Whats all the fuss about the “Lemon” video?
The video is a nod to photographer Edward Muybridge, who is credited with being the first to successfully capture photographs of fast motion. His work is said to be the bridge between still photography and motion pictures. His first work showed a galloping horse in motion and proved that the horse’s legs are all airborne at the same time. His later work showed humans doing a variety of tasks, and he titled these “Walking”, “Ascending an incline”, and “Lifting a child from the ground and turning around” — very much like the subtitles used in U2’s “Lemon” video. Another similarity is the dark, grid-like background used by Muybridge which also shows up in the “Lemon” video. Ironically, the device Muybridge created to take these initial fast-motion images was called a Zoopraxiscope. If you want to see Muybridge’s work, visit the UC-Riverside/California Museum of Photography web site.
