They shot the whole video on camera then two artists sketched each frame (over 10,000 frames) BY HAND and the sketches where spliced into the footage. It took those two artists over three months working full time to complete the drawings. This video is still amazing but, in 1985, it was better than anything we had ever seen. There is a two (or three) part mini-documentary on YT about it.

@TheReverendStrange

2 жыл бұрын

The process is known as rotoscoping. It had been around for decades. Sometimes animators would do it just to capture the movements of the actors. In other cases, such as this video, you would fully trace the actors because you needed their specific likeness.

@ffjsb

2 жыл бұрын

@@TheReverendStrange Rotoscoping was done in the movie "Heavy Metal" and as far back as some Looney Tunes cartoons.

@tosvus

Жыл бұрын

@@ffjsb It was invented in 1915, but the exact style and usage done in Take on Me was pretty groundbreaking. Rotoscoping includes a lot of different techniques/results. For instance in the original Star Wars, the lightsabers were rotoscoped in, same goes for the effects in the old Moses movie. In other cases it was used as a sketching tool for animated movie to have a basis for natural movement. I can't recall a lot of examples that utilize it in such an artistic way as it was done here though.

@ffjsb

Жыл бұрын

@@tosvus There was a Looney Tunes cartoon having to do with Hollywood celebrities out on the town that was an early use, and of course the movie "Heavy Metal" that featured it a lot.

@4QTRMrCanadian

9 ай бұрын

WHAAAAT 10,000 frames by hand oh my god

This song is the greatest 80s pop song… literally embodied the sound of the 80s perfectly:) this is a perfect 80s pop song… And the best music video ever

@rapsack7058

2 жыл бұрын

I totaly agree, the video was a revolution and is timeless....it could have been made yesterday....and not 40 years back

@dard4642

2 жыл бұрын

That opening keyboard riff lends itself very well to nostalgia.

@chuckwilson4186

2 жыл бұрын

totally agree

@JoseTorres_74

2 жыл бұрын

As far as the video goes, I have to admit it’s a killer video. Now, the greatest 80s pop song? It’s a really good one but I’m going to say my favorite 80s pop song is Tears For Fears- Everybody wants to rule the World. 😁

@Danny-id3fe

2 жыл бұрын

@@JoseTorres_74 I like shout by them more

This video is definitely iconic. Lots of work and creativity went into it. We were all blown away by it back in the day. If I remember right, it won a bunch of awards.

@gamexsimmonds3581

2 жыл бұрын

Tip 10 video of the 80s for sure. Up there with You can call me Al Smooth Criminal Thriller SledgeHammer Like a Prayer And others

Best music video ever as far as I’m concerned. Been a huge a-ha fan since the very beginning when I was just 12 years old, I’m now 49. amazing band and still going to this very they touring the world, they have 4 shows coming up in the USA this year including one at the Hollywood bowl

@SweetThing

2 жыл бұрын

Wow, they retired and had a retirement tour and now they're back? I sure would love to see them! 🙂

I see young people being surprised that singer Morten Harket can hit the highs easily live without needing autotune or anything like that. Hardly today an artist would take the risk.

@tragicdeyz2641

2 жыл бұрын

Truly gifted artists are rare in any generation. But there's no reason to think there aren't just as many today as 40 yrs. ago. Beyond natural talent, it also takes a lot of hard work, ambition and luck.

@lavenderllamamusic

2 жыл бұрын

Brendon Urie (Panic! at the Disco) comes to mind

@williamjordan5554

2 жыл бұрын

Miljenko Matijevic. No male can hit a higher note without going falsetto.

@cuyxjrplays

2 жыл бұрын

Adele

@williamjordan5554

2 жыл бұрын

@@cuyxjrplays Mariah Carey.

One of the greatest, if not THE Greatest music video of all time. The song is top notch as well. Pure art.

@gamexsimmonds3581

2 жыл бұрын

Id argue that is not the best song from the album but yes, great song and video

I was an editor back in the days...in 1985 a few seconds of that video at a time would probably have to render overnight for the effects produced...it took months to make a few minutes of that video!

This song and music video embodied quintessential 1980’s! I was 12 then and now 49 years old. I was in the thick of the 1980’s sound. Loved growing up in the best decade.

In my opinion, this is your best reaction. You totally get the difficulty of the creative process for putting this video together in 1985. MTV played this video to death in 85 and rightfully so. At the time, this was cutting edge for a music video, but the story this video portrays is what I love about it. Action, suspense, a love story in a 4 minute video. It's just a joy to watch, even now.

@JohnDoe-ls2zu

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, MTV was a massive hit 24-hour music channel started in 1981. The music video really became a big marketing tool for bands, and they spent millions on their music videos to get play on MTV. The 1980's was the golden age of music videos.

My son is a huge fan of A-Ha and he said it took several months. They used 16 mm film which had to rotoscoped each frame by hand. The song was released in several forms before the video was even finished and released.

The story from the video has an ending. The song is called The Sun Always Shines on TV. You only need to see the first minute or so to see how the story ends.

One of the most famous music videos of all time.

I remember being in my play pen as a baby/toddler and this being new on MTV. Thankful to my older sister for watching/inadvertently exposing me to so much cool music.

Love this one. There is an epilogue with the song The Sun Always Shines On TV. Love that one too. The whole album really.

recklezz...this video won the "Best of the year" at 1985's MTV video awards hands-down. if u wanna see another trippy (And funky) MTV wInner, check out Peter Gabreil's "Sledgenammer"--keep up the good work, youngblood!!

@SarahManley

2 жыл бұрын

It also was considered the best video of the 1980’s according to Friday Night Videos.

Not only was this video groundbreaking in 1985 - but it's become one of the most iconic music videos of all time

At the 1986 MTV music awards A-ha won eight out of eleven awards they were in contention for. Their video for "Take On Me" earned 6 awards out of 8 nominations: Best new artist (other nominees were Whitney Houston, Pet Shop boys, Simply red), Best concept video, Most experimental video, Best direction, Best special effects and Viewers choice. They were also nominated for Best group video and Video of the year. «Take on me» was also nominated for Best pop/rock video at the American MTV awards in 1986. Even though they are Norwegians, they started their career in the UK and lived there for some years. They have so many more amazing songs, but this was the one that became the biggest (it probably has a lot to do with the video who won so many awards and was ahead of its time). A-ha is the sound of the greatest music era, the 80’s (and the lead singer, Morten Harket, was the one who started the leather armwrist band trend, teared jeans and leather look and every girl was in love with him). Kanye West, U2, Radiohead, Leonard Cohen, The Killers, Noel and Liam Gallagher, Pitbull and Coldplay are among the ones admitting to be A-ha fans and some bands have also told that A-ha was an inspiration for their music (Coldplay, Keane, The Killers..also U2, as you can hear by each band’s sound). A-ha was very popular around Europe and even more popular in South-America (Brazil especially). For some reason they were ignored in USA (besides «Take on me» which was #1 on Billboard). They actually had the Guiness world of records of most paying attendance at an outdoor concert (198.000) in «Rock in Rio» in 1991. Artists like Guns’n Roses, Prince, INXS, Run DMC, Joe Cocker, Billy Idol, Faith no more, George Michael/Wham, Judas Priest, NKOTB etc...played at the same festival but A-ha drew the most attendance. They have been around for over 40 years (their latest album was released in 2022) and they have kept their sound for all these years, and sound just as good

theres a part two called The Sun Always Shines on T.V. it carries on from take on me

There's a series of utube clips explaining the making of this clip. Well worth watching. This song and group and lead singer are still growing strong..

Their video for "The Sun Always Shines on TV" starts off as if it was the end of making this video, with the same girl, then it becomes a whole new thing. And it is a killer track! Also, the end of this video where he is banging against the walls in the hallway is a reference to the ending of the movie "Altered States".

I was 9 years old when this came out. It was amazing and cutting edge technology at the time. It was a huge hit.

@chloecrockett6830

2 жыл бұрын

I was 9 too when this came out and it was huge! I was a latchkey kid so I came home to MTV daily and saw this probably a million times but it’s always impressive. I have such an appreciation now for being a kid in the 80’s and teen in the 90’s.

Take on Me and Thriller. The two very BEST videos of the 80's. Nothing else compares.

On 17 February 2020, the music video reached one billion views on KZread.

Absolute classic video and song. It was made in the mid 1980s and has stood the test of time. One of my all-time favorites. Cheers!

Takes me back to my childhood. This song was so popular in the 80s, we even jammed to it in the hood 'cause it was shiznit LOL!!

This is so 80's it was so much fun😂

Aha concert: They have a Guinness World Record from 1991 for drawing the largest paying audience at a pop concert with 198,000 people at the Estádio do Maracanã stadium in Rio de Janeiro.

@EduardoLopez-cb7ye

2 жыл бұрын

Hello friend, I think you are wrong with that information, in the year 1991 in the country of Brazil the music festival "Rock in Rio" was celebrated for 9 days... and that large number of people who attended the festival was not only for A -ha, but also by twenty other artists and among them Guns n' Roses who was the only artist in that festival who repeated as headliner twice because they was the most requested in that festival.

@bobwoolerOriGinal

2 жыл бұрын

​@@EduardoLopez-cb7ye Hm. So the Guinness Book of Records had it wrong all these years..

@ahkkariq7406

2 жыл бұрын

@@EduardoLopez-cb7ye He is right.

@ElanurMH

2 жыл бұрын

@@EduardoLopez-cb7ye He's not wrong. A-ha has sold almost 200,000 concert tickets for their own show, more than all other stars together at Rock In Rio. There was a real turmoil and hysteria in Rio because A-ha was there, they had to be protected by the police and military, their whereabouts were kept secret and the hotel was sealed off. A-ha has a huge fanbase in South America, they still go crazy when a-ha shows up in Brazil. Their concert at Rock In Rio 2015 was also sold out immediately. So the Guinness record is true Examples from their South America Tour kzread.info/dash/bejne/n2l7r9OHp7CtgrQ.html (Take On Me) kzread.info/dash/bejne/mqWFz6x-YtHMgco.html (I've been losing you) From Rock In Rio 1991 kzread.info/dash/bejne/nXuE0Kd_icWpaLg.html (Hunting High and Low) kzread.info/dash/bejne/lneJ1MuOpNObhbw.html (Living Daylights - the James Bond Theme song)

LOVED THIS VIDEO and song when I was a kid. The 80's and the 90's were special

Family Guy did an episode where Chris Griffin got stuck in the a-ha video😆.

You observe and then you react. You pay attention to the vocals, the instruments, the music, the era, pretty much everything. Absolutely love your reactions. Thank you.

I remember when this came out, we'd never seen anything like it before. From memory, I think that they had artists draw each frame by hand to replace the real people, and it took months.

@ffjsb

2 жыл бұрын

Rotoscoping. And yes it's very tedious, but damn it looks so good.

Top 5 song growing up because it had a great video and story behind it...👊👍😎

Absolutely, you immediatly got it and I glad you did: in 1985 they did not have the same computers and softwares we have today. Drawers were hand made! ♥️ There’s a making of made to celebrate the 1 billion views that worth to watch it. It shows more about this amazing ouece of art. A-ha has great songs, Morten Harket has great vocals, he even hold for long time the guiness record for holding the highest notes longer. One of my favorites is “the blood that moves the body” and another video clip that won lots of awards was “hunting high and low”. More great songs? Stay on these roads, the sun always shines on tv, cry wolf, manhattan skyline…

Morten Harket the lead singer had a fantastic voice. See Hunting high and low & Stay on these roads. A-Ha was huge outside of the US with multiple hits, they even did the theme song for Janes Bond's The Living Daylights, which was great Check the official music videos

The surreal, sketch-pad animation of the 1985 MTV staple is hypnotic. It's been viewed over 1 billion times on the site, a rare milestone for a song recorded in the 20th century. ADORE this song!! xx

Take on me is one of the best songs and videos of the 80s

Glad you experienced this song via the music vide bfirst. I highly recommend you look for the music video for any song of the '80s you react to. Songs were debuted on MTV. The video was just as much if not more important than the song and "what it meant" to us. The hype and success of the song was based on the video and or the music soundtrack/video. Not the song as a stand alone.

Definitely check out the acoustic version of this. Of course if you have seen Deadpool 2 then you already have heard the acoustic version.

3:10 About the visual effects, they are actually pretty advanced since the '30s and this video is from the '80s so there were already five decades of an extensively matured visual effects in the industry to make this music video.

You must listen to the acoustic version. It is so tender and sweet. The video is such a visual masterpiece.

@catherinelynnfraser2001

2 жыл бұрын

kzread.info/dash/bejne/X6x_r5Wmd9eYoKg.html

Regardless of musical taste, no one in their right mind can overlook what a masterpiece this song is.

One of my favorite music videos from the 80s. It’s still a vibe to this day. Classic MTV! 80s baby here so I love it!!

This song always puts a huge smile on my face, can’t help but dance to it 😂

@petraleopold2713

2 жыл бұрын

samee😍

These guys recorded this song at three different studios over a couple years, they couldn't get the production they were hearing and would not give up on it as a single, and this video was one of the most expensive to produce but it yielded the best one-hit-wonder (and one of the most innovative videos) of an entire decade, still it endures.

@Abbadonhades

2 жыл бұрын

Not a one hit wonder even though they didn't get another number 1 hit in the USA. Among other things they made the title song for the Bond movie "The living daylights" (1987).

@kevcall

2 жыл бұрын

Definitely not one-hit-wonders in Europe!

@ffjsb

2 жыл бұрын

"The Sun Always Shines on TV hit #20 on the Billboard charts in the US...

Growing up in the MTV era, I'm happy to give my vote for this as one of the BEST all-time music videos! Loved it when it first came out and I still do today.

Here's a video showing how they made it: kzread.info/dash/bejne/dZesrtuAe9qaaNY.html It's part 2 - part 1 is how the song itself came about and was recorded..they used a film technique called Rotoscoping - all that animation was drawn by hand. A cool part in this video is the singer and the girl who was in the video meet in the same cafe they shot the video in present (2019) day, some 35 years later.

@elnickro

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for sharing that!

@mochs3869

2 жыл бұрын

@@elnickro You're welcome.

@orla556

2 жыл бұрын

A-ha, never knew all these years that she was a cockney gal !

@ahkkariq7406

2 жыл бұрын

The girl, Bunty Bailey, actually became Mortens girlfriend for some months. She went straight into his arms. Hehe

It's 1AM on a Saturday night in 1985 and you turn to Superstation TBS or MTV and this is what you saw! The last part of the video when he's slamming against the wall was a take from the 1981 movie Altered States.

In Norway they say “tok!” It means thanks! And they say “Ufda!” It means Norwegian pride!

@norkannen

2 жыл бұрын

Nope we say takk ( thank you ) and uffda means whoops😂

@fuckwhysoserious

2 жыл бұрын

@@norkannen 'uffda' er norsk stolthet...haha....

@funkster007

2 жыл бұрын

@@norkannen All the way over here in the states in Minnesota "Uffda" is a pretty common word ( maybe not to the younger generations) but surely the Norwegians and Swedes brought many old traditions and slangs here. HA

Need to go put the album on the turntable now. “The sun always on tv” is iconic.

The animation is called rotoscoping. Disney utilized it a lot. Animators use live action to trace over for the effect.

One of my favorite songs. Brings back memories of my life as a very young adult.

One of the first videos on the new "MTV" ... I was 29 in 85 and this blew our minds !!!!! Loved this

Remember this from my middle school days on MTV when they played music videos all the time. So fire! You should check out Twenty-one pilots: Lane Boy, Heavy Dirty Soul, Heathens, Ode to Sleep, etc.... Not necessarily in this order, These are just a few to start with to get started but you absolutely will not regret it. There is a whole storyline throughout their albums and then a storyline that is continuous from album to album. Made up of two guys. No specific genre. Super FIRE!

Hugely underrated band in the USA, known as a one-hit wonder there. Huge band globally, though. Check out "Hunting high and Low" and "Stay on these roads" among many others.

Great Reaction! This song is still a bop and classic award winning video. The Weeknd was inspired by this beat in his song 'Blinding Lights'from a few years back. Lots of 80s vibes. Same with Dua Lipas album at that time. The 80s live on!

Can't go wrong with a billion man. Great reactions. U guys r definitely hitting on all these.

The video was so amazing at the time, we were engrossed watching it like you were, but don't let it take away from what a catchy song this is.

I have framed pictures done by the original artist of 3 scenes from the video😊

Modest Mouse is an Indie Rock band that has a Great music video of 'Ocean's breathes Salty' It's on their first hit album, I got it from a friend that was not familiar with it so he gave it to me, BEST physical Gift given while living in the Midwest...

In one of the reactions to this song, don't remember which one exactly was it, one person who actually worked on this video responded and he talked in comments how it was made, methods and tech they used, etc. Was really good information and indeed, their hard work did create a video, which is still one of the most epic music videos ever created. Respect to creativity and hard work of these people. And A-Ha of course is A-Ha - always amazing.

Morton Harket is in his 50s now and can still hit those high notes

@Theknightsofpop82

2 жыл бұрын

Add 10 years to his age

The live unugged version of this song is amazing, it's slower and you really get the proper feeling of the song, well worth checking, you wouldn't be disappointed.

I remember when I first saw it then showed my Grandma. She was impressed and got me started on flip books!

The did an unplugged version of this a while back, really good

This song is amazing, like a lot of other songs by them.

Good call. This is definitely one of the better music videos that came out in the 80’s.

When I use to do Martial Arts (Shotokan for 25 years) one of the sensi s would play this song all the time, and I use to also see it back when they had Much Music here in Canada. Such a energetic fun song with a great music video. Crushed it again 👊

@carlrosenzweig1867

2 жыл бұрын

lol. Your Sensei was very different from my Sifu.

This song was everywhere. All the time. Love it

This form of animation is called rotoscoping…they take film of actual people and trace it frame by frame…done since the early days of film…Disney’s Snow White…Cab Calloway dancing, etc. This video made this type of loose pencil sketch style popular for a time….remember a Hill Street Blues promo done like this at the time.

This video won awards. Jumping from real world to animation, was fire!

there were 16,000 line drawings in the video to take on me. ive been an aha fan since 1985 when i was 16 i’m 52 now a very underrated and unappreciated band from oslo, norway with a huge back catalogue check more aha out please. take care. i come from scotland and have seen them live numerous times amazing band

Can't believe these two have never seen this video before. Unlikely. But if they haven't then.....I'm so old I wanna cry.

He has one of the most incredible voices!

I used to always break out into ballet leaps and spins when this song came out. In public. And I am not a ballerina. I am glad I am able to resist doing that now.

Senior year of high school. It was impossible to not hear this. It was everywhere.

Dont often comment on your reaction but watch a lot...you were both glued to the video...groundbreaking in 1985....over 1 BILLION views and still climbing as todays younger generation watch it...check out The Sun Always Shines On TV by A-Ha...continues where this ends...

That's one of the many unique videos that helped make MTV so popular.

A-HA Hunting high and low...very emotional

The song used Rotoscoping which is an animation technique that traces over video or motion picture footage frame by frame producing realistic footage, it took about 2 days to film the video and apparently 4 months to do the Rotoscoping.

One of my favorite cutaways on family guy is a parody of this video. Chris Is grocery shopping with Lois and reaches for a carton of milk that's behind a couple of other things and he gets pulled into a world that is just a drawing like the girl in this video does. They do a short blurb of this song with Chris participating in the music video and then it throws him back out into the store next to Louis. Louis asks where he was and then Chris and that perfect squeaky voice of his "I don't know!"

Gotta say I have loved all your reactions! You can see the love of music!

there is a video on youtube of the making of this music video! I remember when it played on MTV constantly. One of the best music videos ever made!

Aha The Sun always shines on TV...Great track 👍

Probably the best “pop” song ever

That video won awards and was cutting edge in 1985

The video technique is call Rotoscoping. It was invented in the 1880s. Not a typo, eighteen eighties. It was used a lot in the 1910s-1940s for cartoons. Notable movies that used it were 1978 version of Lord of The Rings, original Tron, Fantasia and Mary Poppins.

If I remember right, this video was 3rd in the most played music videos on MTV back in like 2000 or so, when they were celebrating playing their 1millionith video

Should react to the MTV unplugged live version. He can still hit those high notes.

You can hear this bands influence in a lot of new r&b. Listen to The Weeknd.

Raise your hand if you were around when this was a new video on MTV and now whenever you hear this song you think immediately of this video.

The continuation of this song and videoclip: A-ha / The sun always shine on tv. Check it out

Probably one of the best music videos of all-time... and by probably... I mean most definitely.

I was born in 1980, brings back memories 😍

amazing song . if u get a chance to listen to the acoustic version, it’s even better imo

@leroyrs

2 жыл бұрын

To be honest even that it might be good I'm getting tired of the thousands acoustic cover songs. Just sayin'

@lokiwalkrtxrangr4568

2 жыл бұрын

The, I believe, MTV unplugged acoustic version of this song was how the song was originally supposed to be played, before 80's pop influence factored in. It is so beautiful and chilling in a way

Here you have a shot version about making that video: kzread.info/dash/bejne/d4usltlyiburlLg.html If you are interested in full new documentary about the song and the video with comentary by nowadays musicians, it is on their channel part 1) kzread.info/dash/bejne/qaCIqqyDiJq3hrg.html part 2) kzread.info/dash/bejne/dZesrtuAe9qaaNY.html part 3) kzread.info/dash/bejne/aYCc0ZKYaZC8XZs.html

@animeman84

2 жыл бұрын

Good looking out for the information

How you know…no response. 10 seconds later, How you know? 😂😂 hilarious

If I remember they were working on it for a couple years before release Remember there videos came the era or MTV when they only played music This is where computer generated graphics and AI began

The artist made each scene by hand

I was like 1 years old when this dropped but somehow I still remember watching this video as a kid lol

You’ll love the KYGO / AHA duet Look that up It’s fairly recent “live” event recorded He still can hit that note- And KYGO drops a 🔥 Reggae vibe behind the synth - It’s 🔥‼️☮️🕉