Besides the wonderfully confusing fact that this is a U2 video shot on RED EPIC Monochrome for the unrelated (RED) foundation (which is raising money for the fight against HIV/AIDS), it's pretty fantastic to look at. I will admit to being a digital black and white junky at this point, but there is a pureness to the image that color can't quite replicate yet,mostly due to the fact that light has to go through an additional layer. So if you're not with me on the black and white bandwagon, it's also a worthy test of YouTube's compression.
The video was directed by Mark Romanek (who has been a pioneer in this industry), and was apparently shot on 7 RED EPIC Monochrome cameras:
And a little more background on the song and video:
The official video for 'Invisible', directed by Mark Romanek. Shot in black and white, in a Santa Monica airport hangar, over three days in January.
A sixty second clip premiered on February 2nd during the Super Bowl, launching a partnership with (RED) and Bank of America in the fight against AIDS.
In 36 hours downloads of #U2Invisible' raised more than $3m. All proceeds from 'Invisible' on iTunes continue to go to (RED) for the Global Fund. Learn more https://www.red.org/en/bankofamerica
While it's not a part of the video in any way, I'm impressed by how radically the visuals destroy the YouTube compression in some parts. This is probably the toughest thing for any compression scheme to keep up with -- high contrast and fast movement -- and if it were in color the macro blocks would be even more noticeable. I think it's actually impressive how well the encoding keeps up considering how difficult this is to encode.
Head on over to the link below if you'd like to contribute to the cause by purchasing the song, which again will go towards the fight against HIV/AIDS.
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