Miley Cyrus is no stranger to heavily covered live performances. Recently, the buzz surrounding her live performance at the 2013 American Music Awards was a bit different as the focus of the coverage was more on the stage visual than the performance itself. This visual, co-directed by Diane Martel and BRTHR (Alex Lee and Kyle Wightman), features a giant cat in outer space, lip-syncing the lyrics along with Miley. It has been talked about and parodied on basically every news and late night show on television, and was easily the highlight of the AMAs. We were curious how the process of directing a stage visual compared to directing a music video, so we talked to BRTHR about how this project worked out.

Doug: What was the process of co-directing the video with Diane Martel? I know you guys have been in LA for a while, did you work with Diane in person? Whose idea was it to have a giant crying cat in the first place?

BRTHR: It was pretty much all through phone calls and e-mails, actually! Diane briefly came to New York (where we live) for the initial pow wow and we took it from there. We exchanged ideas back and forth and all came up with the kitty lost in space idea. The kitty, though, was always in the picture as Diane was like, "Miley is obsessed with this image of a cat and we need to do something with it."

Doug: How did this project compare to what you're used to dealing with on standard music videos? In terms of budget, time, and artist/label involvement? Did things still go through a music video production company?

BRTHR: This project was done directly through Diane, and it all started from a direct message on twitter, weirdly. It didn't feel like we were dealing with a label at all and the budget was more than decent. We also had a fair amount of time to get everything together, but it was hard to forget that it wasn't a music video. We often found ourselves stressing out when we thought of it as a music video, so there were a lot of moments when we were just like, "I think we need to chill - this is a stage visual." That was different for sure. It's just a whole new mind set.

Jimmy Fallon, Rashida Jones, and Carrie Underwood parody the performance visuals

Doug: This performance has been heavily talked on the internet and TV since the AMAs. Have you guys personally felt any of that? Music video directors don't get a ton of credit, but at least some places mention them. How does the coverage a music video director receives compare to the coverage you guys have received for this project?

BRTHR: It's insane how much coverage this cat has been getting! We are surprised. It's crazy because it was on the Letterman Show and even the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon - but you're right, it's not like people credit the directors at all, which we are cool with and even expected. Yahoo Music recently interviewed us about it and that was interesting because we didn't think something like that would happen at all. All in all, music video directors get a lot more credit for videos than stage visuals.

Doug: Do you guys compartmentalize the projects you work on? Are music videos your focus, or are you just as open to taking on projects like this that are a little bit different?

BRTHR: We are definitely most passionate about music videos and want to continue this for a while. We don't know when we will do a stage visual next. This was just something we thought would be fun, and since Diane is a good friend, we thought it'd be a great opportunity to work together. Plus, Miley is so controversial and we definitely wanted to play a part in doing something interesting with her. Hell, we'd love to do a video for her, even. She's down for some crazy ideas it seems, which is so much fun for directors.

Doug: Now that you guys have worked on a hugely popular project for Miley, are you guys like famous now? Have you gone to any parities with Wiz Kahlifa or anything like that?

BRTHR: Hahaha love that you actually asked this. No we are not famous, but we were totally lurking at Miley's B-day party after the AMAs. Think it was the most surreal party we've ever been to. It was at this crazy venue called Beacher's Madhouse.

At one point, they were playing the theme to Titanic while a midget clamped up to a rail glided across the ceiling. It was really funny when this guy accidentally kicked one of the One Direction dudes' head as he glided by. In addition to half of 1D being there, there were some other familiar faces like, Wiz Khalifa, Emma Roberts, Tyler the Creator, Kesha, etc, all the while there were some crazy performances that went on as well. Let's just say professional twerking isn't a joke, man. It was our first time in LA and we have to say we witnessed some hilariously messed up shit. Thank you, Diane.

A photo of Miley's party from Wiz Kahlifa's Instagram, with Alex in his camo jacket creeping in the back

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.