UPSIDE DOWN & INSIDE OUT - S7 AIRLINES | Upside Down & Inside Out | 2017
A 10-Year Dream Fulfilled in 27 Seconds × 8 / S7 AIRLINES "Upside Down & Inside Out"
Shooting a music video in zero gravity — a dream OK Go had been holding onto for ten years finally came true when they crossed paths with S7 Airlines.
The problem
S7 Airlines is Russia's largest airline, and it wanted to build its name internationally. OK Go, meanwhile, had "shoot a video in zero gravity" on their wish list for years. A concert in Russia led to an agency connecting the two.
The insight
Back in the mid-2000s, after hearing about space tourism, vocalist Damian reportedly thought, "Someday I'll make art in space myself." The song includes a line about gravity being nothing but a habit, and that idea became the motto for the whole project. S7 only shows up briefly at the very end — the real star is the weightless cabin itself.
The idea
A parabolic flight gives you 27 seconds of zero gravity at a time. OK Go strung eight of these together into a single 45-minute take. They slowed the song down by 28.47% so it would fit perfectly within the weightless stretches. They built a passenger-plane set inside a military aircraft, and the scene that showed off zero gravity best was paint-filled balloons bursting and splattering liquid through the air.
What happened
For three weeks before filming, they trained with a Russian space agency and completed 21 flights. The video got 24.5 million views in its first 24 hours, and eventually surpassed 48 million views.
Afterthought
Turning just 27 seconds of weightlessness, repeated eight times, into a music video — it made me realize that the more you strip away, the stronger an idea's shape becomes.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Gold 2017
