Wednesday 20 June 2007

'Audioslave - Original Fire' dir. P.R. Brown




I came across the music video for Audioslave's 'Original Fire' the other day. The video portrays a combination of live footage of the band as well as footage of rebellious and historical icons. Director P.R. Brown has used two dimensional layering of footage and stills but then put them into three dimensional space so that the audience are constantly weaving through the video.

"The video, in some ways, is about the thread of music and cultural figures with integrity that were important parts of our history - how all those streams flow together to where we are today," explained guitarist Tom Morello in an interviewwith MTV (7th July 2006).


What I really like about this video is the visual style of the piece. The colour scheme is pretty constant throughout the video (emphasis on browns, reds and colours sharing an association with history and rebellion). P.R. Brown has used the multiplication of layers in a digital depth of field to great effect. The final product creates a multitude of visuals all moving independently.

There area few ways in which a video like this could be produced. Initially there is the live footage of the band which would have been in a studio; Brown also used a projector to layer footage over walls as well as the band themselves. Post-production would have most likely been done in a program like Adobe After Effects; taking advantage of the ability to multiply layers and set layers up in three dimensional space using an animated camera.

I personally feel this video is very successful at captivating the audience as well as really grasping the concept behind the song.

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