I was a production assistant on this video (the animation side of things). The animation effect was called Rotoscope which was invented/developed by Colossal Pictures/USFX in San Francisco. We did a ton of stuff for MTV as well as FX for movies like “The Right Stuff”, “Top Gun” and “The Running Man”. Also back then we did a multi-episode show called “Aeon Flux” done in an animae art style for MTV’s Liquid Television. All of MTV’s original “bumpers” (when they first went on the air) were done by us. Seeing your reaction had me grinning from ear to ear. Excellent vid!
That means the blaster bolts and things like the emperor's lightning and the Ghostbusters proton pack effect were done the same way. They all have to be matched up to real life counterparts frame by frame. In fact anytime you see effects like that pre cgi were done the that way. Tron for example, was mostly done that way instead of primitive cgi like most people believe. Only the vehicles and some of the backgrounds were actual cgi.
At the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards, the video for "Take On Me" won six awards-Best New Artist in a Video, Best Concept Video, Most Experimental Video, Best Direction in a Video, Best Special Effects in a Video, and Viewer's Choice-and was nominated for two others, Best Group Video and Video of the Year.
I think the video still holds up! I mean so many from the 80s really show their age (I love them but come on) but this video remains pretty darn amazing.
@@danielmannandersen2332 Wiki said some 16 weeks and about 3000 frames. That's a lot of drawing even when they keep things fairly simple. But it paid off, it's not just a catchy song but the video is a straight up classic.
You might be interested to know that the actual artistic pages from this video are on display at the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. Top floor. I saw them last year when I visited there, and it was the absolute highlight of my tour of the museum! I also want to say how thrilled I am that you are reviewing older music on your channel. Many people may love the music of today and the past 20 years, but I have to confess it doesn't impress me. Seeing you appreciate bands like Queen and music from the 80's is endlessly refreshing. I would encourage more people to explore years gone by for a treasure trove of powerful, creative, and individual music that fills, satisfies, and moves you completely. Thank you!
Amazing how that song is like 3 mins long, but when I would watch it as a kid, it felt like an epic journey and it just made sense that they fell in love so quickly lol
@@mymlan spelled right for germans to or most european languages especielly the germanic ones hahaha even japanese people could pronounce that correctly
Released in 1985, this song won MTV's Video of The Year!.. It took something like 5 months to do this video, because all of the drawings that had to be done to depict movement of the couple in the video.. drawing and moving the images little by little, over and over again..
I'm shocked you haven't seen this before. Have you seen Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer? If not it's another groundbreaking, iconic music video that you must see. It's in 4K as well.
Do I EVER want to dance with you!!!!! I think it would be a BLAST!! It took a second before you were dancing in your chair!! I love that, do it myself...it's so great to see someone enjoying the music so much!! Thank you!!!
Yesss. When I was young this was blowing my mind. Still one of the best I've ever listend to, beside Cat Stevens. When I watched the video first time on MTV, that made me cry.
I remember when this video hit MTV it was such a game changer in concept and quality. People were floored by it. It had the same kind of wow factor on people like when Terminator 2 came out and they did the T1000 silver shape shifting effect. Plus it’s a great song and these guys had great hair.
Yeah, most of scenes of the T1000 when it was shot up and split, were wearable prosthetics. That's what made it so realistic, cause it was real physical peices. Cause the CGI just wasn't completely there at the time. And I think all the CGI in it was bad enough for you to notice it, like when the T1000 forms from the liquid state on the floorin the police station. I saw an in depth video on it a while back on RU-vid. You might be able to find it. Edit: Found it! Here's the link. =^D ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-MBShyOajLcg.html
Ah-ha. Saw them in concert. Mort....😍😍😍😍 This video won an award.. And I wanna say it was the first award handed out in this category.. Well, they created this illustrated type category because of this video.
My 22 year old daughter and I were just talking about this video tonight. I wasn't really able to get across how completely new and cutting edge this video was when it came out. Unlike many 80's videos, this has held up quite well over the decades!! Keep up the good work!!
It received 5-6 music awards by MTV for music video of the year 1986. There is about a 5-part video on RU-vid of how they made this and how many drawings it took. The lead singer still performs live and can still hit the high notes! The girl supposedly was his girlfriend at the time. She still looks great (they interviewed both of them together) and she kept the outfit. The group is Norwegian but all speak perfect English (there are three guys in the group, no girl). Fans still visit the cafe where this was filmed also! Probably is my favorite video of all time!
My dad had this recorded on a VHS tape and when I was 6 years old in 1990 my sister and i would dance to this song over and over again. To this day it's a standout awesome song / video
@Amy Dios Sorry but no they didn't. Star Droplet is referring to The Sun Always Shines On TV video, where the intro is a sequel to this video. Morten's character gets pulled back into the comic world, leaving the girl behind.
Yes! When this came out it was definitely a must dance to song. Oh and the guys in Ah Ha were hot! This was ground breaking animation and action effects, they did win awards. This was 1985.
This is the most creative and choreographed music video of editing I have ever seen. It is one of my favorite songs from my teenage years of the 1980s. I was 16 in 1985 and always waiting for MTV to air it. MTV was made for awesome music of this extroardinary decade.
The director was Steve Barron, who also did Michael Jackson's Billie Jean and Dire Straits' Money for Nothing- which is a definite music video must see.
The entire album is amazing - Hunting High & Low, Train of Thought, Living a Boy's Adventure Tale.. really beautiful songs. I loved A-ha in the 80's and I had 3 of their albums.
Fun fact: Alfonso Ribeiro (Carlton) says he got the idea for the dance after watching Courtney Cox (of Friends fame) do it on another classic 80's video for Bruce Springsteen's "Dancing in the Dark".
The scene at the end where the lead singer/protagonist is smashing himself against the walls in her apartment is an homage to the same scene in the 1980 horror film, Altered States.
Here’s some background information on the video itself, Jamel: A concept was devised by Steve Barron, based on a comic book he read as a young child featuring "guys racing against each other on motorbikes and sidecars". A girl reading a comic book in a greasy spoon cafe - played by Bunty Bailey of dance troupe Hot Gossip - is attracted to a sketched version of Harket before she finds herself sucked into the animated world. The pair are pursued by violent motorcyclists before the singer breaks out of the animation and the pair are finally reunited in the real world. The band and actors were shot on film before the tapes were handed to Mike Patterson who, over 16 weeks, sketched some 3,000 drawings over individual frames. "I knew that it was going to look good but I had no idea it was going to be in heavy rotation on MTV for a year," says Patterson, who worked on the video with wife Candace Reckinger.
And the wrench-wielding thug was played by Phillip Jackson, who will be a familiar face to fans of Robin of Sherwood (he played Abbot Hugo, the Sheriff of Nottingham's brother) and Poirot (he played Inspector Japp opposite David Suchet).
I was 15 when I saw this video and it blew me away.....that's why there are so many views. It was insane. When they run down the hall, the walls are wrinkled because the comic was scrunched and thrown out!
Living a Boy's Adventure Tale, Here I Stand and Face the Rain, and Train of Thought were my favorites besides Take on Me. I'm 49 now and I still listen to these songs from time to time.
Absolutely! A-ha is still recording. They had a farewell tour in 2010, I went to see them in Chicago for that. However, they couldn't stay apart. They are currently touring again. They are coming to Los Angels in September of this year, 2020. Luckily, my sister and I were able to get tickets before they sold out.
Video was made in 1985 by a Norwegian Band filmed in Norway most likely. Lead singer Morton Harkett was the same handsome dude in the video. Morton Harkett's voice was an awesome tenor who could hit those high notes. A-- HA recorded a lot of hits in the 1980's that were chart busters in Europe but not the United States. His voice was underappreciated in the USA because he was just considered another pretty boy band unfortunately. The young lady wasn't part of the band except for the video.
This video won the video of the year award that that year. It's also considered one of the top video's of all time. The guy's voice is literally off the charts.
Jamal, this song is from 1985 (I was a freshman in college) and the animation in this video was groundbreaking at the time, so you are correct about the advanced computer graphics and the "Breakfast Club" type of vibe. I love the '80's. 😉
Song always has had a special place in my ❤. The video is phenomenal. Special effects are way ahead of it's time. "Music is love" ... Absolutely, Jamal! Keep 'em comin' ✌
Α-ha were a norwegian trio, rivals to the Brits Duran Duran at the period. They got huge success in the 80s, especiallly with the album Hunting High and Low and were invited to meet the queen of England in 1985. The singer Morten Harket was famous for his stunning looks and his 5 octaves vocal range. He was a church choir boy and a blues singer before joining A-ha. His Musical Influences Include Johnny Cash And James Brown, Freddie Simon and Garfunkel. It was always said he has the face and the looks of an angel back then. "The sun always shines on tv", "hunting high and low" are some great atmospheric songs from their 1st album with intense vocals.
The name of the band came because when they were looking for a name, all the members have written down their name's options on a paper. When everybody was done, the lead singer took the paper and with excitement, before reading the possible options, said "ah-ha". At this moment, all the members agreed this was the perfect name for the band without looking for the names written down.
Actually Paul (Pål at that time, same pronunciation), the guitarist and main song writer had used the name A-ha as title of a song. When Morten, the lead singer saw it in Pauls notebook, he thought it would be a good name, and the others agreed. They were looking for a name/word/expression that was used in Norwegian and in other languages as well. As known A-ha is an expression used in recognition, and it has a positive vibe.
Every girl wanted to be the girl in the video, myself included. Morten dragged her into the comic book, and after the studio work was done he didn't let go of her. She became his girl friend for a few months.
As an Austrian I was just wondering, if you ever listened to Falco - Rock me Amadeus - it was the only Number One hit in the US with a German text. He also was the first who adapted rap elemtents for the German language.
I appreciate you appreciating the effort put into a song that people "know" but don't recognize. One of the greatest love songs of all time. And you didn't even put context to the lyrics and how it matched the video... because it was soooo good. Peace and love my brother.
It's pronounced "ah-ha", as in "I just had an a-ha moment". I'm also always blown away by the graphics in this video. You nailed it - the people who made it were way ahead of their time.
1984. The video features the band in a live-action pencil-sketch sequence. The video won six awards and was nominated for two others at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards.
Cherry McGregor Take On Me" is a song by Norwegian synth-pop band A-ha, first released in 1984. The original version was produced by Tony Mansfield and remixed by John Ratcliff. A new version was produced by Alan Tarney for the group's debut studio album Hunting High and Low (1985)
vic zart I know who they are.yes it’s 1984 , my apologies i was in my 20 s when it came out,but not sure why you need to give me the wickapedia notes too 😂
Jamel aka Jamal: Watch Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers "Don't Come Around Here No More." It's a trippy video that I still remember as a kid in the 80s.
Truth, especially tributing a rock legend that’s no longer with us. All of his stuff is good but the Alice in Wonderland video was cool. Great Wide Open is pretty awesome as well with Johnny Depp in his younger years.
This video actually first aired on WVJV-TV aka V-66, a Boston music video station that was over the air broadcast, while MTV was only on cable at the time. I was the art director for V-66 Boston Rock Video in 1985. These guys actually came into the station in Boston and we had them do a live intro for us as we rolled the first airing of Take On Me in the United States. The band member who is the main character in this video ended up marrying the TV stations receptionist.
The year was 1985. There are videos on RU-vid about how this video was made. It almost wasn't. the recording company just said make a run of the mill video but the director said, "Wait!! I have an idea. Just give me the time to do it!" Boy, he had an idea alright. I believe it took over 5 months to animate this video but the results changed everything. I was a senior in high school then and it's very cool to see younger generations dig this so much.
This video reminded me of the ending of a movie called “Altered States”. The star (William Hurt) was experimenting with drugs and was regressing genetically and in the end escaped from his altered state by slamming himself into the walls till he fell down and was freed. Good movie if you ever get a chance to see it.
GREAT song. Timeless. Look up "Catchy" in the dictionary, there's a play button for this song. The video is beyond classic too, still holds up and always will. The vocals, need we talk about that tone and range? Some songs are just perfect. Some videos are just "right'. This is both. To say, look at these kids, they're embryos! As fully formed song writers... gifted!
Take On Me was recorded in 1984 and released in 1985, the Producers were John Ratcliff, and Alan Tarney, originally the song was going to be called "Lesson One " but that didn't work out so now it is called Take On Me and you can listen to the demo version of the song on Spotify, also there is a part two to "Take On Me" called "The Sun Always Shines On Tv." it's the part two to Take On Me, and also the band is Norwegian.
The title "Lesson One" was a working title, it was never meant to be the song's final name. The riff was written when the keyboard player, Magne/Mags was 15 years old, and in the beginning the song was named "The Juicy Fruit song", since they thought it sounded very commercial, reminding them of a Juicy Fruit commercial from that time.
A-HA... always considered a one hit wonder because of this song, but the reality is they had a lot of great songs, one even a James Bond theme, but all anyone remembers is this one.