Photo Courtesy of Youtube
Pop band Okay Go has just released a music video that you’re definitely going to want to see. Using a Brooklyn lot as their base of operation, the band crafted some unbelievable optical illusions for “The Writing’s on the Wall” the newest single off of their album Hungry Ghosts which is due out this October. Fake walls, multiple levels, mirrors, boxes, and so much more are utilized to create a four minutes of jaw dropping visuals. Every once and a while words such as “I Think I Understand You” would appear only to become part of the illusion being played.
All in all the sequence took three weeks to plan and construct and over fifty takes to get it all right. At the very end of the video, the band lined up behind a seemingly meaningless blend of red and white colors only for it to spell the title of the song when shot from the right angle. This the resulted in the director yelling “Cut” and the previously hidden crew of fifty assistants come out of their hiding places to cheer and celebrate. Hopefully the filmmakers will release a making of video to show off all of their brilliant tricks.
“It was important to me that we didn’t add a layer of meaning that’s not already there,” frontman and co-director of the video Damian Kulash told Rolling Stone. “We wanted to be able to have messages in there, but I didn’t want them going throughout the entire song in way that would make you feel like you were reading the whole time.
OK go formed in 1998, though lead singer Damian Kulash had known bassist Tim Nordwind since age 1986. It was in their shared Art class that they heard the future band name when the teacher told them to begin drawing by saying “OK…Go!”. After a few years of modest success the band achieved international fame for their music video “Here it Goes Again” which featured a choreographed routing on six treadmills. The effort won the band the 2007 Grammy Award for Best Music Video. Since then they have become famous for their inventive music videos. “Writing’s On the Wall” honors their reputation.
The video in all of its eye-pooping glory can be seen right here. Just be sure to remember that your eyes can play tricks on you.