As was the case with "Jesus Walks", more than one accompanying music video was produced for the single. West released two separate videos for "Heard 'Em Say," one live-action while the other was mostly animated and both feature Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine. Filmed in Macy's flagship department store on 34th Street in New York City, West enlisted director Michel Gondry to helm the first music video for "Heard 'Em Say." Because the single was originally planned to be released for Christmas, Gondry directed the promotional music video inside a Macy's over the festive season in New York. Not satisfied with the results, West commissioned cartoonist Bill Plympton to create a new music video in one week. The animated music video expresses the use of grayscale, pencil-sketch animation. West had watched and loved Plympton's work since his youth, saying that his images were important to him as a child. West and Plympton later collaborated to create "Through the Wire: Lyrics and Illuminations", a graphic book filled with illustrations based on West's song lyrics.