Rock documentaries are best when the cameras start rolling before the spark lights the fire. Even then, there's the risk of unoriginality and rock 'n' roll clichés. Because it promises to fulfill all of these requirements, we have high hopes for 'A Skin, A Night,' a new DVD featuring the National, due on shelves on May 20. Filmed by Vincent Moon, the hour-long portrait goes into the studio with the band during sessions for last year's breakthrough album, 'The Boxer.' Rather than focus on the making of that album, the film aims to focus more on the making of music -- the creation of art -- at large, while being a piece of theatrical art in and of itself.

"The National is the first band I've been really close to," Moon, met the band early on in their career, tells Spinner. "We became friends pretty quickly and that's how I started -- to make moving images, to create something else with a band, towards an intimate relationship."

Like smart salesmen, the National will bundle the DVD with 'The Virginia EP,' a collection of rarities, B-sides and live tracks. Despite being called an EP, the release will feature 12 full tracks.