Sometimes, its a challenge to find the meaning of a music video. It takes several viewing and maybe even some deep discussion with a friend to figure it all out. Other times, there are videos like Asphyxiation by Autoerotique, directed by Amos LeBlanc, where you get it right away, and you love it right away, and you still watch it several times because reasons. We talked to Amos a bit about the video, the casting process, and making dodgeball sexy. (Photos by Becca Lemire)
Doug: Where did the original idea for this video come from? I didn't think it was possible to make dodgeball seem so sexy.
Amos: It was the very first thing that came to mind when hearing the song. Happy to shed light on the potential of dodgeballs sex appeal [with this video].
Doug: What was Autoerotique's involvement in the project?
Amos: Once on board with the concept. they were very respective of my role as a director and asked few questions.
Doug: What was the casting process like? Not only was the entire cast incurably attractive, they were also quite acrobatic.
Amos: There were a total of 6 casting sessions. We exhausted the city (Toronto) of all its casting resources. Modeling agencies, cheerleaders, dance studios, off the street we had people cold calling us for auditions Hi, we heard about the Autoérotique casting It was difficult to cast for the variety of attributes needed from the girls. The typical session would consist of throwing a ball, improv acting, bum shaking and if acrobatic backflips, aerials etc. For whatever reason some people felt the need to show me that they have a 5 minute ballet routine, can stand on their head, do the worm, scream at the top of their lungs while throwing a ball I had difficulty keeping a straight face.
Doug: What would you say the main objective is for this video? Is it to be sexy? To be funny?
Amos: To have fun.
Doug: Did you have the video totally shot listed out, or at a point was it just you filming a bunch of sexy people playing dodgeball?
Amos: Everything was in a shot list. At the same time it will always benefit a video to embrace and capture what is happening organically on set.
Doug: How has this video been received, and how does it compare to how to thought people would react to it?
Amos: It is acclaimed for being "NSFW." It was always intended to be an unapologetically provocative project, but with the exception of the very first shot its pretty tame.
For an even closer look at the shoot, check out the behind the scenes video:
