Francis and the Lights’ “Friends” Video Director Talks Kanye, Bon Iver, Dance Moves

Yesterday, Francis and the Lights released the music video for a new song, “Friends,” featuring Bon Iver and Kanye West. The video’s director, Jake Schreier, has helmed feature films (Paper Towns, Robot & Frank) in addition to music videos for Donnie Trumpet and the Social Experiment and My Morning Jacket. Schreier spoke with Pitchfork yesterday evening about the making of the minimal, single-take “Friends” video. “The thing with our videos is you get to see exactly what it is and what happened,” he explained. “It’s a moment in time.”

Pitchfork: How did the “Friends” video come about?

Jake Schreier: Francis and I have known each other since we were kids, and we’ve been making single-take, minimalist performance videos since 2008. We just wanted to do the next iteration of what we had been doing before. We had never done a synchronized dance in a video or really had other protagonists in the video, so that’s what we wanted to add to this one.

What’s the story behind Kanye West’s involvement?

He heard the song and he liked it. The video’s called “Friends,” and it’s about friends. He and Justin are friends, and me and Francis are friends, and Justin and Francis are friends. It just felt right.

Did Kanye spend much time on set?

He was great. He was there as long as we needed him to be. He just wanted it to be good and had some good ideas to improve it. Having signed an NDA, I can’t say anything more than that.

How about Justin Vernon?

When we make these videos, it’s a completely collaborative experience between Francis and I. He’s an equal creative partner in the video. So a lot of the relationships and what’s in there came from him as much as from me. Justin and that relationship was something that very much came from him.

What can you tell us about the choreography?

Francis had never choreographed for someone else before. I was helpful in that regard. We felt that if he could teach me a dance move, then pretty much anyone else could learn it. That was the process: figuring out moves than he liked and seeing how they translated when taught to someone else.

Was there a concept behind the wardrobe?

We thought very carefully about it. Our thinking was that each person in the video should wear their own clothes and it should feel like themselves. That was really the only concept [for] wardrobe. And each of them did.

How many takes did you need to get this right?

We didn’t shoot for very long—we wrapped early. Technically, it’s take 11, but there were some false starts so it’s probably like the seventh time. That was the one, and we kind of knew it when it happened.

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