Right behind Psy on the list of recent artists who have used music videos to propel their careers would have to be Macklemore X Ryan Lewis. Despite being named to XXL magazine’s 2012 Freshman Class, it wasn’t until the success of the video for “Thrift Shop,” and to a lesser extent “Same Love,” that Macklemore X Ryan Lewis really started to blow up. The follow up to those two videos, “Can’t Hold Us,” is massive in scope - not just compared to those two videos, but compared to any videos, period. We talked to Jon Jon Augustavo, director of all three videos, about the 18-day “Can’t Hold Us” shoot, co-directing with Ryan Lewis and Jason Koenig, and making the ultimate Seattle video.

Doug: There were three directors credited on this video: you, Ryan, and Jason. How did the work breakdown between the three of you?

Jon Jon: We shot over two months and had somewhere between 16 and 18 days of shooting, I lost track after a while. There were just some days where not all of us could be there, I mean I live in LA, Jason in Seattle, and Ryan on the road. There were a few days where some of us were solo because the other two weren't available, we shot so many places all over the world, there were days when somebody was shooting by themselves and that's how it had to be. It was fair to give people credit, because they are the ones making sure things happen. We just wanted to make people feel credited correctly on such a massive project.

Doug: It really seems massive in scope - not just with all of the locations, but the cast, all the exotic animals, and you’ve got an entire ship and several planes. Is this the biggest project you have a worked on? As far as music videos?

Jon Jon: For music videos, yes, it’s definitely the biggest production I’ve ever been involved with. I don’t think I’ve ever been involved in a music video that I had spent so much time on. I think the product shows thought, and we are all proud.

Doug: What was the processes like working with the unusual elements like the exotic animals and that ship in the middle of the ocean - were there any issues that presented themselves?

Jon Jon: The camel is a wild animal that’s crazy. They were cool though, they were just really stubborn animals. Pulling them around and stuff. I think at one point one of them, I don’t know if it bit Macklemore, or sneezed all over the Gucci suit he was wearing. His shoulder got covered it in this foam, it was pretty funny and smelled terrible. As far as the ship, that was the thing that killed everybody. We actually shot it twice. The first day we shot we got out in the middle of the ocean and there was ten foot swells, it felt like the boat was going to flip over. Everybody was throwing up - other than Ryan Lewis and Edward Tran - so basically the day was a total loss. We had to - a month later - shoot it again, luckily in calm waters. But that was a pretty insane shoot when our steady cam guy almost flies over the side of the boat losing $150,000 worth of equipment. Insane.

Doug: You guys were just basically out there on the ship in the middle of the ocean? You just rent the ship and go out there?

Jon Jon: We just went out and checked out the boat when it was docked and we were though it was going to be easy, jokes on us. The boat crew said, "It’s only going to be one to two foot swells tomorrow." We get out there and it was not even close to what we thought it was going to be. We learned a lot. Mainly, don’t shoot out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. There was a point where we had somehow sailed about an hour into the middle of the ocean and the waves were so huge we had to turn back, but since we were fighting the waves I think it took 3 hours to get back, we must've been going 1 mile per hour.

Doug: Another pretty big massive aspect of the video is the flag that you guys have on the space needle. I wonder can talk about how that worked out.

Jon Jon: Our terrific producers Tricia, Honna, and Jenny, they contacted the people at the space needle, who of course were excited to have Macklemore and Ryan Lewis involved with something there. They had a massive Heist flag that was like 50 foot diameter by 30 foot flag made, and we had to wait until there was strong enough wins to get it to fly. On the first day we went up there the wind was like 10 miles an hour so the flag was just laying there. This thing is massive to the point where if we were standing up there I felt it would knock me off the space needle if the wind picked up. So, it was just a timing thing. Again, the space needle people were more than willing to help us, and on the 35 mile an hour wind day Jason was the only one who was in Seattle at the time, so Jason had to be on standby and ready to go shoot. One day it was 40 miles an hour winds and he just said, "I'm going to go get the shot." He got them and they turned out great. Similar situation with the sky diving shots, I was the only one free for that, so I just made it happen. That was our attitude on this shoot, just get it done and make the best thing possible.

Doug: I’ve talked to you before about some videos you’ve done for Seattle-based artists and you definitely seem to have a soft spot for working with local artists like that. In this video, I feel like there are a lot of moments in this video that seem to just really try to represent Seattle more than any other video has - almost like it's the ultimate Seattle video. Would you agree with that?

Jon Jon: Yeah, I would definitely say that’s a great description. I think if there’s anybody who’s ever been so proud of being from Seattle it's Macklemore. We're representing where they're from, and where I’m from, where we are all from. I believe Pearl Jam when they were huge, or Nirvana or Kenny G, they didn’t go out and say, "Hey, I’m on top of my city." I think it is like the ultimate Seattle video.

Doug: There’s an element in the beginning of the video that I wanted to ask about quickly, is that a thrift shop reference with the wolf on top of Macklemore’s noggin?

Jon Jon: Yes, kind of. I don’t think when it came about it was on purpose, but then that’s just kind of his thing. That was actually a pretty interesting point because we were going back-and-forth the day we were shooting the dogsled. We shot several days in the snow and then we decided he wouldn’t wear it on the dogsled because it would be a little in bad taste if he was wearing a wolf head while he was on a dogsled.

Doug: there’s a scene on the beach where Macklemore is cutting Ray Dalton’s hair, and Ryan Lewis kind of runs up out of the ocean. Really curious about that scene because Ryan’s timing is so perfect and that had to be so exhausting for him to run out from the ocean all the way up to the beach like that with that giant flag.

Jon Jon: We are out there shooting in the middle of nowhere on a remote island in the tropical pacific. Between me, Jason, and Ryan we had to work out a set of choreography and just do it a bunch of times. He had to carrying this soaking wet, heavy flag and I appreciate that he was willing to do it several, several times. That was the best take and we were lucky Ryan was able to pull it off, and we were able to lift the wig off at the right time, and it was perfect timing and everything matched together. It was a great bit of filmmaking in my opinion. the whole day leading up to that shot was crazy, I mean we carried the Red Epic above are heads in neck high waves, $100k lenses in plastic bags as waves almost flipped our boat. This shoot was crazy.

Doug: What ware the expectations for success of this video when you were making it? Obviously it's such a huge video, but your previous videos with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis have been hugely successful as well. I think "Thrift Shop" is pushing 300 million views at this point. Was there any pressure to try to replicate those numbers or that success with this video?

Jon Jon: I can’t speak for Ben and Ryan, but for me I looked at it like I’m never going to make something that’s going to be like "Thrift Shop," or replicate exactly what "Thrift Shop" does. I feel like we can only make something that will blaze its own trail, so for me I never worried about it being like "Thrift Shop." I’m never going to make another "Thrift Shop." I could make something that’s going to be different, but I was never worried about that.

Doug Klinger is the co-founder/content director of IMVDb and watches more music videos than anyone on earth. You can find him on twitter at @doug_klinger.