Shooting a music video from end to beginning is nothing new, from Gondry’s ridiculously sweet split shot for Cibo Matto’s “Sugar Water” to Jonze’s madness for the Pharcyde’s “Drop” on to Thrave’s opus for Coldplay’s “The Scientist” and lately with Mute Math’s “Typical” it’s obvious that not only is a reverse video popular, but its possibilities are quite endless…done right that is.

In this case, we find Metric teaming up with Jaron Albertin (that’s twice now for Haines/Albertin) to do battle against a house that wont stop tearing itself together. Opting for his stylistic slower, more graceful, yet eerie approach, Albertin keeps us on our toes by taking the reverse shots and garnishing them with some cleverly shot forward actions (ie, a clothes hanger moving upwards). The fun in this is figuring out which shots they are and how they might be accomplished. This also gives you an idea of how hard this probably was to shoot, or at least how complex of a design.

Regrettably, it seems as though the timeline on the reverse video’s integrity is coming to a close, as it begins to wander down the path towards the city of Played-Out with its friends, the “Animated Video”, the “Contest-Winning-Fan-Made Video”, and the “Stop-Motion Video”. If anything, at least we have Emily Haines to give us its eulogy.

Metric – Empty
Directed by Jaron Albertin

Via Spy Films

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