The internet has allowed music videos to be on-demand. You can watch what you want, when you want. That's revolutionary, for sure, but music videos themselves have largely remained the same as when they were only available on linear TV. Credit director Chris Milk with realizing that music videos shouldn't be encumbered by the old rules. Music videos don't have to be linear, they don't have to be static, they don't have to even appear in only one window. This video project for the Arcade Fire song "We Used To Wait" accomplishes all of those goals and is the next step in the actual transformation of music videos from the old way into something very new. And the fact that the song grapples nostalgia and a quest for finding something organic in the digital age makes it all the better.
Created in conjunction with Google as a showcase for HTML 5 and the Google Chrome Browser, this multi-media experiment is all but guaranteed to be different for ever single viewer. It starts by asking for your childhood address, which is then plotted via Google Maps + Street View and displayed in various windows timed to the music. Other windows display a person running through a street, while another offers a flock of birds you can manipulate. A blank page opens and offers you the chance to draw or type a virtual postcard. Unlike watching a traditional video online, this one forces you to cease all your other web activity as windows sprout on your desktop revealing new growth and other elements that grab your attention. It's the kind of video that wouldn't have the same impact on TV, or even embedded on a page like this. It's an immersive experience that's personalized to each viewer. And it's pretty damn cool.
--> watch THE WILDERNESS DOWNTOWN and read more about the technology underpinning it
Arcade Fire "The Wilderness Downtown" ["We Used To Wait"]
Chris Milk, director | Ari Palitz, film producer | Radical Media, production co | Shawn Kim, DP | Livio Sanchez, editor | Dave Hussey @ Company 3, colorist/telecine [NOTE: Credits refer to the film portions of the projct. Visit thewildernessdowntown.com/credits.html for full credits]
