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DISCLAIMER: OBVIOUSLY THIS IS JUST MY OPINION, THOUGHT WE WERE ALLOWED TO HAVE THOSE HERE** anyone else think this is like one of the worst big artist video of the year? one thing that just drives me insane are human cgi effects. they always look so plastic and pointless. sure would be nice if videos had a concept today instead of merely bad computer effects and artist shots.

breakitdown why are you even taking the time to trash the video.

Why don't you or (anyone) spend your energy to create something better since you are the one with the good concepts.

Remember there is no such thing as bad press.

Olivier the Editor of the Video.

breakitdown: Why do you say it has no concept? I agree human CGI is still very "primitive" in a manner of speaking, since the human body and face are things that we know so well. But that's not the point of the video. I think the concept is about the uniqueness of people and the search for beauty in an idealized manner, a platonic beauty if you will.

The video is nice, simple and strong.

i'm glad you liked it, since you worked on it. but i really have a problem with any type of human cgi. it's like the polar express, the worst cgi film ever. i think there could have been a stronger approach that didn't over-utilize such a weak rendering. a strong video should be timeless, and look fresh in 10 years. this is not going to look fresh in 6 months. sorry, about that. so since the concept was so strong, what do the tattoos on bono's arm represent, or are they merely just flashing motion graphics much like the sheryl crow video that came out this year? motion graphics without a concept that are swirling just because they can is pretty much pointless in my mind. if you look at bjork's video with the cgi robots, it utilized the limitations of the technology and worked with them. it didn't embrace their weaknesses. sorry, i just really hate cgi humans in any size, shape or form. why not just shoot a model and save your money to make a donation to a worthwhile organization?

I can't watch this video since I'm not signing up for jack just to watch a video, but I do want to say a few things about the uncnany valley. Olivier, can you direct link us to it somewhere?

Whether or not the idea of the human form expressed in CG may look outdated soon or later; you could easily say that the history of art is really one big tracing of the attempts by ourselves to create in some primal fell urge mirror images of ourselves. From crude representations on cave walls up to those little robots in the Beck video, we are on some spree attempting to either replicate or make ourselves better.

Exploring the representation of the human form as android or abstractly digital has complete validity in today's world, and I would say culturally is rather a bit of a necessary. We have to learn to cope with the cyborg because the cyborg is inveitable; in fact the cyborg is here - look at your wristwatch or your contact lenses or your cellphone for a moment.

As far as saving money and donating it; that is completely inimical to the purposes of music videos. Seriously. And film stock is made of cow bones.

Thanks for your answer Breakitdown

If you want to watch the U2 OOTS go to www.bluerockny.com click on “Talent” and click on my name “Olivier”

First of all, for your information, U2 is donating millions of dollars through their “ONE” campaign.

Second of all, I do agree that the Polar Express was a very bad movie - especially the human CGI. Yes, CGI has limitation in reproducing human motion. In our case, the U2 CGI was done first with Motion capture and then we used a new “beta” software from SoftImage. Second, we only had 2 months to produce a video and it was a challenge, I do admit that. Remember if no one is trying to move forward in the CGI world no difference will be made. If you want to make a difference in anything, you have to experiment, try new techniques and develop new software. So on that note, I believe we were pretty successful for 2 months worth of work.

This video will be timeless for U2 and maybe not be for the experimental music video world.

This video was written by Edge for his daughter and basically represents “life”. Bono’s tattoo reflects the bond to his mother who obviously gave him life. That’s simple no need for a big explanation. The motion graphic was just an unexpected visual approach to this video. It’s only 4 seconds in the video anyway so there’s no need to compare it to Sheryl Crow’s insignificant video.

Everyone is trying to dissect the OOTS video, and the bottom line is this video is a simple U2 video like they never made before. Directed by a woman (Catherine Owens) for the first time in U2 music video history. The video is beautiful, artistic, well made for it’s time, and holds up very well between a 50 Cent and a Madonna video block on MTV. Anyone who has the chance to work 2 months with U2 should be very proud and that is timeless.

Olivier

I thought it was pretty good. It's not like they were trying to use the CGI to create a life-like human being. The CGI was done to produce a certain look and I think it was successful in that respect. The only part I didn't like was where all the other band members came in at the end and especially when the Edge starts mouthing words from the song that didn't sound like they could come from him. That just made me laugh a little bit, but I assume the Edge wanted it that way.