'Pitch Perfect' Stars Explain The Art Of The 'Pitch Slap'

If you've seen any part of the "Pitch Perfect" marketing campaign, you're likely well aware of the phrase "get pitch slapped," thanks to its clever placement on the posters and billboards for the film.

But what exactly is a pitch slap? We know the movie revolves around an all-girl college a cappella group, therefore we can only guess that the phrase is a clever pun meant to advertise the fact that the singing in the movie is so good that you'll feel its power, like a slap to the face. Or not.

When MTV News caught up with Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow, Anna Camp and Skylar Astin, we asked them to clarify what it means to get "pitch slapped" and whether there are after or side effects.

"How do you pitch slap? With your voice, of course," Snow said.

"With your talent," Kendrick added.

"Yeah, not with any violence of any kind, just musically," Snow said.

"With as much violence as possible," Kendrick countered.

"All from your mouth," Snow joked.

Camp and Astin had a slightly different, less inappropriate-sounding take on the subject,

"I think you pitch slap by laying it down and telling someone what's up and to get in line," Camp said.

"I think it's that moment where Justin Timberlake just lays right into the pocket of the falsetto and girls just get, like, pitch slapped in the face," Astin said, which caused his co-star Camp to raise an eyebrow. "What? I was talking about vibrato! I don't know what you were talking about."

So in summary, getting pitch slapped is basically when someone sings at you and their performance blows your mind in a positive way. Clearly the term is up for creative interpretation. We then asked the cheeky cast if there are any side effects to getting pitch slapped.

"I feel like you feel way better about yourself because you're getting yourself out there musically," Snow said of being the pitch slapper, whereas Anna Kendrick said she got hives. "You get hives and I feel better about myself," Snow jokingly clarified. "That's how this happens."

"You never really get over being pitch slapped. It stays with you forever if it's strong enough," Camp said, referring to their co-star Rebel Wilson's powerful pipes and unforgettable song slinging.

"You're never going to get over that," Astin added.

Check out everything we've got on "Pitch Perfect."