There are two video versions, a 13-minute short film and an edited 4-minute version. It was filmed using 400 Chinese soldiers and 20 horses. The film starts with a young boy, presumably the Emperor Puyi, being asked what he would like for his birthday. He simply states "The Sound of Tomorrow". The action then cuts to a plain white room with the band members, clad in white outfits similar to those worn in fencing, each doing their own thing in preparation for a show. A woman enters and tells them that it is time. She leads them out into the hall and disappears. They walk down to the end of the hall where they attempt to open the door. They are unable to and understand it's locked, as Jared says. The lights start to flicker and they go out, leaving the band puzzled. It then opens to another scene where the band is walking through giant gates into the row of Chinese soldiers, now wearing black ninja-like outfits. As they are all walking down, Jared notices a woman wearing a white mask walking on the exterior of the row, unnoticed by the others. The band are then taken to the hall where the Emperor is situated, and are given scrolls. Jared then says to his brother, Shannon Leto : "This is a gift?" The band is then shown putting on supposedly traditional Chinese armor before meeting in an alleyway for a battle against four others, dressed in identical armor. This scene is mixed with each band member being led to a different part of the kingdom, encountering various practices believed to be Chinese traditions. Matt Wachter encounters the butler whipping himself; Tomo Miličević finds a dead woman lying on her bed, and someone proceeds to put a small black ball into her mouth; Shannon sees a grown man being breast-fed by his mother or wife; and Jared accidentally walks in on a group of men sacrificing three young women. At the end of the video, the band members end up fighting each other and four warriors. They wear masks, and thus cannot see who is who. Four of the warriors are slain, and the remaining four wind up in a stalemate. They slowly remove their masks, revealing that 30 Seconds to Mars are all alive. The video then samples "A Beautiful Lie", released as the band's next single. For a very brief period of time during the butler's whipping scene, an image of the butler appears where he is wearing a rabbit suit mask. It does not seem that this image has anything to do with the story, but may be a brief allusion to "The Kill" in which something similar appears midway through the video. The video can be seen as a tribute to the film The Last Emperor since several of the scenes and characters are directly inspired by the film. The MV was shot on location in the Forbidden City and the Emperor Qin
Track listing
Standard version
"From Yesterday" – 3:52
"The Story" – 3:59
US
"From Yesterday" – 4:07
"The Story" – 3:59
UK
"From Yesterday" – 3:52
"Stronger" – 6:01
"From Yesterday" – 13:40 full director's cut video
UK
This limited edition vinyl is clear, and comes in a gatefold case
"From Yesterday" – 4:14
"The Kill " – 3:47
UK
This is also limited edition, but is red, and has the band members' signatures etched into the back
"From Yesterday" reached number 1 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart, making it Thirty Seconds to Mars' first number 1 on any Billboard chart. It peaked higher than "The Kill", which is considered to be the band's breakthrough single.
