An article from today’s New York Times looks at music videos’ experimentation with 3-D:

A little past the two-minute mark, the music video for Gwen Stefani’s recent single, “Wind It Up,” finds her chained to a fence while a flurry of bubbles and snowflakes float by. Viewed from a certain perspective — that is, through 3-D glasses — it is a dreamlike moment in which the flurry seems close enough to touch.

The video begins with Ms. Stefani yodeling, a homage to “The Sound of Music,” one of the her favorite films. But the idea of adding the bubbles and snow came from an unlikely source: James Cameron, the director behind effects-laden hits like “The Terminator” and “Titanic,” who visited Ms. Stefani’s set last October and shot a separate version of the video with 3-D equipment.

“I had mentioned to the director that any kind of atmospheric effects like snow or rain usually play in 3-D,” Mr. Cameron recalled.

While “Wind It Up” was not initially planned as a 3-D video, Ms. Stefani probably won’t be the last recording artist to follow Mr. Cameron’s lead.

We rewatched the “Wind It Up” video with this bit of effects trickery in mind, and while it still didn’t make much sense to us, we sort of understood why the bubbles/snow scene was there. One thought kept popping into our heads: Doesn’t this seem like a lot of money to be spent on a video that, at this point, will probably only be watched via YouTube? Sure, the article goes on to say that the videos’ 3-D effects will be seen in “specially equipped theaters,” and that luring people into theaters to see them is basically an attempt to find a brand-new revenue stream for the ailing music industry. (Concert films were also mentioned as possible targets for the 3-D treatment.) But will it work? We highly doubt it–unless Cameron can somehow convince Panic! At The Disco to recreate Revenge Of The Creature for their next suite of videos.

A Comeback in 3-D, but Without Those Flimsy Glasses [NYT]
Gwen Stefani “Wind It Up” Video [YouTube]