Analysing 'Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer' by Owain Anderson

The music video for Sledgehammer obviously uses stop-motion animation almost exclusively throughout the video, with what is shown in the animation usually literally corresponding to what is said in the lyrics, for instance in the video above, a steam train or an airplane when Peter Gabriel sings about them. This shows elements of an illustrative relationship between the lyrics and visuals, yet also is an example of disjuncture, where the sexual connotations of the song are completely ignored in favour of a literal representation of what is said.

For nearly the entirety of the video, the camera is fixed in a close up on Peter Gabriel's face to show the stop-motion animation of his face as he lip syncs to the song and various things interact with and manipulate his face. He could be have been shown on camera as much as he was to bridge the gap between conventional music videos at the time and this more artistic, abstract style of video, in order to avoid alienating the audience. At the time this use of technical ideas would have been seen as very innovative and creative as no one had successfully attempted to create a music video on this scale before.

In some ways, the music video could be seen to have the aesthetics of a TV commercial. In this video there are many close-ups on the star's face, in fact his face is at the centre of almost every shot in the video. His face is also well lit to distinguish him from the background elements. Sometimes he is obscured by the background, though the effect still usually allows him to be the centre of the audience's attention.



The clip above shows a carefully choreographed dance sequence, possibly intended to enhance both the artist's performance and the visualisation of the video. Until now the video has been focused on Peter Gabriel's face, so this sequence provides a break to that, but stays along similar lines. However this is on a much grander scale, with extras and furniture all being involved in what could be seen as the big finishing sequence, like the climax of a film or the big number in a musical. It could also be argued that technically the entire video is a carefully choreographed sequence due to the planning involved in all of the other stop-motion animation.

The video shows elements of Peter Gabriel acting as the Electronic shaman. He controls the visuals with his voice and the words he sings, for instance the steam train and airplane (as previously mentioned) appear as he sings about them, as do many other elements in the video. The different scenes each flow almost seamlessly into each other like a stream of consciousness. It could be said that he was using these abstract visual elements as innuendo for the real meaning of the song, as many of them have sexual connotations.

This video uses many techniques that may go against standard pop music videos, but it is much more original and visually satisfying for it. Stop-motion is a time-consuming process, but it could be end up paying off in our own coursework if done right.