Great Videos: Every Breath You Take

Nigel Dick is one of the world’s leading music video directors, having worked with the likes of Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Elton John and Britney Spears, and created the video for the original ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ Here, in the first post in our new Great Videos series, he discusses one of the most famous music videos of all.

Back in the early Paleolithic era of music videos, The Police released their video for ‘Every Breath You Take’. After the light confection of ‘Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic’ and their other recent hits it came across as serious, intentful and, above all, classy.

Directed by Godley and Creme, it wasn’t the stark black and white images that impressed me or the tasteful, simply executed camera moves and lighting gags: what registered with me most was Sting’s performance.

As I recall, Sting had recently gone through a divorce and, for the briefest of moments, I sensed that he let slip a look that conveyed all the hurt and agony of that break-up. I connected with that instantly and that made me want to go and buy the record – which is, of course, what all the best videos should do.

In that moment, I saw Sting as a human being who had put down his pain in song – albeit in one that could be taken a number of ways. Whether it was a ditty about stalking or an ode about a deep and important love I wasn’t sure – but whatever had propelled Sting to that moment I knew that, if I was to become a video director, somehow I had to find a way to get moments like those from the artists I worked with.

For me, that moment was the difference between Etta James and Katy Perry. On the surface, the shiny one is better, sexier and glints nicely in the sunlight – but when you embrace their work, study it, and hold it closer to you, you realise it’s the broken, scratched, flawed one who has soul and experience, pain and passion that the other one lacks. And that’s what music always had been for me – a companion who understood my loneliness and my longing.

As the years passed, I got to meet Sting and work with him a couple of times, and I don’t suppose for one second he revealed for me a fraction of that pain and torment that I imagined that I saw in ‘Every Breath You Take’: he’s too smart and wary to let down his guard like that now.

I have always tried, though, to make sure the artists I’ve worked with have given me that momentary glimpse into their soul and, strangely, it’s the less intelligent folk who’ll give it to you the quickest.

Of course, one could argue that none of this has made any real difference in the quality of my work because, no matter how large or small the budgets, how clever the camera work or how elegant the sets, the only thing that truly makes a music video great is the song it’s made for.

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