Director's Cut features conversations with music video directors about their creations. The men and women behind the camera are often overlooked in today's YouTube era, so we aim to highlight their hard work here while showcasing the best videos currently linking around the Internet. A little behind-the-scenes dirt couldn't hurt, too.

Odd Future singer Frank Ocean's "Novacane" is an unlikely hit about feeling spiritually numbed by excess and normalization and drugs. The song's video, directed by 29-year-old Nabil Elderkin, replicates this disconnection as it shows Ocean in a spooky room while apparitions of girls and (um) pandas surround him. In it, Ocean looks appropriately zonked, his face warped by a vaseline-like gel and Elderkin's subtle effects. It's the type of comedown video that'll make you think twice about wanting to get so high in the first place.

Photographer and director Elderkin has helmed clips for Kanye West ("Welcome to Heartbreak", "Paranoid"), Nas and Damian Marley ("Patience"), Common ("The Game"), and more, his stark style marked by dark and rich cinematography. Raised in Australia, the currently L.A.-based director filmed "Novacane" in three hours at his producer's house in March, before the track started climbing up the Billboard charts. Watch all of his videos at his site, and check out "Novacane" and our Q&A with Elderkin below:

Frank Ocean: "Novacane" [Director: Nabil Elderkin]

Pitchfork: How did you originally come in contact with Frank?

Nabil Elderkin: I met him at John Legend's place about a year and a half ago, and he said he'd send me his music. The first song I heard was "Lovecrimes", and I thought it was different, fresh, and kind of creepy. I really liked it. He said, "['Novacane'] is the one we need to do. I don't really have any money right now, but let's make something." The budget was super-duper low, but I don't really care about budgets. As long as I'm not being rushed, it's all good. I thought it would be really cool to do something simple and trippy, like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but not so extreme.

Pitchfork: The video cuts off before the end of the song, was that a way to work around the budget?

NE: No, no. To me, videos don't always have to be the length of the song. I like the idea of people thinking, "What was that?" [laughs] The fun fact about that slap at the end is we did it about five times. It was about getting the angle right because you aren't supposed to see it coming. The first couple times, he'd do a little eye-twitch. That girl really slapped him hard. But he was cool about it-- he sucked it up.

Pitchfork: What about those images of tigers and pandas near the end of the video?

NE: This was Frank's exact note: "Can we put some kind of Asian-rain-forest stuff in there?" I basically scoured the Internet for footage I could chop up and put in. It works because it brings you outside the room and into his head.

Pitchfork: What's the deal with that gel he's rubbing on his face?

NE: It's supposed to be Topicaine, which is a topical Novocaine, but it wasn't actual Topicaine. [laughs] I'm not sure what it was, exactly. Frank was like, "I got this stuff." And I said, "As long as it's kind of wet and sticks to your face, it'll work." Pause.

Pitchfork: Have you ever had any sort of experience with numbness like that?

NE: Oh definitely. I had my wisdom teeth taken out when I was 17. I only remember about the first three minutes... but it was an awesome three minutes.