FEATURE: beabadoobee – Ever Seen (Dir. Jake Erland)
When love is at its highest, the world becomes a place for just two people. A place to exchange glances and tender words, to stare into each other’s eyes as time pasts around you. By the release of her third album, it’s no surprise that beabadoobee can capture this feeling perfectly. Her dreamy chords and melodic strings are well practiced, soundtracking the (Filipino-born) English singer as she travels around Japan in her recent music video for Ever Seen.
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- behind the scenes
Directed alongside her creative collaborator and boyfriend Jake Erland, with the support of Japan based production company Mr+Positive, the video is a portrait of fresh giddy love. It personifies a joy and playfulness which was only possible through the collaboration of Jake and Bea. Having previously joined forces for two other music videos – Glue Song and The Way Things Go – Ever Seen shares a sense of artistic understanding that drives the clip’s themes, tone and style. The video’s executive producer, Peter Grasse, provides some insight into the beauty of this relationship:
“Jake and Bea already had certain performances planned out before coming out to Japan. The music video is very intimate because Jake and Bea are dating, and Jake is very supportive, while Bea is very comfortable being filmed by Jake.”
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- behind the scenes
Written on the road while supporting Taylor Swift, it seems fitting that the music video for Ever Seen feels reminiscent of a travel video. Always in motion, we follow Bea through the busy streets and lush greenery of Japan. Whether you have been to Japan or not, there is a familiarity in the footage captured. Convenience stores and Cat Cafes, Shibuya chaos and Nara Deer; it’s imagery that wouldn’t be out of place on a tourist’s camera role. It feels like a love letter to Tokyo and beyond, one of whimsical, childlike wonder. The team at Mr+Positive assisted in finding the locations for the video, hoping to inspire Bea and Jack once they arrived in Japan. The initial plan had been to set the video exclusively in Tokyo, however, this quickly evolved once they started shooting.
“While we had locations ready before Jake and Bea came to Japan, it was really about going to different places with them and seeing what they liked and what inspired them. After that, it was about digging into our list of cool locations we’ve wanted to shoot in but haven’t yet had the chance to. We also didn’t initially plan to go to Kyoto and Nara in west Japan, but the shoot was around Bea’s birthday, and she wanted to go to Kyoto, so we went along with her and Jake to get some extra good footage. Tokyo is obviously great, but there’s so much more to Japan than just Tokyo and getting some footage in these areas really made the video impressionable.”
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- behind the scenes
Shot on a Canon Scoopic with 500T and 250D film stock, the footage is brimming with dreamlike nostalgia. Both film stocks are known for their excellent exposure latitude, and it’s a choice that worked well for the clip’s loosely planned shot list and multiple locations. The use of 16mm film perfectly complements the song’s exploration of love. The stocks’ natural graininess and warmth provides a break from reality, lending itself to the feeling of how incomprehensible life can be when so high on your own feelings. And this is only elevated with Jake behind the camera, as we get to witness Bea singing to her love, while we reflect on the joys of our own. Without this level of intimacy, it’s hard to say if the video would have been possible. Peter acknowledges this:
“A lot of it was on the fly. Accessibility is something we obviously need to consider but since our crew was very small, it was easy to be nimble. The exception of course being the ending scene where Bea is in the air above a busy shopping street.”
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- behind the scenes
Working with the song’s bridge, the ending scene is a distinctive break from the consistent video’s montage style. It allows us to pause, breathe, and exhale, as we watch Bea float above a busy city street. It’s a surrendering, a letting go, the very act of will required to fall fully into love. The shot was achieved through Bea standing on a camera crane as she was slowly hoisted up into the air above a Tokyo street. However, parking a crane in one of the busiest cities in the world enviably had its challenges.
“The biggest challenge was finding a busy, well-lit shopping street in Tokyo that would let us park a massive crane in it and shoot our big ending. As you can imagine, permitting this was quite the process. This was overcome by doing lots of scouting and talking to many, many locations. Our location manager is also very experienced and really helped us a lot in getting the location in the video permitted.”
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- behind the scenes
Even Seen is the third single from beabadoobee’s new album This is How Tomorrow Moves, which has now reached number 1 in the UK. The dreaminess of the song’s accompanying music video feels like the perfect summary this next chapter for beabadoobee, one of vulnerability, playfulness, and exploration. Both are a celebration of collaboration, creativity, and of course, love.
Here is the official video for “Ever Seen“
Music Video Credits
Director: Jake Erland. Producer: Rowan Mackintosh King. Production Company: Park Pictures. Executive Producer: Shelley Jones. Label: Dirty Hit. Commissioner: Jon Moore. Styling & Creative Direction: Patricia Villirillo. Service Co: Mr Positive Tokyo. Executive Producer: Peter Grasse. Service Producer: Shinzo Higashiyama. Production Manager: Yukika Tasaki. Production Assistant: Karen Egawa. Production Assistant: Sheena Egawa. Production Assistant: Ruka Terao. Production Assistant: Michiho Tasaki. Location Coordinator: Hiro Kuni. Location Assistant: Aika Nakae. Key Grip: Yudai Sato. 1st AC: Takahiko Kohyama. Prod Driver: Ryohei Egami. Lab Processing: Imagica. Edit: Arsenii Pronkin. Grade: Tim Smith. Colour Producer: Ollie Ireland. Special Thanks: Natsuki Kato & Erika Murphy.
