Todd Angkasuwan. The name probably doesn't ring a bell. Now think about these videos: Styles P. feat. Swizz Beatz "Blow Ya Mind", Sheek Louch "Good Love", Snoop Dogg "Staxxx In My Jeans" or most recently Soulja Boy Tell 'Em "2 Milli". Well the person behind these videos is one, Todd Angkasuwan. He recently hung out and answered a few questions for us.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR ART?

Todd: I would describe it as very much, like a lot of art, very free flowing... My process pretty much is I have an idea, I know what I want, I can see it in my head in kind of like an abstract way at first and I kind of see really clear images in my head. But a lot of times it all comes together in the post-production process. So I'll say that my art is multi-dimensional. It's just kind of an organic process that just occurs as it goes. As I'm working on it, it's still forming. So when I'm in editing or I'm doing visual effects, things will just come to me or I see something [and] something will spark. My art is very spontaneous.

YOUR VIDEOS AND YOUR VISION IS VERY UNIQUE. HOW DO SHY AWAY FROM HAVING THE SAME LOOK FROM VIDEO TO VIDEO?

Todd: It's just about feeding yourself with new information. We as people, not just artists but people, it's good to always grow and to expose yourself to new [and] different experiences. I think by doing that, that kind of feeds the brain and you have information stored in a mental bank that you can pull from every now and then. So that's what I do. I just try to inspire, just try to stay inspired by exposing myself to different things; not just art but things in general, life experiences and relationships with people. A lot of things in life I think we can be inspired from. How do I do that on a technical level? It's real difficult. I mean especially in this industry because sometimes you have clients that don't want something too different. They tell you they want something different but when you try to come with something different it's like, "Eh, I want something different but I do want the cars, the girls and the hoes." It's a constant struggle.

GIVEN YOUR LOVE FOR DIRECTING, HAVE YOU EVER BEEN OFFERED TO DIRECT A VIDEO THAT WAS NOT IN LINE WITH YOUR VISION? IF SO, HOW DID THAT WORK?

Todd: That has happened, many times. I think that happens to most directors. And I think some directors are better about shying away from that kind of stuff than others. With me it's a constant struggle because some projects are projects I would love to be 100 per cent... associated with, I feel, creatively and otherwise. Sometimes you gotta eat. You gotta do things almost as a job. Of course ideally you don't want to do that. You want to just continue to create your art and [at] the same time sustain yourself and family. I've been in those situations. I was living in Arizona for a little while. At that time I would reach out to different artists that I thought were talented and do videos for almost nothing. After that took off, other artists from around the area noticed. I don't personally listen to that type of music, not that it's bad or anything. The message they try to convey, I don't subscribe to those same images. They wanted a video and at the time I was like, "I need to pay rent". I just kind of did it and just looked at it as just a job rather than anything else. Everything else I just look at as an embodiment of my art.

WHAT WILL YOU BE DOING IN 2015?

Todd: Well [I] will be chilling with the family still. I'm definitely a family guy. I have a couple of kids, a wife and I'm very happy. To me that's first and foremost. I'll be doing something with them; we'll be chilling somewhere having fun. Career-wise I definitely see myself already doing feature films as my primary source of income.

JUST LET US KNOW WHEN YOU'RE IN THE TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL AND I WILL COME AND CHECK IT.

Todd: No doubt. You definitely got invitations. Toronto to me is like one of the pinnacles. To me the Toronto and Sundance [film festivals] to me are like the top two. If I can make it in Toronto, that would be crazy. I would love to screen there. That's definitely where my head is going. In fact, I'm getting the ball rolling on all that. But I'll still be doing videos because I love the short form, I love music, I love music videos and it's something that I will continue to do because I just love it. It's just one of those things where you can get in there real quick. The process from point A to point B is typically an average [of] two to three weeks from beginning to end. And it's a great way just to do fresh things and keep things fresh, try new ideas. So I think I'll be doing videos forever. The frequency of how often I do them may change but it's something I'll continue to do.

Words by. Shaun Bolden