OK Go Release Yet Another Impossibly Elaborate Video with Clip for “Obsession”

OK Go’s music videos insist upon their audience that a lot of thought went into them. Their new video, for “Obsession,” features an elaborate set containing two walls of printers. Filmed with stop-motion, the four members move around on stage with jagged motions as sheets of A-4 cascade from the walls in increasingly complicated patterns and colors. They’ve taken the idea of a green screen and made it much harder. The attention to timing and precision must be excruciating, but pays off in the end. The amazing thing is that they do it all in one take.

The video uses every sort of printer trick imaginable, but of course takes it to a professional level. In one shot, a single printer prints a flip-book of images of Damian Kulash dancing around. In another, the four members are hoisted off the ground and flying around like superheroes, as the printers print a moving background. It is important to note that all of the paper used in their video was dutifully recycled.

OK Go are originally from Chicago, Illinois. In addition to Kulash, Tim Nordwind plays bass and sings, Dan Konopka plays drums and Andy Ross plays guitar, keyboard and sings. Their video for “Here It Goes Again” won a Grammy for Best Music Video in 2007. OK Go has always had a quirky, punchy sound that has always been accompanied by videos of similar distinction. They’re musical sound, while often described as ‘rock,’ takes on a genre of its own.

Photography Credit: Sharon Alagna

Conrad Brittenham: My name is Conrad. I am one year out of college and pursuing a career in writing and journalism. I studied literature at Bard College, in the Hudson Valley. My thesis focuses on the literal and figurative uses of disease in Herman Melville’s most famous works, including Moby-Dick, Benito Cereno, and Billy Budd. My literary research on the topic of disease carried over to more historical findings about how humans tend to deal with and think about the problem of virus and infectivity. I’ve worked at a newspaper and an ad agency, as well as for the past year at an after school program, called The Brooklyn Robot Foundry. All of these positions have influenced the way I approach my work, my writing, and the way I interact with others in a professional setting. I’ve lived in London and New York, and have always had a unique perspective on international cultural matters. I am an avid drawer and a guitarist, but I would like to eventually work for a major news publication as an investigative journalist.
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