Take on Me

Take on Me was a video by A-Ha which is a mixture between live action and animation. The animated parts use a large amount of rotoscoping, and attempt to simulate moving pencil sketches. It was directed by Steve Barron and was first released in 1985.

The video follows a young woman who is sitting in a cafe and looking at a comic book based on a group of motorcycle racers. As the winner crosses the finish line, he winks at the young girl and then proceeds to reach his hand out of the comic and pull her into it. Here every part of the world is animated, and often has the feel of an Anime piece. While inside, the director uses an interesting technique where the two look at each other from different sides of a panel in which they can see what the other looks like in real life.

As the video continues, the girl is transported back out of the comic book. She continues to read the comic, but gets drastically upset when she sees the man lying, presumably unconscious, after he is beat up by other racers. As she begins to cry the man instantly appears in real life where the girl is currently reading the comic. He starts in animated form but then throws himself into a wall where each time he hits the wall he goes from animated form to live-action form then back to animated. Finally he stays in live-action form in order to stay with the girl.

The video utilizes reflexivity extensively. It often draws attention to its animated form, with its frequent reversions to live-action imagery. This succeeds in giving the video a very novel aspect, and helps to captivate the audience for the duration of the video.

This video was parodied in an episode of Family Guy, in which Chris gets pulled from a supermarket into a world animated in the same style as "Take on Me."