This 1990s Fisheye Lens Trend Is Taking TikTok By Storm

Well, first we have to answer the question of what a fisheye lens is. According to the Oxford Dictionary, a fisheye is a wide-angle lens with a field of vision covering up to 180 degrees, with the scale being reduced towards the edges. The fisheye lens produces a strong visual distortion that is intended to create a wide panoramic or hemispherical image. Sometimes fisheye lens are used to capture underwater images, and aerial shots of major cities, landmarks, and more as additional examples.

One word here. Hype Williams. One of the greatest music video directors of all time. Willams' music videos helped define the latter part of the 1990s and early 2000s, and it was Williams that began using the fisheye lens editing technique in his music videos. The trend that is now currently being recreated on TikTok. In fact, when you Google 1990s music videos that used the fisheye lens, Hype Williams is the first and only name to come up, because he was the one that started it. A good percentage of hip hop and R&B artists were also using Hype for their videos anyway, but any other director would have been blatantly copying Hype if they had used the fisheye for their videos, so he gets the credit for this.

Oh, boy. There's quite a few to choose from. Here's some of our favorites: