‘My parents found it hilarious’: Behind the scenes of THAT kissing video

This week, UBTV published their own version of the famous “First Kiss” video, which gathered almost 100 million views on Youtube. You’ve probably seen it by now.

The video has made headlines around the world, as well as appearing on The Daily Mail and The Mirror’s websites, giving each unsuspecting kisser their fifteen minutes of fame.

UBTV’s Gemma Wilson was the brains behind the video

Producer Gemma Wilson came up with the idea for the video, and sat down with The Tab to shed light on how it all went down on the steamy set.

“I loved the original video, though there was a lot of controversy about whether it was genuine or featured actors. I thought the idea would work well with students and would appeal to a different market. Our video is meant to be an adaptation rather than a parody.

“It’s interesting because obviously everyone gets with people when they’re out, but this was getting people out of their comfort zones.

Where the magic happened

“The aim was to make a video that was thought-provoking, and the reaction has been great. The amount of views and shares has been crazy.

“I wanted to make it artistic and romantic, hence the music and the black and white colour scheme.

“The pairings were designed to be as random as possible. I took people I knew from different social circles and put them together. None of them had ever met each other before so I thought it might be a bit awkward when they suddenly met and had to kiss.

No holding back

“They were all pretty nervous and it was tough to convince some of the girls, but we enticed them with donuts.

“I got the boys on one side and the girls on the other, and told them to say their names. After that, they all had their own unique way of doing it. Some told jokes to break the ice, others just went for it.

“Everyone kissed for ages, like a good minute. It was uncomfortable watching the first few couples as they were kissing really loudly and the set was completely silent, but after a few it became lovely to watch. It was so cute when we watched them back.

None of the kissers had met each other before

“Once they were done, we had to make some of the couples leave as we didn’t want them watching any of the other kisses and they were hanging around.

“I suppose it was a bizarre atmosphere, they must have found the whole thing intriguing. It’s exhilarating: how often do you get to walk up to a complete stranger and kiss them?

“Kissing is a really natural thing but it was a really manufactured environment. Nobody found it too uncomfortable though, and some of them have actually been on dates since so we’ll have to monitor how that goes.”

The Tab approached several of the kissers but many were reluctant to comment, only telling us that they hadn’t expected the video to get this big.

One did, however, volunteer to tell us about her experience. Imogen, a 2nd year French and German student, revealed all in a true kiss and tell.

Imogen and her partner in a nervous post-kiss moment

“Gemma asked me to do it, and I agreed, though that was without really contemplating I’d actually have to go through with it.

“The video wasn’t staged in any way, my partner really was a complete stranger. I normally hate PDA so I can’t believe I agreed to do it, but it was actually fine.

People who have recognised me from the video have found it jokes. My parents saw it too and found it hilarious.”