Depeche Mode "Wrong"

To accompany the release of the first single off Depeche Mode's new album, Sounds of The Universe, The Directors Bureau's Patrick Daughters created a bleak and gripping piece of nihilism. "Wrong" opens on a masked man inexplicably tied down in a car that reverses through a darkened cityscape before inevitably reaching a chilling, fatal crescendo. Daughters took time off to share the inspiration, some insights and, exclusively for Boards, the storyboards behind this noirish stunner.

What's the idea behind Depeche Mode "Wrong"?

The idea is to play with the audience's reaction by strategically rolling out the details of the story.

Were you inspired by anything coming up with this?

David Fincher's The Game. Radiohead's "Karma Police" video [directed by Jonathan Glazer] - probably my favorite video growing up.

What was Depeche Mode's input into this whole process?

They were very supportive and courteous. We talked about the pacing and how musical the edit would or wouldn't be. And of course we went over how they would appear in the video.

Did you have the idea fully formed or did it evolve? If so, how and why?

After the first night of shooting, it needed to become more about the plight of the man in the car. When we did a pickup day, the coverage was focused more on tracking his reaction.

Creatively and technically what were the biggest challenges on this?

Trying to do six car stunts in a single night in downtown LA was... you might say challenging. You might also say blindly ambitious, bordering on absurd.

What are your primary considerations when you storyboard something like this?

The way the camera's position affects one's reaction to watching it. That and, in this case, how the hell to shoot it in one night.

What should we know about this that no-one else but the crew or you does?

A key scene, where the man crashes through the rear windshield and tumbles down the hood of the car and into the street, was incomplete after the first shoot. We only had the crash into the rear windshield. We couldn't afford another stunt man on the pick up day so a friend (Spike Jonze) did the second half, rolling off the roof onto the hood and into the street while the car was moving. He's a really good stunt man. If the directing thing doesn't work out, he could have a fallback career there.

It's surprisingly narrative led as a piece: whatever happened to the narrative music video?

People want to see a band. And typically a band can't act. Usually a band can't do much more than play. So you often end up with a band playing the song intercut with a narrative, which nine times out of 10 equals bad. Plus, it's pretty hard to shoot a three to four minute film on a music video budget. And I say that coming off this shoot with a budget that is, by today's standards, relatively ample.

Check out Daughter's storyboards for the video below: