Recreating an 80s MV

Hello! In this post, we want to talk a little bit about the creation of our trailer and some of our thoughts behind it. If you haven’t seen it already, you can view it here.

Besides the 4:3 aspect ratio, VHS degradation effects, and rapid jump cuts, we wanted our trailer to not only look like a recording of an 80s music video, but also something that gives nods to the themes of our game and that of 80s media and culture.

The 1980s can be attributed as a decade of excess. It marked a time when entertainment had transitioned fully into the video age. Home video, video games, MTV, and the wide-availability of cable television in the 1980s had forever changed how media was accessed and viewed. In creating a 1980s-like video, we had to be conscious in our use of imagery.

We looked to a variety of 1980s media for inspiration. Two MVs we wanted to point out as examples are Hong Kong’s own Anita Mui in 烈焰紅唇 (Fiery Red Lips) and New Order’s Bizarre Love Triangle. We particularly liked the use of symbolic imagery and emotiveness in Anita Mui’s MV. Her wonderful performance draws us further into the narrative of the song. The seemingly disjointed images in Bizarre Love Triangle also spoke to us as a visually interesting narrative tool. The intercutting of images and colour blends well with the song, abstracts the video, while also exposing the social and political mood of the 1980s when it was released. These two music videos used distinct video editing techniques and were directed to separate audiences. However, they are good references for us to study as they offer examples of how visual media could be used differently to tell a story.

The aesthetics of our game’s art style is also heavily influenced by 1980s anime. As fan’s of 80s anime, we wanted to homage some of our most earliest inspirations. We wanted to capture the energy and excitement that we first had when we watched these series in our trailer. Bubblegum Crisis, City Hunter, and Tokimeki Tonight are just some examples of the series we looked to for reference.

With all this in mind, we storyboarded and rendered our trailer. We wanted the trailer to introduce the game’s two leading characters, Michelle and Sam, their romance, and Hong Kong as a backdrop to their love story. We hope everyone who viewed the trailer found it fun and interesting! It is a cumulation of many hours spent researching, planning, and designing. Stay posted! We will share more of our progress, sketches, and storyboards, and what we have learned during the making of A Summer’s End in our blogs.

Oracle and BoneMarch 13, 2020art, design