"Take On Me - A-ha Analysis"

 

TAKE ON ME - A-ha

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✮ Introduction 

Continuing with “Bittersweet”, Take On Me by A - ha is my next target, since this music video in fact had an unique style of editing. Directed by Steve Baron and Andrew Goodwin,, released on Youtube in 07/01/2010, the video has been an iconic icon for mostly everyone, especially 80s and 90s children or teenagers. Even though it has been released for a long time, still, it has been one of the most legendary songs and currently has reached over 1 billion views on Youtube. A - ha is a Norwegian synth - pop band with a bunch of songs that can stay in your head forever. 

This music video portrays a connection between reality and the fictional world. The romance between the comic book man and the reader is at the heart of the story. The cliché that "love conquers all" and "against all odds" are prevalent inside the music video is a common one in the new wave subgenre. This explains the reason why this music video follows a narrative concept. Furthermore, it is also a performance video since it also includes the members playing the instruments in the background.

✮ Camera works 

Firstly, camera work involved quite a lot in this video. In the first minutes of the video, we can see a medium close up of the actress, sitting in a cafe and reading a piece of comic. Most of the camera work in this music video involved close up shots. Extreme close up also used to capture the actress’s eyes, which is totally focused on the comic and also observed every single odd moment of the comic, the first knot of the connection between reality and fictional world. As for the first knot, in this moment where a two - shot was included, captured Morten Harket and the actress as they have a conversation with each other. The camera also moves around to show the perspective between two of them. Frame - within - frame also involves showing the band members playing the instruments in the background. Shot - reverse shot at the nearly end of the video was involved, portraying the reunion of the actress and Morten Harket from the comic world, which is really interesting.

✮ Editing

In terms of editing, the first thing that caught my eye was the comic style of this video.

The way that the hand drawn effects were so perfect and detailed at every second of the

video. This technique was called rotoscoping, in which the filmmakers draw the animated

effects on every single frame that has been captured. That’s why when we watch the video,

we can clearly see the pencil strokes and crumpled texture of paper, which makes it look

authentic. Transitions in this video were unnatural and had some cutting between scenes,

however, the way that they left the transitions was unnatural and quite cringy and awkward,

but it gave a vibe of every normal thing happening in life, which is genuine. This technique

has shown the development of technology during the end of 80s, which represent new

movements in filmmaking and technology. A detail that caught my eyes was the scene where

Morten Harket bumped his body all around in order to get rid of the comic effects on his

body, the glitching of the effects plus the movement that he made, which is interesting. 

Color grading also used in this video, blue, gray and brown were used to portray the

atmosphere in the cafe, dull yet chaotic for some reasons, meanwhile in the comic world,

the brightness of the white and black were really significant . This is the contrast between

the reality and fictional world. The escape from this reality is dramatic, sentimental, and

generally far more engaging while the truth is dull, "beige" in a very literal sense.

✮ Mise - en scene

One more thing that I want to analyze is the mise-en-scene in this video. The neutral beige and brown tones of the video's filmed segment and the stark contrast of the animation's black and white are in opposition to one another in terms of mise en scene. The escape from this reality is dramatic, emotional, and overall far more engaging while the truth is dull, "beige" in a very literal sense. This concept of a contradiction between fiction and reality is supported by the camerawork in the video. The setting inside the comic world is also coded with comic illustration and layouts. As we can see the frame within frame of the members, we can see the colored version beside the hand drawn, with the surroundings of comic illustration elements and layouts. Therefore, we can see that the comic world also has colors, emotion and movements and not really “still” as we think.  

✮ Conventions

Camera works had somehow shown the relationship between the visual and the music, that’s the first thing that the camera did according to the convention. The visual was really peaceful and mindful, which is a perfect match for the beat and melody of the song. Not to mention the wide shot of the actress between the lyrics, which involves many meanings. This shot type may lead to the connection between the lyrics and her mind, which is also the way that shows what’s in her mind in general. 

✮ Use & Gratifications 

Due to the Effects Model, this music video has no harm to any individuals, since it’s friendly and a bit hilarious in terms of visuals and acting. Furthermore, the video has no details of sexual or violence content, therefore, this video is free from any harmful content and eligible for all ages. 

This music video also has uses & gratifications. First of all, it’s entertaining due to the comic effects and also the band performance between the pencil outlines and colored frames. The synth and upbeat melody brings an energetic kind of vibe, making people want to dance to it. Social interaction also included, since the melody of this song was upbeat and funky. Mostly everyone knows this song since it has been a big hit for A-ha. Not to mention, the melody is so unique that many artists use and stylize it in their own way. Therefore it can create some social interactions between people.  

Regarding Audience Theory, the audience can consume it as an entertaining music video with interesting effects. From my perspective, mostly the audiences will respond to it along with Preferred Reading since it’s interesting enough and the context of this music video is also family - friendly, eligible for everyone. A possible Negotiated or even Oppositional reading opinion might be saying that this music video, or the song are not their type.

 

✮ Conclusion

To conclude, this music video is really different from the two music videos that I have analyzed before. This video is happier and funnier than the other two, which is quite unusual. The most signature aspect in this music video is the editing, the rotoscoping not only makes it unique, but also marks the time that technology and art start to develop. The camera works also did a great job on showing the actress expressions, not to mention the lighting didn’t include much, mostly relying on natural light in the cafe. The actress is also really on point since her emotions when she reacts and tries to respond with unusual problems are real . Not to mention, the interaction between Morten Harket and the actress really fit with each other. Overall, even though it has been released for a long time, one thing about this video for sure is that it will stay in the audience's mind forever, no matter what happens.