Studio Offers Choice in Music Videos

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Musicians like to exert control over the artistic direction of their music videos, but Blind Inc., a design studio in Santa Monica, is giving some of that control to viewers.

The band Coldplay recently tapped the company to create an interactive music video for its song “Ink.” Fans are able to choose their own viewing experience by clicking on what objects the main character should pick up and what path he should take – much like a choose-your-own-adventure story.

For example, the video begins with a man lying next to a pocketknife, a pen and a compass. The viewer is instructed to choose an item for him to pick up, which determines how the video progresses.

Matthew Encina, Blind’s creative director, said the idea came about after seeing interactive videos from artists including Pharrell Williams and Bob Dylan. Those videos, though, don’t let viewers affect how things unfold. Rather, they let viewers see different people dancing or lip-syncing to the music.

“We pitched a couple ideas (to Coldplay) and one was an interactive music video – like a choose-your-own-adventure type of experience – and they were immediately excited about that,” Encina said.

It took Blind about two months to produce the video. “Ink” is only about four minutes long, but Blind’s team of 25 had to make about 10 minutes of content because of all the different choices viewers can make, Encina said.

“It was a pretty intricate process,” he said. “There’s over 300 versions of the video that you can create.”

– Subrina Hudson

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