Neon Indian, 'Sleep Paralysist' -- Video Premiere

Posted on Jun 3rd 2010 10:30AM by Benjy Eisen
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If you want to know what's going on in this visually stimulating video for Neon Indian's 'Sleep Paralysist,' check out the behind-the-scenes documentary that Spinner premiered earlier this week. As director Ben Chappell says in that clip, the murky plot is loosely based around Neon Indian mastermind Alan Palomo becoming "a tourist in this big hallucinatory land, so he passes through all these different crazy scenarios." Knowing that in advance helps them seem, well, less crazy, but the video is still kind of insane.

Filmed at various locations in Lexington, Ky., the shoot was like a grown-up version of a field trip for the cast and crew. The video's centerpiece set is the experimental Miller House, a sort of cross between a model house and an art installation. But there were other adventures too.

Before the cast and crew began filming, they went out to lunch as an icebreaker. "We met at this little diner that I guess is commonly known by all the Lexington locals, and they serve you this ridiculous sandwich called the Hot Brown," Palomo tells Spinner. "It's like a slab of bread with, I think, shaved turkey or something and they pour gravy all over it."

But, just like the video, the highlight of Palomo's trip to Lexington was the Miller House itself. "It's one of those things were you sit around at lunch and everybody riles each other up with ghost stories about this place and, the next thing you know, you're there, shooting the video, out in the woods," says Palomo. "It added these slightly eerie qualities that really kind of kept you on your toes. Everybody would go upstairs to change a lens or grab a couple light gels or something and, the next thing you know, you're stuck in this basement by yourself with a bunch of broken plates around you."

Sounds kinda crazy? Almost dreamlike? That's half the point. Watch the video below.

'Sleep Paralysist (Making of the Video)'