Tears for Fears - Pale Shelter (HQ)

What this video is

Released in early 1983 as part of the commercial push behind Tears for Fears' debut LP The Hurting, 'Pale Shelter' arrived at the precise moment British synth-pop and New Wave were consolidating their dominance of both the UK charts and the nascent MTV format. The video's surrealist, non-narrative imagery — shot on 35mm in Los Angeles — reflects the era's embrace of European art-house influence within the pop promo…

Why it matters

A canonical artifact of early British synth-pop's music video language: surrealist visual metaphor deployed in place of performance or narrative, shot on 35mm film by a director at the apex of the MTV video form. Represents the transition of the music promo from televised performance to auteur…

The director

Steve Barron (born 4 May 1956, Dublin, Ireland) is an Irish-British filmmaker who began his career as a camera assistant on A Bridge Too Far (1977), The Duellists (1977), and Superman (1978). He co-founded production company Limelight, which became the…