Watch OK Go Use Synchronized Umbrellas for Trippy New Video
Just when you thought OK Go couldn’t get any flashier, the alt-rock band ascends to new heights of eye-popping complexity with their new video for “I Won’t Let You Down.” The clip, co-directed by frontman Damian Kulash and Kazuaki Seki, finds the band riding around on omni-directional scooters called UNI-CUBs and synchronizing with an army of umbrella-wielding friends. Forget treadmill dances or Rube Goldberg devices or surreal optical-art illusions – this baby’s the real deal.
The video was created using a custom “multi-copter camera,” and the creative team puts that technology to good use throughout. Opening in low-key territory, the quartet drive around on their futuristic wheels while hand-clapping and finger-snapping to the song’s synth-fueled disco-funk; then the camera darts upward, and the results become far trippier.
First, the band makes a subtle call-back to the jittery silliness of the “Can’t Buy Me Love” scene in the Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night movie, while the clip ends with an extended, mind-boggling aerial view of color-coded umbrellas spelling out the band’s name and song title. The grand finale was stitched together from 44 separate takes (using 2,328 people), but the high-tech editing doesn’t diminish its visual impact.
The band initiated the video – filmed in Japan’s Chiba Prefecture this past August – by approaching Honda through creative director Morihiro Harano. “I Won’t Let You Down” is featured on the quartet’s fourth studio album, Hungry Ghosts, which was released earlier this month.
OK Go will kick off their 2015 headline theater tour on March 21st, 2015 in San Francisco; full details of the trek will be announced soon.