Director

Sam Pilling

Sam Pilling is mostly occupied directing commercials these days, and it takes a special project to lure him back into the world of music videos. But there is no doubt that he and DJ Shadow have something special going on.Back in 2016, Pilling transformed Shadow's collaboration with Run The Jewels on Nobody Speak into <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2016/08/25/dj-shadow-run-jewels-nobody-speak-sam-pilling/43283" target="_blank">one of the most enjoyably&nbsp;pugnacious (and arguably prophetic) music&nbsp;videos seen in years</a>, as a UN-style summit of international leaders and diplomats descends from frank exchange of views into a chaotic free-for-all.&nbsp;Now Pilling is back with Shadow for what is something of a sequel, and certainly a timely companion piece to the award-winning video for Nobody Speak.&nbsp;In&nbsp;Rocket Fuel - featuring De La Soul&nbsp;- chaos reigns again with global implications, as Pilling dramatises the rumours and conspiracy theories surrounding the historic Apollo 11 moon mission.It's a brilliantly executed combination of realism&nbsp;and high comedy, and we talked to Sam Pilling about how it came about - and how the idea of a fake moon landing resonates today.[vidtoken data:0]PROMONEWS: Can you talk us through the process of coming up with the idea for the video?&nbsp;SAM PILLING: After listening to the track a few times, I kept coming back to the idea of astronauts brawling on the moon: “a close encounter of some kind…” It was just a funny image that I couldn’t get out of my head.From there, I began exploring one of the most relentless conspiracy theories of our time: what if the Apollo moon landings were faked?! It’s no secret that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin didn’t get along and so putting two and two together (and getting a flat earth) I thought, what if Neil and Buzz’s petty squabbling ended up exposing the lie!<blockquote>We never talked about doing a sequel. After Nobody Speak I was in two minds about doing another music video.</blockquote>Has it been in your mind for a while to do a sequel to Nobody Speak? Has it ever been discussed with DJ Shadow?No, we never talked about doing a sequel, and it wasn’t really something I’d given much thought to. In fact, after the success of Nobody Speak I was in two minds about doing another music video altogether, let alone another one for DJ Shadow! Hahaha.[imgtoken data:1]Did you research any stories/theories about how the moon landings were faked, to get inspiration for your storyline? Are there any that suggest that Kubrick directed the Apollo 11 footage?Yeah, totally!&nbsp;After coming up with the basic premise, I went down a YouTube wormhole of Moon Landing conspiracy theories, stumbling upon a load of interesting (if not ridiculous) arguments along the way. One of which, is the relatively widespread idea that Stanley Kubrick directed the moon landing hoax. He definitely consulted NASA scientists when he was making&nbsp;2001: A Space Odyssey, but that is almost certainly the end of it!After that I watched the Apollo 11 documentary (which is amazing!) and re-watched First Man – using both as visual references throughout the production process. There’re a few other Easter eggs in there for avid conspiracy theorists - if you know, you know…<blockquote>I watched the&nbsp;Apollo 11&nbsp;documentary - amazing! - and re-watched&nbsp;First Man&nbsp;– using both as visual references.</blockquote>Is the Kubrick reference itself a nod to Nobody Speak - with its very Dr Strangelove-style conference room?Well it certainly felt fitting to include Kubrick in the video! And the end title cards are an homage to Pablo Ferro’s iconic title design for Dr Strangelove. And as you said, Kubrick’s masterpiece was obviously an inspiration for Nobody Speak, so the two videos are definitely connected.How long did you have to prepare between being awarded the job and shooting it? What were your biggest priorities in making sure that this was completely convincing?I really wanted the video to feel ‘authentic’. For viewers to question (albeit for a brief moment) what was archival footage, and what was filmed by us. So, my biggest priority was ensuring that everything looked and felt as believable as possible.When DP extraordinaire Rina Yang came on board we talked about the best way to achieve an authentic archival look. Rina suggested the idea of shooting with two different film formats; 16mm open gate for the mission control room (giving the imagery a textured feeling similar to the old stock footage) then 35mm for the moon landing film set, giving a slightly sharper, more cinematic look.[imgtoken data:2]<blockquote>Rina Yang (above, second right)&nbsp;suggested the idea of shooting with two different film formats&nbsp;to achieve an authentic archival look.</blockquote>Rina also suggested using older lights to light the set with, in an effort to keep the look in-keeping with our '60s era. The next step was finding a studio big enough to build a convincingly-sized Moon surface and to get our main light source as far away from our moon surface as possible, in order to emulate the elongated shadows synonymous with the moon landing.We had about two weeks of preproduction before shooting and one of the biggest production issues was the actual design of both the Mission Control room, and the moon landing set. We worked closely with our amazing art director Vlad Rhyhikov, referencing Apollo 11, First Man and NASA’s iconic Hasselblad images of the actual moon landing (yep, it definitely happened folks!) – and we constantly referred back to these images throughout the process, trying to make each location feel as legitimate as possible.[imgtoken data:3]When I landed on set the first day I was bowled over by the attention to detail and immense hard-work that had gone into both sets. Vlad has a real eye for detail and despite having an incredibly short window of time he worked set-building magic. I think the effort Vlad and his team put in really shows on screen.Another key aspect of filming anything period is the wardrobe. It’s so easy for it to feel forced or over the top. So, when Mr. Gammon came on board it was a great relief. Again, his taste, attention to detail and passion for the project as a whole was truly amazing. He literally threw everything he had at it, ensuring our characters looked amazing and felt in-keeping with our era.<blockquote>Our art director Vlad Rhyhikov has a real eye for detail and despite having an incredibly short window of time he worked set-building magic.</blockquote>Despite our best efforts, when we got our rushes back, our imagery felt slightly too clean and nice to fit with the archival footage. Tom Mangham at The Mill coloured the job recreating a bleach-bypass look as our starting point. We both had to go against our normal aesthetic – giving a high contrast and slightly over-saturated look that almost felt technically wrong.The last piece of the visual puzzle was put together by a crack VFX team at The Mill led by Bradford Wood and produced by Bruce Langfield, who all worked round the clock adding the visual cherry on top (if only it was that easy). They ensured&nbsp;that our moon surface and mission control room felt as authentic as humanly possible. Their VFX work really elevates the visuals but hopefully it’s hard to tell what they actually did (and I mean that as the biggest compliment!)[imgtoken data:4]<blockquote>It felt like a nice Easter egg to use the same actor as in Nobody Speak -&nbsp;and Igor Tsyshkevich (above, right, with Sam Pilling) is such an incredible talent</blockquote>Where did you shoot this? And what were the biggest challenges on the shoot?We shot the video in Kyiv, with the amazing Radioaktive Film. Having filmed the last DJ Shadow vid there, we knew we were in good hands. Darko and the Radioaktive family really looked after us and gave everything to help make the video happen.Emma Wellbelove produced the job – ferociously leading our conspirator troops to the moon and back! Whilst Rik Green, Maurizio Von Trapp and all the Pulse Films homies helped keep the ship on course in the darkest of black hole moments.In fact, so many people gave up so much of their precious time, energy and resources to make the project a reality and I am truly grateful for that. To say it was a huge team effort is a massive understatement.It was a logistically difficult shoot all round but the biggest challenge on the day was the stunt work. Buzz and Neil’s playground-style scrap makes up the bulk of the narrative and most of the sequences involved some kind of wire-work and rigging, which is time consuming at the best of times, but made all the more so by the large, cumbersome astronaut costumes they were wearing.[imgtoken data:5]<blockquote>Our two astronauts were absolute troopers, giving great performances whilst being thrown around the set for 20 hours.</blockquote>The great Illia Lurchyshyn was our stunt coordinator - who also worked on Nobody Speak.&nbsp;He and his crew worked through the night to create the amazing zero-gravity fight scenes.Our two astronauts; Dmytri Savenko (Neil) and Maxim Gorovyi (Buzz) were absolute troopers, giving great performances whilst being thrown around the set for 20 hours, and always with a smile on their face and a yearning to make each shot the best it could be.The American ambassador in Nobody Speak, makes a re-appearance in Rocket Fuel. Is he playing the same guy in this one?Ha! No, in Nobody Speak he is simply ‘an American President’ but in Rocket Fuel he is President Nixon. Again, it felt like a nice Easter egg to use the same actor; and Igor Tsyshkevich is such an incredible talent, so it was a bit of a no brainer![imgtoken data:6]<blockquote>Although the video is set in 1969, I still wanted to make a commentary on the ‘fake news’ era we find ourselves in today.</blockquote>This is a bit more screwball and less intense than your first DJ Shadow video. Was that always the intention? And what’s the thinking behind Brezhnev appearing in the US mission control centre?&nbsp;Yeah, after speaking with Shadow it was clear that his vision for the whole album was to shine a light on the darkness of the world we find ourselves in today, and to not take things quite so seriously. And despite the obvious connections between the two videos, I wanted to make sure Rocket Fuel was tonally slightly different. The idea is so utterly ridiculous that it felt right to lean in to the outrageous nature of it all and make it as funny and outlandish as we possibly could.Although the video is set in 1969, I still wanted to make a commentary on the ‘fake news’ era we find ourselves in today. During the cold war America and Russia were in a race to reach the moon first, but I thought it would be funny to insinuate that neither country could actually reach the moon, and that they were both secretly working together to fake the moon landing. Not unlike the speculations that Russia was involved in Trump’s rise to power in recent years.In the same regard, the ending came about because I liked the idea that Frances “Poppy” Northcutt - the only female mission control worker to work on the Apollo 11 mission (yes, there was only one!) got fed up with all the ineffective, egotistical men around her acting like children, and so decided to save the day herself![imgtoken data:7]• Sam Pilling is a director represented by Pulse Films.&nbsp; • This has been a Promonews and Pulse Films co-production.&nbsp;

Pulse Films

Behind The Video: Sam Pilling on DJ Shadow's Rocket Fuel

DJ Shadow - Rocket Fuel feat. De La Soul (Official Video)

Just when you thought the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11's moon landing had banished those conspiracy theories... here comes Sam Pilling's new video for&nbsp;DJ Shadow.Having cheerfully shattered our assumptions about the genteel world of international diplomacy with their first collaboration in 2016, the brilliant, award-winning <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2016/08/25/dj-shadow-run-jewels-nobody-speak-sam-pilling/43283" target="_blank">Nobody Speak</a>, Pilling&nbsp;goes further - much further - with this latest team-up with Shadow, for the De La Soul-featuring Rocket Fuel.The jumping-off point is that perennial&nbsp; internet&nbsp;chatroom subject, that the moon landings were all faked - and the 'open secret' that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Adrin, the first men on the moon, did not particularly get along. The result is a remarkable, spectacular, screwball epic, Sam Pilling's most ambitious video to date.At first this is very much like the wonderful Apollo 11 movie - a tapestry of stock footage of the era. But when Armstrong wins a game of rock-paper-scissors on the lunar module and gets the chance to take the first giant leap for mankind - all hell breaks loose: on the moon, at mission control...&nbsp;and also on the movie set where the 'moon landing' is happening - directed by Stanley Kubrick, of course.&nbsp;Finally, with a further satirical twist and a nod to our own troubled times - the Russians get involved.So get ready for 'take-off' - and keep an eye out&nbsp;for the nod to the Nobody Speak video.[imgtoken data:1]

United Kingdom

Emma Wellbelove

Rik Green

Maurizio Von Trapp

Caroline Clayton

Mr Gammon

Matt Serafini

Ellie Johnson

TenThree

Sam Robinson @ 750

The Mill

Bruce Langfield

Thomas Mangham

Brad Wood

Radioaktive Film

Sasha Bevko

Victoria Dubytska

Dennis Sonin

Leo Siderenko

Vlad Ryzhykov

Rina Yang

Alternative

Hip Hop

DJ Shadow ft De La Soul 'Rocket Fuel' by Sam Pilling

Sam Pilling&#39;s superb, cinematic video for Chaka Khan&#39;s Hello Happiness harks back to the time when this legendary soul diva was first hitting the charts with funk outfit Rufus, in the early 1970s. And it all revolves around a single phone booth outside an LA motel on a single night.Pilling makes the phone booth the focal point for a piece with a rich cast of characters and multiple storylines: there&#39;s the lady of the night, leaving a &#39;tip&#39; in the payphone change slot; the hot couple using the booth as a location for sex; the philanderer with his mistress, and more. But not everything is as it seems.What is certain is that Chaka herself makes an appearnce in the phone booth, for what is a very enjoyable watch. It&#39;s beautfilly put together, with great widescreen cinematography by Pat Scola, wonderful editing of various story strands and performance by Thomas Grove Carter - and skilfully directed by Sam Pilling, making his first video since the brilliant DJ Shadow, Run The Jewels video for <a href="https://www.promonews.tv/videos/2016/08/25/dj-shadow-run-jewels-nobody-speak-sam-pilling/43283" target="_blank">Nobody Speak</a>.He&#39;s also added some titles to suggest the older generation are far racier than their younger counterparts. Clearly they learned their wicked ways back in the Seventies.

United States

Sarah Park

Alli Maxwell

Matthew Cheaton

Joe Suarez

Ivan Acero

Taylor Gilmartin

Joel Marich

Pat Scola

Quito Cooksey

Derica Cole Washington

Thomas Grove Carter

Trim Editing

Simon Bourne

Framestore

Good People Casting

Jamie Richmond

Hands 

Ailsa Robertson

Funk

Soul

Chaka Khan 'Hello Happiness' by Sam Pilling

Chaka Khan - Hello Happiness

Sam Pilling&#39;s video for DJ Shadow &amp; Run The Jewels is a convincing take on high-level international diplomacy that&nbsp;very quickly turns into an hilarious if slightly scary&nbsp;international brawl.It&#39;s a scene that you&#39;ll be familiar with now. Political leaders of the world squabble and argue and things quickly become heated. This fictional United Nations meeting is more of the same; only the representatives of the US and UK are both lipsyncing the stream of poetic invective coming&nbsp;from the Run The Jewels rappers, at each other. It&#39;s&nbsp;Killer Mike Vs El-P. Nation Vs Nation.Of course, just like in the real UN things escalate quickly into an all-out, heavily coordinated fistfight. And farm animals naturally&nbsp;become involved.Pilling&#39;s clip is simple in premise but the execution is brilliant, with visual punchlines delivered throughout with perfect timing.[imgtoken data:1][imgtoken data:2]

Sarah Boardman

Arlene McGann

Olya Kosenko

Igor Tsyshkevych

Ian Bailey

David Procter

Sergey Vinnichuk

Speade

Henning Knoepfel

Nika Bondar

Kharmel Cochrane

Illia Iurchyshyn

Dasha Filshyna

Liene Dobraja

Alternative, Hip Hop

DJ Shadow & Run The Jewels 'Nobody Speak' by Sam Pilling

DJ Shadow ft. Run The Jewels - Nobody Speak

Bookended by an extract of a poem written by&nbsp;Kwadwo Nkita-Mayala, Sam Pilling&#39;s compelling documentary-style&nbsp;video for this remix of Major Lazer&#39;s Light It Up, featuring Nyla and Fuse ODG,&nbsp;is about dealing with the hardships in life and&nbsp;finding the energy to get back up.&nbsp;&quot;Because Fuse&rsquo;s family is from Ghana, and he was over there recording, we thought it would bring a really interesting aesthetic to film the video there,&quot; explains Pilling, who captured strong images of family and friends in mourning at a&nbsp;traditional funeral ceremony, with exceptional photography by&nbsp;Paul Özgür.[imgtoken data:1]

Paul Özgür

Joel Honeywell

Jack Abbot

Trim

James Bamford

Carl Norton

Luis & Henning

Sound Tree

Joceline Gabriel

Dance

Electronic

Major Lazer feat. Nyla & Fuse ODG 'Light It Up (Remix)' by Sam Pilling

Major Lazer - Light It Up (feat. Nyla & Fuse ODG) [Remix] (Official Music Video)

Sam Pilling&nbsp;directed this music video&nbsp;with&nbsp;short film qualities for&nbsp;rising R&amp;B star Dornik&#39;s song&nbsp;Drive.&nbsp;The video&#39;s authentic feel is the key to its success,&nbsp;capturing&nbsp;the excitement of young love that doesn&#39;t feel in any way staged. The video follows a couple of teens&#39; lives as confide&nbsp;in their&nbsp;best friends about their relationship,&nbsp;hook&nbsp;up in secret, and sneak&nbsp;out to see each other.&nbsp;All the while Dornik&#39;s track eases in and out of the story, giving it a freshness that makes the&nbsp;minimal&nbsp;narrative come alive.

Sonya Sier

Zak Razvi

Amanda Tuckwell

Dan Gibling

Ahmet Husseyin

Joe Douglas

Craig Davids

Florent Pinzuti

Grace Snell

Lisa Zipper

Aubrey Woodiwiss

Electric Theatre Collective

Claire Toms

Simona Zivkovska, Jerome Holder, Laya Lewis, Youssef Berouain

Emily Ann Sonnet

PMR Records

Michael McDuffie

Tom North

Ryan Delahunty

Dean Hewitson

Savannah Setten

Mike Turner

Luis Almau

Soundtree

Dornik 'Drive' by Sam Pilling 

Dornik - Drive / Stand In Your Line

Sam Pilling&rsquo;s intriguing and gripping video for Elliott Powers&rsquo; On the Windrush&nbsp;follows a ghostly lone figure scavenging&nbsp;in a post-apocalyptic&nbsp;wasteland - a figure who looks like a human as picked up on a thermal-imaging camera in the real world. But it turns out this feral man-child not alone - or unique. And then things turn violent. &nbsp;Sam created his thermal-image men in the normal world, not with a thermal-image camera,&nbsp;but courtesy of painstaking rotoscoping. Impressive indeed.

Ore Okonedo

Joe Cook

Emily Bliverstone

Max Windows

Homespun

Matt Osborne

Luise Martin

Marathon Artists

Nil Tomakan

Elliott Power 'On The Windrush' by Sam Pilling

Elliott Power - On The Windrush

Since beginning his directing career in 2010, Sam Pilling has fast-tracked to being one of the UK&#39;s most accomplished video directors - who works on both sides of the Atlantic. He&#39;s&nbsp;made videos for numerous popular and musically inventive artists, including&nbsp;SBTRKT,&nbsp;J Cole, Usher, and Two Door Cinema Club, and directed several videos for Canadian superstar The Weeknd. Sam, 28, grew up in Reading, Berkshire and now lives in Shoreditch.&nbsp;Education: BA Graphic Design at Central Saint MartinsPrevious occupations: Visual researcherFavourite music video of the past 12 months? I don&rsquo;t know what my favourite is but when this came out I really enjoyed it: Kaja Gunnufsen &ndash; Au by Kenneth KarlstadFavourite video of all time? Again, very hard to choose a favourite but I have a lot of love for Massive Attack &ndash; Angel, Depeche Mode &ndash; Wrong And M.I.A &ndash; Born Free. (Maybe I have a soft spot for that last one cos I&rsquo;m ginger!)Favourite publications/websites: Sight &amp; Sound, Short of the week, Boat, The WeekFavourite food/restaurant: PIZZA! Amici Miei for takeaway, Il Guscio for sit down.&nbsp;Favourite drink/drug: Pint of Guinness, espresso martini or paracetamol. Depends what night of the week it is.Last movie you saw (and was it any good)? Boyhood was the last thing I saw in the cinema. I thought it was pretty amazing.Favourite directors: All fairly obvious I&rsquo;m afraid. Jacques Audiard, Haneke, The Coen Brothers, Kubrick, Scorsese, Ken Loach, Lynne Ramsay, etc&hellip;.<blockquote>&quot;The best moment has got to be working with Harold Perrineau on the J.Cole vid...He got really behind the idea and was excited to be part of the production. Whilst all I could think was &#39;I&rsquo;m directing Mercutio!&#39;&quot;</blockquote>Last gig you went to (and was it any good)? Phantogram &ndash; No! The gig was pretty average, but it was held in the middle of a cemetery, which was pretty cool.Favourite bands/artists: Fat Freddy&rsquo;s Drop, Jimi Hendrix, Alt-J, Wu-Tang, Fever Ray, Massive Attack, James Blake, Gil Scott Heron, Kendrick Lamar, Darkside, SBTRKT, Led ZeppelinCurrently reading/favourite book: I&rsquo;m currently reading En La Boca Del Lobo by William C. Rempel.&nbsp;My favourite book is probably After Dark by Haruki MurakamiWhat was the first music video you worked on - and what were you doing on that job? A music video for The Subways, directed by D.A.R.Y.L. I was a production runner.Favourite job of the past 12 months: J. Cole &ndash; She Knows. Despite a lot of scheduling and casting issues it was just one of those projects where the stars (eventually) aligned and everything fell into place. J.Cole really believed in my vision and fought against putting performance in the video. He also pushed for professional actors. I got to work with a team of amazing and talented people: Pat Scola, Sarah Park, Ellie Johnson, James Tillett, the guys at Soundtree (and many more) and I had a few weeks in the LA sun to boot!What&rsquo;s the next Big Thing you&rsquo;re working on? I have a few things in the pipeline that would be shooting in the US. But from my (limited) experience of the American industry, there&rsquo;s no guarantee the job&rsquo;s happening until I&rsquo;m standing on set and the camera&rsquo;s rolling. So we&#39;ll see&hellip;What would most improve your life? The day they invent a hair-replacement operation that doesn&rsquo;t leave you looking like Wayne Rooney! Ha. That and being given the opportunity to direct a feature film.Best moment, or fondest memory, of your career thus far? The best moment has got to be working with Harold Perrineau on the J.Cole vid. He is such a talented actor and a warm, friendly person. He got really behind the idea and was excited to be part of the production. Whilst all I could think was &ldquo;I&rsquo;m directing Mercutio!&rdquo;Worst moment? Two words: ONE-SHOTBiggest frustration? Not having made any short films or commercials yet. I probably have myself to blame for both but I need to rectify the situation very soon!Person you most admire? My dad

The Questionnaire: Sam Pilling

In Sam Pilling&rsquo;s video for&nbsp;The Weeknd&#39;s lewd Often - his fourth for the Canadian superstar &ndash;&nbsp;the motion control-driven&nbsp;camera prowls and flips around a luxury hotel suite&nbsp;chronicling the singer&#39;s numerous conquests and partying habits in a highly slick fashion.Although&nbsp;being a sex god&nbsp;doesn&#39;t stop&nbsp;The Weeknd looking characteristically angst-ridden...

Courtney Carreras

Kenny Taylor

David Dreyer

Laura Francis

Neicy Smalls

Ryan Wieber

Ricky Gausis

Hip Hop, Urban

The Weeknd 'Often' by Sam Pilling

The Weeknd - Often (NSFW)

A visual debut from Lisbon-based Mira, un Lobo! focuses on the ups and downs of a street performer who has seemingly lost his mojo. The abject performance is brilliantly portrayed, something that really defines the promo.Directed by&nbsp;Chris Lee and Paul Storrie, the pair recently worked with Sam Pilling in Kolt&#39;s &#39;Jetzt Weinst Du&#39;, an extremely dark and passionate promo. This time round the darkness is overcome by light, and a&nbsp;happy ending.

Chris Lee & Paul Storrie

Chris Lee

Tim Keeling

Sophia Aiudi

Nina Igbino

Mira, un Lobo! 'Seroto' by Chris Lee & Paul Storrie

Mira, un Lobo! - Serotonin

After his excellent video for J. Cole&#39;s She Knows, Sam Pilling gets together with friends Chris Lee and Paul Storrie to pull enough another nailbiting drama for the German duo KOLT.&nbsp;This&nbsp;focusses on a young woman heading by car for a significant rendezvous - and the boyfriend giving chase in order to prevent it happening - in&nbsp;the process becoming&nbsp;a very British kind of road movie. They always work best with German electronica...

Lucile Weigel

James Tillett

Neon Tamburin Records

Paul Storrie

Kolt 'Jetzt Weinst Du' by Sam Pilling, Chris Lee, Paul Storrie

Kolt-'Jetzt-Weinst-Du'-by-Sam-Pilling,-Chris-Lee,-Paul-Storrie

A marvellous video for J Cole&#39;s She Knows by Sam Pilling about a teenager in Los Angeles&nbsp;who blows off school to have some fun with his buddy, but gets much more than he&#39;s bargained for.&nbsp;Sam put non-professional actor Armani Cooper, playing Kyle, with actors Harold Perrineau and Rochelle Aytes as his parents, to create something very believable. And J Cole makes a telling cameo too...

Laura Tunstall

Ivy Isenberg

Evan Urman

Kourtney Gleason

Kenneth Taylor

Evrard Salomon

Mark Saleem Beasley

Jake Bianco

Mandy Cheng

Michelle Thompson

Koby Poulton

Martin Kittappa

Chaka Pilgrim

Pop, Urban

J Cole ft Amber Coffman 'She Knows' by Sam Pilling

J. Cole - She Knows ft. Amber Coffman, Cults

During a recent trip to LA Sam Pilling created an essentially impromptu music video for the 19 year old rapper Akeem Lee, in a car park, with a borrowed 7D. The result is a transfixing two minute showcase for a hip-hop star in the making.&quot;Akeem had a couple of hours free before he had to start his &#39;proper&#39; job, so his mate drove us to a nearby loading bay where armed with a 7D, I filmed him perform whilst hanging out the car window...&quot;

Ryan Kohler

Akeem Lee AKA Jon BlazE '94 Til' by Sam Pilling

Akeem Lee '94 Til'

There&rsquo;s been more than a few tenpin bowling videos in the past, but none of them have managed to put quite the, er, spin on proceedings as Sam Pilling does for Two Door Cinema Club&rsquo;s Handshake.
Starting with a wild-eyed individual using a butcher&rsquo;s chopper to ominous effect, we soon discover the purpose of his work: he needs the head of TDCC frontman Alex Trimble (and those of bandmates Kevin and Sam) for his big upcoming bowling contest &ndash; they are the bowling balls.
What follows does to some extent owe a debt to the other great Nineties film featuring tenpin bowling that isn&rsquo;t The Big Lebowski &ndash; we&rsquo;re talking Kingpin, of course. First off, Sam has pulled together a great cast of bug-eyed weirdos &ndash; mainly Ian Virgo and Martin Hancock as the rival bowlers &ndash; who turn the dial to 11.
And then there&rsquo;s the added ridiculousness of the band as bowling balls which keeps getting better, as the trio are subjected to a variety of indignities &ndash; right down the final glorious throw. The VFX work by Tim Keeling is excellent &ndash; Sam explains below how they achieved the rolling heads FX &ndash; and that &lsquo;lick&rsquo; shot at the end is priceless&hellip;
Sam Pilling on the making of the video for Two Door Cinema Club&rsquo;s Handshake
&ldquo;I was really excited to make this idea so thank you to the band, their management and Kitsune for really believing in the project!
&ldquo;The real challenge was working out how the hell we were physically going to make the heads roll. Tim (the VFX supervisor) and I worked closely together trying to find the best way of achieving all the different VFX shots.
&ldquo;We had some great advice from some VFX specialists, but its always easier said than done and putting the theory into practice proved to be a problem &ndash; one which ended at midnight, the evening before the shoot with pieces of polystyrene littered all over the floor, foam stuffing ripped out of the office sofas and Tim wrapped in a entire 60m roll of bubble wrap, then almost passing out!
&ldquo;The shoot itself was great fun with a lot of laughs, despite trying to squeeze a 70+ shot list into one day! This was really a testament to the great team of people we worked with so thank you to all involved! You know who you are!!! It was an absolute pleasure working with such talented actors. Ian &amp; Martin completely nailed it and made the stressful experience just that bit easier!
&ldquo;A massive thanks to the band for being so up for it on the day. They had just played a gig in Brussels the night before, then travelled over night to get to London in time for the shoot. I&rsquo;m sure the last thing they wanted to be doing was rolling along a hard wooden floor with a cushion stuffed down their backs!
&ldquo;Everything weird that I asked them to do, they did with a smile! Yes, Alex did lick the bowling pin and Kevin was actually dragged along with his head in the gutter! As for Sam, he just got away with a stern talking to and Ian&rsquo;s fingers rammed down his throat!&rdquo;
&nbsp;

Sam Pilling

Director

2 interviews featuring Sam Pilling

21 videos featuring Sam Pilling

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2015 (1)

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