Radiohead has always matched musical creativity with visual innovation. Continuing that trailblazing tradition is the band's latest video for the haunting, regret-tinged "House Of Cards", shot with no cameras or lights, but rather with scanners and lasers by Zoo Film's James Frost.

The promo, which debuted on Google - a first - cuts between a glitchy, dot-matrix mask of Thom Yorke, ghostly rainbow-colored wire frame buildings and smeared digital brushstrokes of a party, all disintegrating to the strains of Yorke's melancholic vocal. The concept was inspired by early discussions between Frost and Yorke that touched on vaporization.

Technical inspiration came from conversations with digital artist Aaron Koblin (who Frost worked with on Interpol's "Rest My Chemistry"), who mentioned hearing of bleeding-edge research on real-time laser scanning. "I said, 'Whoa, hang on,'" recalls Frost. "'You can scan somebody and make a 3D image in real time?' At the time, I immediately said I can only think of one band on this planet that would take that kind of risk, and that was Radiohead."

Frost used experimental emergency zone exploratory scanning technology in development by UCLA and Harvard to get real-time detailed shots (like Yorke's face), and LIDAR technology, used to scan large masses, for the big exterior scenes. "We liked the idea of trying a few things to see how we could mess with it organically," says Frost. "The one which was most effective was a piece of Perspex with mirrors, so we put that in front and shook it around and it made the data really go mad."

Dauntingly, no footage could be seen for a nail-biting two weeks while the data was processed and rendered. "One second you're thinking you can't wait to see the images, the next you're like, shit, what happens if this doesn't work? As a conventional filmmaker you're used to seeing what you shot the following day."

Despite the stresses, Frost says the result was worth it. "All in all, the process was really lengthy, and really challenging for everybody because it had never been done before... [But] as a filmmaker you're always wanting to try something different and explore new advances and technology."

Zoo Film http://www.zoofilm.net