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Arlo Parks 'Softly' by Zhang + Knight

Promonews - 2nd Feb 2022

Arlo Parks's first new song since the release of her hugely successful debut album Collapsed In Sunbeams comes with a luminous visual by directing duo Zhang + Knight - their first music video since London Grammar's Lose Your Head a year ago.

For Softly - a song about "how fragile you feel in the dying days of a relationship when you’re still desperately in love" according to Parks - the directing team create a version of the real world which slowly unravels, layer by layer.

What initially looks like an idealised, picture perfect location is gradually decontructed. The early sense of the singer being in a mid-century studio movie or musical is gradually undercut, as the staging is revealed and comes apart at the seams, leaving the constituent elements floating in surreal space. 

The marvel is that like their previous successful works for Eden and aforementioned London Grammar, everything is created in-camera - in this case at a film studio in Kiev.

"For us 'Softly' explored the idea of wanting something that was once perfect to end in a gentle way, and we wanted to express this using the world surrounding Arlo," explain Zhang and Knight. "We were instinctively drawn to the warm toned, hazy nostalgia of the 1960's, as we loved the idea of something universally romantic being slowly stripped away throughout the film.

"We based the colours of the bricks, trims and doors on mid-century painting in order to bake this romanticism into everything. The production itself was a huge challenge, as everything was captured in-camera with each piece of the set built on wheels operated by several production crew. However, we knew it was all worth it when we saw the skyscrapers dancing around Arlo for the first time."

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Promonews - 2nd Feb 2022

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  • Pick of the Day
  • Performance
  • Pop
  • Alternative

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Credits

Production/Creative

Director
Zhang + Knight
Producer
Jens Nielsen
Service Producer
Valentyn Petyshkin
Production Company
Service Company
Radioaktive Film
Executive Producer
Danny Herman
Service Co Exec Producer
Kate Galytska
1st AD
Val Semko
Production Manager
Nick Semko
Production Coordinator
Andrew Birch
2nd AD
Nikita Nikolaienko

Camera

Director of Photography
Giuseppe Favale
1st AC
Peter Chetverikov

Lighting/Grip

Gaffer
Leo Sidorenko

Art

Art Director
Max Halushka
Production designer
Oian Arteta
Art Department Coordinator
Irina Avdeeva

Wardrobe

Make-up
Lauren Webster

Choreography

Choreographer
Simon Donnellon

Casting

Stunt Co-ordinator
Slava Barabolia

Editorial

Editor
Jack Williams
Edit Producer
Phoebe Armstrong-Beaver
Edit Producer
Joshua Gochez
Edit Assistant
Kevin Corry

Grading

Colourist
Jonny Thorpe
Colour grade company
Glassworks
Colour Assist
Daniela Routaru
Grade Producer
Andrew Patrick

Other credits

Photographer

Lillie Eiger

Tour Manager

Adam Williams

Management

Ali Raymond, Sarah Rodriguez at Beatnik

Label

Mike Harounoff at Transgressive

Promonews - 2nd Feb 2022

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