Music Video Research (Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer)

Artist: Peter Gabriel
Song: Sledgehammer
Camera/Editing:
You could suggest the visual style for this song could be iconic as the song could be a nostalgia trip for many people who grew up in the late '80's. This is created purely through the use of colour and comedy as the video continually keeps the theme of brightness. The initially beginning with the music coincides with the movement of body parts as the drum hits. Furthermore, the use of stop motion, although not common is used effectively to create that good impression, even impressive as it involves Gabriel himself, it also keeping a static medium-close up until 3:43 could make the viewer stay paying attention, giving them the chance to find little inter-textual references.
Narrative:
No real story to the video as most of it only references the song's lyrics, not creating a story in the process. It's lack of any story-line can be considered strange although it's not really an issue as the video is very family friendly thus' catering for the audience not having to pay any attention to it.
Conventional/Unconventional:
The video is extremely abstract further standing out in the "MTV Generation" of the late '80's to early '90's which can be suggested as a good thing as it makes it rememberable for people of the generation and could be considered a childhood memory for many people.
What works/What doesn't:
It's use of colour works extremely effectively as it instantly creates a happy vibe for the video which is emphasised by what is on screen being considered comical for the family audience. Also what I think works is the use of stop motion as it isn't the most common camera technique, it gives the video a more unique feeling to it although an issue replicating is that it would be very time consumed compared to regular camera work.