MVA Huey Lewis & The News - 'The Power Of Love'

Huey Lewis and The News is an American rock band who had a run of hit singles in the 1980’s. One of their songs ‘The Power Of Love’ brought them a great deal of success as it was used as the theme song to Stephen Spielberg’s classic ‘Back To The Future’.

The music video for ‘The Power Of Love’ is very much a performance based video. However there is a great deal of build up; footage leading up to the performance creating an intimacy with the audience; as a viewer you almost feel part of the video, you feel like another jock in a baseball windbreaker jacket heading to the concert. This close relation with the action in the frame is created from the word go as the camera pans right whilst tracking backwards (reverse zoom) revealing many young adults and fans outside the venue building – ‘Uncle Charlie’s’.

The mise-en-scene suggests the fans spilling outside of the club are young adults due to the clothing that they are wearing: denim jackets, leather jackets, windbreakers, drainpipe jeans to name but a few. These items were the height of fashion at the time in the 80’s and are showcased through out Spielberg’s movie. We tend not to stereotype ‘grown ups’ as dedicated followers of fashion. It is seen as more of a younger thing to do. Being a teenager myself I can speak for myself and others and agree that most of us tend to follow the latest trends and fashions. However I have purposely avoided using the term ‘teen’ or teenager’ to describe the crowd of fans outside of Uncle Charlie’s night club. Although the temptation existed I felt the crowd must be at least 21 years old in order to gain admission into the club due to the regulations of the US drinking age limit. Thus ‘young adult’ was a more appropriate label.

Further more one could argue that the crowd of fans outside the club are teens and were unsuccessful upon entry into Uncle Charlie’s, hence standing outside of the club. However this is the opening image which lasts the best part of 3 seconds so I’ll leave you with the decision of ageing the crowd. At least the opening shot establishes where we are and we get a sense of what is to follow.

Soon after we jump to inside Uncle Charlie’s. A long shot pans left following a waitress carrying a drinks tray passing through the over populated night club. We take another jump and we are on the stage behind two members of Huey Lewis and The News displayed in a mid-two shot from behind. This quickly confirms a performance awaits, as the crowd stand excitedly and the band prepare casually.

Moments later we’re back outside the club and a long shot sees the iconic DeLorean DMC-12 roll up by the large crowd spilling out off of the side walk. It is now that one thinks is this video a real life performance, or is it a fictional piece to help promote both Spielberg’s movie and Huey Lewis’ as a band?

It has been said that Universal Studios loved ‘The Power Of Love’, but were disappointed it did not feature the film's title, so they had to send memos to radio stations to always mention its association with Back to the Future. Therefore the arrival of the DeLorean in the sequence confirms any preconceptions that the video is a genuine live performance from Huey Lewis’ but it is almost a theatrical trailer for both the Movie and Song. A boost up the ladder to help gain recognition for both forms of media – Cross-media convergence.
The following sequence sees Christopher Lloyd as the Doc’ clamber out of the DeLorean via the Lamborghini style wing doors and into the night club Uncle Charlie’s upon hearing from a group of female ‘young adults’ that Huey Lewis and The News are preparing for a live set. This adds comical value to the music video making it appear that Dr. Emmett Brown is a fan of Huey Lewis and The News. After disembarking the time machine aka the DeLorean, whilst heading towards the club the Doc pleads with the young adults asking them not to touch anything.

This allows for an element of cross-cutting to come in to play with action taking place inside and outside of the club. At approximately 2 minutes and 12 seconds in to the video Huey Lewis introduces the song which they are seconds from playing. Immediately during the roar from the crowd, the camera jumps to an extreme close up of the Delorean outside. During the short take in which the front left side of the vehicle is on display one sees the left ‘Lambo’ style wing door’ snap shut to a close. The camera then jumps to low angle from the rear of the car where the DeLorean is seen picking up speed as it’s wheels spin frantically causing a cloud of smoke. The camera then jumps to a medium shot which reveals the famous burning tire tracks left behind from the DeLorean as is blasts to another period defying time itself.

A fade to black is then used and we reappear in Uncle Charlie’s. A medium tilted shot displays the pianist striking the opening chords to ‘The Power Of Love’ as the song begins. The majority of the remaining takes are all fairly long. I say long yet they only last a matter of seconds, 2-4 as this is the right length to fit with the steady tempo of the music. Whereas in comparison with songs from genres like Metal or Dance you are more likely to find shorter takes which flow faster when keeping in time with the beat and tempo of the track.

After the fade to black there are 15 or so different takes during the instrumental introduction building up to when the vocals commence, some longer than the others, again they only last around 2-3 seconds. Some shots are close ups creating an intimacy with the band and others are longer shots revealing members of the audience creating an air of being part of the show/concert.

The majority of the rest of the video is made up of the live performance consisting of close ups of the band members: focusing on Huey himself (vocalist) when holding long notes, or the lead guitar mid solo. Other shots being long shots with the crowd framing the shot with the band in the background, close ups of individuals in the crowd singing along (this shows the song is successful and likeable because people are joining in).

Throughout the song a dim lighting is used which is the norm for most music concerts especially of the rock variety. The lighting is of a dark yellow, almost brown colour. This gives an authentic, real 80’s type feel about it, as we are so used to seeing coloured lighting and strobe lighting in more recent times, so the dull lights tell us immediately we are watching an old video.

My personal favourite edit occurs in an around the 4 minute 10 second mark. We reach the end of the second chorus and there is slight alteration of key the lyrics for this edit are:
“They say that all in love is fair” Huey is accompanied by the other group members when these lyrics kick in. During the chorus building up to “They say that all in love is fair” we see Huey in a medium shot, the key change occurs and there is a jump to the two guitar players in a mid-2 shot. However it is actually a mid-2-over-the-shoulder-shot as one guitarist has his back to the camera. As we jump to this mid-2-over-the-shoulder-shot there is a large light behind the two guitarists blinding you as a viewer momentarily, the light soon fades revealing the two guitar players in this mid-2-over-the-shoulder-shot while the camera slowly zooms closer to the two subjects. The fade of the light and the speed of the zoom fit perfectly in time with the music and especially with length of time the two guitarists hold their notes for.

On more than one occasion we see Huey alone in a shot, in most cases a medium shot (mid shot) with a spotlight upon him against a black background. This focuses on him more and signifies and highlights his importance in the group.

At the end of the song we see the DeLorean pull up outside the bar again in a long shot. A great aspect of this shot is in the foreground to the left of this shot is the bumper of a car. The bumper is chrome thus reflecting the lights and the DeLorean as it wheels by. The DeLorean comes to stop and the ‘Lambo’ style wing doors’ rise and we hear a female voice cry
‘Thanks Doc, what a great trip!” this adds a comical closure to the video with a very light innuendo.

After this long shot featuring the DeLorean in the background a Superimposition is used. The DeLorean slowly fades away while the flaming tire tracks emerge to the frame from beneath the long shot.

Overall I think the music video for Huey Lewis and The News’ ‘The Power Of Love’ has a great affect on it’s audience from the word go. One is slightly bemused as to what is going on, is it fictional or a real life performance. It is only through the use of the Back To The Future characters and mise-en-scene do we realise it is not a genuine live performance.

I think the target audience for this music video are Back To The Future fans for one, fans of the movie. Stephen Spielberg fans also. Rock and Roll music fans, people fond of blues and soft rock. I think Huey Lewis’ appeal to female fans more so than males as Huey Lewis himself was regarded as a bit of a ‘looker’ thus attracting female fans.

I believe the video has good structure to it, in that it involves an almost screenplay like scene before the song. The song then begins and we forget as viewers about the DeLorean shooting off before the song. The DeLorean returns after the video bringing the video to a close, creating a circular looped feel to the video, a beginning a middle and an end.

I think this video has acted as great career progression for Huey Lewis and The News as it is featured in the smash hit Back To The Future which is a Spielberg classic and it picked up 14 awards one of which was an Oscar. The films budget was $19m and grossed $381.11m so it was a rather large hit. Huey Lewis actually starred in the film as a teacher so the film was a large career progression for Huey Lewis as an icon and the band in their field of work.