Swide Magazine by Dolce&Gabbana

iPads and musicians are a match made in heaven and The Polyphonic Spree are the next group to try their hand at creating something more than just another music video.

  

My love of the faithful music video is never ending and grows stronger with time and, with musicians now taking audience participation and interaction to a new level, who can blame me. The thought of being able to take control of characters within a video is exciting and the prospect of changing the outcome of a video's events with a couple of taps of a key board or a poke on a pad brings me all sorts of delights. The Polyphonic Spree, known for their positive music and feel good messages, are one of the latest music groups to dabble with interactive medias and have presented us with "Bullseye", an interactive app used to launch their single, which goes by the same name. The app, created by Moonbot Studios, introduces the user to You-Me, a stick character who grows from a seedling, one of the first interactive elements, and takes you through the dream-like world, which is reflective of the songs message, that this collaboration has brought to fruition.

  

The story begins immediately, upon opening the app, and bright circles play across the screen to the opening of 'Bullseye'. This circles can be touch to encourage them to produce soft balls of light, one of which eventually floats down to the ground of this dreamlike world. This is, in fact, the seedling that grows in to You-Me and his/her growth continues throughout the app and even develops another 'leg' to use.

  

You-Me can be interacted with but the course of You-Me's existence isn't down to user as it is already predestined and the character eventually becomes part of the environment, from which it came, going full-loop like the life-cycle we all know. What makes this interactive short the more exciting are the elements that create the world in which You-Me treads; the flowers which turn into trees on touch; the hills that propel into mountains through the attention of the user and the other life-forms that idle by.

  

The finale of the collaboration takes place in the branches of a gloriously huge tree, which the other life-forms also weave their way to, is a wonderful exploration of colour and sound. Other seeds dot the branches of the tree that explode upon touch and reveal other creations that eventually fade, just like You-Me. Here is the song that carries you through this environment:

Moonbot and The Polyphonic Spree have created something that, although it isn't as interaction as some of the other formats recently unveiled, is of childlike wonder, allowing the user to be taken through a world that is visually stimulating whilst being equally calming. The interpretation of the song is simple yet engaging enough for the audience to correlate words with the experiences of You-Me and the world in which they grow. For your chance to try it out for yourself, click here.

For more from The Polyphonic Spree, Click here.

And to explore the other works of Moonbot Studios, Click here.

Written by Ben Taylor

TAGS: dolce&gabbana d&g dolce & gabbana d & g stefano gabbana domenico dolce the polyphonic spree ipad app moonbot bullseye