OK Go is well-known for its impressive single-take music videos and this latest one takes the game up a notch or three. For its new song “I Won’t Let You Down”, dozens of choreographed dancers joined the band on set to perform perfectly synchronized movements to the track.
The video was shot using what appears to be a DJI S1000 and a HDLSR rig.
The video was shot with OK Go and the dancers moving at pace with a half speed track of the song playing over loud speakers. While this makes the movements pop when the video gets to the umbrella portions, it makes the motions in the beginning rather choppy and a bit disorienting. Billboard.com reports that this was also intentional “to evoke Hollywood choreographer Busby Berkeley‘s signature manic style.”
Further evidence of the 2x speed video can be seen and heard in the intro as the production crew moves and speaks at a normal speed, which makes it obvious that it is sped up in post. Also, the note the white car on the road to the left of the campus zooming up the screen.
These observations take nothing away from the vast effort and impressive production value put into this performance; however, it is interesting to piece together how the video was made.
[via Billboard.com and FStoppers]
Hate to break it to you, it’s not one shot. They have edited in several areas to make it look like one shot. There were not enough of them bikes to go around. And you can even notice the areas that are added into the shots.
I watched it a couple of times looking specifically for cuts. What are some time markers of the cuts you see?