When driving into a multi-storey car park, the last thing you would expect to see is a haunting, cloaked figure blocking your way. This, however, becomes the reality for one couple in an intense new promo for electropop band Empathy Test. Directed by Great Guns’ Calum Macdiarmid, the hypnotically choreographed music video for ‘Monsters’ sees two people confront a surreal, dancing creature as it becomes an emotional metaphor for therapy. The promo follows a couple who, whilst arguing in their car, pull into a carpark. Upon turning a corner, they happen upon a lone figure, cloaked in a white shawl and mask. With only its legs and arms exposed, the creature begins to dance as the couple watches on. As the film progresses, the atmosphere grows more intense, with the couple experiencing a range of emotions whilst viewers are presented with increasingly abstract images. The creature approaches the car, licking and throwing up onto the windscreen as we see flashes of the couple making love and interacting with the monster.

Calum Macdiarmid is an artist and director focused on the aesthetics of beauty, light, and liquid. His work largely experiments with new techniques to investigate these mediums. He studied Illustration at Kingston before going on to work as an illustrator for MTV. From there he sidestepped into animation and directing MTV idents. He went on to use animation and directing to brand channels such as Channel 4, Living, Bravo, and Virgin 1 with award-winning results. He swiftly moved to directing commercials for the likes of Braun, the Daily Mail and Nestle, hugely popular music videos for JP Cooper, Melody Gardot, James Blunt and Empathy Test and several award-winning short films including ‘Worship’ and ‘82’