How OK Go’s Amazing Rube Goldberg Machine Was Built

Wired Magazine has a great article on how OK Go's "This too shall pass" video was made.I'm sure all of you has already seen this video, as you know the whole thing was taken in one shot. Everything was precise and even to the beat of the music, it took about a month and a half to perfect it. The people who build this contraption, Syyn Labs, are an LA based arts and technology collective.

The requirements were that it had to be interesting, not "overbuilt" or too technology-heavy, and easy to follow. The machine also had to be built on a shoestring budget, synchronize with beats and lyrics in the music and end on time over a 3.5 minute song, play a part of the song, and be filmed in one shot. To make things more challenging still, the space chosen was divided into two floors and the machine would use both. (via Synn Labs)

how many tiny details needed to be just right for the machine’s timing to work out.
For example, the wooden tracks used to guide metal balls at the beginning of the video had to be cleaned and waxed to keep dust from slowing down the balls and making them stick. And the angle of that board was set at a precise 3.4 degrees of incline, which was perfect for the timing but sometimes led the balls to jump the track. (via Wired)

Read the whole thing here