While it is unfair to put a single music video under such scrutiny, Heard 'Em Say is noteworthy for being a rare commission for Michel: it is for a popular, and somewhat controversial, hip-hop artist. In Michel's catalog, Kanye West is second only to Kylie Minogue in worldwide popularity, and is one of the most influential artists/producers in hip-hop today.
Michel has also longed to establish himself as a hip-hop video director, to no avail. While he has since done a wonderful soul video, outside of the Block Party brethren it is questionable whether Heard 'Em Say will lead him to further hip-hop commissions, primarily because Gondry's vision seems entirely outside the current culture of rap videos, and those who commission them.
Which brings us to Heard 'Em Say. It seems obvious in hindsight, but wasn't Michel, purveyor of childlike magic, destined to make a Christmas video? Heard 'Em Say casts Kanye as a Bob Cratchit-style poor man, with 3 kids who live in a cardboard box under a bridge. In a reference to Miracle on 34th Street, they venture in the middle of the night to Macy's flagship store at Herald Square in New York City, where Adam Levine of Maroon 5, a security guard, lets them in to the magical Christmas wonderland.
Once inside, the kids run about with glee under Kanye's lead. At this point the video loses a bit of its plotline and becomes a series of department store sequences, some of them magical. A bed becomes a car; chairs and TVs animate; a toy racetrack twists and turns itself through the store. In my favorite sequence, the two boys race around in invisible cars. Meanwhile, producer Jon Brion (Eternal Sunshine, Kanye) cameos with a score of toy pianos and a colorific shirt. You may also notice that throughout the video there is a slight, ongoing color shift that imbues the film, referencing the Technicolor treatment of early Hollywood films.
Alas, with all of these inspiring elements, the video doesn't come together entirely. There is an odd disconnect between the classic, dare I say white-bred Christmas magic of those early films, Gondry's inimitable visual style, and the modern, hip-hop sensibility of Kanye and his kids. The song itself exemplifies this tension: it is soulful and sprightly, yet it is backed by a thumping beat, and led by Kanye's resonant baritone. It's a great yet complicated track to turn into a music video, let alone a video directed by Michel Gondry.
After its completion, Kanye admitted defeat, and chose to have a second version of the video made in a week, this time by legendary animator Bill Plympton, which itself wasn't entirely successful as a music video. (See it here: Windows hi - Windows lo - Real hi - Real lo) "The thing is, it's not like I didn't try hard as hell on the ''Heard 'Em Say'' videos," Kanye said in Entertainment Weekly. "I've got a bunch of ''Damn, we should have tried this'' regrets. It's the one thing in 2005 that I feel like I really failed at."
Despite its incohesiveness, Michel's video does have a certain messy charm to it. His playfulness comes through in certain sequences, and Adam Levine hams it up quite well.
The video cost a reported $500,000 to make. It premiered on 9 December 2005 on MTV's Making the Video. You can see photos from the shoot at MTV News. Previously, Michel played drums on Kanye's track Diamonds, also off his new album Late Registration.
A Cartoon Brew reader suggested that Heard 'Em Say may be an homage to or rip-off of Mike Jittlov's short animated film Swing Shift. (An excerpt of which is in his showreel, about 1/3 of the way in.) Our source tells Director File that Michel actually hadn't seen Swing Shift before making Heard 'Em Say.
Treatment
A department store at night. Except for the safety signs, all the lights are off. The security guard (Adam Levine) is doing his tour; he is sleepy. We follow him. He leads us through the main entrance which opens to the street. Outside it's dark and freezing cold. Adam is waiting for somebody who isn't there. Nervous, he looks at his watch. Soon after, in the distance, we see a family of homeless people; they rapidly approach. Discretely, Adam lets them in. Inside we recognize Kanye - he is the father. He is with three kids: a little girl and two boys. The mother is not with them. Adam hugs both the children and Kanye and then returns to his control room from where we can follow the little family.
It is [as] if they are at home. Kanye changes his clothes and picks a nice outfit in the men's section. The boys run into the toy section and magic starts to happen. They open a box of race cars and the tracks build themselves into the biggest racing track you could possibly imagine. It builds itself so fast that the cars go full speed without ever returning to the beginning of the track. Things start to animate everywhere. The effect is done in pixilation [sic]. This in-camera technique consists of moving objects frame by frame. The result will be very filmic like in Mary Poppins.
All the televisions move together to create a giant screen. The chairs move as well and form a theatre. Curtains rise up and cover the television wall. All the video cameras line up behind the TVs. The curtain opens and, behind the TVs Kanye re-enacts scenes of famous movies. His image is projected on the wall of televisions. His children enjoy the show.
In the musical toys section, a mysterious magical man (Jon Brion) plays a mini-piano. 50 identical mini white pianos animate around him and create geometrical patterns. The kids drive beds around like cars in between the aisles. They jump from table to table as the table[s] are moving in shapes. They ride bicycles down the up-escalators, so they remain at the same spot, all shaking. The lamps dance around the little girl, following her around like tray of light. All the clothes form imaginary animated people on the floor. Sofa beds unfold and refold themselves on beat.
But all the best things always come to an end and they have to go to bed. They pick 4 beds next to each other and Kanye puts them to sleep. As soon that he goes to his own bed, the three kids rush into Kanye's bed to sleep with daddy. Kanye pulls a framed picture of his wife and places it on the side table. The camera pulls back and elevates (yes, Kanye: The crane shot!!!) all around them, it's total chaos.
But wait a second, the video is not finished yet. Jon Brion, much like Mary Poppins, cleans the whole mess in a second. All the objects magically return to their initial position. Jon vanishes. Adam has fallen asleep in the control room. The morning comes and customers are running their errands everywhere. Discretely, Kanye and his kids get up, make the bed perfectly and leave. Everything is back to normal.
The End.
Michel Gondry
