Vincent Morrisset is a web-friendly director who prides himself on being able to "push mediums boundaries". Morissets "Neon bible" project for Arcade Fire, was one of the first interactive music videos to gain credit amongst music technology developers and opened up the music industry to new and exciting ways of creating music videos. Since "Neon bible", Morisset has been director for a number of Arcade Fire's music videos.
"Neon Bible" is a black and white video, that allows viewers to use their computer mouse to control different movements at various points in the song. Throughout the video, all that is shown is a mans head and his hands. He allows the viewer to help him move cards and play with flowing water. The video seems simple to produce but is incredibly creative.
The main attraction of this short catchy video, is that it allows the viewer to feel important and in-control, therefore giving them an instant connection with the video and song. " I wanted it to have the feelings of watching a video and accidentally moving the mouse and then it gets creepy.", This was Vincents comment to spyfilms.com just a few days after the video was released. I think that he was successfull in what he wanted to achieve and this is mirrored in the reviews that "Neon bible" received.
Our "Neon Bible" project
I was really intrigued by the technology behind arcade fires interactive music video, so when Tim set us the task of re-creating it with a series of different shots that had to be included, I was pleased to be given a challenge that would help us to think outside the box and test our planning skills. We were provided with a sheet that outlined specific shots that we had to include, for example; a mouth movement; a hand signal etc. but were told that we had the freedom to decide what actions we wanted to include, and the angles that they were shot from.
As a group, Rob, Chris and I agreed that to make the concept work we needed to stick to simple movements and use uncomplicated items. Overall, we needed to include about 15 different movements in the piece. To begin with, we were stuck for ideas on what to include because we wanted to keep it simple and like a homage to "neon bible" but we also wanted to put our own fresh, modern spin on it. After a lot of discussion we decided to do just that, we modernised all of the hand movements and made them into "OK" finger signs, and the hippy hand signal for "peace". We then had to work out what objects we wanted to include, In "neon bible" the man plays with cards and water, which almost suit his character, so we wanted to take the same angle. We thought about what things we came across on a daily basis, and after many suggestions, we sorted it down to three items. A pair of scissors, a water bottle and a clap-board reflect the things that we use frequently in college.
We had just 15 minutes for filming but I think it went smoothly because we had planned what we wanted to accomplish within the given time limit. After editing, I was pleased with the outcome of the film, and the reception from the audience. However, I would have changed a few things. If we had been given time in-front of the camera before we had to film, we could have gotten a feel for what the movements looked like and how well they worked, because we were unable to do this, some of the objects didnt work as well as we had anticipated. If we had been given the chance to re-film, I think as a group we would have wanted to re-select some more suitable objects that worked better with the background we had for the shoot.
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