In 1983 Landis (a film director) said he would do the video of 'Thriller' if it could be a short film and Jackson embraced the idea as this had never been done in the music video industry before. The 13-minute film that resulted changed the music video for ever, becoming less a promo clip than a cultural phenomenon.
Thriller was an event even when it was being shot in October 1983. More than thirty years ago the 'Thriller' music video was first shown to the public. To be eligible for the Oscars, it needed a week-long theatrical release, so Landis (the director) arranged for it to open at a single cinema in LA. At midnight on 2 December 1983, after weeks of trailers and hype, MTV showed the music video to the world.
Thriller sealed MTV's reputation as a new cultural force; dissolved racial barriers in the station's treatment of music (though MTV has always denied they existed); revolutionised music video production; spawned the "making of" genre of documentary; helped create a market for VHS rentals and sales, because fans were desperate to see it when they wanted, rather than at the will of TV stations; and, in 2009, became the first music video to be inducted into the Library of Congress's National Film Registry.
The song 'Thriller' was released a whole year before the music video but did not become a big success until the music video was released and therefore the music video promoted the song. The Thriller video sent album sales into orbit, with Jackson's label Epic reportedly shipping a million copies a week in its immediate aftermath.
The Thriller music video was set to be $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. 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 paying $100,000. When the documentary was released on VHS, selling for $29.95, it attracted more than 100,000 advance orders in its own right. The $900,000 made 'Thriller' the most expensive music video ever made at that time.
The main reasons overall that 'Thriller' had a massive impact on the music video industry is because it was the most expensive music video of its time as well as being the longest as it was 13 minutes. It had a narrative making it like a short film as well as the director being a film director. It was also unusual because the music video was released a whole year after the song but was the main reason for the success of the song. The 'Thriller' music video was also had a massive impact on the industry as a lot of the time the music video is to promote the song whereas people really wanted to buy copies of the music video and not just the song on tape.
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