Music and technology have long been willing bedmates.
Now the band Arcade Fire has jumped in with search giant Google to create an interactive video for the song We Used To Wait aimed at answering the question “What would a music experience designed specifically for the modern web look like?”
Aaron Koblin said that Google Creative Lab‘s answer was to devise a “project built with the latest web technologies [which] includes HTML5, Google Maps, an integrated drawing tool, as well as multiple browser windows that move around the screen”.
Billed as the Wilderness Downtown, you are asked to insert your childhood address. As the video plays, a window pops up zooming into the area if it has been mapped by Google Street View.
“These modern web technologies have helped us craft an experience that is personalised and unique for each viewer, as you virtually run through the streets where you grew up,” said Thomas Gayno, Google Creative Lab.
No sitting back and just absorbing the music, then.
Is this the future of music video? As an artistic endeavour, it is fun and compelling and clearly illustrates what is possible with HTML5 technology.
The director behind the mash-up is Chris Milk.
Google recommends you watch the video on Chrome, but it worked fine for me on other browsers. I watched on both Safari and Firefox.
And if you’re minded, don’t forget to “write a letter of advice to the younger you” that lived wherever it was all those years ago.
