An Israeli accent to new video for Bob Dylan's 'Like a Rolling Stone'

New clip debuted on Dylan's website created by Israeli digital agency Interlude and directed by Vania Heymann, the "viral guru of the Israeli web scene."

By DAVID BRINN
Bob Dylan Ramat Gan 311 (photo credit: Sarah Demmi Levin Photography)
Bob Dylan Ramat Gan 311
(photo credit: Sarah Demmi Levin Photography)
The latest viral sensation – an innovative, interactive first-ever video for Bob Dylan’s iconic 1965 anthem “Like A Rolling Stone – has Israeli footprints all over it.
Created by the Israeli digital agency Interlude and debuted Tuesday on the social media website Mashable and Dylan’s website, the video enables viewers to flip through 16 “television channels,” each one featuring personalities of varying fame lip-syncing the song’s biting lyrics.
The action-packed video, using many images Israeli viewers will have fun identifying, was directed by Vania Heymann, considered to be the viral guru of the Israeli web scene.
A graduate of the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Heymann has previously worked on innovative videos for Asaf Avidan, TYP, clips for the TV show Eretz Nehederet and commercials for Pepsi and American Express.
“I’m using the medium of television to look back right at us,” Heymann told Mashable.
“You’re flipping yourself to death with switching channels [in real life].”
Among the channels available to flip through are The Price Is Right with Drew Carey in a cameo, standup comedian Marc Maron, hip hop artist Danny Brown, a TV news report featuring Channel 2 anchor Danny Kushmaro, a tennis channel match shot at the Ramat Sharon tennis center, a dating show aping The Bachelor, an ESPN sports show, a home shopping show, a kids’ cartoon, a cooking show and a reminder of why they’re watching in the first place – a live video of Dylan and the Hawks (later The Band) playing “Like a Rolling Stone” in 1966.
“You’ll always miss something because you can’t watch everything at the same time,” Interlude founder and CEO Yoni Bloch told Mashable. A musician in his right, as well as a self-professed tech geek, Bloch, had cut his teeth with his own music videos using stop motion animation.
Interlude – with offices in Tel Aviv and New York – gained acclaim and awards from MTV and Intel with a series of “choose your own adventure” web videos that let users navigate through a decision tree of plot choices, winning awards for innovation from MTV and Intel.
The company has backing from Sequoia Capital, Intel Capital, NEA, Marker and Innovation Endeavors.
The “Like A Rolling Stone” video – which contains a slew of Israeli-sounding names in the lengthy credits – showcases a patented technology platform which allows viewers to play an active role in the story.
“As a musician myself, I can’t imagine a more thrilling project to be a part of than helping create the first video for ‘Like a Rolling Stone,’ which is widely regarded as one of the greatest songs of all time,” said the Beersheba- raised Bloch. “The song has repeatedly been voted the No. 1 Greatest Song of All Time, and is generally regarded as revolutionary, influencing both artists and popular music around the world. Like the song, we hope Interlude will inspire creative professionals everywhere to develop new and unique ways to tell stories through video.”
The 72-year-old Dylan apparently found the technology inspiring, with his management commissioning the “Like a Rolling Stone” video and displaying it prominently Wednesday on the artist’s website. The release of the video coincides with the new boxed set, The Complete Album Collection Volume 1, just released on Columbia/Legacy Recordings.
“We’re forever looking for compelling, creative ways to distinguish our artists and their music from the din,” said Adam Block, president of Sony Music/Legacy Recordings.
“The Interlude treatment of ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ provides us with a unique, playful, highly engaging platform from which we can reach – and ideally attract – Dylan fans from across the spectrum.”
While the clip may or may not create new fans for the classic rock staple and its legendary creator, it does seem to insure that the future of Interlude will continue to roll along like a stone.


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