A rumbling song, a shaky video: this is the mood for Blue, R.E.M.‘s new song.
And guess whose shaky hand is this? James Franco’s. The almost 35 years old american actor and filmmaker directed these spectacular and dreamlike visuals wandering in Los Angeles landscapes.
 
This video is part of Collapse Into Now Film Project, a “selection of films accompanying each song on the the new record, directed by notable artists and filmmakers and personally curated by Michael”, if you are interested to find out who are these artist and filmmakers you just need to check the list here.
Speaking about the project to NME, Stipe said: “It was a way of presenting the idea of an album in 2011, beyond a music fan’s idea of an album 20 years ago. The way technology is right now, it’s possible to present something in any way you want to. I basically wanted to explore the idea of what is an album, and how do we present it with everything that we have available. I like the opportunities the 21st century have provided for presenting work in a different way.”
 
Blue video seems the perspective of a traveller, someone who’s lost in a city or lost in himself.
Franco directed the visuals in Los Angeles streets and in Los Angeles sky with and analog camera, which gave to the video a “vintage look”, but the bit that has been sticking in everybody’s mind is when Lindsay Lohan show up in this, filmed in a photography set. But I have to say that her presence is not exactly remarkable, in my opinion she doesn’t add anything to the mood of this video, but probably the fact that I’m talking upon it is the heart of the argument: “let’s put her there, and let people talk and spend words on this video”.
After all, videos are made to promote.