The Rube Goldberg contraption in this OK Go video for "This Too Shall Pass" is one of the best visual metaphors I've seen for the way a well-put-together movie works. If something misfires or doesn't go right, the cumulative payoff is diminished. Anywhere along the line, the whole thing could come crashing to a halt or just veer off course and peter out. It has nothing to do with narrative; it's about construction, creating momentum (and anticipation and suspense) and the interactions between many details that ultimately make the thing whiz and whir and tick. I'm not yet crazy about the song itself, but I have a feeling it's going to grow on me...
(tip: MattRosenDP, @GregMitch)
There's also a four-part film showing how they did it, starting here:
13 Comments
I don't see that as a metaphor for anything, really. And I disagree about how a movie works. A Rube Goldberg device might be a metaphor for certain kinds of movie, but I think good filmmaking is simpler than that. In my experience, half of making a good movie is simply not making a bad movie. So many times, a filmmaking team could have made a good movie, but instead they veered off in an obvious way that was bad and ill-conceived, and so their movie became diminished. If they simply didn't do the ill-conceived thing, their movie would have been much better.
Now, the Rube Goldberg device is to me a model of sophistication and precision, and not all good movies are sophisticated or precise. Enough said.
I would also agree that a movie does not necessarily have to function to the degree of precision or perfection as demonstrated in the SUPERB video "This Too Shall Pass"
I for one regard movies much in the same way weavers in Turkey regarded their rugs: they were products of both great craft and great creative artistry, yet always, they bore at least one flaw, because they believed perfection only belonged to God.
And indeed, some of my most treasured moments in cinema are flawed scenes. Consider a marvelous shot in "Lawrence of Arabia," where Lawrence and his guide ride to the edge of a clif, and see another tribe riding in the distance. The first shot shows them riding through the sands, with the wind throwing perfect tendrils, so it becomes like snow, almost mystical. Yet you will also see, quite plainly, tracks in the sand, left over from the previous take. Yet, David Lean was confident enough as a director to include this better shot, because the blowing sand was special.
And what about the "jiggling hat" in Citizen Kane, that wonderfully reveals part of the process for his long, unbroken tracking shot at Ma Kane's Boarding House.
And what about the psychotherapist scene at the end of Hitchcock. Many argue it is a missfire in a masterpiece, and I might not disagree. But, oh! what wonderful debates have arisen because of that "botched" scene. It's enough to make me glad it is in there the way it is.
And lastly, I would cite Metropolis, recently restored to near it's original magnificence. The story is simplistic, didactic, a bit pretentious, and the actor who portrays Freder gives one of the most hamfisted performances I've ever seen.
And yet, I treasure that film, because of the magnificence of its images, and ageless special effects work, and its contrition to the science fiction genre.
I certainly take joy in a film that takes risks and succeeds everytime, much as the posted music video does. But I also treasure those films that persevere in spite of their flaws.
Still, your point is well made, and I respect it. And thanks for posting the vid!
Brian Rose
I didn't think of it in terms of "perfection" -- there's debris scattered, discarded, knocked over, spilled and randomly abandoned all over the place. I see it more like an endless number of opportunities for things to go awry. One thing I like about this contraption as a metaphor is that it's made up of old "found" stuff, assembled in a warehouse that had been trashed by vandals. So, the idea was never to create something without flaws. I, too, honor the Japanese idea of "wabi-sabi," referring to the tradition of celebrating the beauty in imperfection.
Notice too, though, that they start the video all painted up from previous, presumably failed attempts. I personally really liked that, in a way because it's like those camel tracks you talk about, but more so because it suggests that, but how did they get paint on them if the stunt wasn't good enough for the video? That's more the way those arrogant Persian ruggers pretended they needed to insert a flaw intentionally to have one. All around very very swell.
Also, if you look in the background to the left when the camera comes to rest on the paint-gun "firing squad," you'll see a used backdrop from previous takes. And when the sledgehammer goes through the TV playing the OK Go treadmill video, there's a pile of previously smashed TVs on the floor. I like those details, too.
Raymond Ogilvie said:
I don't see that as a metaphor for anything, really.
_______________
Open your eyes, Raymond, and then you will see. The Lord gives one vision and clarity to see truth in the opaque.
Without doubt, this wonderful video works on the highest level of all: the theological.
In the video, nothing would have happened had the singer not pushed the toy truck. In real life, if we go back far enough, the first cause of everything is God. The Alpha and the Omega. The Lord above. The King of Kings. YHWH. Adonai.
God is truth. Truth is God.
Very, very cool. It made me think of Pulp Fiction for some reason - the way the characters are introduced pre-splattered, building your expectation that at some point in the future they will be getting splattered on camera, because you know the splattering is from a previous take - that kind of very knowing play with an audience's expectation of how narrative works is to me the legacy of Tarantino, a whole generation has grown up with an inbuilt sense of switchback narrative. Not what I'd usually think on seeing a pop promo but, hey, context is everything!
Yeah, I see no metaphor here. If something goes wrong during production of a film, any number of people are there to fix the problem on the fly. If something went wrong during production of that video and the 37th thing didn't do what it was supposed to do, everyone has to stop what they're doing and spend hours, or longer, putting the entire setup back together again.
In fact, I'd suggest parts of many films are improvised at the time, for example if someone comes up with an idea for improved dialogue, or if the angle of the sun suggests a different shot setup. This video had to be perfect from the start, and any improvisation once things were set in motion would ruin everything.
That said, that video is the coolest example of that I've seen in a while, maybe since Honda's "Cog" commercial. Thanks for posting it.
Ah, now that you mention it, I can better understand the point you're making, and it's a good one!
I do still think that it is possible for a film to achieve greatness despite serious flaws and failings.
None comes more clear to my mind than "Ryan's Daughter," which for me is David Lean's greatest film after "Lawrence of Arabia," and contains some of the finest imagery I've ever seen on film, as well as what I regard to be Robert Mitchum's best performance. And it does all this in spite of a disastrously miscast Christopher Jones in a key supporting role (it did not help the film's cause that Jone's role, and his affair with the titular character was heavily played up in the marketing, when the soul of the film is really Rosie Ryan's relationship to Robert Mitchum's character).
I might also suggest some films that are regarded as among the greatest in spite of being badly butchered. The aforementioned Metropolis, which gained its greatest fame in the crudely reedited, public domain American cut.
And there is "Greed,"' one of the most beloved of all silent films, but a mere shadow of itself. And there is practically every film Orson Welles made after "Citizen Kane," with "The Magnificent Ambersons" at the top of the list...
Best,
BR
These guys, of course, also did one of the biggest viral youtube videos of all time, for the song "Here we Go Again" .... which was them on 6 treadmills doing an extremely amazing, articulate "dance" - all in one take. Of course, they had to do it like 300 times to get it right.
So - which I think OK Go videos are all amazing - I also don't necessarily equate the metaphor Jim alludes to. After all, don't many directors say some of the best movies were a series of Happy Accidents?
Anyway - I get the point, I just think it's a stretch - but that it's true, that OK Go videos in general standalone as genius of articulate conception.
The video AdamW mentions is playing on the screen which is smashed, and is actually entitled "Here it Goes Again."
The whole video is incredible. To make a Rube Goldberg machine work *at all* is impressive to me; to have the entire machine perfectly timed down to the second is astounding. The song definitely grew on me after a while, and it seems somehow appropriate to the whole style of the video, exuding a sense of cheesy fun and energy, while also emphasizing the precise timing of the machine. (Although I confess I can't make out most of the lyrics.)
There is so much *stuff* going on, and so many interesting *things* lying around in that warehouse, it has rewarded repeat viewings for me. I found it interesting to try and map the warehouse in my head, and figure out how everyone got from one location to another, mostly off-screen so it seems almost like they are teleporting.
Although I don't know much about camerawork, I'm very impressed by the work of the cameraman, who consistently frames everything so precisely, I thought at first the camera's movement must be automated. The cameraman maneuvers around the area perfectly, never failing to keep the camera pointed exactly where it needs to be at every second. The machine itself, the music, the aesthetic design and layout, and the camerawork go so well together it's amazing. Most Rube Goldberg machines are nifty contraptions--this one is a work of art.
Some fun details I noticed (in addition to stuff others have mentioned):
At 2:12, when most of the singers have seemingly teleported away, we can get a split-second glimpse through a crack of the yellow guy sprinting away, presumably towards some unseen staircase.
Between 2:42 and 2:50, the green guy gets across the room pretty darn fast. I could believe he actually teleported.
From around 0:40 to 1:00, the video seems to feature toy train tracks of the same brand I used to play with as a kid.
Starting at 3:18 when all hell breaks loose, in addition to the obvious stuff like the umbrellas and whatnot, there are a number of other fun things to note:
A bowling pin falls off a cabinet--just for fun, I guess.
You can see an unused large group of yellow balloons in the back of the area, as well as what looks like a mattress standing on end.
A large speaker (or something) falls to the ground. I missed it the first few times.
Also, a guy is walking around the balcony behind all this chaos. It's impossible to notice him the first time, with all the awesome stuff going flying and everything.
I think the revelation of the crowd (the tech people?) on the main part of the balcony provides something of a "twist ending" to the whole saga, as well. An epic ending to an epic video.
As far as the whole ordeal being a movie metaphor, I guess you could say it's a metaphor for *watching* a movie more than making one. A flawed movie can be enjoyable, even compelling, but if a movie takes the time to create a believable world and believable characters that a person can truly care about, and then it does something to shatter the illusion, it can take a lot away from the drama.
Thanks for a really sharp-eyed, entertaining appreciation!
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