OK, How'd They Do It?

The band OK Go is known to have some crazy music videos that really go above and beyond but in their latest video the band goes even further. The video directed by Morihiro Harano starts in a studio as the members of the band ride these little machines called UNI-CUB's. We dolly out of the studio and into the streets surrounded by bright and colorful buildings and out of nowhere the camera flies up into the air. The camera was attached to a drone that was then attached to a dolly and the camera continues to soar into the air.

Below the members are joined by dancers with umbrellas and the camera shoots back down. It locks back into place on the dolly and continues rolling down the street. And just like that the camera goes up again, but this time it doesn't come back down. The band is joined with now hundreds of dancers and we keep flying up and up. The crowd shapes forms with their umbrellas even spell out words as the camera flies over a half a mile into the air. To think how long it took to block the whole shot and to then get the choreography down perfectly is mind boggling. Check out the video below! 

OK Go - I Won't Let You Down - Official Video

The One-Take Music Video

The idea of a one-take music video fascinates me. The amount of time, planning, and skill that must go into the production and direction of such a video is astounding. In some videos, the camera may not move at all. If that is the case, the set and choreography are very important. If you are producing a one-take music video, there should be a reason for this creative choice. The movement on camera should be planned and it should be interesting. OK Go produced a one-take music video for their hit song, "Here It Goes Again," in 2006, and it gained over 50 million views in four years. The promotion of the video on YouTube was both somewhat revolutionary at the time and beneficial for the popularity of the band, the song, and the video in particular.

In other cases, the camera moves throughout the entire video. In these videos, the set design and the placement of every object and person in the space is critical. If the camera is moving, there needs to be a specific path for it, and everything needs to be exactly where it belongs and timed to perfection so that things happen when they are in the shot. OK Go produced another one-take music video for their song, "This Too Shall Pass." In this video, they used a Rube Goldberg Machine, and the video followed the machine throughout the warehouse they filmed in. The video also employed the use of bright colors on a background of white and off white. The colors were found throughout the machine and they added to the interest level of the video. While the previous video is interesting to watch because of the detailed choreography, this video is more appealing to me because of the level of skill and planning that had to go into it.

Music videos are one of my favorite types of video to watch and to produce, so the concept of the one-take music video is incredible. I hope other bands follow in OK Go's footsteps, and I hope I can be a part of that in my career.

Music Video Editor's Nightmare

In one of my earlier posts, I wrote about musical adaptations from stage to film, and then further explained my love for the combination of music and film. Well, here goes again! How better can you combine music and motion pictures? the answer: music videos. This is where I hope to see my career going at some point. I love music videos, because there's only 3-4 minutes of time to make a masterpiece, so you better be on your A-game. Every single shot and every pixel of the frame needs to be perfect. My dream is to edit music videos for rock bands. Unfortunately my favorite bands have stopped recording new music and thus stopped making music videos; for example, google "80's hair bands," and any name that pops up. Anyways, back to the topic at hand: music video perfection. I have a few examples of great music videos, however I have them split into two categories - ones that inspire me, and ones that could theoretically put me out of business. We'll start off with the latter.

This is a fantastic video, and extremely entertaining in a very quirky way. It was a viral video that is one of the main reasons the band got the amount of popularity that they have today. But what is my fear of this video? The fact that its all one shot. No editing. A lot of choreography, but no editing. This saddens my heart.

Similar thing. Great music video; its about as simplistic as it gets. Blank background, black and white picture, three dancers, pretty much one shot. But, this time more camera motion, more choreography, and a few cuts here and there, but still, my heart is sad.

Now we're getting somewhere! This throwback jam from the 80's has probably one of the coolest effects I've seen, and its pulled off fairly well. The blending of sketches and live-action footage arises so many questions in my mind. How did they do it? How long did it take? Why is that guy's voice extremely feminine? And most of all, this inspires me to edit and make effects that can blend fantasy with reality and become a timeless work of art such as this. This makes my heart say "mmmmmm fairies," which is good, I think.

Finally, this video is like crack to me. Delicious. This must have taken an eternity to edit. And at least three to set up and film it. And seeing that many drumsets makes me drool. This is beautiful, and my heart might just explode with excitement and inspiration to film and edit a combination stop-motion, with live-action footage.

I could take up this whole blog with links to all my favorite music videos, but i think you get my point now. In sum, I love editing, I love music, I love drums, and finally, I love my parents... in that order. Just kidding Mom! Happy Birthday.

Sincerely,
Scott Walle

Pilobolus

Pilobolus is my favorite dance company of all time. They got their start in Dartmouth College in 1971 as a Contemporary Dance Company and from there they blossomed into a world renowned dance company preforming at events like the Academy awards, Late night with Conan, America's got Talent, ect. The video above is just one small example of the American Dance Companies style. In the Commercial Pilobolus is Advertising the Hyundai Santa Fe where the dancers contort their bodies and play around with shadow and perspective to illustrate some activities that range from the opera to camping. Finally at the closing shot we see Pilobolus transform into the Santa Fe as the narrator chimes in the background "The all new Hyundai Santa Fe, flexible, agile, for whatever shape life takes". Telling the Audience that the Santa Fe meets every single one of our needs whether it be going to a fancy event or getting dirty in nature. I mean the art directors really came up with a cool concept for this one but adding Pilobolus to the mix is what really made this commercial.

Whatever Pilobolus touches turns to gold, and for good reason. They just take dancing to a whole new level that I have never seen before. Every move they make is calculated, yet organic and pure. They use every inch of their bodies to dance it gets to a point where even the contraction of their muscles becomes a part of the choreographic story. It really is a joy to watch them.





But these guys are from just being Dance Company that occasionally works on commercials, they are expanding their company and working on music videos now. Making there debut in OK GO's new music video "All is Not Lost".