“The invention – Calco de Peter Fischli & David WeissLinks to an external site.” by lugar a dudasLinks to an external site. is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0Links to an external site..
According to Wikipedia – there was called “The Way Things Go” a film from 1987, a Swiss art film from Peter Fischli and David Weiss, that used a fair amount of fun elements to create suspense in a Rube Goldberg Machine style and has gone on to influence many creators and film sequences . These machines use overly complex ways of getting to an end result that is usually just some ordinary random task. These always have me on the edge of my seat, wondering if the sequence is going to go as planned since having a long way of accomplishing something can lead to many trial and error fails if any little “cog” in the machine fails like pushing the first domino over and having one be slightly misplaced where the whole chain of domino “designs” fail and someone has to reset up all of them or “help it along” by pushing the next. Here are some examples of just such a contraption with many different mechanisms:
“Máquina de Rube Goldberg en la base del AlinghiLinks to an external site.” by freshwater2006Links to an external site. is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0Links to an external site..
In a warehouse only 100 feet long, they created the Rube Goldberg using such materials as tires, trash bags, ladders, soap, oil drums, old shoes, water, and gasoline, with fire and pyrotechnics used as chemical triggers. At the time of this writing their film is only available on pay services like Amazon Prime. This film runs 30 minutes long and has been edited to prevent boredom but we can hope the whole process will be released one day for those “behind the scenes” loving folks.
These fellows went on to create photographs of precariously balanced chairs, vegetables, bottles and other objects stacked pretty high which are especially exciting to me because I know these real circus-style balancing acts were stacked by actual humans fearing the moment something causes a tumble and feeling excited and satisfied with each added stacked piece that DOES balance. None of this was done via AI or robots capable of calculating gravity and lining up precise placement, but rather, the pure curiosity, experimentation, and anticipation of “I wonder if I can stack this here?”
Rube Goldberg was a cartoonist, engineer. and inventor that went from a humble newspaper route to winning the
Pulitzer. The humor involved with making something take way longer than it should (an activity you would think only kids have time for) was a welcome relief throughout the difficult times and eras of the past, and gained popularity with all ages regardless of wealth or occupation as even Henry Ford liked to tinker with machines. Such contraptions have made appearances in “The Goonies,” “Honey I Shrunk the Kids,” “Back to the Future,” and horror movies like “Saw.” (For his personal history I highly recommend my link to the rube-goldberg.com website in my links below at the end of this read!)
A lot of creativity is involved with stringing sequences of events together whether it is digital storytelling or a chain of events, it is still satisfying when a perpetual motion or sequence does what it is supposed to do, even if it is only animated to some extent. The Rube Machine has gone on to be used in intros to tv shows, music videos, within movies themselves, and even on Sesame Street for education. Wes Anderson used it in the Royal Tenenbaums as a creative way to commit suicide using a sequence involving a record player and toucan, Michel Gondry used this in a music video called”This Too Shall Pass” and the great Charlie Chaplin used them also. Simon Clowes used this in the series “Elementary” (interesting article link below), and even Pee Wee Herman himself used this for comic relief!https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/Kzz7eK86yO0?feature=oembed&rel=0
OK Go – This Too Shall Pass – Rube Goldberg Machine – Official Videohttps://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/qybUFnY7Y8w?feature=oembed&rel=0
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/C7JT3iMzS4k?feature=oembed&rel=0
As I begin to study film: the Rube Goldbergs highly peaked my interest over the years to the point of where I would run to the living room when I would hear my husband start “Elementary” just for the inro if I didn’t have time to watch the rest. I intend to use digital AI art and photography in the futre so the most inspirational video for me at the moment would be “Sledgehammer” by Peter Gabriel and I also threw “Steam” WARNING GREAT 80’s CLASSIC BUT POSSIBLY NSFW or YOUNGER VIEWERSin here. While not a Rube Goldberg exactly the song words to lead to image video effects that blend and follow eachother and I DO love effects, and with the new applications and AI class from Peninsula College I may just not need a huge studio with expensive video equipment and software to begin creating my own. Hope you enjoy my work as I progress!
WARNING! GREAT 80’s CLASSIC BELOW BUT POSSIBLY NSFW or YOUNGER VIEWERS!
Here are some other interesting links but PLEASE bookmark my site or right click the links to open a new tab if you wish to explore more so you don’t miss more astounding content on my site!
Philly artists recreate gigantic 1973 ‘Rube Goldberg’ orchestra – WHYYLinks to an external site.
Elementary (2012) — Art of the TitleLinks to an external site.
Fischli & Weiss: The groundbreaking way things go (publicdelivery.orgLinks to an external site.
