Remaking arguably the sexiest video of all time is no easy task, but its exactly what Panic! at the Disco and director DJay Brawner did for last weeks "Girls/Girls/Boys" music video. Identically recreating DAngelos 2000 music video for "Untitled (How Does It Feel)," the video features Panic! lead singer Brendon Urie completely naked, performing the song in front of a black background. DJay perfectly matched the camera movements from the original DAngelo video, allowing Brendon to put his own spin on the performance, resulting in a pretty imaginative video that leaves very little to the imagination. We talked to DJay about the video, incorporating sexiness into music videos, and Brendon Uries workout routine.
Doug: Where did the concept for this video come from? Was this something the band asked for?
DJay: I got a call from the record label asking if I would be available in a few days to direct a music video for Panic!, and before really thinking through the fact I was best man in a wedding the days in between. After talking with the label about the concept I knew we would be able nail it. The idea came from Brendon originally, when thinking about what he wanted to do for the song, this was it.
Doug: How close is your version to the D'Angelo one? Have you watched them both side by side?
DJay: I mean, you could watch them side by side and the camera movement is spot on the same. Minus a lot of extra sweat and grease from the D'Angelo video. I spent a while watching the D'Angelo video and I timed out the camera moves to match the faster paced "Girls/Girls/Boys," but camera-wise it's shot for shot. Brendon obviously is a showman, and he really put his own spin on things, but overall we tried to nail it. I could not have done this without my director of photography Bryant Jansen, my 1st AC Adam Kirschhoffer, and Dolly Grip Fernando Morales - those camera moves were tough.
Doug: How many takes did you guys do and did you guys end up using the final take?
DJay: We did some variations to be sure we had options later, but as far as the "main shot" which you see here, it's the 2nd to last take. We knew we had nailed it when we watched playback, we were all screaming at how rad it looked. But, better safe than sorry, we did another take.
Doug: As far as you know did Brendon Urie do any physical training or preparation for this video?
DJay: Hahahahahaha. He is more fit than I, that's for sure. I think doing backflips off the drum riser every night is all the training he needed to do to get in shape.
Doug: The style of this video is a bit different than most of the work we're used to seeing from you. Is there a different approach to a video like this that focuses so much on sex appeal?
DJay: Hey there, I'd like to think I bring a lot of sex appeal to my videos. If not on camera, behind the camera at least. Sexuality is something I find very important in this world. A lot of people run and hide from it, and then you have people like Miley Cyrus who run as fast as they can towards it. I try to bring some sexuality to my work when it makes sense, and overall it's all sort of the same thing. As filmmakers our goal is always to convey an emotion if that is fear, or hope, or hate, or sex, the goal is always the same.
