In “Open” by Rhye, director Daniel Kragh-Jacobsen tells the story of a young couple going through a less than perfect portion of their relationship. Daniel is able to tell this story, not through dialogue, but through the subtle actions and exchanges between the actors. We talked to Daniel about the video, how it relates to he and Rhye's last collaboration, “The Fall,” and what he does as a director to pull these performances out of the actors. 

Doug: Do you consider the "Open" video to be a prequel to "The Fall"?

Daniel: I’m happy that you asked that question because it is definitely connected. It’s not intended to be mirror the couple from “The Fall.” From my perspective it’s actually more of a coincidence that this girl happens to be in the same area that this family is in. What I really liked about it is that we have this couple that we already know really well from a small film that we’ve seen - or at least some of the people have seen. We know how dysfunctional this family is but this girl doesn’t, she only sees the idyllic setting of their summer house and she sees that all of what she fears seem kind of nice to her and I liked that in several ways. I like it to be a mirroring of what she’s trying to run away from, and I liked it because it had a sort of double meaning to the audience that’s been following these Rhye videos. We know that they’re really dysfunctional, but this girl doesn’t see that. That was my motivation for doing that. What’s lovely is that there are so many people and so many comments on what people think is going on, and it’s been really fun to follow.

Doug: Was it important for you to make sure that the music video worked without them having that prior knowledge of the original one? Because it does seem like its reaching people who weren’t familiar with the first video.

Daniel: For me, it’s always most important that I know what I want to tell. This film was me basically trying to put into visuals the kind of torn, almost schizophrenic mindset you can have when you’re like a late twenties person - both becoming an adult and having responsibilities but also wanting to stay young and go out drinking with your friends. That’s the story I wanted to tell. I was trying to find a way to tell that, and that ended up being this couple that went to the summer house. But then all in the same time, I wanted to connect it to the first video. It is nice if they have seen the first one, but I guess it was a little bit cocky of me to just not really think about what would happen if people hadn’t seen the first one.

Doug: What about for the band and their input on everything, how did that work out?

Daniel: We’ve been really collaborative. Mike and Robin have been amazing. Their music means a lot to them personally and every song on this album has a certain story to it. It’s been a really interesting process to try to massage and mold the stories. First we did "The Fall" and now we’re doing this. It’s an interesting beast to tame to make everybody’s emotions fit together, but I feel like we’ve come out with something in the end that really worked for everybody.

Doug: What is the process like of when you’re them pitching the idea? What does your treatment look like and what kind of narrative elements do you tell them?

Daniel: It’s always just writing what I want them to imagine. Working with Rhye is an interesting process because one of the band members is one of my really good friends. We know each other and before we did "The Fall" video I had done two videos for him already. We know each other and I think he knows the way that I write. It’s interesting because sometimes you go back and you look at a treatment and you can see how every frame in the film was written on the page. In this case with "Open," it was more of finding the story in the editing. A lot of situations were shot and then we kind of molded the film in the editing room. I guess to answer your question, I write what I want them to picture and then I think the trick is, for every script and every treatment, is to write exactly what you want the band to imagine and to visualize. You have to be specific and find good references; the more specific the better.

Doug: When it comes to the casting of the video, what was that process like? The two actors seem to have a really unique chemistry.

Daniel: I live in Los Angeles right now because I study at a school called American Film Institute, but I am Danish. I grew up in Denmark and I moved to LA two years ago. In Denmark I used to be a casting assistant for a Danish caster. I used him as my caster on this, which was kind of weird to work with your old boss. He was great and he basically did all the casting between Christmas and New Years two months ago. I was still looking for the boy when I landed in Denmark. Then I basically called in some more people and I just found Jens, who’s the guy. I had already found Marta, who’s the girl. I guess this is how I work - if I really want to point my camera at somebody, I will. You get attracted to somebody and you really want to film them, then you know that maybe the chemistry will work with her and whoever I put with her, because I like her so somebody else will too. You’ve got to follow your gut and you’ve got to be like "What do I want to see? What do I want to portray?" Jens and Marta didn’t meet each other until we had the dress rehearsal. We drove up to the location together, and that was the first time they were together for longer than five minutes. We were all asleep in the car anyways because it was still so early in the morning. When we started shooting that was basically their first interactions.

Doug: Then when it comes to the actual shooting and getting these performances out of them, a lot of the video is told in the looks that they give each other and a lot of it is very subtle in that. What kind of direction are you giving the actors as they go through the performance?

Daniel: I think it’s very important for them to understand what they’re doing. It’s very important to be specific and tell them, "This is what your character is trying to GAIN in this scene." For both of them it was actually a challenge to work without dialogue because Jens is a theater actor who was just trained at the Danish National Theater School. I think you make it really clear what you want them to convey. It’s also about writing some scenarios that convey those emotions without dialogue. The scene with the finger gun When she shoots him, that was something I had right from the beginning when I started writing the story. It was a gentle sting between them. That was the line from the lyrics that I wanted to hit at that point. It’s like the playfulness but still something wrong. You’re never fully satisfied in the love relationship.

Doug: Was that a primary feeling that you're trying to get across throughout the video?

Daniel: Yes. I think conflict is always interesting to look at. It’s never interesting to just see blissfulness. It was always interesting to me to go to the points of the story where there would be some sort of conflict between them. I was trying to give them motivations where the boy wants to be very grown up and he’s unpacking and he’s making a fire, and she’s more scavenging and searching and playing. There’s a child’s bedroom and she dozes off in there. I guess it was always trying to get them in two different directions so they could clash.

Doug: The whole shoot seemed to be very freezing, and obviously there’s the scene where Marta in a bathing suit outside. How did you guys get that done. Was it particularly tortuous for her to be out there in a bathing suit?

Daniel: Yeah, it was tough. I told the actress before I casted her that I wanted to do the scene and I wanted to make sure that she was willing to do it. I think it’s very important to never do anything to other people, even for the sake of making a video or a film, that you wouldn’t do to yourself. The production was great and we were really planning it out. We had this tent with a heater inside and she would go in there between takes. Our costume woman, Lone, was amazing. She had a heat jacket right there. It’s just planning it. When you want to do something really fucked up on film you just have to plan it really well.

Doug Klinger is the co-founder/content director of IMVDb and watches more music videos than anyone on earth. You can find him on twitter at @doug_klinger.