78.2M views · Mar 2, 2010 · 3:54 · 5 HN recommenders · 7 mentions · discussed 2010–2026
OK Go's music video for This Too Shall Pass, featuring a huge Rube Goldberg machine built in a warehouse in Los Angeles with Syyn Labs. The band interacts with the contraption in one continuous take.
Why Hacker News points people here: HN points to it as an example of ambitious, practical-effects creativity in music videos, made without CGI.
“The Rube Goldberg machine [0] one is particularily impressive.”HN comment, 2016
“You should watch . You'll like it. Trust me.”
Quirky OK Go Rube Goldberg music video the commenter promises you will like
That was OK, Go ( link ) . The song is "WTF?" They're famous for quirky video clips (original for this song is at link ). You should watch this video . You'll like it. Trust me.
“I think it is abstract, but I like it a whole lot nonetheless.”
Creative, cute and whimsical OK Go video
Reminds me a bit of Ok Go's latest video: this video Seems like something Michel Gondry or Spike Jonze ( link ) would do. I think it is abstract, but I like it a whole lot nonetheless. It's creative and cute and whimsical. Kudos!
“incredible videos made without CGI”
Incredible videos made without CGI
Not really. Stop-motion music videos have been done quite a bit, especially 10 years ago and more. There was a time before CGI when artists shot "videos" on film and computers weren't capable of the things they are today. Consider the Peter Gabriel videos: link link both of which feature various types of stop-motion animation as well as other effects. Also consider the works of Bruce Bickford whom Frank Zappa hired to work on several videos. This guy is a genius/savant, I don't know which. Zappa saw the genius and funded some incredible work. link link link You also might want to check out: this video and their other videos, which aren't stop-motion but are incredible videos made without CGI. There's tons more out there to find if you look.
“The Rube Goldberg machine [0] one is particularily impressive.”
Particularly impressive Rube Goldberg machine music video by OK Go
OK Go really do make some amazing music videos. The Rube Goldberg machine [0] one is particularily impressive. It even got its own TED talk [1]. 0: this video 1: link
“Still a great music video and song.”
3-minute Rube Goldberg machine music video, with a couple of cuts
Reminds me of the 3 minute rube Goldberg machine in "this too shall pass" by Ok Go. this video I thought they really did it all in one cut but there are at least two. Still a great music video and song.
“OK Go owes their fame to never taking shortcuts when creating their music videos”
Example of OK Go avoiding shortcuts
This video would be pretty uninteresting had they used artificial jelly beans. I think everyone is aware that it’s trivial to convert a simple animation to a jelly bean animation. That’s not the point. Art works by different rules. (Hey, and if you like to be a cynic about it you can also say that viral videos work by different rules. OK Go owes their fame to never taking shortcuts when creating their music videos†.) (I think that placing the singer directly on the jelly beans allowed them to do certain tricks that would be harder to accomplish otherwise: pay attention to the lighting or the costume changes. It’s not clear to me whether using a green screen would really have saved time.) — † One example: this video
Rube Goldberg video smashed pianos and a TV, comparable to Apple crush ad
Brings to mind the OK GO music video with all the exploded guitars that they stated were already junk. Spilled paint is reminiscent of their videos too. They also smashed pianos in the Rube Goldberg video, and a TV with a sledge. Now I wonder if that was a 1984 reference. link this video
