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Samm Henshaw 'Still Broke' by Jim Pilling

Promonews - 20th May 2021

Samm Henshaw is living in the lap of luxury in huge mansion, but also in a pit of sadness, in Jim Pilling's video for Still Broke.

The first in a series of videos for Untidy Soul, Henshaw's upcoming debut album, Pilling establishes the off-kilter, quietly comic premise from the start, as Henshaw stares out from his gigantic gilded cage before resuming his chores of ironing fifty quid notes. 

Shot on 16mm by DoP Rik Burnell, a series of slow zooms and stylised camerawork creates this amusing disconnect between remarkable wealth and opulence with Henshaw's abject dejection and lack of fulfillment. It all comes to a head when he receives a message from an visitor, to shake up him from his misery.

With its playfulness and visual style - and the promise of Samm venturing out into the world in the next episode - this one sets up the Untidy Soul series very nicely indeed.

JIM PILLING:

[Sonny] gets a message which serves as a kind of awakening from his lonely life of luxury.

“Samm wanted to create a world around his character - Sonny - and tell his story in a way which really appealed to me - over a series of a few music videos.

"In this first episode, we find him in his huge mansion with only his house staff for company. Then he gets a message which serves as a kind of awakening from his lonely life of luxury. I wanted to shoot this as a really graceful sequence where we never leave the story and build Sonny’s journey as the track progresses.

"It’s a kind of heightened, slightly surreal reality for him, where he’s at odds with where he finds himself.”

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Promonews - 20th May 2021

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  • Director's notes
  • New Director
  • Special projects
  • Soul
  • R&B

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Credits

Production/Creative

Director
Jim Pilling
Producer
Francesca Di Muro
Production Company
Vidsett
Executive Producer
Samm Henshaw
Executive Producer
Jim Pilling
1st AD
Joe Mulvihill

Camera

Director of Photography
Rik Burnell
Focus Puller
Emily Jane Robinson
2nd AC
Max Openshaw

Lighting/Grip

Gaffer
Leon Psyzora

Art

Art Director
Bianca Zehra

Wardrobe

Make-up
Chloe Rose
Wardrobe
Carlotta Constant

Editorial

Editor
Jim Pilling
Editing company
Vidsett

Grading

Colourist
Tim Smith
Colour grade company

VFX

Post Producer
Carla Thomas

Commission

Commissioner
Bianca Bhagat
Commissioner
Cheyenne Miller
Label
Awal

Misc

DoP's representation

Other credits

Written by Jim Pilling

Art Department Assistant

Aisha Greenidge-Noorgat

Stylist Assistant

Aliesha Vian

2nd Unit DOP

Lorenzo Pace

2nd AD

Ramone Anderson

Camera Trainee

Alfie Brown

Spark

Charlie Lodge

Grip

Steve Gilbert

Grip Trainee

Josh Higgens

Riggers

Paul Sharp, Charlie Bryant

Runner

Phoebe Mulvhill

Sound Design/Mix

Ben Hensor

Additional VFX

Peque Varela

Camera Supplier

Emmyland

Lighting Supplier

Glo Film Lighting

Wardrobe Suppliers

New & Lingwood, Clark's And Ullac

Film Lab

Kodak

Promonews - 20th May 2021

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