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A little detail about the thriller video that has always bugged me out.

Themidwestcowboy

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Am I the only one who wishes that they redid the part where Michael tried to stand on his toes but kinda failed? Lol. Such a minute detail but that little scene has always bugged me a little. I wonder why they just didn't redo that part.
 
I don't recall anything like that from the "Thriller" video, but he mentions a similar blunder from the Motown 25 performance in his "Moonwalk" biography.
 
Moviefan2k4 said:
I don't recall anything like that from the "Thriller" video, but he mentions a similar blunder from the Motown 25 performance in his "Moonwalk" biography.
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time for you to rewatch the video :D
anyway, I thought it was supposed to be like that?
and when they zoom in on his feet when he's doing it, it would look weird if he was standing on his toes any longer while they were zooming in on his feet...and showing nothing else
and if you watch Making Of Thriller, the part where him and Michael Peters work on the choreography, he doesn't stand on his toes any longer than he does in the video...maybe a second longer or something...but judging from the rehearsals, I don't think it was supposed to be a longer toe stand
 
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Themidwestcowboy said:
Am I the only one who wishes that they redid the part where Michael tried to stand on his toes but kinda failed? Lol. Such a minute detail but that little scene has always bugged me a little. I wonder why they just didn't redo that part.
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I thought that was intentional. A half-human, half-walker wobble dance move. Yes, I said WALKER. I'm long overdue for a new episode of The Walking Dead... :hysterical:
 
Could've been a number of reasons.

1. Michael was satisfied with how long he stood on his toes for (perhaps the toestand was only intended to be that length).
2. At this time, Michael wasn't able to stand on his toes for much longer (Judging from this music video, Motown 25 and the rehearsals as mentioned earlier. He does toestand in the Billie Jean video but they freeze-frame it).
3. They had to move on to the next shot/setup due to time constraints.

Personally I never really saw it as a 'mistake' or anything but who knows what Michael thought.
 
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Michaels Lover said:
time for you to rewatch the video :D
anyway, I thought it was supposed to be like that?
and when they zoom in on his feet when he's doing it, it would look weird if he was standing on his toes any longer while they were zooming in on his feet...and showing nothing else
and if you watch Making Of Thriller, the part where him and Michael Peters work on the choreography, he doesn't stand on his toes any longer than he does in the video...maybe a second longer or something...but judging from the rehearsals, I don't think it was supposed to be a longer toe stand
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respect77 said:
It was supposed to be like that, not a mistake, IMO.
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I just watched it again and I definitely think there is something a bit off with the toe stand. Maybe not the toe stand in itself but how he lands on his feet after. Take a look at all the Billie Jean toestands (post Motown 25 cause that actually resembles thriller a bit), it was clean and he lands perfectly on both feet. Now compare it to thriller, it looks rather clumsy. I'm not talking about the duration of the toestand cause after watching it I realized that the timing was right, as someone pointed out, but something seems of with that toe stand IMO. Not a big deal at all, just one of those things that sits in the back of your head lol.
 
Themidwestcowboy said:
I just watched it again and I definitely think there is something a bit off with the toe stand. Maybe not the toe stand in itself but how he lands on his feet after. Take a look at all the Billie Jean toestands (post Motown 25 cause that actually resembles thriller a bit), it was clean and he lands perfectly on both feet. Now compare it to thriller, it looks rather clumsy. I'm not talking about the duration of the toestand cause after watching it I realized that the timing was right, as someone pointed out, but something seems of with that toe stand IMO. Not a big deal at all, just one of those things that sits in the back of your head lol.
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IMO it's futile to compare it with the Billie Jean toe stand because it's a different choreography and it was meant to be different too, IMO.

It's a video and MJ was a perfectionist. It if was not supposed to be like it is in the video he would have changed it, I am sure. It is the first time someone suggests it's somehow wrong. I never considered it as such.
 
respect77 said:
IMO it's futile to compare it with the Billie Jean toe stand because it's a different choreography and it was meant to be different too, IMO.

It's a video and MJ was a perfectionist. It if was not supposed to be like it is in the video he would have changed it, I am sure. It is the first time someone suggests it's somehow wrong. I never considered it as such.
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Not just in Billie Jean, in Bad, Heartbreak Hotel, Jam and other songs that he does his signature toe stand was executed overall more properly. Even though billie Jean is a different song and choreography he still did it the same way. MJ almost never did any variations with his toe stand. I will take a look at the dance rehearsal footage, if I remember correctly it looked a lot more smoother there. I'm not ruling out a possibility that the quick camera shot may also play a factor.

Well maybe they were too far in the process of making/editing the video that they couldn't redo that part. There can be many explanations for that I'm sure. Recently we just found out that Michael wasn't satisfied with the whole BOTDF video but he released it anyway.
 
^^there were lots of things he wasn't always pleased with but they went out anyway.
The Jackson variety show dance routines, which to my mind are practically perfect.
Where is this in the video? I guess I've never noticed. I'm going to go pop it in the VCR and look myself.
 
Themidwestcowboy said:
Not just in Billie Jean, in Bad, Heartbreak Hotel, Jam and other songs that he does his signature toe stand was executed overall more properly. Even though billie Jean is a different song and choreography he still did it the same way. MJ almost never did any variations with his toe stand. I will take a look at the dance rehearsal footage, if I remember correctly it looked a lot more smoother there. I'm not ruling out a possibility that the quick camera shot may also play a factor.

Well maybe they were too far in the process of making/editing the video that they couldn't redo that part. There can be many explanations for that I'm sure. Recently we just found out that Michael wasn't satisfied with the whole BOTDF video but he released it anyway.
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To me it just seems intentional. I don't think it's a mistake. It was in sync with the music too.
 
barbee0715 said:
^^there were lots of things he wasn't always pleased with but they went out anyway.
The Jackson variety show dance routines, which to my mind are practically perfect.
Where is this in the video? I guess I've never noticed. I'm going to go pop it in the VCR and look myself.
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he didn't like anything about those variety shows....
and the toe stand in the Thriller video is when he's dancing with the zombies
 
barbee0715 said:
I'm going to go pop it in the VCR and look myself.
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I don't have anything to play my tape on, lol! I'm surprised your copy is still playable after all of the years that have passed. I'm hoping the estate will one day consider having it re-released on DVD and blu ray.
 
^^i guess I have never noticed anything that looked not right in the dance. I just watched the Making of Thriller a couple of days ago.

I know he didn't like the comedy in the variety shows but that's the way they were back then. Extremely corny.
And when you had 2 such engaging charismatic kids like Michael and Marlon doing the shtick you couldn't help but laugh because they were so cute.

I'm talking about the dance routines in particular because he would have preferred the kind of rehearsal time Kelly and Astaire were given in their musicals.
Best thing that came out of those is that he learned so much about dancing for the camera and it showed on Motown 25 as well as all of his subsequent videos.

Oh Sheila. I'm surprised too because I don't think I took great care of it or anything. But I think they made commercial VHS tapes better back then.
 
Go to YouTube and watch the video, that be easier
Do you know what DVD is? How many times has the video been released on DVD over the years....
 
Michaels Lover said:
Go to YouTube and watch the video, that be easier
Do you know what DVD is? How many times has the video been released on DVD over the years....
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Yes, it'd be easier but really don't want to look at it on the phone and the PC is downstairs. The tape and VCR are up here with me.
Yes. I know what a DVD is. I don't know how many times it's been released on DVD. How many?
 
barbee0715 said:
Yes, it'd be easier but really don't want to look at it on the phone and the PC is downstairs. The tape and VCR are up here with me.
Yes. I know what a DVD is. I don't know how many times it's been released on DVD. How many?
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Thriller has been released on DVD at least 5 times. Also with Thriller 25.
 
Galactus123 said:
Thriller has been released on DVD at least 5 times. Also with Thriller 25.
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barbee0715 said:
OK. So is The Making of Thriller on DVD different than what I have?
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The MAKING of Thriller isn't on Thriller 25 (it's not on the "Number Ones" DVD, either). Barbee and I aren't referring to just the Thriller video itself. I haven't found the DOCUMENTARY of it on DVD/blu ray. I'm not interested in some bootleg rip of it, either. I only purchase authorized merch by the artist or the artist's estate.
 
^^Thanks. I was confused by the original question. I seem to have a ton of copies of Thriller itself from my old History VHS tape to number ones and Vision on DVD.
 
barbee0715 said:
^^Thanks. I was confused by the original question. I seem to have a ton of copies of Thriller itself from my old History VHS tape to number ones and Vision on DVD.
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I know, right?! I had my hopes up that the video doc would be included on Vision, but it wasn't. :( If the album is going to get the Spike Lee documentary treatment, the estate might want to hold off on releasing our VHS version (cleaned up and on DVD/blu ray) until then.
 
^^i agree. That would be a good time to do it if they're planning this Halloween spectacular anniversary.
I'd like to see it play between shows at the theatre too. Don't think it should be in 3d but I have a feeling that's part of the settlement with Landis over past royalties.
 
HIStoric said:
Could've been a number of reasons.

1. Michael was satisfied with how long he stood on his toes for (perhaps the toestand was only intended to be that length).
2. At this time, Michael wasn't able to stand on his toes for much longer (Judging from this music video, Motown 25 and the rehearsals as mentioned earlier. He does toestand in the Billie Jean video but they freeze-frame it).
3. They had to move on to the next shot/setup due to time constraints.

Personally I never really saw it as a 'mistake' or anything but who knows what Michael thought.
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On the video,if u watch the outtakes he doesn't stand that long there either
 
barbee0715 said:
^^there were lots of things he wasn't always pleased with but they went out anyway.
The Jackson variety show dance routines, which to my mind are practically perfect.
Where is this in the video? I guess I've never noticed. I'm going to go pop it in the VCR and look myself.
Click to expand...
VCR in 2016?? ? btw,what tape?
 
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