Radiohead: 3D and Free

Radiohead's House of Cards video uses technology common to military and meteorological applications to obtain a visual record that - after rendered - taps into humanity's buried shadow material, producing a video that is emotionally compelling and visually exciting. No cameras were used. The music video explores rather mundane subjects with the use of Velodyne's LIDAR system, a scanner that emits and records ultraviolet and near infrared frequencies using a method similar to doppler; and a structured light scanner from Geometric Informatics, a device that creates the illusion of depth using a grid of projected lasers. The LIDAR scanner employs 64 lasers that rotate in a 360 degree radius 900 times per minute that - together with the structured light scanner - conjures images of gridded faces and glowing infrared landscapes that disintegrate in a sort of electronic wind. The haunting, ghostly images combined with Thom Yorke's lilting voice evoke cryptic thoughts about the limits of perception in our stunted reality.

Zoo Film director, James Frost, contacted Radiohead, believing few people besides Thom Yorke would take the idea seriously. Since its arrival on the internet the video has made waves on the memesphere, generating interest with its novel use of data-gathering systems and Radiohead's decision to release the data under a Creative Commons License. The open-source code has already spawned a series of amateur videos that have altered the data using programs like Autodesk's 3D Studio Max. The data is sure to develop a life of its own under the license.