Abteen Bagheri Brings a 7 Foot Animatronic to Life for Benjamin Earl Turner's Video 'Headspace'

Antioch native and artistic tour de force Benjamin Earl Turner debuts his latest single, 'HEADSPACE,' with an esoteric and strident music video directed by Abteen Bagheri of Love Song. Bagheri directed Turner’s music video for 'JA RULE' in 2019. Since then, the two have individually soared to new creative heights, with Turner reprising his series regular role in Starz’s hit series Blindspotting in their second season, where he’s also an Executive Story Editor and Bagheri directing the film 'Pieces' for Mercedes-Benz, starring Alicia Keys. They have reunited this year with Bagheri creating another stunning film to complement Turner’s thought-provoking lyrics.

Filled to the brim with clever practical effects and captured on 16mm film by cinematographer Kate Arizmendi (Succession, Dune), the music video for 'HEADSPACE' centres around an altercation at a diner and features a seven-foot animatronic from Studio Gillis worn by Prey star Dane Diliegro serving as Turner’s narrative co-conspirator. With fractals of reality playing out, the film is an immersive experience for the senses, leaving much of the literal story open to interpretation.

When asked about the philosophical underpinnings of the song and its filmic counterpart, Benjamin Earl Turner had this to say, “I’m not trying to be cheeky, but I’m ruining other people’s experience of the art if I tell them what they’re supposed to think about it. The mind is and has always been the real human frontier. Frontier is loaded. But it’s the real place destiny manifests. And I think the more we understand that, the more likely we are to build a world based on new imagination, rather than doing what we’ve been doing - reinforcing and carrying on old narratives.”

Love Song director Abteen Bagheri elaborates, “We just wanted to make something that made people think ‘who the hell approved that shoot?’ It’s rare you get the opportunity to work on a project with full creative control. Let’s make the stuff that no one else is making. We had a dream team of collaborators, from Benjamin to Kate to Alec Gillis and everyone else involved. Really the inspiration started as what would a hip hop video look like as an animatronic buddy film?”

Abteen Bagheri is a director whose work encompasses commercials, music videos, narrative fiction, and documentary films. In addition to his work with Benjamin Earl Turner, Bagheri has directed music videos for A$AP Rocky’s 'Peso' and the single 'California' from the band Delta Spirit. His short documentary film 'That B.E.A.T.' was an official selection for the SXSW Film Festival. He has also directed ads for major brands such as Apple, Google, Oculus, Smirnoff, Crown Royal, and a Samsung commercial featuring Benjamin Earl Turner’s song 'Yadadada.'