Stephen R. Johnson created Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer” music video using stop-motion animation and clay figures.
The video combines live-action footage with pixilation, clay animation, object animation, and surreal visual transformations. Gabriel appears in several sequences, including one in which his face and body interact with animated food and other objects.
Johnson directed the production, while animators such as the Quay Brothers and Aardman Animations contributed to its distinctive techniques. The clip became a landmark of 1980s music-video production because it made elaborate handcrafted animation central to a pop performance.
A common mix-up is naming Aardman as the sole director. Aardman contributed animation work, but Stephen R. Johnson is credited as the video’s director. The video also became the most awarded clip at the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards.