Tiku Roemello Fisher
Post Production | Stereo Conversion
Legend3D
Tiku Roemello Fisher was a founding member of the Legend 3D Toronto studio, where he worked as part of the production team on several high-profile stereoscopic projects. Notably, he contributed to the 3D conversion of Michael Jackson’s iconic “Thriller” video, managing teams through the complex frame-by-frame conversion process.
Thriller is the sixth studio album by American singer Michael Jackson, released on November 30, 1982. It is the best-selling album of all time, with estimated sales of over 70 million copies worldwide. The album, the title song, and its revolutionary music video are cultural landmarks.
Produced by Quincy Jones, Thriller blended pop, R&B, rock, and funk, breaking down racial barriers in music and earning Jackson regular airplay on MTV. Seven of its nine tracks were released as singles, all reaching the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
The Michael Jackson “Thriller” video was converted to 3D in 2017. The conversion was supervised by the video’s original director, John Landis, and the Michael Jackson Estate’s Optimum Productions.
The specific studio that handled the 3D conversion was Legend3D. The original 35mm film negative was used for a frame-by-frame restoration and conversion process.
The Michael Jackson’s Thriller 3D version premiered at the 74th Venice Film Festival on September 4, 2017. It was later released in select IMAX theaters for a limited engagement in 2018.
Michael Jackson’s short film for “Thriller” was the third of three short films produced for recordings from Thriller, which continues its reign as the biggest selling album of all time with worldwide sales in excess of 105 million as of June 1, 2016 and in December 2015 became the first ever album to be awarded triple diamond status (i.e.: sales in excess of 30 million) by the RIAA for US sales alone. The “Thriller” single reached No. 1 in four countries in 1984, topping the U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart as well as charts in Spain, France and Belgium. The song peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, making Thriller the first album to feature seven Top 10 singles. The Recording Industry Association of America certified “Thriller” Gold and Platinum on December 4, 1989.
The groundbreaking short films for the Thriller album, starting with “Billie Jean,” following up with “Beat It” and culminating with the epic, nearly 14-minute “Thriller,” truly expanded the possibilities of “music video” as art form. “I wanted something that would glue you to the set, something you’d want to watch over and over,” Michael wrote in his 1988 memoir Moonwalk. “I wanted to be a pioneer in this relatively new medium and make the best short music movies we could make.”
In the short film’s extended prologue, Michael’s moonlit date with his girlfriend (played by model Ola Ray) is interrupted by his sudden transformation into a howling werewolf. While the “real” Michael and Ola, observing the scene in a movie theater, walk home from the their date, Michael teases her by singing the verses of “Thriller.”