Bryan Adams - This Time

What this video is

Released in April 1983, 'This Time' arrived as Bryan Adams was breaking into mainstream North American and eventually international consciousness via the Cuts Like a Knife album cycle. The video was purpose-built for MTV, then barely two years old and rapidly reshaping music promotion. Director Steve Barron was simultaneously the most in-demand music video director in the world, having just completed 'Billie Jean'…

Why it matters

A key artifact of early MTV narrative video grammar: the three-minute short film format used to dramatize a rock ballad's romantic tension. Barron's realist, location-driven approach contrasted with the then-dominant performance-clip model, helping legitimize narrative storytelling as a primary…

The director

Irish-British filmmaker (b. 4 May 1956, Dublin). Camera assistant on A Bridge Too Far (1977), The Duellists (1977), Superman (1978). Co-founded Limelight, the world's largest music video production company by 1983. Pioneered 35mm film use in music videos.…