{"id":426,"date":"2010-09-20T17:59:32","date_gmt":"2010-09-20T17:59:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/talentedanimals.com\/blog\/?p=426"},"modified":"2010-09-27T08:54:29","modified_gmt":"2010-09-27T08:54:29","slug":"the-greatest-music-video-ever-ok-go-white-knuckles-dog-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/talentedanimals.com\/blog\/the-greatest-music-video-ever-ok-go-white-knuckles-dog-video\/","title":{"rendered":"The Greatest Music Video Ever: OK Go White Knuckles Dog Video"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Click Here to Meet the Animals<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Story of Making of the Greatest Music Video Ever from the Talented Animals<\/a> Perspective<\/p>\n

A few years ago I was in a meeting about an upcoming television show when the director took me aside and said to me, \u201cMy brother is in a band, and I have an idea for a great video that would need animals, could we get together and talk about this sometime?\u201d\u00a0 I grinned and said sure, knowing that everybody in Los Angeles has a relative in a band, and the odds of anything ever coming of that conversation were slim\u2026 \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It was over a year later that Trish called and suggested that they were getting close and would like to set up a meeting to brainstorm ideas.\u00a0 She casually mentioned that her brother Damian was the lead singer in the band OK Go, the most downloaded band in history, and I \u2018might\u2019 have seen a few of their previous videos like the ubiquitous treadmill dance\u2026<\/p>\n

Damian explained that they had been dreaming of this video for years, but that so far they had been unable to find an animal trainer with the right combination of skills, experience, and unfettered creativity to help them succeed.\u00a0 \u201cWe want to make a video in which the dogs are the stars, Damian said. \u201cWe want the band members to support the dogs and dance with the dogs, and we want it to be magical and charming and something that has never been done before. No canine \u2018agility\u2019, \u2018freestyle,\u2019 or \u2018obedience.\u2019\u00a0 And no cutsey tricks or circus acts. \u00a0Something new.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo problem,\u201d said I. \u201cThe trainers and animals at Talented Animals<\/a> are the best in the world, and if it is physically possible, we can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the next several hours we all sat around throwing out ideas and getting more and more excited: we had come up with some really great ideas that seemed achievable in a short of amount of time and we all thought would make a great video. Then Damian said something that sent a chill up my spine: \u201cOh, by the way, this will be done in one take, with no cuts\u2026\u201d Now for those of you who have never worked an animal on film, we use cuts and optimal camera angles for everything.\u00a0 They are the tools that let us succeed.\u00a0 Without cuts, the animals would have to all work at the same time with their trainers far away, and we would need to get each dog and trainer and bandmember and crewmember to nail every single behavior all in the same take.\u00a0 Not bloody likely.<\/p>\n

For the next several hours I patiently explained why we needed cuts in this video.\u00a0 That we could do many more things with cuts than without, that we could nail the video in a few days because each dog would do their behavior in isolation and would only have to be perfect for 10 seconds at a time, but that 12 dogs and a goat could not all work together without a mistake for over three minutes straight. \u00a0And Damian patiently explained that one of the things that defined this video was that it was not going to rely on cuts or tricks or camera magic\u2014it was going to be a continuous dance without cuts and we would have to work within that constraint\u2026<\/p>\n

Over a year passed and we were together again for two intense weeks of choreography and planning. Three dogs and two trainers sat in a small warehouse in downtown LA with the band, and Trish the choreographer, for two weeks of nonstop, delightful brainstorming.<\/p>\n

Another year passed as we all worked to get schedules and finances and everything else to come together, and finally in the spring of 2010 we were ready to get started.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

We developed an almost entirely new language for this video. Each of the 21 \u201csections\u201d of the video had a name. Each prop had a name, and most of the animal behaviors had names. We would spend much of the day saying things like, \u201cCan Sequel other foot Tim before he chung chungs over the popcorn wangs?\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

Then we needed to select ideal dogs, find a location, and so much more\u2026\u00a0 After looking at several options, we decided Oregon was the best place to film this video: beautiful, no sales tax, excellent production resources, inexpensive housing, perfect summer weather, less bureaucracy, and of course Talented Animals has one of its main facilities in Oregon.<\/p>\n

The Oregon Film Office was extremely helpful in finding housing for the band, recommending skilled and flexible crewmembers, and best of all securing an amazing location to film the video!<\/p>\n

We had only four weeks total to make the video from beginning to end: two weeks to train the dogs, one week to rehearse with the band, and one week to film it.\u00a0 Or so we thought!\u00a0 Once we started, we discovered that much of the first two weeks needed to be spent figuring out the trainer choreography!\u00a0 We had 12 trainers, two furniture movers, 12 dogs, one goat, 38 buckets, and a bunch of furniture, all of which needed to move around and be in the right place at the right time without anyone stepping in front of camera.\u00a0 We ended up with stuffed animals, spreadsheets, flow-charts, and recorded audio instructions, and for many hours we tried various configurations until we finally found one that worked.\u00a0 And then we practiced and practiced.<\/p>\n

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Of course, at the same time we were training the dogs.\u00a0 Most of the behaviors were not that challenging to teach, it was the transitions and the positioning that were complicated.\u00a0 And it was essential that the dogs were at all times having a truly joyous experience, so there were lots of breaks to go run in the field, take a nap, or splash in the pool.<\/p>\n

Then Damian, Tim, Andy, Dan, and Trish arrived\u2026 Since we had been rehearsing without them we needed to learn how to work with band actually dancing their parts, and they needed to learn to work with the dogs. The band and Trish are about the most wonderful team to work with that you could ever imagine.\u00a0 They are creative, collaborative, generous, imaginative, kind, and just all around fun. They are also serious and consummate professionals. I hate to tarnish the “slacker-rockstar” trope, but these guys work harder than you can imagine, and bust their asses to make their videos perfect, and we had no intention of letting them down!\u00a0 We ran through the whole routine a couple of times for them with stuffed animals and then showed them the pieces with dogs, and while they loved 80% of it, there were several parts that were not quite as magical in execution as they had seemed in concept.\u00a0 So we began tweaking those parts.\u00a0 The challenge was that each person had a specific place to be at every moment, so each time we made a slight change there was a ripple effect.\u00a0 Suddenly people were on the wrong side of the stage, or could not get to where they needed to be to perform their next behavior, or were crashing into one another.\u00a0 It was chaos again!\u00a0 As the days ticked by, we kept making changes and the routine kept getting better and better.\u00a0 But we were running out of time, and while each behavior was solid, we could no longer string them all together.\u00a0 Finally we put them together, but at half speed, and then we began steadily increasing the speed.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>With four days left, we got out the slate and tried our first official take at full speed and with everything in place. We made it about half way before a mistake. Then again, and again, and again.\u00a0 Many times we were virtually perfect, but we just got too far off the beat.\u00a0 Or we would get to the end and the dogs would be out of sync with each other. Or a dog would not have time to make it to his next position.<\/p>\n

Take 49 was our first true success. It was not perfect, but we made it to the end without any real mistakes and still in sync with the song.\u00a0 \u201cOH MY GOD,\u201d Trish whispered breathlessly, \u201cWe did it\u2026\u201d And every person in the room finally exhaled!<\/p>\n

After Take 49 we got better and better.\u00a0 Sure, we still all made mistakes, and there were more than a few dropped buckets, chair collisions, and the like.<\/p>\n

At around Take 60, a new challenge arose. The dogs all knew the pattern perfectly, and absolutely loved doing it, and they started going too fast. They would rush ahead of the routine and run to their next behavior, and instead of getting behind the beat we were now starting to get ahead of it, or have dogs running onto the stage before it was their turn. Every few takes we would have to stop and do one at half speed to remind the dogs that they had to wait for the right moment before they could perform.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

First thing on the morning of the third day, we began Take 72, and by about the midpoint, we could all feel that it was going really, really well.\u00a0 Each piece had been solid, and the rhythm and timing felt great.\u00a0 Everyone was fresh and looked good.\u00a0 This might be it\u2026..\u00a0 As we ticked off each challenging moment it felt more and more like this might be it, and by the final scene when all the dogs were lying on tables next to the band, there was a silent vibration in the room.\u00a0 None of us were moving, or breathing, as Damian finally lifted his head and said, \u201cWe got it!\u201d\u00a0 We had all agreed early on that no matter what happened, we would not erupt into a loud cheer as we did not want the energy of that to startle or alarm any of the dogs, and everyone honored that agreement, but it may have been the loudest silent cheer ever!\u00a0 And the dogs absolutely participated. \u00a0We were all hugging, laughing, quietly jumping up and down, high-fiving, and hugging our dogs in absolute gratitude!\u00a0 They<\/em> had done it, and we all knew it!<\/p>\n

One of the biggest challenges of having no cuts in a video comes at the end when you have to pick!\u00a0 By the end, we had filmed for three and a half days and 124 takes.\u00a0 We had 30 complete takes, of which 10 were deemed excellent.\u00a0 And in each of these takes there were magical moments, but we could not concatenate them into one ideal, we had to discard every take except one, even knowing that in some of the discards were some of our very best work.\u00a0 That is painful!\u00a0 For a brief moment I thought about going to Damian one more time and trying to persuade him to cut them together into one supertake with all the best moments.\u00a0 But then I watched Take 72 again, and I saw exactly what Damian had imagined years earlier\u2014one uninterrupted dance between OK Go and 12 amazing dogs.\u00a0 There was something so special about NOT having \u201ccheated.\u201d\u00a0 Somehow it came across on screen that this was real and had integrity.\u00a0 This three-and-a-half minutes of unedited truth allows the viewer to connect with the band and the dogs and essentially experience the dance exactly as it was, and that is far more genuine and touching than any perfectly-polished and cut-together special effects extravaganza.<\/p>\n

We have been fortunate enough to work on many wonderful projects: independent art films, $100M blockbuster movies, and just about everything in between.\u00a0 We have worked with some of the great directors and actors in the world, and the most amazing animals. But I cannot think of any project we have enjoyed more than this one, nor any project of which we are more proud.\u00a0 I hope from the bottom of my heart that watching it brings you as much joy as it has brought all of us who worked together to create it!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Note: It is very difficult for music videos to generate any revenue.\u00a0 Making a video like this takes considerable resources: there are a lot of people and animals and equipment and props, travel, lodging, etc., and this comes directly out of the pockets of the bandmembers.\u00a0 So please, if you enjoyed this song, video, and dogs, purchase the album or go see Ok Go in concert.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Click Here to Meet the Animals The Story of Making of the Greatest Music Video Ever from the Talented Animals Perspective A few years ago I was in a meeting about an upcoming television show when the director took me aside and said to me, \u201cMy brother is in a band, and I have an […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,46,108],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anecdotes","category-movie-work","category-random-thoughts","category-47-id","category-46-id","category-108-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-line-bottom","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/talentedanimals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/talentedanimals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/talentedanimals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talentedanimals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talentedanimals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426"}],"version-history":[{"count":47,"href":"https:\/\/talentedanimals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":479,"href":"https:\/\/talentedanimals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426\/revisions\/479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/talentedanimals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talentedanimals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/talentedanimals.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}