The music video for "Heartbreak Warfare," from the upcoming Battle Studies album, is now featured on John Mayer's website.After the Flash player loads, viewers can activate their webcam and hold up a printed or mobile version of the Battle Studies icon to their webcam, which, if aligned correctly, will prompt the video to begin playing with you as an extra in the background.
As the first ever augmented reality music video, Mayer and his team are making history by allowing online viewers to become active participants in the 3D experience. It's an interesting experiment, that engages online fans in a whole new way.
If you want to participate you'll need a webcam and the special augmented reality marker, which you can download from the site or open on your mobile phone. You'll need to then place the marker in front of your webcam and line it up with the one onscreen, and hold it there until you see Mayer walk onto the set.
Don't be too discouraged if it doesn't work on the first attempt. It may take a few tries before you get the video to work as advertised, and it can be a bit tricky, so make sure you read the detailed instructions on site to help you troubleshoot.
Earlier in the month, Wired interviewed Mayer on the set during production the augmented reality video. Watch below to get insight from behind the scenes of the shoot.