--- description: An experimental, interactive short film tied to "Reflektor," the title track of the upcoming new album by Arcade Fire, invites you to alter the look and feel of a music video as you watch it in real time. title: Arcade Fire's Interactive Music Video, 'Reflektor,' Breaks New Ground image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt120df3e69c21bc1f/6987a7658e0601297445d3bb/000000950034_2_resize.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [LightBox](/tag/time-section-lightbox/) ## LightBox Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Direct Arcade Fire's New Music Video by [TIME Photo Department](/author/time-photo-department/) ## TIME Photo Department Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 2, 2013 8:00 AM CUT  Behind-the-scenes of the filming of Just A Reflektor. Behind-the-scenes of the filming of Just A Reflektor.Caroline Robert by [TIME Photo Department](/author/time-photo-department/) ## TIME Photo Department Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 2, 2013 8:00 AM CUT _Imagine w_ _atching a music video and simultaneously directing it. Vincent Morisset, a self-described “web-friendly” director, in collaboration with Aaron Koblin, a digital artist_ _at the Google Creative Lab_ _, have made this seemingly sci-fi scenario a reality._ [**Just a Reflektor**](https://www.justareflektor.com/ "undefined") _(best viewed in Google’s Chrome browser) is an interactive short film tied to_ _“Reflektor,” the title track from the upcoming new album by the_ _Montreal-based band Arcade Fire. (_ _David Bowie sings backup vocals on the track.)_ _The project works by pairing your phone to your computer through its webcam._ _Your gestures with the phone shift the filters and focus of the video (filmed in Haiti) tracking the journey of “a young woman who travels between her world and our own.” Altering the entire look and feel of the video in real time,_ _the viewer can make_ _each viewing experience completely unique and immersive._ _The software is open source and_ [_available online_](https://www.justareflektor.com/tech?home "undefined")_. Here, Morisset_ _writes for LightBox about the origin and evolution of the project._ In 2011, I met Aaron Koblin at OFFF in Barcelona. We promised ourselves that we would work together one day. Last fall, Aaron and I started to ping-pong some ideas. We were quite excited about the potential of connecting devices through Web sockets. From the very beginning, we knew that we wanted to explore that notion of connection in storytelling. My genius developer, Édouard Lanctôt-Benoit, had the idea of displaying a tracker on the phone and using camera vision from the computer to track it. We pair this information with gyroscope and accelerometer data sent through the network. This set-up allows us to determine where we’re holding the phone and how to handle it. I didn’t wanted to transform the phone into a remote control or a game pad, though. I thought it could be more interesting if the phone became a source of light, giving the illusion that we have a small video projector in our hand beaming images on to the computer screen’s surface. I wanted to recreate something that feels analog and optical. Bringing back the visceral pleasure of playing with a flashlight, a prism or shadow puppets. Again, by a strange coincidence or synchronicity, Arcade Fire was recording at that time a song called “Reflektor.” It was the perfect fit thematically! The lyrics became the foundation of the project. For me, this song is a quest for truth, a metaphor about representation and identity. I thought about Plato’s Cave. The actual interaction was now part of the message. We created an invisible wall in the physical space, with the spectator on one side, the protagonist trapped in the screen on the “other side.” Fiction and reality colliding. This was also something I wanted to explore — combining documentary-style shooting with an imaginary world. To create a clash, in a sense, between the first, interactive half of the clip and the end, where the spectator is invited to let go. Caroline Robert, Brandon Bloomeart, Édouard Lanctôt-Benoit and I spent months in our studio in Montreal to figure out the interactivity, the esthetic and general story of the film, playing with optical toys, coding prototypes — the pieces of the puzzle slowly snapped together and the storyboard was crafted through this process. Haiti has always been a great source of inspiration for the band. It seemed natural to set the story there. Again, to create a contrast between our world and another fascinating one.We went to Jacmel, the cultural capital of Haiti and host of one of the most exciting carnivals in the world. Our journey there was amazing. We had the help of the local film school, Ciné Institute, who guided us in the city and gave us a big hand on the actual production. Axelle “Ebony” Munezero is the protagonist in the clip and the choreographer. Through her dance and presence, she combined pure beauty and fierce passion. It was also a great honor to collaborate with the Google Creative Lab. Aaron is an amazing creative director who deeply understands this medium. He gave us a lot of trust. The dev team there helped with network and sound synchronization. They also built the user interface for the tech page. At London-based production company Unit9, producer Amelia Roberts and lead developer Maciej Zasada were a key part of the project. Finally, the film shoot was taken care by Sach Baylin-Stern from Antler Films. --- **_Vincent Morisset_** _is a director and new media storyteller based in Montreal._ _Arcade Fire’s_ Reflektor _is available through_ [_Merge Records_](http://www.mergerecords.com/ "undefined") _from_ _Oct. 29, 2013_ _._ --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3802803/direct-arcade-fires-new-music-video/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3802803/direct-arcade-fires-new-music-video/"},"headline":"Direct Arcade Fire's New Music Video","datePublished":"2013-10-02T08:00:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:59:54.751Z","description":"An experimental, interactive short film tied to \"Reflektor,\" the title track of the upcoming new album by Arcade Fire, invites you to alter the look and feel of a music video as you watch it in real time.","url":"https://time.com/3802803/direct-arcade-fires-new-music-video/","keywords":["LightBox","Music","Music videos","interactive","multimedia","Toolbox"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt120df3e69c21bc1f/6987a7658e0601297445d3bb/000000950034_2_resize.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Photo Department","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-photo-department/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt120df3e69c21bc1f/6987a7658e0601297445d3bb/000000950034_2_resize.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"000000950034_2_resize","caption":"Behind-the-scenes of the filming of Just A Reflektor.","creditText":"Caroline Robert","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-lightbox/","name":"LightBox"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3802803/direct-arcade-fires-new-music-video/","name":"Direct Arcade Fire's New Music Video"}}]}] ```