Scroll and control a music video with Jazz Computer
Yotam Mann and Sarah Rothberg launch an interactive video you direct
Scroll and control an interactive music video by Yotam Mann and Sarah Rothberg
These days interactive video is all the rage. Everyone wants to be a music video director. And who can blame us? We grew up with groundbreaking MTV hits from directors like Chris Cunningham and Spike Jonze.
Unlike its high octane competitors though – Kelela, Azealia Banks and Björk have all recently released videos that give fans unprecedented control – Jazz.Computer is a decidedly less aggressive affair.
In fact the synthy, laid-back track bypasses VR, customisable backgrounds and limited jerky movements for a super-smooth scrolling action.
“Users can change sections, chords, arrangements and timbres, by doing the thing that most of us are doing on our phones and computers most of the time: scrolling,” explain the creators of Jazz.Computer. “The song and visuals are about scrolling and how it makes me feel. Sometimes up. Sometimes down.”
The setup looks deceptively simple. But look under the customisable hood and you’ll see there’s an array of software, like Web Audio API and Tone.js, controlling the music-making platform, allowing you to experiment and play.
“I set up a structure with which users can improvise and explore,” says designer Yotam Mann. “Jazz.Computer is a potentially endless song with infinite variation.”
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