Go on, say it.
January 11, 2015 8:54 PM   Subscribe

 
Really neat idea, really well done. This was a joy to watch, and this was like the 4th time.
posted by nevercalm at 9:01 PM on January 11, 2015


It.
posted by clvrmnky at 9:07 PM on January 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


Great visual for a soda.
posted by maryr at 9:10 PM on January 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


Pretty snappy!
posted by Room 641-A at 9:12 PM on January 11, 2015 [3 favorites]


Interesting that in the "Behind the scenes" link, they claim "no special effects." The whole thing seems like nothing but special effects.
posted by The Potate at 9:14 PM on January 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


It seems like somebody in the "make it go viral" department didn't quite do the job since I just saw this New Years Spectacle video on January 11...
posted by nanojath at 9:17 PM on January 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


The Potate, can you expand? Other than some tricks with the framerate they filmed at, it looked to me like everything was practical and filmed in camera.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 9:19 PM on January 11, 2015


Your move, NBA draft lottery.
posted by acidic at 9:19 PM on January 11, 2015 [3 favorites]


Well back in the day, when there weren't fancy compute-o-trons, a lot of special effects were practical. Seems these young'uns are using it to mean "CGI".

Also I feel like I need a "behind the scenes" for the behind the scenes because that was still pretty fancy and edited and had a soundtrack.
posted by traveler_ at 9:23 PM on January 11, 2015 [6 favorites]


why must every cultural artifact now have terrible electronic music attached?
no offense to Gershon Kingsley but i think this is the best version of the appropriate musical accompaniment for this video.
posted by Conrad-Casserole at 9:23 PM on January 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


In the next one will they have someone stand on her head and drink Pepsi upside down to demonstrate peristalsis?
posted by XMLicious at 9:25 PM on January 11, 2015


Frame-rate adjustment is, perhaps, a form of special effect... if you are living in the 1950s.

I don't see any blue screen insertion or CGI non-film non-reality creation going on in what I saw. Everything seemed like it was entirely plausible to be filmed in camera and there were no wires being used to make that spaceship fly across the screen or whatever...

I'm fully on board with "no special effects" being used. Some editing trickery, some frame-rate trickery... the first is a "special effect" going back as far as Birth Of A Nation, the second has been used for easily as long. Neither involve what anyone would call a special effect since the 1950s.

It's a clever thing. Not that amazing, other than realizing the scope of what it took to set it up before cameras rolled.

Interesting post.
posted by hippybear at 9:26 PM on January 11, 2015 [2 favorites]


I guess my definition of "special effects" is a bit off. I was lumping "practical effects" in with special effects. I wasn't meaning that CGI was used or that cuts were made for the sake of illusion or anything like that.

(on preview, traveler_ said what I was thinking better that I did.)
posted by The Potate at 9:32 PM on January 11, 2015


that behind the scenes video seems absurdly self-congratulatory. you're patting each other on the back like you just launched, like, a new global anti-poverty initiative? you spent HALF A DAY PUTTING PING PONG BALLS ON MOUSETRAPS AND FILMED IT TO SELL COLA.
posted by president of the solipsist society at 9:34 PM on January 11, 2015 [31 favorites]


the greatest taste around
posted by philip-random at 9:37 PM on January 11, 2015 [2 favorites]


Not that amazing, other than realizing the scope of what it took to set it up before cameras rolled.

That was what made it for me. Can you imagine being the person placing the balls (shut it!) and terrified that yours would set them all off (shut it!) ?
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 9:39 PM on January 11, 2015 [2 favorites]


Yeah, one wrong trigger during setup and you've wasted HOURS.

It's like a domino setup in that regard.
posted by hippybear at 9:40 PM on January 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


If this video of mousetraps launching ping-pong balls delivered you some chuckles, perhaps you would like to indulge in a general history of ping-pong mousetrap antics. I mean given how old the stunt is, the intended irony in the link title is itself ironic, given that the OP could've chosen any one of several other videos to demonstrate it but went with a Pepsi commercial.
posted by president of the solipsist society at 9:46 PM on January 11, 2015 [7 favorites]


I went with a Pepsi commercial because I was unaware of a history and it seemed particularly apt for MeFi. Thank you for providing context!
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 9:54 PM on January 11, 2015 [3 favorites]


This commercial did a really good job of reminding me what Pepsi is, and why I don't drink it.
posted by phaedon at 10:00 PM on January 11, 2015 [2 favorites]


...those TVLogic monitors sure are nice, wish I had one
posted by infinitewindow at 10:11 PM on January 11, 2015


I'm sure the set traps had some cover for protection until they were ready to roll. Oh, and with domino setups they leave gaps until they're ready.
posted by Rich Smorgasbord at 10:26 PM on January 11, 2015


The hugs were done by industrial love and magic
posted by oceanjesse at 10:27 PM on January 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


I still like Coca-Cola better.
posted by jonmc at 10:36 PM on January 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


This is a new sound for OK Go.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:37 PM on January 11, 2015 [3 favorites]


Ok Go would have a video with a bit more development and point.
posted by hippybear at 10:42 PM on January 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


This video is making me thirsty!
posted by stargell at 10:52 PM on January 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


This commercial did a really good job of reminding me what Pepsi is, and why I don't drink it.

Even Pepsi commercials don't really push to drink more Pepsi (notice no one is drinking in that ad). They seem to be more about deepening the already well-worn groove Pepsi has carved in your mind and also to associate the non-Pepsi (like Britney Spears or Harrier Jets) with Pepsi.

And speaking of Pepsi products no one drank, I still have a vague memory of what Crystal Pepsi tasted like.
posted by FJT at 11:32 PM on January 11, 2015


I was playing a party game the other day, and the category was 'animal', and people could give clues, but not name the actual animal... "The animal that drinks coke" resulted in an instant "Polar Bear."

Who says advertising doesn't work.

(If I ever came across a polar bear, I'd totally offer it coke, and by offer, I meant throw at it right before I tried to outrun my friend).

posted by el io at 11:44 PM on January 11, 2015 [2 favorites]


Needs more Lil' Jon
posted by not_on_display at 11:51 PM on January 11, 2015


why must every cultural artifact now have terrible electronic music attached?

Yeah, this is a visual metaphor for carbonation. So wouldn't the best soundtrack be a burp? Add a little realism, yo.
posted by CincyBlues at 11:51 PM on January 11, 2015


It seems to me that Morgan Freeman burping the "Ode to Joy" might make this more interesting. Or if one wanted to go lighter, maybe Carrot Top belching the "Hamster Dance."

Okay, my day is shot now...
posted by CincyBlues at 12:01 AM on January 12, 2015 [2 favorites]


They've still got until October 21st to rename Pepsi Max to "Pepsi Perfect".
posted by radwolf76 at 12:34 AM on January 12, 2015 [2 favorites]


Today incidentally I made some "Pepsi Whatever" with a mix of diet and non-diet Pepsi at Costco. This is the first time I've seen the mousetrap thing associated with anything beyond Bill Nye or Mr. Wizard something; I can't place it but I've seen it before on Nickelodeon as a kid, and shit, or some shit, as it were.

Did somebody mention the silver-toned can that haunts my dreams...I miss Crystal Pepsi.

Knowing what I know about caramel color, and how much of it I consume (typically in Diet Dr. Pepper form), and the hour of night bringing out the paranoia, I suspect the Caramel Color Cartel confronted Pepsi about this grand experiment early on and put the kibosh on it, preventing a precipitous plunge in caramel color demand if this "clear cola" trend took off. Mostly kidding, ha ha.

It was strange that they seemed compelled to manipulate the flavor of the product, because either they didn't want it to directly compete with Black Carcinogen Hyperactivity-Triggering Tar Pepsi or the color lent something to the original flavor that couldn't be replicated closely enough by leaving it out.

Also,

Cool cans are coming
So don't be afraid
And if you get lucky
You might get paid


Or "laid" as we used to say, changing it up a bit in middle-school fashion.
posted by aydeejones at 12:45 AM on January 12, 2015


The concept of a chain reaction is cool, but honestly I don't get how the video (end product) is supposed to garner a bigger following of those who wish their thirst quenched with Pepsi Cola.
posted by rmmcclay at 4:25 AM on January 12, 2015


...but honestly I don't get how the video (end product) is supposed to garner a bigger following of those who wish their thirst quenched with Pepsi Cola.

Couldn't you say that about most advertising these days, though? It's more about entertaining and associating a positive feeling with the brand.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:30 AM on January 12, 2015


honestly I don't get how the video (end product) is supposed to garner a bigger following of those who wish their thirst quenched with Pepsi Cola.

There are people in this day and age who don't understand life-style branding?
posted by aught at 5:39 AM on January 12, 2015 [1 favorite]


The folks on the breaking bad insider podcast regularly made a very clear distinction between special effects and visual effects. I'm assuming this is a pretty standard film industry distinction, to the point that they probably don't realize that non-industry people don't make that same mental division.
posted by Vendar at 6:00 AM on January 12, 2015


It was kinda ... I don't know what I was expecting, but I was expecting more than what got delivered.

I suppose the intricacy of OK Go's videos have spoilt me as a viewer to expect there to be more than 'we did this labour intensive thing then filmed a chain reaction in slow motion'.

That's been done before, and better.

Good post though.
posted by Faintdreams at 6:41 AM on January 12, 2015


In the next one will they have someone stand on her head and drink Pepsi upside down to demonstrate peristalsis?
posted by XMLicious at 12:25 AM on January 12
\

MAX interrogation: Waterboarding with Pepsi Max - the official softdrink of the CIA.
posted by Nanukthedog at 6:41 AM on January 12, 2015


Context for the framing, for anybody new in these parts.
posted by Shmuel510 at 8:16 AM on January 12, 2015


I would have enjoyed it a lot more if they had just launched a ball into the field of mousetraps and filmed what resulted, with no music, no editing, just the event itself, with the marvelous sound of all those mousetraps going off and ping-pong balls clattering all around in unison, a lost moment from the mind of Mr. Moose.

This glorious noise denied to us because some commercial director decided it'd be better to hype it up for the purpose of selling cola.
posted by JHarris at 8:20 AM on January 12, 2015 [1 favorite]


Is there a browser-based simulation of this system somewhere? A fun graphical toy?

Back in the 90s I spent way more time than anyone should with mousetraps and ping pong balls. Or an abstracted version of it, written in Objective C for the Swarm agent based modeling kit. Simulating this is a fun example of event-based simulation. You start with one event on the queue (one trap firing), and then it fires and the virtual ping-pong ball queues up one or two new events, which each queue up one or two more.. and pretty soon you have a nuclear explosion. Fun stuff.

Anyway, it makes for some nice graphics. I found a bunch of versions of the simulation written in the past 20 years, but none that you can play in a browser easily. It'd make a nice Javascript demo.
posted by Nelson at 9:14 AM on January 12, 2015 [1 favorite]


I'd never heard of this Pepsi thing before, but I must say their viral video made me curious to know more. Do they have a local showroom where I can see and perhaps even purchase their product?
posted by Strange Interlude at 9:53 AM on January 12, 2015 [2 favorites]


And speaking of Pepsi products no one drank, I still have a vague memory of what Crystal Pepsi tasted like.

I have an EXTREMELY PRECISE memory of how it tastes because when it hit the market, I worked a a grocery store where little promo bottles of Crystal Pepsi and packs of those cheap chocolate coated donuts were the most affordable things to consume on a lunchbreak... which I did, every day. So now if I even get a whiff of one of those donuts, I descend instantly into a Crystal Pepsi visionquest.
posted by SharkParty at 10:32 AM on January 12, 2015 [1 favorite]


Anyone else find the Pepsi orifice a minute in to be a little... odd? No? Just me? Okay then.
posted by quin at 12:04 PM on January 12, 2015 [1 favorite]


IT IS A SPECIAL NEW HUMAN APERTURE DESIGNED TO INCREASE COMPATIBILITY WITH THE PEPSI
posted by JHarris at 12:14 PM on January 12, 2015 [1 favorite]


Calling Pepsi Red, White and Blue!
posted by Samizdata at 2:15 PM on January 12, 2015


IT IS A SPECIAL NEW HUMAN APERTURE DESIGNED TO INCREASE COMPATIBILITY WITH THE PEPSI

Got enough apertures stock, thankis.

Also, if they are talking compatibility, why can't I find an RFC? Not like I want vendor lockin...
posted by Samizdata at 2:17 PM on January 12, 2015 [1 favorite]


Cool cans are coming
So don't be afraid
And if you get lucky
You might get paid

Or "laid" as we used to say, changing it up a bit in middle-school fashion.


Considering how you could arrange the "Neon" version of the Pepsi Cool Can, that change up was probably a little closer to the truth.
posted by radwolf76 at 5:38 PM on January 12, 2015 [1 favorite]


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