Legendary director and composer John Carpenter released a new music video for his song, “Night,” which comes from his album, Lost Themes.
The music video for “Night” opens with a classic aerial shot that depicts the grid layout of a downtown metropolis after dark. Then, the shot changes to a close up of a person’s hand removing, what appear to be, some type of modified goggles from a cardboard box. Next, the person is shown handling a small object, while wearing black gloves that are lit by green and blue flickering lights, before the shot cuts away to a slow aerial pan of several different clips of city blocks illuminated at night.
The video resumes the narrative with a close up shot of the blue lit gloves, before pulling back to reveal Carpenter donning the goggles that were shown earlier in the video. At this point, he resembles one of two things: a mad scientist, or a gamer in some type of virtual reality headset. After the wide shot, the angle changes to put the viewer in the position of Carpenter, as though he or she is actually viewing the scene, independently; but, then the shot changes again, and it begins to becomes clear that the video narrative (at least for this part) is of a virtual reality game. The shots interchange between Carpenter, and his virtual alter-ego that inhabits a world where neon colours glow in the dark.
The virtual alter-ego is making his way down a long corridor, when the video cuts away to another aerial shot of the city. As a creative device, this technique builds anticipation and will ideally keep viewers engaged, as they will wonder what is going to happen next.
After the aerial shots, the video cuts to a clip of the alter-ego getting into a car, and driving on a brightly lit four to six lane highway. During the drive, the protective helmet and goggles he is wearing appear to light up a pale yellow colour. Then, the shots cut back to Carpenter, who is still donning the virtual reality goggles and “driving” on the freeway in the simulated images he is seeing.
Eventually, the alter-ego is shown exiting the freeway, and driving on a two-way street with a centre turning lane, in an area that appears to be a bit run-down. Then, there are a series of quick cuts that show the city and Carpenter, before the shot cuts back to the alter-ego driving through a tunnel and onto another major roadway. Next, he is shown pulling into a parking garage, and meeting up with similarly dressed person on a motorcycle.
How does it end?
Well, check out the video, below, to find out!
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