Elizabeth Rose partners with Google for interactive new clip

Following Arcade Fire’s nostalgic Google Street View team-up for the We Used To Wait clip in 2010, and The Presets’ six-sided Cube video in 2010, Sydney singer-songwriter Elizabeth Rose is the latest artist picked to utilise Google’s technology.

Released today, the mobile version for Rose’s Playing With Fire video uses technology created by entertainment service Google Play to give fans a game-like interaction with the clip’s visuals.

PLAY WITH PLAYING WITH FIRE HERE

Sophie Hirst from Google Australia told TMN the technology is essentially multiple layers of music videos that are playing out in parallel. Google has coded some layers to be transparent, and others to not be, which allows fans to interact with the visuals over the audio.

“If you look at the history of music videos, you started off in your lounge room watching MTV,” she said. “I love the idea that because of this new technology it gives you ideas to unlock new ways to create a music video, which is why we liked the idea of a mobile experience.”

Elizabeth Rose’s partnership with Google dates back to October when she first met with the search giant. Rose was then flown to San Francisco with a handful of Australian artists to experience Google’s technology at its headquarters in Mountain View.

“We were kind of just feeling the technologies that they were working on to start to get ideas on how we can work together,” Rose told TMN at Google’s Sydney office yesterday.

A month later Rose was back in Sydney work-shopping ideas before filming began in January. Rose said the concept complements an interaction she’s always wanted to create with her fans. 

“I wanted to have it so that I could interact with my fans in a new way,” Rose told TMN. “I’ve always liked the idea of fans remixing my music or just having something tangible to experience.”

“We had all these different ideas,” added Hirst. “And as Elizabeth said, she loves it when fans play with her music. The track is Playing With Fire and we thought it would be really cool if we could make a music video that people can hold in their hands and actually play with. This is how the idea of a mobile interactive music video was born.”

Hirst told TMN Google has a clear vision to invest in local artists, and the trip to San Francisco formed part of that investment.

“We wanted to expose [the artists] to a little bit of the magic of Google in a way, and some new technology,” she said. “It was really important for us to work with local artists, and not just established artists, we want to work with emerging artists as well.

“Plus, I’m a big fan of [Elizabeth Rose’s] music and she’s got a really strong visual style […] I just thought that was a natural fit when you’re thinking about digital and what you can do.” 

The clip is hosted on a mobile website, not a downloadable app, and lives on Elizabeth Rose’s website. Because YouTube doesn’t enable interactive video on its platform, a teaser has been posted to YouTube which links to the mobile site.

Playing With Fire is taken from Rose’s recently released debut INTRA; out now on Midnight Feature via Inertia.

ELIZABETH ROSE TOUR DATES

Saturday 04 June – Jack Rabbit Slims,

Friday 10 June – Elsewhere, Gold

Saturday 11 June – The Foundry, Brisbane

Friday 17 June – Howler,

Saturday 18 June – Fat Controller, Adelaide

Friday 24 June – Oxford Art Factory, Sydney

Saturday 25 June – Argyle House, Newcastle

BUY TICKETS HERE