The Making of A-Ha!'s "TAKE ON ME"

A distinct memory with A-Ha's TAKE ON ME music video (which I have often regaled folks with), is that time when I recorded the music video on VHS, and played back to a particular moment, only to freeze frame it, then next pasted tracing paper over the television screen, over the said freeze-framed image, and trace over the lines in the MV, reproducing that image!

Of course back then I could not screen-grab said image (like I did the above posted image :p), and print out a copy, via connection to my printer, these digital days, innit? LOL

I had been a aspiring "comicbook artist" back then (studying bad in school was just coincidental :p), and the notion of the MV felt like it bridged both my comicbook-life and real-life yearning for such a crossover (pre-dating MCU movies and the ilk :p), PLUS the illustration style - in black and white, no less - was nigh inspirational, indeed! Kudos to Candace Reckinger and Mike Patterson!

If you have not already (or maybe you have and want refresh the good old days), check out the music video first for "Take On Me" (*Which I only just featured HERE), then scroll down to view a 3-Part online documentary for "The Making of Take On Me" (circa November 2019)!





"The Making Of… Take On Me" covers the story behind the origins of the song with commentary from the band and an array of contributors...! Sheer fun seeing both the actress and Morten Hackett sitting in the exact same diner where the MV was shot (in "Part 2" video below), was pretty darn heartwarming - where I literally "grew up and grown old" along with the song ...!





The rotoscope made illustration was replicated in their next single "Train Of Thought", or as the video description stated:

"The black-and-white footage and animation in the "Train Of Thought" video was the inspiration for the animation of "Take On Me." It originated as a college art project, and went on to influence the generation of MTV. The video concept was designed by the same producers of the "Take On Me" video."

And what I thought was "fun", were the principal characters from "Take On Me" started in the music video for "The Sun Always Shines On T.V.", so that was refreshing for me, back in the day, reminding me of comic-books (hence the tracing reference mentioned up top), where characters go from issue to subsequent issues...!



Featured above is the original pre-animated version of "Take On Me", while below is the MTV Unplugged version (from 2017). The song itself is as brilliant to listen to now, as it did 30 years ago, and the music video as visually iconic of the 80s, and beyond.