White Knuckles
Encyclopedia
"White Knuckles" is an alternative rock
song by OK Go
from the album Of the Blue Colour of the Sky
.
of "White Knuckles" for inclusion in the Rock Band
music video game
series through the Rock Band Network
. This was won by The Big Robot.
, the sister of lead singer Damian Kulash
and who had previously directed the band's famous treadmill video for "Here It Goes Again
". The one shot
video features the band members performing choreographed actions with minimal props (mostly IKEA
furniture) alongside a number of trained dogs and one goat, with the actions set in time to the song. Sie thought that in considering the success of the treadmill video, "wouldn’t it be kind of cool if this time the guys were the machines and they’re enabling and operating the dogs". Sie's idea for the "White Knuckles" video followed shortly after the completion of the treadmill video, just prior to the 2006 Video Music Awards. The band considered the idea "absurd and awesome", and a routine was developed in 2009 using only three live animals, with stuffed animals as stand-ins. During the recording of Of the Blue Colour of the Sky, Kulash and Sie played the album alongside their own dogs and watched how the dogs reacted to the songs, finding that "White Knuckles" "matched the playfulness of [their] dogs". The song "White Knuckles" includes the words "paw" and "pet", matching up to the concept of using dogs within the video. Much like with the video for "Here It Goes Again", bassist Tim Nordwind does the lip-syncing in this video instead of Kulash.
One dozen dogs and the goat were provided and trained by Talented Animals, with head trainer Lauren Henry; all of the dogs were from animal rescue
shelters. Part of the requirement of the band was that the shot had to be performed in a single take, a feat that Roland Sonnenburg, a spokesperson for Talented Animals, said was "not bloody likely" to happen. Each dog was paired with the trainer they worked best with to prevent one dog from taking the wrong direction.
The development of the routine, training of the dogs, and the shooting were filmed in a disused plastics factory in Corvallis
, Oregon. The dogs were trained for two weeks prior to the band's direct involvement, tweaking and tuning the choreography to work with the animals they had. The band joined in about one week prior to the shooting period to acclimate themselves to the dogs. The trainers sought to create a relaxing atmosphere for the animals, realizing that they would not be easy to handle under normal human situations, and tried to ensure that the dogs would be enjoying the tricks they had to perform. The dogs were able to learn the routine's tricks; the most difficult trick, according to Tim Nordwind, was convincing two dogs to step in and out of a set of shelves while the band members provided platforms for the dogs to use and while spinning the shelves around. They initially trained the dogs to perform their tricks at half-speed, and slowly increased the pace to match the song's beat; however, as they neared the end of the filming period, the dogs were enjoying the performance so much that they began to outpace the song. The goat, appearing only briefly in the video, was originally going to be pulled across the set on a treadmill to reference the "Here It Goes Again" video, but when the band used this reference in the "This Too Shall Pass
" video, Sie decided to abandon it. Instead, they used a feed bag to lure the goat, which would often drag the band's Andy Ross across the set.
A total of 124 takes were made during the filming period; about 30 were complete takes, with 10 of those being considered "excellent" by the group. The released version was Take 72, completed on the second-to-last day of shooting. They had considered splicing together other takes where certain actions were more "magical" than in Take 72, but the group did not want to cheat the one-shot requirement, and instead used what they had considered the best overall shot.
The video premiered on The Ellen Degeneres Show
on September 20, 2010, and was posted shortly afterward by the band to YouTube
. The video quickly became a viral video
as OK Go's previous videos, reaching a million views on YouTube within 24 hours of its posting. With the release of the video, OK Go encouraged its viewers to assist in animal rescue efforts through their web site, and will provide a portion of sales of the video to the ASPCA.
The video had been shot in both 2D and 3D
, though only had been released using the 2D version as there were few opportunities to show off the 3D version, according to Sie. As part of an initial system update, the Nintendo 3DS
portable video game system includes the 3D version of "White Knuckles".
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
song by OK Go
OK Go
OK Go is a rock band originally from Chicago, Illinois, USA, now residing in Los Angeles, California, USA. The band is composed of Damian Kulash , Tim Nordwind , Dan Konopka and Andy Ross , who joined them in 2005, replacing Andy Duncan...
from the album Of the Blue Colour of the Sky
Of the Blue Colour of the Sky
Of the Blue Colour of the Sky is the third studio album by American rock band OK Go. It was released on January 12, 2010 on Capitol Records in the USA and EMI in the UK, and re-released on the band's independent label Paracadute Records on April 1. After the band's split with EMI and Capitol,...
.
Song
Fans of the song were given the opportunity to create a remixRemix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
of "White Knuckles" for inclusion in the Rock Band
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
music video game
Music video game
A music video game, also commonly known as a music game, is a video game where the gameplay is meaningfully and often almost entirely oriented around the player's interactions with a musical score or individual songs...
series through the Rock Band Network
Rock Band Network
The Rock Band Network is a downloadable content service designed by Harmonix Music Systems with the help of Microsoft to allow musical artists and record labels to make their music available as playable tracks for the Rock Band series of rhythm video games, starting with Rock Band 2...
. This was won by The Big Robot.
Music video
The music video for "White Knuckles" was directed by Trish SieTrish Sie
Trish Sie is a Grammy Award-winning American choreographer and director. She has worked in children's entertainment, film, television, music video, stage, and ballroom DanceSport.-Biography:Sie was born Patricia Kulash in Washington, DC...
, the sister of lead singer Damian Kulash
Damian Kulash
Damian Joseph Kulash Jr. is the lead singer and guitarist for Chicago-based rock band OK Go.-Early life:Born in Washington D.C., USA, Kulash graduated from St. Albans School in 1994, and later Brown University in 1998 with a concentration in Art-Semiotics. The family name was originally "Kulas"...
and who had previously directed the band's famous treadmill video for "Here It Goes Again
Here It Goes Again
"Here It Goes Again" is an alternative rock/power pop song by OK Go, and is the third released single from the album Oh No. It also appears on the compilation album Now 23. It remains the band's only single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, where it entered the Top 40 at #38, mostly due to the...
". The one shot
One shot (music video)
A "one-shot" is any music video which consists of action, continuous in time and space, from the perspective of a single camera — a single long take. In order to be able to make one shot videos several special techniques are used. Most commonly the stage props which are not currently caught on...
video features the band members performing choreographed actions with minimal props (mostly IKEA
IKEA
IKEA is a privately held, international home products company that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture such as beds and desks, appliances and home accessories. The company is the world's largest furniture retailer...
furniture) alongside a number of trained dogs and one goat, with the actions set in time to the song. Sie thought that in considering the success of the treadmill video, "wouldn’t it be kind of cool if this time the guys were the machines and they’re enabling and operating the dogs". Sie's idea for the "White Knuckles" video followed shortly after the completion of the treadmill video, just prior to the 2006 Video Music Awards. The band considered the idea "absurd and awesome", and a routine was developed in 2009 using only three live animals, with stuffed animals as stand-ins. During the recording of Of the Blue Colour of the Sky, Kulash and Sie played the album alongside their own dogs and watched how the dogs reacted to the songs, finding that "White Knuckles" "matched the playfulness of [their] dogs". The song "White Knuckles" includes the words "paw" and "pet", matching up to the concept of using dogs within the video. Much like with the video for "Here It Goes Again", bassist Tim Nordwind does the lip-syncing in this video instead of Kulash.
One dozen dogs and the goat were provided and trained by Talented Animals, with head trainer Lauren Henry; all of the dogs were from animal rescue
Rescue group
An animal rescue group or animal rescue organization is dedicated to pet adoption. These groups take unwanted, abandoned, abused, or stray pets and attempt to find suitable new homes for them...
shelters. Part of the requirement of the band was that the shot had to be performed in a single take, a feat that Roland Sonnenburg, a spokesperson for Talented Animals, said was "not bloody likely" to happen. Each dog was paired with the trainer they worked best with to prevent one dog from taking the wrong direction.
The development of the routine, training of the dogs, and the shooting were filmed in a disused plastics factory in Corvallis
Corvallis, Oregon
Corvallis is a city located in central western Oregon, United States. It is the county seat of Benton County and the principal city of the Corvallis, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Benton County. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 54,462....
, Oregon. The dogs were trained for two weeks prior to the band's direct involvement, tweaking and tuning the choreography to work with the animals they had. The band joined in about one week prior to the shooting period to acclimate themselves to the dogs. The trainers sought to create a relaxing atmosphere for the animals, realizing that they would not be easy to handle under normal human situations, and tried to ensure that the dogs would be enjoying the tricks they had to perform. The dogs were able to learn the routine's tricks; the most difficult trick, according to Tim Nordwind, was convincing two dogs to step in and out of a set of shelves while the band members provided platforms for the dogs to use and while spinning the shelves around. They initially trained the dogs to perform their tricks at half-speed, and slowly increased the pace to match the song's beat; however, as they neared the end of the filming period, the dogs were enjoying the performance so much that they began to outpace the song. The goat, appearing only briefly in the video, was originally going to be pulled across the set on a treadmill to reference the "Here It Goes Again" video, but when the band used this reference in the "This Too Shall Pass
This Too Shall Pass (song)
"This Too Shall Pass" is an alternative rock song by OK Go from the album Of the Blue Colour of the Sky. The single was released in January 2010. The band took the unorthodox route of creating two official music videos for the song, both of which premiered on YouTube. The first features a live...
" video, Sie decided to abandon it. Instead, they used a feed bag to lure the goat, which would often drag the band's Andy Ross across the set.
A total of 124 takes were made during the filming period; about 30 were complete takes, with 10 of those being considered "excellent" by the group. The released version was Take 72, completed on the second-to-last day of shooting. They had considered splicing together other takes where certain actions were more "magical" than in Take 72, but the group did not want to cheat the one-shot requirement, and instead used what they had considered the best overall shot.
The video premiered on The Ellen Degeneres Show
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
The Ellen DeGeneres Show, often shortened to Ellen, is an American television talk show hosted by comedian/actress Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it is produced by Telepictures and airs in syndication, including stations owned by NBC Universal. For its first five seasons, the show...
on September 20, 2010, and was posted shortly afterward by the band to YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
. The video quickly became a viral video
Viral video
A viral video is one that becomes popular through the process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites, social media and email...
as OK Go's previous videos, reaching a million views on YouTube within 24 hours of its posting. With the release of the video, OK Go encouraged its viewers to assist in animal rescue efforts through their web site, and will provide a portion of sales of the video to the ASPCA.
The video had been shot in both 2D and 3D
3-D film
A 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...
, though only had been released using the 2D version as there were few opportunities to show off the 3D version, according to Sie. As part of an initial system update, the Nintendo 3DS
Nintendo 3DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo. The autostereoscopic device is able to project stereoscopic 3D effects without the use of 3D glasses or any additional accessories. The Nintendo 3DS features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS series software, including Nintendo DSi software...
portable video game system includes the 3D version of "White Knuckles".