Synopsis

In a desolate, dreamlike world, a herd of bison races across barren landscapes while monumental statues and famous landmarks collapse around them. The imagery suggests that human civilization has crumbled, leaving nature's survivors to move through the ruins of a vanished age. As the camera shifts between sweeping vistas and close details, the world appears to tilt and fracture, turning the track's grand, martial energy into an apocalyptic vision of destruction, survival, and the impermanence of human power.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video was created with a labor-intensive combination of CGI, 3D animation, and compositing. Digital District handled the post-production in Paris.

• The original concept focused on the visual beauty of natural disasters. After the earthquake and tsunami in Japan in March 2011, the production abandoned that approach and lost approximately a month of work before developing the more dreamlike world seen in the finished video.

• The clip was released on May 26, 2011, shortly after "Civilization" had appeared in an Adidas advertising campaign.

• Its imagery includes recognizable monuments and structures, including the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, presented as symbols of a collapsing human civilization.

• The video was nominated for Best Video at the 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards.

• "Civilization" was the lead single from Justice's second studio album, "Audio, Video, Disco."