BBDO Studios Produces First-Ever Facebook Live Music Video for The Academic

BBDO Studios has partnered with Downtown Records on a project for rising Irish 4-piece, The Academic.  The project involved an innovative use of the Facebook Live platform to create a first-of-its-kind Facebook Live performance of the band’s latest single, “Bear Claws,” using the audio/video time lag to create a mesmerising visual loop sampler.

 

Here’s how: The band rearranged each instrument on “Bear Claws” to fit Facebook Live’s delay, with each loop getting more complex, adding instruments, rhythms, and melodies. Additionally, by projecting the video live from a soundstage they created an infinite tunnel consisting of all the previously recorded loops.

 

 

Frontman Craig Fitzgerald says, “by ‘hacking’ Facebook Live we really pushed our live performance to the next level. Everything had to be timed perfectly. From the musical loops to the choreography.” Pol Hoenderboom, Creative Director at BBDO New York who helped the band bring this idea to life, adds, “we noticed a delay in Facebook live from the moment you go live, to the moment it actually shows up on people’s walls. This inspired us and we thought it’d be cool to turn that lag into a video and audio sampler.”

This isn’t the first time BBDO has “hacked” a platform to enhance a musical experience; they previously partnered with Downtown Records artist YACHT to release a new single in conjunction with Uber price surges (you can learn about that here). They have also worked with their Bacardi client to hack the Instagram Story platform and turn users into Instant DJ’s (check out that innovation here).