The band OK Go has been blowing minds and making the impossible seem possible for almost 20 years now. Their music is great, and they are especially known for their elaborate one-take music videos. These videos use science to create incredible effects, and these videos have also skyrocketed the band’s popularity.
Check out three ways that OK Go uses science to make viral sensations!
1. They film in zero gravity.
In the music video for the song “Upside Down & Inside Out,” the band members are in a zero gravity space in an airplane in the sky. This video is incredible because while the band members sing, they literally fly around the room like astronauts. They also throw a huge number of colorful objects around, and it’s astounding to see everything float in the zero gravity room.
It might be hard to find a zero gravity room to film in, but musicians can draw inspiration from OK Go to incorporate properties of nature and science in their videos.
2. They employ physicists to help them play music in creative ways.
In OK Go’s music video for the song “Needing/Getting,” the band performs while driving through what looks like a giant musical obstacle course. This video is mind blowing because they actually play the song by driving through the course.
For example, at one point in the video, there are several hundred guitars lined up next to each other, and they play part of the song by holding out a rod that strums the guitars as they drive.
OK Go hired many physicists to construct this obstacle course and figure out how to design it so that they could play the song correctly. By doing this, the band shows young people that there are many unique ways to create music and that you can be a scientist and a musician at the same time!
3. They take popular science to the extreme.
Another amazing way that OK Go incorporates science into their videos is by taking popular scientific machines to the extreme. They demonstrate “extreme science” in their video “This Too Shall Pass,” in which they created one of the largest ever Rube Goldberg machines, which are contraptions that perform relatively simple tasks in extremely complicated ways.
A Rube Goldberg machine in action is very popular and fun to watch in itself, and OK Go made their machine play their song, adding even more to the video. This popular machine combined with the music made OK Go’s video go viral immediately.
OK Go teaches their musicians to use science to enhance their music. Science and music are two truly incredible things, and if you combine the two, your videos will definitely stand out.
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David Yaghutiel is a Bay Area native who enjoys traveling, theatre, playing the ukulele, and learning as much about the world as he possibly can. He also occasionally daylights as a senior at UCLA.
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