"Black Eyed Dog"

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Besides being a Nick Drake fan in general, Heath was especially fascinated by Drake's song "Black Eyed Dog." He decided to create, direct, and star in a video featuring the song.

Though conspiracy theorists abound, Heath completed his work on the video in the fall of 2007 and it was shown publicly twice before he died.  Days after his death, his laptop with video on it was stolen, never to be seen again.

Current wisdom says the group (Nine Network) who featured the video publicly also owns the copyright to it. For this segment, I am presenting 2 guest authors/sources (one shall remain an anonymous source by request) who generously lent me their info, links, photos to put together all credible info on this last creative project of Heath Ledger.

Video, depression, death...

This is what many heartbroken fans say is the essence of the video. It may be widely believed (conspiracy theory) that Heath developed a death wish subconsciously and he sensed it...a death wish which unfortunately came true, just like shown in

 "Black Eyed Dog."

So many fans (and others) took the video to be more or less "a suicide note" since it had been created and released so close to the time of 

Heath's death.

Heath's "freedom dance" of spinning around with arms outstretched and looking skyward indicates symbolically to this Heathen fan that there is HOPE and release from bondage of earthly pain and worries...if the video were a suicide note this webmaster does not believe such a "dance" would appear in the video at all.

Editorial by WebMaster Grace Arledge

Editorial from WebMaster:

This is information sent to me in an email from a fan, who is anonymous by request. A lot of it may be repetition for some fans, but might be totally new to others, so in the interest of being as informative as possible without being intrusive with Heath's life events, It is written in the first person since the email was written to me. All references to the fan are deleted.

BEGIN EMAIL

"I was certain that I had found all the available footage of the "Black Eyed Dog" video, but I've just discovered another video containing additional material. My previous email still contains all the relevant information for you to review, except for the video link, which I'll need to update once more. I'll keep you posted. Thanks a lot. 

I've just finished revisiting my cut of Heath's video, this is the final version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiLUCUG1DmM  

Additionally, I've gathered valuable information from primary sources that addressed the last questions I had regarding the video edit. Furthermore, I've checked how you referenced your sources in various articles on your website, so here is how I would cite my sources:  

Video Sources:  

The original leaked video on YouTube by Cluedo1, which is currently offline.

The source for a slightly different version, which is currently available on Vimeo at this link: 

https://vimeo.com/35091445.   

Clips from the documentary "I Am Heath Ledger", released in April 2017. 

Article Sources: 

Pitchfork, Fox News, NME, MTV, Rolling Stone.

Cally Callomon from Nick Drake's Estate informed me that "[...] the film in question has only been screened in public twice. [...] All other screenings were created from a few rushes found on Heath’s laptop stolen from Heath’s property shortly after his death."  

I don't think it's necessary to include this information. My guess is that the individual who stole Heath's laptop eventually provided "Black Eyed Dog" video material to Nine Network, which is why the leaked footage prominently features the Nine Network logo. 

Consequently, some articles suggest that Nine Network holds the copyright for the video. Were you aware of the fact that someone stole Heath's laptop from his apartment shortly after his death?"

Direct email exchanges with Nick Drake's Estate Bryter Music and The Mods & Rockers Film Festival. 

*https://pitchfork.com/news/28474-the-heath-ledgernick-drake-connection/ > https://www.ign.com/articles/2007/09/11/nick-drakes-tree-to-bear-fruit > https://www.foxnews.com/story/heath-ledgers-death-video-a-collectible > https://www.nme.com/news/music/nick-drake-12-1338307 

 https://www.modsandrockers.com/2007-10/  https://web.archive.org/web/20090605234745/http://defamer.gawker.com/361856/heath-ledgers-nick-drake-video-hits-the-web-warning-depressing > https://web.archive.org/web/20080327114459/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1580085/20080122/drake_nick.jhtml https://web.archive.org/web/20080326012158/https://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1582489/story.jhtml > 

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/footage-from-heath-ledgers-nick-drake-video-surfaces-78893/ > 

https://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/20918581.html?page=3#comments > 

https://web.archive.org/web/20080328160453/

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003700068  

*WebMaster does not know if these links are still active or not.

Source: Requests to Remain Anonymous 

In 2007 #HeathLedger directed and starred in a music video for “𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝑬𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝑫𝒐𝒈”, a song by the late British folk singer Nick Drake’s. Heath made the video as a tribute for the artist on a hand-held camera as part of an exhibition celebrating the work of Drake. 

The Nine Network gained exclusive rights to the video, which has been shown in public only twice, first at the 𝑩𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒕 𝑭𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒍, in Seattle, held from 1 to 3 September 2007; and secondly as part of  "𝑨 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝑻𝒐 𝑩𝒆: 𝑨 𝑪𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑵𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝑫𝒓𝒂𝒌𝒆", 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝑷𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆: 𝑹𝒆𝒇𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝑶𝒏 𝑵𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝑫𝒓𝒂𝒌𝒆", 

with its screening of Their Place: Reflections On Nick Drake, "a series of short filmed homages to Nick Drake", sponsored by American Cinematheque, at the Grauman's Egyptian Theatre, in Hollywood, on 

5 October 2007. 

Speaking about Drake at the Venice Film Festival in September 2007, Heath said:

 "𝑵𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝑫𝒓𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒎𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒇𝒊𝒈𝒖𝒓𝒆. 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒐𝒃𝒔𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒄 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰 𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒅𝒂𝒚..." 

Source for this section: 

Heath Ledger ღ A soul that burned too bright 

Photos courtesy of:

Heath Ledger ღ A soul that burned too bright