Google promotes Google Play with interactive project featuring Elizabeth Rose via R/GA
Google has launched new work for its entertainment service, Google Play, in collaboration with R/GA and emerging artist Elizabeth Rose.
The interactive music video, for Rose’s new single ‘Playing With Fire’ featuring Remi, allows fans to influence her emotions by tapping, swiping and tilting their mobile. The piece has been released in support of her acclaimed debut album, INTRA, which fans can listen to for free on Google Play Music.
Says Rose: “When Google invited me to collaborate, it was a no brainer. The song is all about being messed around by a lover, so I loved the idea of people being able to play with my emotions. They can make me cry, make me angry, even slice me in half! It’s been very cool seeing the track brought to life in this way.”
Says Sophie Hirst, marketing manager, Google Play: “Elizabeth has a really strong sense of visual style and it comes through a lot in her music. Adding digital to this felt like a natural fit and we loved the idea of transforming a music video into something that her fans can hold in their hands and interact with. It was important for us to co-create this experience with Elizabeth and the whole process was extremely collaborative between Inertia Music, R/GA and Google.”
The ‘Playing With Fire’ interactive video combines game mechanics with a range of technologies, including HTML5 canvas, WebAudio API, real-time video sampling and playback, a custom algorithm to animate PNG images to achieve video quality playback, and physics libraries, to create an experience that works across Android, iOS and desktop. It was shot in-house by R/GA’s content studio, and was directed by creative director, AJ Musial.
Says Hamish Stewart, executive creative director, R/GA: “The project was a true team effort. We worked closely with Google and Inertia to get under the skin of the song, and when Elizabeth shared what she was trying to convey we thought that literally playing with her emotions would make a really fun interactive idea. Bringing it to life across devices has been a real challenge technically, but also really satisfying.”
The ‘Playing With Fire’ interactive video is available for anyone on mobile, tablet or desktop via www.elizabethrose.com.au/play.
Client: Google Australia
Artist: Elizabeth Rose
Label: Inertia
Agency: R/GA Sydney
Video & Digital Production: R/GA Sydney
Video Production Partner: 85p
Post: Method Studios
Media: Bolster Music
PR: Poem
17 Comments
woow! That’s so far away from the quality work produced by the NY and London office. Good try but you really need to up your game to make it for the name.
That’s cool
I really wanted to like this but I didn’t.
What exactly is the idea? An interactive music video…… OLD.
The fact that it is cross device and OS compatible doesn’t make up for the fact that it’s not very engaging.
Idea idea idea idea idea idea idea idea.
Go to sleep, Z for Gen Z / Zombie troll.
This rocks, RGA. Enjoy Cannes.
Tell me why people would get a buzz out of this? It’s neither clever or entertaining and it’s evident no-one cared about the execution once someone came up with the first random thought. Waaaaay below the standard of ideas we’ve seen from Google and way below the RGA standard globally.
Just got to this. Had a play. Enjoyed it. Is it the greatest thing ever made? No. Is it a pretty interesting interactive piece? Yep. I smell an agenda in the comments above. Don’t listen to the haters guys, time will tell.
Good stuff guys. Hats off.
I really didn’t want the comments to be true but wow this is really terrible. Unknown artist, awful track, rubbish idea and lame execution. There is nothing technically challenging in the execution of this. This was probably the first time R/GA had a chance to shine here and they’ve totally missed the opportunity.
Nice work R/GA. And nice to see a client brave enough to do something interesting for a change.
Like most ‘interactive digital experiences’ the big question is, ‘Is it cool enough for me to bother stop looking at cat videos or my snapchat feed?’
I think it’s pretty clear what the answer is in this case.
Really dull. Why do you need instructions? Why wouldn’t it just be intuitive and surprising? So much could have been done with this. Such a waste.
Coming from a development / agency background, I can say that this is impressive, and a sh!t load of work would’ve gone into making it. Keep in mind that Google is known for making highly interactive, fun and creative projects pushing the boundaries of your browsers and devices. You know.. the stuff they’re kind-of known for making?
So whilst most of the comments here are going on and on about “THE IDEA” or “Is it engaging enough” My opinion is – YES. At least I can see or play with this, unlike the 30 second YouTube ads that my awesome ad blocker will remove.
P.S. I don’t work, or know anyone that works at R/GA, but the negative comments are highly unnecessary. Keep it up dudes.
Having a tech + design background, I can tell it’s really challenging to make an interactive visual experience that good for mobile. Well done Google. Please hire me. Love it!
Well done Google, it’s really cool.
Nice work R/GA. My only comment is that the experience is great on mobile but not that good on desktop.
This is freaking amazing. World class mobile interaction.
Nice work!
I actually liked being able to create my own interactive video clip, it’s fun and exactly what digital is all about – keep banging on about your precious ideas for your next AWARD School brief you keyboard warriors. This would have been a bitch to make so respect goes out to RGA and Google.