The brilliant video for Diplo’s Set It Off by Ryan Staake of Pomp & Clout features the ‘infinite pole dance’ – that’s some awesomely adept pole dancers on one continuous pole that reaches into the sky, and beyond. It’s more than just sexy – it’s a beautiful thing. You will believe that there’s pole dancing in space…

Ryan got the idea for the video having previously shot pole dancers and “really liked the hypnotic movement of the body, especially while harshly backlit.” When he experimented with stacking test clips of the dancers the idea of creating a continuous row of pole dancers to match the music was born. Then he made best use of the fact that the pole dancers convention was coming to Los Angeles…

It was filmed at the Automobile Driving Museum in LA, on the RED, and then Ryan spent weeks in After Effects seaming all the pole dancing footage together on one very long pole, and adding more visual effects. And before you watch it, you can check out the dancing girls on the beautiful interactive gif site www.set-it-off.com.

“The concept was really to create a linear, constantly scrolling visual that mimicked the track’s constantly-plowing-forward energy,” says Ryan. And after coming up with the basic concept, he states “from there it was an exploration of what else might float or fly by pole dancers on an infinitely tall pole… balloons, birds, planes, it was only logical they’d have to end up in space.

“Our shooting date happened to coincide with a pole dance convention in LA, so it was a no brainer to shoot there. We cast dancers from AERA (a NYC based aerial/pole dance foundation that was in LA for the convention) well ahead of time, and then actually had the freedom to go to one of the bigger pole events the night before our shoot date, and cast additional dancers.

“I was sitting there with one of my producers, Robert McHugh, in this pole event, watching amazing dancer after dancer, ticking check marks next to their names on the pamphlet, then approaching them afterwards with the innately creepy “do you want to be in my pole dance music video?” Luckily, they were all very cool/open to it and took a look at a quick test shot I’d put on my iPhone, and decided to join up.

“Ultimately we had a great crew of dancers, all incredibly talented with a unique quality to their dance. On our shooting date, we built a 20 foot tall rig with AERA to anchor the pole firmly to the ground, which actually compressed it vertically a bit too much, hindering it from spinning as needed.

“As a result, we had a PA at the bottom of the pole at all times, laying on their back, turning the pole based on the current dancer’s verbal commands of “faster” or “slower”. Not a bad PA gig!

“My DP, Aaron Grasso and his AC Gille Klabin, shot at 5K, 100fps on the RED Epic, which was critical in offering me as much freedom as possible in my nearly two month AfterEffects marathon, seaming the pole, adding in additional visual effects, rendering…

“I hope everyone enjoys it, I mean who doesn’t likes pole dancers in space?”

Diplo
Set It Off (Mad Decent)
Director: Ryan Staake
Interactive Version: www.set-it-off.com
Dancers: Marlo, Mina, Nadia, Reiko, Michelle, Kyra, Autumn, Danielle & Crystal
Production Companies: Pomp&Clout and Pier Pictures
Co-producers: T.S. Pfeffer, Robert McHugh & Ryan Staake
Director of Photography: Aaron Grasso
Assistant Director: Robert McHugh
Assistant Camera: Gille Klabin
Concept & Visual Effects: Ryan Staake
Makeup: Christina Rodriguez & Rana Akhavan
Gaffer: Rudie Schaefer
Key Grip: Jamin Mandel
Additional Footage: Peter Corina
Associate Producers: Kyle McBeth, Kyra Johannesen, Jen James & Liz Kinnmark
Production Assistants: Ian Kaye & Michael Onak
Quality Assurance: Leslie Ruckman
Thanks to the AERA Dance Foundation (aeradance.org) & The Automobile Driving Museum (automobiledrivingmuseum.org)
Shot in Los Angeles on the RED Epic
UK rep: Trunk Animation