Michael Jackson’s Thriller video has just been voted the most ground-breaking video of all time.
Did you know that Bob Paynter, the man who was Director of Photography for Thriller, lives on the Isle of Wight? – VB has mentioned it once before.
Since then we’ve been lucky enough to spend time with Bob talking to him in his home in Yarmouth about his fifty year career in the film business.
Below is a little snippet related to the Thriller video, taken from the three-plus hours that we’ve recorded with Bob.
Originally going to be a full-length film
It emerged from our discussions that originally Michael Jackson had wanted to act in a full-length horror film after seeing An American Werewolf in London.
After the finance of the project wasn’t raised, Jackson went for a 14 minute music video by way of a compromise.
The video had similar visual effects created by Rick Baker, of the main character transforming from a human to a werewolf on screen, that were so ground-breaking in the 1981 film.
Here’s a short bit of video of Rick Baker on his involvement with Werewolf …
More details from Bob
Have a listen to hear about it in Bob’s words. We’d just been discussing An American Werewolf in London and lead on to the Thriller video. It includes details about where it was shot, how many people involved with preparing people for make-up and more.
Thriller video
Image: © Michael Jackson
