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Neverending White Lights, the brainchild of Windsor native Daniel Victor, has a new video for The World Is Darker, the second single from Act 2: The Blood And The Life Eternal. This time ’round the collaborator he’s chosen to lend the voice to his song is Melissa Auf der Mar of Hole and The Smashing Pumpkins fame.

We had the chance to chat with Daniel about the making of the new video and what it was like working with RT! and Melissa Auf der Mar!

Watch The Video: The World Is Darker

This is your fifth video with RT!. Have you ever considered working with someone else, or does he just know you so well now that it’s a no-brainer?

I have considered looking into other directors, but the thing with RT! is that he’s open to other artists’ input. I have a lot of visual ideas and concepts for my songs, and most directors tend to want more control on their vision and direction, with little input from the artist. With RT!, we’re able to brainstorm together and build each video up from beginning to end. I’m comfortable with him, and he really established his talent for these conceptual videos when he first directed The Grace (watch it). From there, it just all made sense to keep going. And I think we’ve really done some groundbreaking work.

What’s the process for laying out a video’s story when you work together?

We usually have these conversations where we’ll talk for hours about different ideas. Anything goes in these sessions. For instance, on the World Is Darker video I had this weird vision of a girl hanging or floating in mid air while her toenails were being painted. Seemed far-fetched at first, but we made it happen in the video and it looks spectacular. We’ll go back and forth with a million ideas, feeding off each other’s energy until we have a general direction. It’s a lot of fun to work on videos that way. Once we’ve got something mapped out, he and his film company (235 Films) take it to the next level.

Can you talk a bit about videoshoot itself?

This was the first video we shot on a sound stage. Usually we go to different locations (church, house basement, mansion, etc). There was more control over the elements at this place, and they decorated it to the nines. The shoot itself was the first one I’ve done with that many extras in the video. There were nearly 30. Most were NWL fans that were recruited online. The costumes and makeup were really elaborate. It was an extremely long day. I began shooting around 7am, and didn’t walk out until 3am. My scenes were really easy to shoot, but the dance sequences with the extras took some extra coordination. The girl who plays the ‘innocent girl’ in the video did a wonderful job too, she’s a talented actress. And Auf der Maur knew exactly what she was doing, so all her scenes turned out perfect.

Which do you prefer - being the star of your videos, or letting the collaborators and/or actors take centre stage?

I’ve been the main focus in all my videos, but I’ve featured guest cameos in each one by other artists (i.e Emm Gryner, Esthero, Tara Slone, Magneta Lane, Auf der Maur). This is the first video where I’m not entirely the main focus; I share it with Melissa. In fact, she’s more the focus than I am this time, which is a good change. But usually, I think because I put so much heart into my albums, it only makes sense I bring them to life visually as well by being a major part of them.

How did you decide on Melissa’s different “looks” in the video?

We were all able to collaborate on the style of the characters in the video as a team. Melissa and I talked about what types of costumes and makeup we wanted to go for. We sent pictures back and fourth and kept the director and stylists in on the loop. We were all on the exact same page from day one, so it was easy to sync ideas. We wanted her to be the Madam of the house co-hosting a masquerade secret society party. And that’s exactly what she looks like!

You work with a lot of collaborators - how did you connect with Melissa Auf der Mar and what made you choose her for this particular song?

First off, I’ve been a fan of her past projects, namely when she played bass in the groundbreaking band Hole, not to mention The Smashing Pumpkins. I had heard her solo stuff years ago and thought it was great as well. Her voice is strong and it really draws you in. On my last album, I was looking to incorporate more female singers, as in the past all my collaborations were with male artists. She was on my list of interesting voices to approach, and I found her. Once we talked about what NWL was about, she was interested and I began writing the perfect song for her. The rest is history!

Links:
Official Site: Neverending White Lights
MySpace: Neverending White Lights
Production Company: 235 Films

Posted on Thursday, March 6th, 2008 at 5:21 pm by Soja and is filed under Music & Videos.

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