Video analysis - Sledgehammer (Peter Gabriel) by Alex Nugent

This is the music video for the song 'Sledgehammer' by Peter Gabriel :




This music video contains a number of music video conventions and they are as follows:

• Dramatic lighting
• Miming (performance)
• Changes of location
• Pace matches the beat and pace of the song

Throughout the music video there is a use of strange characters and situations which are emphasised with the use of dramatic lighting. This alters throughout the video with a variety of different lighting ranging from a spot light to a contradiction between fire and a black backdrop. This dramatic lighting , as mentioned allows for an emphasis on each strange instance within the video :



Above are two instances of the dramatic lighting . The one on the left is a black backdrop with the use of fire , the bright colours from the fire in the backdrop illuminate the ice sculpture allowing and emphasise on it. Similarly, the spotlight allows for a more literal approach to the dramatic light as again the use of the dark backdrop with a bright light allows attention to be drawn to the peculiar figure of the chicken dancing. The video also uses bright colours which make the video interesting to look at.

Throughout the video , the artist Peter Gabriel is miming the lyrics of the song which is a common convention with any music video. However, throughout the song there are actions which match in accordance to the lyrics which he is miming:



Within these two instances above , the signer incorporates the lines of , 'bring your blue sky back' and 'all you do is call me ' . This works well as for each line it allows a new and wacky action to be shown , again relative to the video as a whole. This technique of miming and incorporating the line of the song is something we wanted to do with the lyric 'something going wrong around here'.

The changes of location within the song are quick and allow for a flowing movement to the video. The use of stop motion throughout is significant as it creates a distorted movement of shots again representative of the idea of the video as a whole . The changes in pace allow for a unconventional movement between shot but as mentioned throughout , i think , allow for emphasises on the strangeness of the video. This idea is further emphasised with the length of the video. Usually, music videos are about 3-4 minutes long where as this is about 5-6 minutes long again highlighting the unconventional nature of the video.



Above, the use of stop motion allows the movement of fruit across his face . The nature of stop motion suits the pace of the song as the distorted movement matches the loud and constant beat in the background of the song. Overall a very successful music video and fits its purpose very well.