Pleasure + Pain (DVD/VHS)

Documentary

Pleasure and Pain was conceived, produced and shot by rock photographer Danny Clinch, who toured with Harper throughout the United States and Europe last year. In addition, Clinch traveled to Harper's childhood home in Claremont, California, and interviewed Harper's parents, grandmother and other people he grew up with.

"My understanding is that most music videos cost more than $300,000," Clinch said. "We did a full-length feature film for that. We did it really guerilla style. There was no production team, it was just me and my studio manager (Gary Ashley) booking the flights and renting the cameras. Editor/co-director, Sam Lee came into the project toward the end of shooting and helped me in a huge way to develop the storyline."

Like most rock movies, Pleasure and Pain features plenty of onstage footage. Twenty Harper songs are woven throughout the film, but only a handful, including Power of the gospel, The woman in you, Forgiven, Please bleed et Steal my kisses, are presented in near-complete forms. The song Burn to Shine will run over the movie's end credits.

But Clinch's real purpose was to reveal the person behind the performer. "It's not a concert film. It's not just on the road, or on the tour bus. It really goes beyond that. People automatically go, 'Oh, it's on Ben Harper - it must be a concert film,' but it's not," There's lots of concert and backstage stuff in there, but it also goes into his life and the influences he grew up around.

Clinch complemented Harper's creativity through unconventional shooting angles and a mixture of 16 mm, Super 8 (got at a flea market for $1) and digital video camera work. He said he also tried to bring a unique look to the live clips.

"I shot so many shows, and we decided to mix them all together," Clinch said. "Ben might be in Texas wearing a bandana in part of one song, and then we'll cut to the next song and he'll be in Paris with his big afro. He has so many styles not only in his music, but in the way he dresses, and I wanted to capture all of that."

As illuminating as the concert material may be, Clinch said the most revealing scenes are the ones that depict Harper's interaction with his family. At one point, Clinch suggested Harper play a song with his grandfather. Instead, Harper decided to sing the Bob Dylan song Tomorrow is a long time with his mother.

"I filmed them working out this song together, and you can see the love between them. It's very moving. Later, Ben said that was one of the most amazing musical experiences he's ever had."

source : Jonathan Cohen [billboard] - Jon Wiederhorn [sonicnet]

Danny Clinch, director — "The way the film came about was sort of by accident. I had always wanted to do a documentary film on a musician and was waiting for the right person and time. Then I met Ben and then we met again during a shoot for Guitar World Magazine. We got along well and I'd always loved his music. I was also very intrigued by his musical upbringing in the music store owned by his grandfather. Then it hit me... I may have found my subject I'd been looking for. After a brief conversation we decided to give it a try.

After doing the film I find Ben to be a warm and sincere person who is also an intense and very particular person who pays attention to every detail and cares deeply about his music, his fans and getting his music to as many people as possible... He also doesn't sit down for very long.

I think the most important parts of the film are his family relationships — mom, dad, grandmother and grandfather and how they have shaped his life. After spending so many hours with Ben and his music I'm still not tired of him."

Interview by Emmanuel Rivet / www.swer.net - 2003

More about Danny Clinch | bio

Samantha Lee, co-director and editor — "I met Danny Clinch in the summer of 2000. I was introduced to him by another filmmaker called Obie Benz. At that point, 60 hours of footage had been shot. Once we decided to work together, we then went back on tour with Ben for a few days to really get interview footage of him. The intention was not to create a traditional talking head documentary but to use imagery over Ben’s words and thoughts, along with those of his crew, band and manager to tell the story.

I had never heard of Ben Harper when I began working on the film. Danny got me into one of his concerts in New York and I was really impressed with his voice. After that, between going to more concerts and sitting in an edit room 8 hours a day listening to his music, it definitely grew on me!

I think Ben’s eclectic style is a product of being so immersed in music as a young kid. Being around parents and grandparents he was exposed to a variety of music genres which he’s translated into a tremendous freedom of musical expression. In the film his description of having the freedom as a child to pick up and play any instrument in the store foreshadows his ability to use all different styles of music to express himself today.

Danny and I work well together because we have two very different strengths. I really worked on shaping the story and doing the interviews and Danny was immersed in the imagery and overall look of the film. Danny has taught me a lot about shooting images and capturing the essence of a moment and I think he’s learnt from me the power of crafting a good story.

When the edit got underway we had a little over 100 hours of footage. I found the best way to get a handle on so much footage was to cut sections of it together. One of the first things I built was the scene with Ben and his grandfather in the music store. Funnily enough this did not change very much from the original cut. Aside from building sections, I would spend days cutting the concert songs. This was a real challenge since we had shot 16mm film and Super 8 film as well as DV but the film footage had no audio. I would take a concert performance of a song that we liked and use that as the track. Then I would start to cover it with images from about 15 different concert venues. The tricky part was syncing film to a moment where Ben or other band members were singing or playing and making it look natural. It can get down to just moving things one frame at a time but when it matches up it’s pretty exciting.

In documentary film there is a great deal of cross over between directing and editing. You can have an idea about what the film is going to be about when you are shooting but it can all change in the edit room.
I enjoyed having the opportunity to get a glimpse of what being on tour was like. It was really cool to be on the stage filming in front of all those people and to just get a taste of the energy the band must be feeling. I think that is when the music really gets under your skin and becomes a part of you.
I also really enjoy the process of editing. It is like being given a giant jigsaw puzzle and trying to figure out how to put it together. I loved being able to play with all the different film formats because stylistically it felt so in keeping with Ben’s eclecticism.
Making a film is such a collaborative experience and being able to work with Danny and Lindha Narvaez, who was so instrumental in enabling the production and post production to go so smoothly, was a great experience.

In general the response to the film by the fans has been very gratifying. It’s great when you feel you have captured something that is in tune with their love of Ben’s music. Even just being on tour for a short time I met a lot of Ben’s fans and their enthusiasm encourages you to want to capture the essence of this person they admire so much on film. I think that is why it was important to end the film with the concert in Paris. Ben’s fan base in France is amazing and when he comes out on stage and you see that many people it has a tremendous impact on the end of the film. I really hope the French fans enjoy this film because I think that is a good way to test how well we have captured Ben and his music.

Interview by Emmanuel Rivet / www.swer.net - august 2004

More about Samantha Lee | bio

bonus material

:: LIVE TRACKS

1• Waiting On An Angel
Acoustic performance at Bridges Auditorium, Ben's hometown Claremont, CA - April 06, 2001.
Directed by Kevin Kerslake - Executive producer : Lance Sloane for Warner Bros Online - 2001.

2• Give A Man A Home
Studio performance. Vocals : Ben Harper (lead), The Blind Boys of Alabama (George Scott, Clarence Fountain, Jimmy Carter, Joey Williams). Weissenborn Teardrop : Ben Harper. Bass : Juan Nelson. Keyboard : unknown.
Director, producer, editor : Matt Bass - Executive producer : Michael Zakin - June 2002.

3• I Shall Not Walk Alone
Studio performance. Vocals : Ben harper (lead), The Blind Boys of Alabama (George Scott, Clarence Fountain, Jimmy Carter, Joey Williams). Acoustic guitar : Ben Harper.
Director, producer, editor : Matt Bass - Executive producer : Michael Zakin - June 2002.

4• Strawberry Fields Forever (I'm Sam soundtrack)
Studio rehearsal. Vocals and lap-steel : Ben Harper. Bass : Juan Nelson. Drums : Oliver Charles. Percussion : David Leach. Keyboard : unknown. Trumpet 1 : Ron Blake. Trumpet 2 : Glen Marhevka. Harp : Amy Wilkins. Violin 1 : Danielle Charles. Violin 2 : Lisa Domlinger. Viola : Brett Banducci. Cello : Rebecca Yeh.
Director, editor : Matt Bass - Executive producer : Michael Zakin for Virgin Records - March 2002.

5• Faded
Live performance at Royal Albert Hall, London, April 20, 1998.
Ben Harper and The Innocent Criminals (Juan Nelson : Bass - Dean Butterworth : Drums - David Leach : Percussion).
Directed by Matthew Amos.

6• Gold To Me / Fight For Your Mind (extended jam - 'Funk is a Word').
Live performance at Royal Albert Hall, London, April 20, 1998.
Ben Harper and The Innocent Criminals (Juan Nelson : Bass - Dean Butterworth : Drums - David Leach : Percussion), with Eric Person Trio (Eric Person : Alto sax - Jim Finn : Tenor sax - Kenyatta Mosely : Trumpet).
Source : bootleg footage due to the unfortunate loss of all the master footage filmed during the Royal Albert Hall show.

Interview | Eric Person - september 2003

:: GROUND ON DOWN VIDEO

1• Original version.
2• Ground On Down Hokey Dope Mix (by Keith Lomenzo and Josh Kirsch).
3• Commentary : Ben and JP Plunier (in English).
4• Commentary : JP Plunier (in French).

:: ASK BEN

Ben Harper's speech at Bridges Auditorium, Claremont, CA - April 06, 2001.
1• What was it like hanging out in Claremont?
2• What was high school like for you?
3• What was it like to work on a childrens album with Taj Mahal ?
4• Who is Herman Weissenborn?
5• What is music?

:: Hidden features

1• Main menu > About This DVD > Hit the left arrow on your dvd remote — you will get a hidden video there.
2• After all 'Ask Ben' questions (play them in order) Ben speaks about Dart's bowl-back slide guitar.

purchase dvd

:: benharper.biz

dvd credits

Documentary produced and directed by Danny Clinch, co-directed and edited by Sam Lee (2000).

Additional Camera: Gary Ashley, Sam Lee, Jeremy Liebman.
Post-production Coordinator : Lindha Narvaez.
Video Transcriptions: Paul Greenhouse, Gabe Moscovitz, Lindha Narvaez, Jarrod Thornton.
Audio Transcriptions: Dorene Elliot, Brave New Words.
Sound Mix Engineer: Corey Folta at City Sound Productions, NYC.
Color Correction and Online: Steve Pequignot at Glue Inc.

Virgin Records Affiliates: Keith Milton , Sig Sigworth, Piero Giramonti, Andy Factor.

Additional footage provided by: Virgin Records America, Jean-Pierre Plunier, Peter Harper.

Sculptures of 20th century Man and Woman by Charles Chase.

Pleasure & Pain appearances by: Ben Harper, Jean-Pierre Plunier, Dean Butterworth, Juan D. Nelson, David Leach, Ellen Verdries Chase Harper, Charles Chase, Dorothy Chase, Christopher "Evil Vince" May, Scott Cadwallader, The Innocent Criminal Crew, Olivier Darbois, Ben Harper fans, Ben Harper Interviewers.

Design and production by Metropolis DVD.
Executive producers for Virgin Records: Ty Braswell, Eric Ferris.
Production coordination for Virgin Records: Molly Hintlian.
Executive producer: David Anthony.
Producer: Matthew Dillon.
Art director: James Coulson.
Package art direction and design: Mike King.
Special thanks from Ben and JP: Ray cooper and Ashler Newton.

Documentary: 90 minutes
Total running time: 174 minutes
DVD : Stereo - Dolby digital 5.1 - PAL \ VHS.

© Virgin 2002

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