Submarine Channel
A couple of months ago we told you about Genero.tv’s amazing, one-of-a-kind challenge that invited filmmakers to create and submit their own interactive music video for tracks from either Damon Albarn, Aloe Blacc or Ellie Goulding. The submitted videos were to use Interlude – a platform that makes it easier for filmmakers to create interactive videos – and the winners of this unique competition were to be announced during this year’s prestigious Tribeca Film Festival.
With such a spectacular partnership (and the fabulous prize of $10,000 for each of the three winners), an incredible 125 projects were submitted – including entries from 39 countries, over 5 days of footage, about 53,621 decision points and over 10 billion (yes, billion! mind boggling, we know!) possible permutations and combinations of choices. Okay, we didn’t count them ourselves, but until proven wrong, we’ll just trust the guys over at DNAIndia.com!
In the end, two animations and one live-action interactive music video from Hungary, Poland and India were voted the winners of the competition.
For Ellie Goulding’s “Dead In the Water” track, the best promo was the one directed and animated by Mate Szabo which centers around a love story between a mermaid and a diver and the journey that leads to their meeting. The director’s pastel colors and polygonal figures aesthetic perfectly fits and compliments the ethereal nature of the song. Also, quite wisely, the choices viewers get to pick from, are not so obviously represented, making the discovery of what is going to happen to the mermaid, actually a surprise. Rather than having the options reflected by words (such as “left”, “right”), users get to pick from different animals or various shapes.
The winner for Damon Albarn’s track “Heavy Seas of Love” was another animation. A different story altogether, the promo featured the adventures of an adorable robot. Users have the chance to control the choices he made in his journey, while also indirectly influencing the visual style of the music video. A nice touch from director Jakub Romanowicz was to squeeze in some “Easter Egg” references to classic music videos, such as the milk cans from Blur’s “Coffee and TV”.
Indian director Mohit Israney delivered the only live-action winner of the competition, choosing to illustrate Aloe Blacc’s “Ticking Bomb” in a multiple thread narrative. The stakes in this emotional interactive music video, are much higher than in the other two, as it is up to the users and their choices to either help a son reconnect with his dying father, or contribute to the relationship’s failure.
3 songs, 3 artists, 3 winners but lots of interesting submissions which, though we fully trust the jury did an admirable job, we’d like to see and evaluate as well. So we’ll be bringing you our own top of favorite projects and we’ll try to see if the judges indeed picked the best! And yes DNAIndia, we’ll also be checking those figures of yours!
