"SHIA SUPRISE!" - Rob Cantor Q&A

 

You originally released this song back in 2012, after which it promptly went viral. Could you tell us a bit about the murky origins of the lyrics? Personal, cannibalistic-related experience perhaps? ;-)

Yes -- the story is 100% true, and it happened to me. That’s how I lost my leg. 

Were you at all expecting the huge reaction it had?

I was certainly hoping people would like it, considering how much work the video was to put together. But the joke is so absurd that I tempered my expectations – I wasn’t sure if it was all too weird to resonate. But, happily, the response has been better than I ever imagined. 

You’ve also recently created another viral YouTube success with your brilliant “29 Celebrity Impressions” song, you must be pretty pleased! What’s your crowd-pleasing trick?

Thanks! No secret – I just try to make funny and interesting music videos. I do tend to gravitate toward high-concept comedy things, and I think that helps. People seem more likely to share something that can be summed up in a sentence or two, as opposed to something ethereal or nuanced. 



Did you have this and your Shia song in mind when you were making your “Not A Trampoline” album, or were they more fun side projects?

I have a day job writing music in Los Angeles, and so I knew I wouldn’t be able to tour on my new album, “Not A Trampoline.” In light of that, I decided to put a lot of energy toward making music videos this year, in hopes of promoting the album that way. I was brainstorming what those videos might be while I was recording the album, and I started filming them as soon as the record was finished. 

On that note, do you consider yourself more of a singer/songwriter (as your website suggests) or a filmmaker?

I very much enjoy both. Prior to this year, I didn’t have much of a technical background in filmmaking, but working closely with my talented friends (Andrew Laurich, Randall Maxwell, Ben Ketai, & Scott Uhlfelder, to name a few) has been very educational. Hopefully I’ll keep getting better at both. 

Were you always hoping to make “Shia LaBeouf” into a music video?

Yes, I had originally conceived the thing as a video. At the time, I didn’t have the experience or resources to make it myself, so I just posted the song to SoundCloud. This year, in light of the success of the impressions video, I got the opportunity to make the Shia video I had always wanted, and so I went for it.  


We absolutely love how hilariously elaborate and theatrical this video is. Where did the concept for the combination of the choirs, quartet and dancing spring from?

I thought it would be funny to do an artful, high-brow stage performance juxtaposed with the absurd, violent lyrics of the song. It only made sense to push the grandiose staging as far as we possibly could. To be honest, if I had my druthers, there would have been 50 more singers in the GMCLA when the curtain rises. 

Was there anything more you wanted to include but couldn’t?

We managed to get about everything we were after. Sure, I would have loved more singers in the chorus, more Cirque-du-Soleil-style performers toward the end, and a more satiating confetti blast, but in general, I’m extremely happy with how it all came together. 

Were there any major setbacks or did it run smoothly?

There were many setbacks and pivots in pre-production. A whole ensemble dropped out about a week from the shoot date, which required some hasty rejiggering, but I’m glad to say that on the shoot day, everything went shockingly smoothly.  



Can you tell us a little about the pre-production process? What was it like coordinating and choreographing such a large number of people? 

Pre-production consisted of an inordinate amount of emailing and pitching. Tons of it. Each ensemble was a conquest unto itself, and I reached out to dozens of other groups and individual performers who turned me down along the way. It was also very tricky to coordinate parts and plans between all the different ensembles, considering they were never in the same room until the shoot. It was an organizational challenge, to be sure, not to mention the difficult task of keeping our artistic vision consistent throughout the months of prep. 

Did you work with a choreographer to develop the dance routine or did you already have an idea of how you wanted it to look?

I worked with an incredibly talented choreographer named Stacey Tookey and her assistant Bruce Weber. Stacey and I had several conversations about the tone – we were going for artful, fluid modern dance that reflects the lyrics but doesn’t interpret them literally. And most importantly, the choreography shouldn’t acknowledge the joke at all – it should take itself seriously, almost as if this were some Wagnerian tragedy. Stacey took that and ran with it. She and her team put the routine together in one day – what a talented group. In my opinion, Stacey’s choreography is what makes the whole video work. 



While we’re at it we have to ask – where did the paper heads come from??

At some point in the pre-production process, Scott and I came across this on reddit. We immediately thought it would be the perfect wardrobe for the male dancers (with Shia’s likeness, of course). I reached out to Eric Testroete (the artist responsible), and asked if he would have any interest in designing a Shia head, and he obliged! For more info on the assembly process, you can check out this post from my facebook page – it walks through the whole process. 

You even manage to squeeze in a brief cameo from the man himself. Can you tell us what it was like working with Shia LaBeouf and how you coerced him into it? 

He was extremely kind and gracious. As for coercion, almost none was required! I emailed him (through his manager’s email address, which I found online), and he responded two days later saying he was in. We’d had no prior contact, so I have to presume he just liked the idea and thought it would be a fun project. I’m extremely grateful he was a part of it – my favorite part of showing the video to anyone is watching their face as the camera slowly pans to reveal Shia. That moment never fails to elicit a yelp of disbelief.



Was the performance recorded in one take or was it all cleverly edited together afterwards?

We shot it in chunks and edited it together, like a normal music video. The moniker “Shia LaBeouf (Live)” is wholly inaccurate, but I needed someway to distinguish this new video from all the other Shia LaBeouf stuff on Youtube, and that seemed the most concise and appropriate way to do so. 

What’s next for you now? (Perhaps a cameo-ridden video to accompany your “29 Celebrity Impressions” video? Nudge-nudge wink-wink!) 

I’m always cooking up more music and video content for my YouTube channel.