2. TECHNICAL ASPECTS
• The establishing shots are of animated charcoal drawings, something which had been
very unconventional in early music videos and something unfamiliar could draw in a
larger audience.
• Also, the scenes of the opening sequence and perfectly cut to the rhythm of the song,
emphasising the synthpop genre of the music being played.
• There is a contrasting colour scheme shown to represent the action and chaos compared
to the normality of everyday life. The black and white “comic book style” scheme is used
to create action and tension, with contrasting colours indicating the chaos of the
narrative, whereas the neutral beige of the “real world scenes” construct tones of realism
behind the action of the animations.
3. REPRESENTATION
• There is a voyeuristic view of women presented in the music video through the notion of looking
through the window to an unsuspecting woman.
• Also, the female protagonist is portrayed as a “damsel in distress” stereotype as she needs saving
from the evil comic book characters by the male protagonist.
4. HISTORICAL CONTEXT
• MTV was launched in 1981 and “take on me” was released in 1985, very early on in
music video history that would be available to a wider audience through television.
• And in 1984 the first MTV Video Music Awards were held, offering music videos a
chance to be commemorated by thousands of people.
• In 1986 “Take on me” won six awards at the MTV Video Music Awards.
5. AUDIENCE
• The audience is meant to be passive, unquestioning of the possible narrative flaws
that make the video unrealistic. The hypodermic needle theory can apply to this as
the audience is only supposed to decode what the producer has encoded for them,
e.g. themes of escapism and romance.
• But these themes give the video a wide appeal to mostly young adult audiences
that seek both of these elements shown in the video.
6. GOODWIN’S THEORY
• This music video conforms to Goodwin’s theory as it uses many typical conventions
like cutting the visuals to the beat of the music, the use of a high-concept narrative
and the idealistic freedom of the synthpop genre being revealed through the use of
charcoal drawings which aren’t usually used in animations.
