Behind The Wilderness Downtown with Chris Milk

Chris Milk and Aaron Koblin's interactive film for Arcade Fire track We Used To Wait has been setting the web on fire since its release last week, showcasing not only the band's latest release but also the power of HTML5. We caught up with director Milk to find out what went on behind the scenes.

Both yourself and Koblin, and Arcade Fire, have been heralding the way for interactive videos. How did this particular project get off the ground?

Aaron and I have our little micro agency for special projects, Milk+Koblin. He also happens to work at Google. I'm friends with Win in the band from a while back. They were recording their new album at the time, and Google was interested in doing something to showcase what was possible on the web using HTML5. It seemed like a good fit. I sent Win an email about the idea of doing something like this back in January and we've been working on it off and on since then. At the time they didn't have any songs finished yet so I listened to an early unmixed version of the track in March, then went to see the band in Montreal in April, wrote the concept in May, started physical production and web development in June, shot in July and finished at the end of August. It seems like a leisurely schedule but the last three months have been nonstop.


In a project like this where you are experimenting with technology, what comes first… the technological capabilities or the visual ideas?

In an ideal world, the two go hand in hand. Hopefully the idea is something human and compelling that works both within the visual and the technology. My biggest concern was finding something that would emotionally resonate with people, without them getting bogged down in technology. It's easy to lose the humanity when you start showcasing tech. Google Maps and Streetview embody that contradiction though. It's cold high-tech that can be incredibly emotional when used in the right context. The whole piece is full of contradictions. Waiting for something versus instant gratification, nature versus suburban sprawl, analogue versus digital, random growth of life versus exacting mechanical precision, pen and parchment versus 1's and 0's - where we came from having more weight than where we are. The piece is essentially human nostalgia produced by the most advanced technology available today.


Tell us a bit more about how the concept and idea for the visuals developed. And how did the involvement of Google help the project along?

The process of concept development is about as boring and far from sexy as you can get. I basically sit around my house and listen to the song six or seven thousand times while writing ideas down in a notebook. The majority of the time I am not wearing pants. That's about the extent of it.

Once I had the concept figured out and we went into production, Google was instrumental in making it all happen. They provided developers and helped us incorporate a lot of their technology, with Google Maps and Streetview, incorporated into the piece. Also I want to mention that B-Reel produced the CGI, interactive, and web production - they were amazing. @radical.media produced the whole overall project including all the film production, and they can't be beat when it comes to a production partner. And we couldn't have done it without my personal saviour Mr.doob (designer/developer Ricardo Capello), our mad coding genius who can basically make anything happen on the web.


You can check out the trailer below, or to have a go yourself visit thewildernessdowntown.com.