First textual analysis of a contemprary music video

"This Too Shall Pass" By OK GO



Directed by James Frost, OK Go and Syyn Labs and produced by Shirley Moyers this latest music video from the Alternative Rock group 'OK GO' was invisioned by the band themselves. The video completed their long term dream of creating "a giant machine that we dance with" which is represented by the Rube Goldberg device that was created and designed by 60 scientists from Syyn Labs (The people that helped build the NASA Mars Rover) and with a little help from the band.

Within the video there are many various objects used to function the RG device which was designed to operate in time with the music. The RG device itself was produced on a very limited budget, causing the crew to improvise and recycle alot of the materials used .The team avoided the use of "magic"—automated devices like computers or motors—and instead focused on purely physical devices. The device was constructed inside a 2 story warehouse in the Echo Park section of Los Angeles. The total time to create the video spanned over 6 months, with 2 months given up to planning and 4 months to the design, creation and filming phase. The final construction took just under 2 months while filming only took 2 days. The entire video was shot on a single Steadcam and took over 60 takes before it was perfect. The video is meant to be one seamless shot but was actually cut when the curtains open to the 1st floor area of the machine. This cut was introduced by the band for unknown reasons, as the technical designer admitted that it was not needed, but it was possibly introduced to keep the machine's actions in time with the music or to allow the crew/band time to position themselves for the next shot.

Mise-en-scene for the video is almost impossible to recount because of the sheer amount of objects used. Mainly within the video are the four band members, clad in white jump suits each splatted with a different colour of paint, and the Rube Goldberg machine with its various different objects that make up its functioning. The RG machine is calibated to operate in time with the music, with different sections of it starting and stopping to the beat and with a clever part of the design set around a guitar rotating around the middle of a platform with spoons hanging from the neck which hit 16 glasses as the guitar rotates, producing chimes that are in time and to the sound of the beat.

The video was shot as just one take, except for a cut in the middle as the cuitains open to transition from upstairs to downstairs smoothly, meaning no editting was involved what so ever. Truely, there is no relation between the lyrics and the visuals, having the machine playing more to the beat of the music that having any relevance to the lyrics. The whole machine design is original but the concept of making a Rube Goldberg machine (Essentially a machine which performs a simple task, in this case, firing 4 paint cannons, but in an extremely complicated way) has been done in many different adverts, such as the 'Cog' Honda advert, and films throughout the 20th and 21st century since the idea was created by the American Cartoonist Rube Goldberg in 1931.

While this is a Concept based piece, there is no link to the musical genre. No real Narrative is involved, nor is there ever a link between the visuals and the lyrics. The video helps to promote the image of the band through its kwirkyness but also the intelligent and complex manner of the machine itself.

Overall, the intended audience consist mainly of the band's original fans, however, due to the video being published on youtube, where it gained over 900,000 views in just one day, a large variety of people have seen the video as it has subsiquently had over 6,500,000 views as of 9/3/10 since its release on 2/3/10 and having over 10,000 comments posted on youtube alone. From this we can see that the band intended to release the video on youtube as a type of viral advertising for themselves, which seems to of worked extremely well.

Examples of these comments include.

"absolutely, epically, brilliant! i can't say enough about how great this is! you guys are at the cutting edge of the non-cutting edge, and that's a good thing. i love the creativity, simplicity and the use of all things non-hightech to not only entertain, but to expand your musical genius into visual artistry. this would not only please Goldberg, but i think Da Vinci as well. keep it up, you guys are awesome!"

"Wow .. that was awesome =D"