Making of "Touch the Night" Music Video by Tim Pope

Frames from "Touch the Night" -
Neil Young Music Video directed by Tim Pope

Last year, we did a post on the making of the "Wonderin'" video by director Tim Pope which was a little journey through the past. Recently, we did the Ten Random Neil Young Videos That Showcase His Range and Depth, and thought it might be a good time to take another look at of one Tim Pope's videos for Landing on Water: "Touch the Night".

"Touch the Night" is a brilliant single shot* video with Neil as the hapless "action TV reporter" which is almost too real in it's fake newsiness.

From article in Millimeter (March 1987) by Jim Farber on the Landing on Water music videos with Young's portrayals representing different aspects of the American character, including:

- a drunk Elvis impersonator who drowns in a swimming pool (Weight of the World),
- a tap dancer who has a problem with dog droppings ( People on the Street)
- a pig farmer with a history of incest (Drifter),
- a loner who wanders off into a nuclear testing zone and turns into the Lone Ranger (Violent Side)
- an obnoxious TV reporter chirply covering a grisly highway accident (Touch the Night)

Regarding the "Touch the Night" music video, the "unexpected context for its violence takes the banality of TV news splatter and puts the sting back in."

From Tim Pope blog on making video of "Touch the Night":

"i only decided to use the ambience of the live sound later to make things feel edgier. similarly, i shot on video and hanheld camera to make things real and edgy. considering i had not, at this time, watched too much yank t.v., not a bad parody, i'd say and perhaps even foerunner to cop reality shows you now see two-a-penny. the mustachioed cop and the other were real cops and this for me was a real eye-opener, culturally - that cops in america could 'act cops' just as well as actors could. i believe we were the first people after sly stallone to close down a freeway for filming purposes whey-hey!"

Watch video of "Touch the Night".

Also, see Tim Pope: Making "Wonderin'" Video with Neil Young.

Also, see Ten Random Neil Young Videos That Showcase His Range and Depth.