Warfare In Your Hand

Hitting the Internet today from John Mayer is the world's first augmented reality music video. While most of the augmented reality experiences I have tried out don't really expand beyond short animations, this one depicts John Mayer performing the entire song with video elements and changing backgrounds. Check it out HERE.

The idea of an augmented reality music video is really cool. As a final product, it does demonstrate some potential for the future if augmented reality, but not without highlighting a few of the technology's current weaknesses.

I think due to limitations of the technology, it doesn't look all that great visually. Usually these executions feature only animated 3D renderings. Because they used video, John Mayer is a bit flat and pixelated. Also, there are only two fairly generic backgrounds that switch in and out. If this were an actual music video, it would be slammed for being one of the ugliest and cheesy videos of all time.

As an augmented reality piece however, it's an exciting new step and a proof of concept for something more than what it currently is. It was a weird sensation to be "holding" John Mayer in my hands. I look forward to seeing how creative minds push this technology.