Science Rocks: OK Go Unleashes Rube Goldberg Machine

Sixty takes and some brilliant engineering went into the band's latest video

This is what happens when you let OK Go and a group of engineers run amok in an Echo Park warehouse.

The video, released Monday on YouTube, is for "This Too Shall Pass." It was shot in a two-story warehouse in Los Angeles' Echo Park.

The set -- which is actually a Rube Goldberg machine -- was created by the band and engineers from LA-based Syyn Labs. The video is a single-camera shot following the machine's progression around the two floors of the warehouse for nearly four minutes.

The video ends with a blast from paint cannons, cheers from the in-warehouse audience and a thank-you -- to State Farm insurance company.

Fortunately, that video embed dispute involving the band and EMI was resolved and the video can be viewed below.

Wired has a look at what went into making the contraption. Adam Sadowsky, the president of Syyn Labs, told Wired that about 60 people worked on the project. More than 30 people were needed to reset the machine after each run.

“A Rube Goldberg machine is in its essence a trial-and-error thing,” Sadowsky told Wired. "It took about a month and a half of very intense work, with people on-site all the time."

It required about 60 takes over two days.

OK Go also is behind the treadmills video for "Here It Goes Again," and our favorite music video involving backyard dancing.

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