Upside Down & Inside Out

The band OK GO has distinguished themselves for brash and ambitious, highly creative, logic-bending videos (often shot in one, epic, glorious take), perhaps more so than with their music. In the way that artists like Ben Folds embrace the larger picture of how their music fits into the world and the entire experience of the audience, the impact is a full experience, not to be only listened to.

In their video for Upside Down & Inside Out, they endeavor to create a video in a zero gravity environment created via flight in a reduced gravity aircraft. It’s one continuous shot without green screen, CGI or added effects…just good, old fashioned stagecraft.

It’s complete fun with a sense of “can we do this?” at every turn. You are never no not wondering about the “how”, even if that just means how did they rehearse it? Why are they so good at it? How could they have possibly taken practice flights often enough to pull this off? The whole time I’m thinking who’s just off screen and what are they helping with. I almost reach my arms out to help shove objects through anti-gravity.

I think after we die, a reward will be the ability to fly, or the feeling of flying. I long for it so completely that it must be core to some part of existence.