OK Go have built a reputation for film clips that are so utterly batshit nuts that at some point you have to wonder how on earth they’re going to top themselves.
And yet, they continually manage to raise the bar higher and higher when it comes to pulling off outlandish, wildly elaborate concepts.
The band released their latest effort – a clip accompanying the tune “Upside Down & Inside Out” – overnight, and it’s seriously one of their best yet.
For the film clip, the band strapped themselves into a special plane that shot them into the air so they could film in virtual zero gravity.
There’s no camera tricks or wires for this. They’re actually hurtling through the air on a S7 Airlines plane, with very little gravity holding them down; the same method that astronauts use to simulate weightlessness in space.
OK Go – Upside Down & Inside Out
Hello, Dear Ones. Please enjoy our new video for “Upside Down & Inside Out”. A million thanks to S7 Airlines. #GravitysJustAHabit
Posted by OK Go on Thursday, 11 February 2016
The whole thing is achieved because they’re in what’s known as a Reduced Gravity Aircraft. The plane travels in an elliptical path through the air – relative to its orientation with the earth – using thrust and high pitch to give off the effect of weightlessness.
Source: Wikipedia.
During the ascent phase, no ground force reaction is exerted on plane contents, which is the simulated weightlessness.
The plane has to repeat these phases constantly (and around 2/3rds of people experience nausea in the downward phases, giving the planes the nickname the “Vomit Comet“) and each burst of weightlessness only lasts around 27 seconds.
So the band divided the film clip up into 27 second sections so they could achieve the “one shot” effect. In all, they spent 3 weeks on site at the Russian Cosmonaut Training Facility, endured 21 different flights, spent roughly 2 hours, 14 minutes in total weightlessness, ran the routine through 8 times in the air, and then filmed it over the course of a single 45 minute flight. After each block of 27 seconds was filmed, it took them around 5 minutes to reset the shot and get into position before they continued.
How’s your fear of flying working out for you?
Source: E! Online.
