Some of you may be thinking, "This is a Toronto real estate blog. What the hell are you doing posting about Arcade Fire's latest music video?" Well, I'd argue that this post is related to real estate, in a way. And besides, it's my blog and I get to post what I want!
The new video was released today and it's getting a ton of attention, not only because it features a brilliant track from a band that's at the peak of its powers, but beacuse it's an interactive experience that's unique to each individual viewer. The video utilizes Google Maps, Google Street View, HTML 5 programming, and a bunch of other computer-y stuff to create something we haven't quite seen before.
The above YouTube clip isn't the full video - it's just a teaser. To view the video as it's meant to be seen go to www.TheWildernessDowntown.com. There you'll be asked to enter the address of the home where you grew up. What follows is a series of images unfolding in multiple windows, all to the tune of Arcade Fire's "We Used To Wait". It's a mixture of music, film, animation, images from the viewer's own neighbourhood, and more.
One caveat though: Apparently the video is a bit clunky on some browsers. For the best possible experience it's recommended that the video be viewed in the Google Chrome browser, which you can download here. Any browser that supports HTML 5 should be fine though.
For a deeper look into how the video was created take a look at the Chrome Experiments page here.
Cheers!