62 days until PICNIC 08

Google has premiered a first-of-its-kind music video for Radiohead's"House of Cards". The video was shot without the use of any cameras, only using lasers and scanners. The video and a ‘making-of’ documentary are posted together with an interactive component where you can manipulate the technology.

We met up with PICNIC Conference speaker Aaron Koblin, without a doubt one of the hottest artists around, and talked about his contribution to the project, shooting Thom Yorke with lasers and the use of technology for expression. “I think it's exactly this form of risk-taking and experimentation that lead the band to creating great music, and I see it fitting very well with the song itself”.

How did you get involved with the Radiohead video?

“I was talking with the Director, James Frost, about another project and ended up showing him some of my previous work. His eye was caught by some of the images I created from laser scanner data while working at CENS (the Center for Embedded Networked Sensing at UCLA). In the same conversation I had mentioned how much I enjoyed Radiohead... the rest is history!

What was your role? Why did Google get involved?

“My role was Director of Technology. Basically I researched and suggested the technologies and then provided translation and interface between the "film ...