The video "1234" for Canadian singer Leslie Feist is typical of Patrick Daughters' best work for a few reasons: there's a strong performance from a charismatic lead, there's some sort of technical challenge (that may or may not be a little self-indulgent) and everyone looks really great.

The concept behind "1234" was simple: Feist and a group of back-up dancers exuberantly execute a complicated dance routine in a single take.

"What that video does well is balance higher production value aesthetics with a pure, human ingenuity," says Daughters. "The camera work is pretty high end - not something you could do at home, but the rest of it feels homemade."

Daughters became a household name in music promos four years ago with the understated but powerful Yeah Yeah Yeahs video, "Maps". He'd met vocalist Karen O while studying film in New York, and when the hype surrounding her band's first record led to a deal with Interscope, Daughters, then 26, was asked to direct. He quickly found himself moving from the world of $2,000 short films to $100,000 music videos.

"I was a smoker at the time," he remembers. "I smoked three packs of cigarettes. I don't think ['Maps'] was that stressful, I just really wanted it to be good."

Now 31, he's since moved from RSA's Black Dog to The Directors Bureau and has nearly 20 clips in his videography, including work for Beck, Interpol and Bright Eyes. Not long after "1234" broke, Daughters inked a deal for UK spot rep with Blink Productions and shot for Clark's in Prague this summer. "1234" also crossed into the ad world, surfacing in a spot for Apple's latest video iPod. He's now just as likely to name drop Juan Cabral or Wieden+Kennedy as he is Liars - the Australian noise rock band, for whom he directed "Plaster Casts of Everything", an aggressively nightmarish video featuring naked, emaciated geriatrics.

With his first campaign for the UK in the can, he's finding his philosophy toward advertising isn't that different from his approach to videos. With dwindling album sales and budgets, the music video is less of a blatant promotional tool and more about pure entertainment. He rates Cabral's recent work for similar reasons.

"Sony 'Balls' and Cadbury 'Gorilla' are ads but the association with the product is tangential," he says. "What's advertised is the feeling you get from watching a good idea."

The Directors Bureau http://www.thedirectorsbureau.com
Blink Productions http://www.blinkprods.com