OK Go — Obsession: 568 Printers in 1 Take

Known for their tireless endeavor to come up with new techniques and ideas, OK GO never ceases to surprise and excite fans with insurmountable creativity put into their music videos, which have won the world's most prestigious awards from Cannes Lions to the Grammys. For “Obsession for Smoothness,” OK GO ventures beyond their comfort zone once again and partners with a team of world-class professionals to create, not just an exciting new video, but something that would become a phenomenon.

Let's start with SIX Inc., the creative agency – Japan's award-winning advertising agency with several international awards under their belt, led by much coveted creative director Jin Saito. Next up is Daito Manabe, founder and technical director of Rhizomatiks Research – one of the most renowned digital artists in the world, who pushes the boundaries of digital creativity into the unexplored territories. Manabe has been awarded several Cannes Lions, two times the Award of Distinction in the Ars Electronica, and three times the Excellence Prize in the Japan Media Arts Festival. This time, Manabe acts as media artist who develops the program that makes World’s First Paper Mapping music video possible.

The biggest challenge of this project lies not just in developing a program to control all 567 printers used during the shooting. This large-scale production involves designing graphic patterns to be printed on each piece of Double A paper – design made by Karan Singh. Project also recruits the talent of MIKIKO, the choreographer behind many memorable music videos including ones of BABYMETAL, Perfume, Salyu and Sakura Gakuin. MIKIKO will design movements of all 4 members of OK GO and make sure they are coordinated with the Paper Mapping background.

Shot in one take, every single element from rhythm, music, the flow of paper, movement blocking to choreography needs to be precise – you can't miss even by a millimeter. Professionalism aside, the success lies as much in the degree of “Obsession” put into the project by all involved – an obsession to create this phenomenon of world-class smoothness.