With nothing more than webcams and a dedicated fan base, Japanese band Sour produced one of the coolest looking music videos I’ve ever seen. Sitting in front of their computers, the cast of 70+ filmed themselves in elaborately choreographed antics timed to the music of the song Hibo No Neiro (Tone of Everyday). Though the band was in Japan, the directors in New York, and the cast spread out in different countries and continents across the world, the music video has a level of precise coordination that is awesome to watch. Check out the amazing crowdsourced art below. It’s hard to believe that most of the people in the video were never in the same room as anyone else.
Due to the elaborate choreography and planning required, it’s no surprise that the Hibo No Neiro music video had four directors: Masashi Kawamura, Hal Kirkland, Magico Nakamura, and Masayoshi Nakamura. It took two months of storyboarding, and a month of shooting to complete the endeavor. Each shot was planned meticulously and the directors shot videos of themselves as guides for their cast to follow. In the end, however, it definitely looks like it was worth it.
I’ve seen crowdsourcing used in a lot of amazing ways – NASA thinks it could help save lives from terrorist attacks, and it’s already helping solve major scientific questions through the sharing of computing power. When the public works together, they are a mighty force for change.
Apparently they’re also a mighty force for creativity. It’s really cool to think of how similar crowdsourcing projects could revolutionize how we conceive of art. On his site, Kawamura comments on the original concept for the project:
Millions of people use webcams to express themselves everyday. What if these individuals were given the chance to collaborate? We thought the result could be pretty powerful and something that no one had seen before.
Mission accomplished. While it hasn’t achieved the level of attention of other low budget music videos such as the famous treadmill video for Ok Go’s Here We Go Again, Hibo No Neiro has more than 3 million hits on YouTube since it debuted last summer. That’s definitely respectable for a viral video. Who knows, it might be the most popular crowdsourced YouTube video out there. Can anybody think of a similar video that beats it? Either way, I look forward to see how art continues to evolve in a world where online communities break down national boundaries and unite us in ways that were never possible before. Things are only going to get more exciting from here on out.
*For those interested in the lyrics of the song, here they are in English:
Your heart that gently reflects in the puddle
is your tone, as you pass through the maze of everyday
Footsteps of spring
the city starts adding color
The melody flowsLE LU LA LI
Through the colored lenses
ReggaeDubHiphopTechnoLatin
Between the waves of all the different values
JazzRockPops Category no more
Whats the most important thing?
Spinning and turning on the overpass
as we overtake that season
this and that, which color is your melody?
Sometimes you could get confused
ReggaeDubHiphopTechnoLatin
Between the waves of all different values
JazzRockPops Category no more
What are you thinking of now?
If we can embrace all the differences
It will shine the sky in rainbow colors
Your heart that gently reflects in the puddle
is your tone, as you pass through the maze of everyday
You can see it in any color, because of your clear feeling
Dont worry about it, lets just go as we are.
If we can embrace all the differences
The rain will stop, and the sky will shines in rainbow colors
Your heart that gently reflects in the puddle
is your tone, as you pass through the maze of everyday
You can see it in any color, because of your clear feeling
Let your tone shine like the rainbow
Pass through the maze of everyday
And start playing your tone
[screen capture and video credit: Masashi Kawamura]
[sources: masa-ka.com, sour-web.com]
