The effects on the video "take on me" by A-ha

[dunnotck]

uhm well i'm new here....my curiosity about the effects on the video "take on me" by A-ha was enough to make me join xD
does anyone know how they managed to get that cartoony style? i'm burning in curiosity!.... i guess that's all, thanks

oh here's the link by the way http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914

[classfour]

If I knew, I wouldn't lurk about videohelp..... : )

[jman98]

It's called "rotoscoping". Wikipedia has an article about it that you might find helpful. It's an ancient animation technique that's been around since the silent movie era. It has been used in recent years in some advertisements on TV in the USA.

[redwudz]

dunnotck, in the future please use a more descriptive subject title in your posts to allow others to search for similar topics. I will change yours this time. From our rules:

Try to choose a subject that describes your topic.
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Moderator redwudz

[lowellriggsiam]

It took the animators over 3 months to draw all the individual sketches for that video.

[edDV]

What was the year?

In the Quantel Harry/Henry style but could have been done on many platforms.

It took the animators over 3 months to draw all the individual sketches for that video.

Many of the cells were obvious traces over actual video.

[edDV]

Here are many details but the post house and equipment used aren't identified.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take_on_Me#Recording_and_production

If this was mid 1980's I'd bet you a good dinner this was done on a Quantel Harry.

[edDV]

Here you go
http://www.reboot.cc/template.php

[guns1inger]

I haven't seen an automatic solution that produces results that are as good as hand rotoscoping, but if you want to play for free have a look at MSU's Cartoonizer plugin for Virtualdub : http://compression.ru/video/cartoonizer/index_en.html

[dunnotck]

wow thanks guys! i'll be trying that soon to see how it ends xD.. thanks for all your help!!
admin yep i'll use more detailed info next time

[edDV]

wow thanks guys! i'll be trying that soon to see how it ends xD.. thanks for all your help!!
admin yep i'll use more detailed info next time

These music videos represent the top of the game in ~1986. To compete on this skill level you needed both a post/graphics career and tech cred to deal with latest buggy software. Not to mention about a $1.4 million capital budget.

Today all is still true except a $10 thousand capital budget is enough. We assume no one is being paid for 6 months of work.

The skill required is near equal.

[Cornucopia]

IIRC, that song + MV were c. 1983.

[edDV]

MTV started 1981.

A-Ha song was dated 1983

The first Quantel Harry shipped 1985. The first non-prototype shipment to Europe was 1986 to Reboot..

A-HA "take on me" has two videos per wiki. The second was shot 1985 but probably was edited and released in 1986.

A-HA "take on me" video was directed by Steve Barron who worked at Reboot.

Those were the dots to connect before I went for dinner.

More here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Barron
http://www.inwap.com/mf/reboot/alliance/People.html#Barron

[edDV]

Well I disproved my theory. Video 2 version of "Take On Me" by A-ha won video awards before the Harry was delivered in 1986. It was used for Barron's "Money for Nothing" video for Dire Straits in 1986. These were the first years of D1 4:2:2 digital video.

"Take On Me" may have been done the old way with camera animation stands. The hand and video inserts could have been done with chroma key + rotoscope.



Here is the detailed story of the "Take On Me" videos (but lacks post production details)
http://a-ha.com/the-band/the-story-so-far/chapters/chapter-10/

[3gdata]

I was at the A-ha finale tour last night and was amazed to see live real-time rendering (Take on Me style) of the stage act being displayed on three large screens. How could this have been done - any guesses?

[edDV]

I was at the A-ha finale tour last night and was amazed to see live real-time rendering (Take on Me style) of the stage act being displayed on three large screens. How could this have been done - any guesses?

Probably done in the production switcher-digital effects unit.