First Sight

Love at first sight is a very romantic concept, but what happens when that love has faded and it starts to wear you down? With lyrics by The Devil Wears Prada lead singer Mike Hranica, this song isn't about an interpersonal relationship, but about doing what he loves (making music) when it becomes a burden. In our interview with Hranica, he explained: "'First Sight' was the last song I wrote for 8:18, and it mostly just follows exhaustion and it follows being gone a lot. A lot of 8:18 felt like it was about being gone here and there. Just being tired, wanting to be back home again."

The video was directed by Maria Juranic, whose work includes "Boogie Man" by Grieves and "Optimist" by P.O.S. She told us about making the video: "It was a bit of a dance. TDWP didn't have much of a direction and I wrote initially a completely different treatment. Something dark and more 'typical' for metal music. But, they liked some of my other work I have done and wanted to further push the concept into a different direction. I dug deep into possibilities of transformation and used a DIY animation style to make it happen. I liked the idea of shape shifting and being part of everything, going down an Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole, where you explore the impossible. A man stuck in an office and all he has is his mind to escape, like Alice really, and so a journey begins. I should also say that I am hugely influenced in my earlier career by the Quay brothers, Jiri Trnka and Jan Svankmajer and a few others. I worked on the video for a whole month, due to limited budget and resources, mainly shot for two days in a haunted house and the rest was a mockup animation set in my apartment in Brooklyn, piece by piece. There were some scenes that were cut due to time and limitations."