Not too many short years ago the notion of an “interactive video” seemed quite far-fetched. The idea of mingling a well-developed and established technology, video, with some computer hocus pocus to make it more “real” wasn’t an easy one around which to get your head. Of course amazing things are developing all the time and the technology is already here; it’s just up to a few fertile imaginations as to what can be done with it. I remember my first view of the advanced robot in Terminator 2 and thinking about films “Where can they possibly go after this?” Of course the limit is only imposed by the imagination.
I’m a big fan of the amazing job done in 201 for http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/. This made great use of HTML5 and a kind of Google maps mashups set to a moving background track to give what felt like a true personal experience. Less impressive was Danger Mouse’s http://www.ro.me/ and others that followed.
Now it’s hit the mainstream and of course people will take notice. Red Hot Chili Peppers have just released an interactive version of the video to their new single, “Look Around”. Not imediately super-impressive (the video, I mean; the song is standard chili fare) it does however feel a lot more stable and smoother than some of the earlier efforts mentioned above. I’m also not sure that it’s ground-breaking technology-wise but it will surely provide inspiration to an army of followers and even businesses who will start to use this type of production in their marketing.
Now, my next question is what do we do with all these televisions …
