Ben Jelen is generally termed a singer/songwriter, but he inhabits a much more lush, classic pop/rock territory than most performers saddled with that term. Once in danger of being tossed aside as just another pretty face with teeny bop appeal, it's now pretty clear that Jelen makes music for grown-ups with an ear for melody. And, the J in Jelen is pronounced as a Y. Respect.
"Where Do We Go" is the lead video from Jelen's first album on producer Linda Perry's label Custard and it just so happens to feature Perry's partner, supermodel Amanda Moore. Video Static was able to snag a bit of time with both Jelen and video director Sean Donnelly.
Ben Jelen: I think “Where Do We Go“ is a love song, but with a darker twist in that things aren’t going quite as well as planned. We wanted the video to reflect that, and my manager and I were thinking that it would be cool for me to play a kind of Houdini character. We thought the Houdini idea and a carnival-esque quality really suited the song. It was first conceived as a romantic story between Houdini and his wife, but that transmuted when the director, Sean Donnelly, got involved. He did a video for a Spinto Band song called "Oh Mandy" [co-directed with Jon Watts] and it had this brilliant stop animation, so we brought him on. He showed us these storyboard sketches and paper animations — they were like Quentin Blake illustrations — that made our idea into something a little crazier and sillier. All the storyboards you see in the video are his original sketches. There was a version without them, but we all loved the storyboards so much that we wanted to incorporate them into the final video.
Sean Donnelly, director: I had a roommate once who got an artsy, gothic girlfriend. He would do anything for her because he was completely in love. He'd drive her everywhere, help her with any art projects she was working on, and pay for everything that she wanted. She began to take advantage of the situation. She expected him to do everything for her and would throw a fit over the smallest problems. After not receiving anything in return from her for months, his love faded and the spell was broken. He dumped her. After the ordeal, he learned the piano and wrote a bunch of great songs. I imagine that this song was a product of a similar relationship.
--> watch "Where Do We Go" in Quicktime or below
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Ben Jelen "Where Do We Go" (Custard)
Sean Donnelly, director/animator/editor | Lydia Budianto & Jessica Cohen, producers | Awesome And Modest, production co | Jon "Chillah" Chen, DP | Janicza Bravo , art director | Masha Mand, costumes
note: Director Sean Donnelly is now signed with Anonymous Content
