Black Moth Super Rainbow's New Single Features Interactive Music Video

Radical Friend, a Los Angeles-based music video directorial team comprised of Julia Grigorian and Kirby McClure, has developed an interactive video for "Dark Bubbles," the new single from the Pennsylvania-based band, Black Moth Super Rainbow (represented by the Graveface Records label). The video, located at http://www.darkbubbles.com, allows viewers to use their hands and head (if they are equipped with a Webcam) or their cursor to control time-lapse video of the sun and stars that appears in the video's background: so that if, for example, viewers use their cursor to drag the sun down below the horizon, stars appear and the video darkens as if it were shot at night.

Radical Friend's Kirby McClure provided an explanation of the creative process behind the interactive video to the music blog, Stereogum: "Black Moth Super Rainbow's sound lends itself towards this electronic mysticism that we felt we could illustrate by creating some kind of other-worldly interactive experience. What initially peaked our interest were these tests from 2006 (using Flash) where you wave your hand in front of a Webcam and a red dot on the screen follows your movements...It's essentially the same technology used in video installations where insane programs like MAX/MSP Jitter are required. However in these tests it was being done using just Flash and a Webcam (so anyone with a newer Mac laptop could potentially be involved). With the help of some talented friends we were able to take this technology a step further by creating an actual environment using time-lapse photography, live action and some animation elements that you are physically controlling by moving your body! So, if all goes according to plan, this will be a technologically mystical music video app you can touch." Radical Friend's collaborators on the video's interactive elements included creative agency, SplitElement.