…). This gave a ravishing result, remaining loyal to the singer's features while making them more morbid.

Choreography to wake the dead

Having already worked with Michael Jackson on the hit Beat It, Michael Peters was hired to choreograph the Thriller dance. The zombies' legendary moves were created collaboratively by the choreographer and singer. Michael Jackson confessed that the greatest obstacle was bringing the living dead to life: “How can you make zombies and monsters dance without it looking comical? I teamed up with Michael Peters, and we imagined how zombies move around by grimacing in the mirror. I sometimes used to come to rehearsals in monster makeup, and I loved doing that. ” Jazzy steps, a jerky walk, and abrupt movements mixed with the pro accuracy of Michael Jackson, his 18 professional dancers, and 4 pop-lock dancers… Thriller has surprised generations and continues to fascinate fans of modern dance.

His first female interaction

Before Thriller, Michael Jackson had shown very little, if any, interest in including women in his videos. For the first time, his character would feature alongside an actress. The role of his girlfriend was first offered to Jennifer Beals, the star of Flashdance, who declined. John Landis' eyes turned to Ola Ray, a wild-child friend of the singer, who would play the ‘frightened girlfriend’ role to perfection. To satisfy his female audience, Michael Jackson was urged to bring out his sensual side; he improvised provocative dance moves around his on-screen girlfriend. Rumors say that the on-screen chemistry between the co-stars played out in real life.

Why is Thriller such a legendary video?

On top of the media storm surrounding Thriller, still to this day the top-selling album of all time with 105 million copies sold, the video caused shockwaves in the music industry. Michael Jackson succeeded in proving to his critics that Black music had a place alongside white artists. Reluctant to air Beat It, the young channel MTV ended up acquiring the rights to Thriller, and attracted an audience 10 times larger than normal for its 2 December 1983 premiere. Also released on VHS, Thriller sold more than 9 million copies — a revolution for the era. More sophisticated, scripted, complex… Thriller transformed music videos into an industry of their own. In 1984, John Landis' short film won 3 awards from MTV: Viewer's Choice, Best Choreography, and Best Overall Performance in a Video. With even more prestige, the 1985 Grammy Awards gave the clip the Best Video award. Even today, Thriller is a reference point for video scripting and choreography, with more than 674 million views on YouTube alone.

Happy Halloween! Here's your step-by-step guide to the 'Thriller' dance

It’s officially Mischief Night, and you know that means: pranks galore, costume-prep, spooky movie marathons, and my personal favorite pre-Halloween tradition—the Thriller dance!

If you’re like me (and everyone but Michael Jackson) trying to learn the Thriller dance was tough. While there’s nothing quite like mimicking the video, sometimes it helps to have a few written directions. Ready to get your zombie on? Here’s a step-by-step guide to the Thriller dance–or at least, the important parts.

Pre-Dance: Spooky Lurking

If you’re dancing along to the video, you’re going to have some time to kill. While Vincent Price is saying, “darkness falls across the land, the midnight hour is close at hand. . .” this is your cue to walk around hauntingly. Once Michael changes into the walking dead and the beat picks up, begin the dance.

Step 1: Werewolf Marching

-To achieve Michael’s signature walk, start out with short abrupt steps forward, and use your right shoulder to ‘scratch an itch’ in your right ear on the beat. Do this four times (8 counts).

-Then, make your steps forward wider, and sink into them on the beats, bouncing your booty in the process. You should have your arms stiffly outstretched in front of you at low diagonals, as if trying to ward off encroaching evils. Repeat four times (another 8 counts).

-Then make your steps forward more like a shuffle: slide the feet forward a bit, push the arms up and out into a small arch, while tossing the head back. Hands should be overly werewolfish, at this point. Do this twice on both sides (8 counts).

If you’re feeling confident, you can now add the following walk sequence:

-Quickly shuffle to the right twice, shuffle backwards to the left once, pop your hip to the right, grab your belt buckle, and do three pelvic thrusts.

If you aren’t ready for this move, go straight from you Zombie Walk into a stationary version of Michael’s famed pelvic thrust. (8 counts).

Step 2: Thriller Slide

-The base of the Thriller dance starts with a big clap in the air, with the right hip popped. As you bring the arms down, let the right leg slide down into a Spiderman-like stance. Transition through a deep squat, then use your force to push yourself back up to standing, and into another clap in the air. Bring the arms down, shrug the shoulders, and look quickly to the right. Repeat on the left side. (This should take about 8 counts for each side, but keep the beat of the music).

Step 3: Evil Scurry

-You’re then going to gleefully shuffle off to find your next meal, as you have now fully transitioned from werewolf-ish creature to flesh-craving zombie. For the technical folks, the steps should go left, right, left-left-left, right, left, right-right-right. Hands are, of course, out in front of you like the undead. (Do this 8 counts and come to a stop).

Step 4: Zombie Shuffle (Chorus! Hang with me folks, because it’s about to get serious.)

The ‘zombie shuffle’ is the root of the thriller dance. Learn this sequence, and you’ll be dancing to “‘Cause this is THRILLLLLLLERRRRR!” all night long.

-Turn to the right and, with your zombie hands up, rock back and forth to the right for 4 counts, then switch sides and do it to the left for 1 count.

Step back on the right foot, and lean and shake to the right. Drag the left foot to the right foot, reach the right arm out (presumably to grab a human snack), then do the move back on the left side.

-Then, turn to the side, raise the arms up in iconic Thriller creature fashion and walk 3 counts in one direction. Then quickly alternate your zombie hands to the opposite side and back again, then change directions and repeat the move. (This should take 10 counts, so try to make it as fluid as possible).

-From here, plant your feet, swing the arms up above and around you in a big, sweeping motion, then mummy shake down to a flat back, then up again (feet don’t move).

Step 5: Monster Crawl

From here, crouch down to a squat, plant the hands on the knees, and pivot in a circle around the right foot, allowing the left foot to drag behind for 7 counts. On the 8th count, look back over your shoulder. Then, staying in a low squat, Monster Crawl forward with the hands on the knees for 8 counts.

After this, walk forward like the undead for 16 counts, then repeat the Thriller slide, the Zombie Shuffle, and the Monster Crawl a bunch of times like you know what you’re doing! Congrats, girl! You’re like, basically MJ’s backup dancer. . .

Happy Halloween!

(Images via gifsoup, youtube)

The 15 most popular videos of all time YouTube

June 26, 2019Recreation

The list includes 14 music videos and one children's cartoon.

YouTube launched in 2005. In the same year, the first video with a million views appeared on the site - a Nike advertisement with football player Ronaldinho. In 2012, PSY's "Gangnam Style" video was released and was the first to reach one billion views.

But the video for the song of a Korean artist has not been the most popular in the video service for a long time, although it still holds the bar. Below are the 15 most viewed videos in YouTube history.

15. Major Lazer, DJ Snake, MØ - Lean On

2.6 billion views

Lean On is an electronic dance track that has topped the charts in many countries including Australia, the Netherlands and Finland. The song also peaked at the top of the US and UK charts.

Most of the video was filmed in the Indian state of Maharashtra. But the shooting of individual frames was carried out in Stockholm.

14. Enrique Iglesias, Dessemer Bueno, Gente de Zona - Bailando

2.74 billion views
Bailando was also released in English and Portuguese, but it was the Spanish version that attracted the most attention. Moreover, the clip became the first Spanish-language YouTube video to reach one billion views.

13. OneRepublic - Counting Stars

2.78 billion views

Very close to Bailando is the song Counting Stars. It was the first OneRepublic video to reach a billion views on YouTube. And the video is included in the list of 30 videos with the most likes.

12. Ed Sheeran - Thinking Out Loud

2.78 billion views

Ed Sheeran is one of the most popular artists not only on YouTube, but also, for example, on Spotify. In this video, he dances with a participant in the American show So You Think You Can Dance. According to some reports, Sheeran had to train for five hours a day for several weeks while on tour.

11. Taylor Swift - Shake it Off

2.8 billion views

The words Haters gonna hate immortalized Shake it Off and turned the song into a worldwide hit. Some even believe that the popular phrase came from this track, but in fact it originates from at least the old track Playas Gon’ Play by the American R&B group 3LW.

10. Katy Perry - Roar

2.84 billion views

Roar is a fairly standard pop song, which nevertheless turned out to be on the first lines of the charts in several countries at once. When the song was released, fans accused Perry of copying Sarah Barellis' Brave track. The latter, however, did not bring charges of plagiarism.

9. Pinkfong - Baby Shark Dance

2.97 billion views

A children's song about a family of sharks has gone viral thanks to Korean education project Pinkfong. This version of the song begins with bars from Symphony No. 9 by Czech composer Antonín Dvořák, which are reminiscent of the music from the movie Jaws.

8. Maroon 5 - Sugar

2.98 billion views

This video is the most innovative on the list. The group teamed up with The Strangers director David Dobkin. Together they traveled all over Los Angeles, unexpectedly burst into weddings and stunned the newlyweds with their appearance.

That's how the video turned out. At each wedding, only one person knew that some kind of group would come, but which one was not reported.

7. Justin Bieber - Sorry

3.15 billion views

It wasn't Bieber's once-popular Baby Bieber, but his 2015 hit Sorry, that made the top 15. However, despite the fact that the song is quite catchy, the video for it does not deserve special attention. The video consists entirely of monotonous dances on a white background.

6. PSY - Gangnam Style

3.37 billion views

The track became a real phenomenon. It topped the charts in 30 countries, and the dance moves from the video were performed by world leaders and sports stars. And UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called the song "an impetus for world peace." The next creation of PSY - Gentleman - was not so popular.

5. Bruno Mars, Mark Ronson - Uptown Funk

3.6 billion views

Uptown Funk, sounding like funk from the 80s, was the most played song in the US for 14 weeks. The track won two Grammy Awards and one BRIT Award.

This composition was also accused of plagiarism. Five different lawsuits were filed against Mars and Ronson. Two of them were settled out of court, and as a result of one, the official list of the song's performers expanded significantly. Two more cases are still pending.

4. "Masha and the Bear" - "Masha plus porridge"

3.75 billion views

The 17th episode of the children's animated series "Masha and the Bear" is the most watched non-music video on YouTube, and also the fourth on this list. In this series, an overly active girl made a lot of porridge and fed everyone she could with it.

3. Wiz Khalifa, Charlie Puth - See You Again

4.14 billion views

A track from the Fast & Furious 7 soundtrack commemorates Paul Walker, star of the popular film franchise. Walker died in a car accident in 2013 while the film was still filming. For the remaining scenes, Paul was replaced by his brothers Caleb and Cody.

2. Ed Sheeran - Shape of You

4.26 billion views

Ed Sheeran was the only artist with two videos on the list. Shape of You is a pop song with expressive Jamaican influences. American dancer Jenny Pegusky and former sumo wrestler Yamamotoyama Ryuta played with the musician in the video.

1. Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee - Despacito

6.27 billion views

This is the first Spanish-language entry to top the US chart. Previous was Macarena at 1996 year.

The video for the song gained one billion views faster than the rest - in just 97 days. Gangnam Style took five months to complete.

How to create your own music videos with Triller on Android and iPhone

2019

Everyone loves music stars and we'd be lying if we said we never thought of becoming a rock star. However, most of us don't have that musical talent to do it, but what if we told you that there is a way to create your own music video. Yes, that's right, the cool Triller app lets you do just that. The app allows you to create your own music videos and we are sure you will love it. First, let's introduce you to Thriller:

What is Thriller?

Triller is a popular music video maker app that might sound like Dubsmash to you, but it has so much more. The app was developed by David Leiberman in collaboration with music director Colin Tilly, who has directed several hit videos of Justin Bieber, Kendrick Lamar and Nicki Minaj. The application allows you to select your favorite songs and then take different takes by duplicating that song. Triller then uses a cool algorithm (which is said to match a professional editor) to automatically edit the various takes into one.

The results are pretty amazing, and if you don't believe us, check out Thriller's Instagram page. Looks very impressive, right? So, without further ado, here's how you can create your own music videos using Triller:

or iTunes.

When you're done, open the app and you'll see a stylish interface and plus buttons. Click the plus button to create a new music video project .

2. Then select the music you want in your video . There are many songs featured in the app, with the latest ones shown at the front. It even lists regional songs, which is quite noticeable. Moreover, you can search for a song or select a song from your device too.

3. Once you have selected the music track, you will need select the part of the song you want in the music video . To get a preview of the song in the app, press the play button in the center. Once you've selected the part of the track to show in the music video, click the checkmark button.

Note . The songs available in the app are limited to 29 seconds, but your own music is not, so if you want a full music video to show off your rock star skills, you can select a song on your device.

4. You will then see the camera viewfinder, where you can select the front or rear camera. Choose from different filters and record in normal, fast or slow motion. Click the capture button and the video should start capturing . When capturing, you can use the bar below to zoom in and out.

5. Don't worry if the first take isn't as good as the skill of the app is to use multiple takes and then edit them together for the best results. After taking a take, press the plus button to make another take .

6. Once you've done enough takes, click the "Make Thriller Video" button in the bottom right corner and you'll be shown the full video of your takes. The edited Triller video looks amazing, but if you want to make changes, you can use the "Re Edit" option available in the "Share" menu. Then you can upload the video to Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or share it via Twitter, WhatsApp or SMS . There is also the option to save it to your phone. When you select an option, the app displays the video to make it available for sharing.

If you have different video projects, you can swipe left on the project on the main page to get the "delete" option, and swipe right to get the option "play" and "share" . You can also check your Triller settings by swiping down from the top application page.

Thriller Notable Features

The ability to choose from many songs available in the application, as well as your own music catalog.

Take as many takes as you want for best results.

Automatic video editing that works like a charm.

Tons of cool filters and video modes like fast and slow motion.

Share settings for almost all social networks, email, SMS, etc.
Learn more