Very few bands have pretty much made a career out of their videos, in fact it usually tends to be the opposite. But then few bands could possibly conceive of the kind of insane creativity that characterises OK Go’s videography.
Ten years ago, back in 2006, Ok Go achieved the ever elusive “viral” status with their video for Here It Goes Again. An impressive feat of choreography and a novel use of treadmills had us all gripped – and rightly so. I can barely take a drink of water on a treadmill without losing concentration and grinding face first into that conveyor belt…
The band have now released their newest clip for Upside Down & Inside Out, from their 2014 album Hungry Ghosts. Launched via the band’s Facebook, the video has already racked up more than 16 million views. The band have quite literally taken video making to the next level – anywhere between 24,000 and 32,000 feet above sea level, to be precise. Ok Go partnered with Russian airline S7 Airlines to produce the clip for Upside Down & Inside Out, taking to the skies on a parabolic flight.
Mainly used as training flights for astronauts, parabolic flights fly in a wave like path (rather than straight forward, as a commercial jet would), constantly ascending and descending. This causes those on board to experience periods of hypergravity and microgravity, or in other words – weightlessness. Which explains how Ok Go, and a number of other items, appear to float around the cabin during the clip. As the band say; “Gravity is just a habit”.
Recklessly discarded laptops float away, and band members take advantage of the atmosphere to perform aerobatics. As we’ve come to expect, the video becomes increasingly more colourful as the cabin is periodically swept through by rubber balls, paint splashes and even mirror balls. It also has the appearance of being shot in one continuous take, which would be extremely impressive – though usual practice for Ok Go. However, it has been revealed that the end result is a series of moments (no longer than 27 seconds at most) edited together. With each section filmed during a burst of microgravity.
Citing this latest video as “the hardest to pull off” of their creative career, guitarist Andy Ross also stated that “The physics of this thing are wild”. No kidding! Also elaborating on the physical demands of this particular clip, Ross recalls an endearing nickname for this kind of plane; the “vomit comet”. Thankfully, any evidence of that that might have occurred has been edited out.
Image via ABC News