1. History Of The Music Video
By Bryn Walden-Jones and Harrison
Twinn

2. Representation Of The Artist
OK Go – This Too Shall Pass
Artists aren't shown as the subject in this video, and
rather than being idolized they only appear when
blocked by objects. They stand in front of sections
of the machine to make themselves look in
control.
A-Ha – Take On Me
(1985) gives a heroic feature to the lead
The artists are represented as comic book
characters. This
singer.

3. Technical Developments
A-Ha OK Go
-It changes shots to match the beat of the -Uses one shot without cuts, to make it flow
music. This encourages an upbeat feel. with the machine in continuity editing.
-Uses a advanced special effect (for the era), -They rely on real life special effects, to add
rotoscoping. Which combines animation and realism and create interest. This is used
live action. instead of narrative or storyline
-The music sound track replaces all of the -This video uses diagetic sound effects along
sound for the video with non-diagetic music
- Uses romantic narrative, which is - The one shot is used a handheld shot and moves
conventional of the pop genre. around the area freely. This was to make the
audience feel involved with the contraptions around
them.

4. What attributes are foregrounded?
A-Ha Ok Go
- The style in which the video is presented -The video constantly uses the mise-en-
is shown with a black/white cartoon scene to achieve their purpose.
themes. To give an extraordinary -Throughout the video, there were some
element to the video. subliminal imagery that showed their
band name as self-promotion.
- They used MortenHarket’s image to - The mise-en-scene is based on bright,
make the video appeal to more of a appealing colours and the props and
female audience. This might have costumes they use capture the element
been used for the rest of the band as of imagination.
well.

5. Is the video different to the same
genres today?
Both examples of music video show that the ability to capture the imagination has
been present in both old and new music videos. But they both do this differently,
mostly technologically.
In ‘Take On Me’ by A-Ha, they introduced rotoscoping into the video to give the
characters and mise-en-scene a feel for the world of comic books. However, in
‘This Too Shall Pass – Rube Gelberg Version’ by Ok Go, they relied on natural
movements of the dominoes and other objects to give a sense of realism.
Like today, old music videos use the narrative of a romantic story. ‘Take On Me’
presents a boy and girl living in a fantasy world. Ok Go, however, doesn’t have a
narrative and instead uses unusual and complex contraptions to give a relationship
to both the imagery and the music.