The Wilderness Downtown

To create something original in the current digital world is rare. I can honestly say I’ve never seen anything quite like this.

The Wilderness Downtown, set to Arcade Fire’s song “We Used To Wait,” is an interactive music video that takes over your browser like nothing I’ve seen before.

Choreographed windows, interactive flocking, custom rendered maps, real-time compositing, procedural drawing, 3D canvas rendering… this Chrome Experiment has them all. “The Wilderness Downtown” is an interactive interpretation of Arcade Fire’s song “We Used To Wait” and was built entirely with the latest open web technologies, including HTML5 video, audio, and canvas.

Nothing I post here can remotely do this justice, you just need to experience it. Using a modern browser* visit www.thewildernessdowntown.com.

The Wilderness Downtown

This video/movie/whatever uses modern web technology such as HTML5. There is no Flash involved in this. For more insight into the technologies used, visit www.chromeexperiments.com/arcadefire.

*(Safari or Google Chrome, no idea if Firefox works, if you’re using Internet Explorer bookmark it for later)

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Ricky Salsberry is an interactive designer working in Chicago and the editor of The Donut Project. In his spare time he reads/rants about technology, watches hockey, wrecks his bike, and designs some more.