Director Bardia Zeinali knew exactly what Sabrina Carpenter’s music video for “Why Please Please” needed. A song in which a woman begs her chaotic spouse to behave (or, to quote the song’s lyrics, “Don’t embarrass me, you son of a bitch”). ), the video demanded sexy crime vibes. There’s an explanation for why Zeinali put Sharon Stone on the temperament board in “Basic Instinct. “
This moment became a meme almost as soon as the video premiered. “I know I’m longing for new air, but the ceiling fan is so nice,” Carpenter chirps as the camera slowly pulls back to reveal Keoghan pointing a gun at a bank teller. The visual gag is perfectly timed with Carpenter’s lyrics, the kind of pop silliness that distinguishes her hit “Espresso” as something entirely different from other new pop music.
“I knew the first chorus was the first time I was looking to break the fourth wall, to get her to perform in front of the camera,” Zeinali said. “[That’s when] you first hear what he’s saying, which is necessarily begging that user to avoid his chaotic behavior. I knew I wanted to have that replacement there because there’s a replacement in music, musicality.
“At first, the message was that it was Sabrina who was ending up with this user who helps avoid getting into trouble,” Zeinali said. “I knew I wanted to do a combat series, but I wanted this series to feel like a painting, up until that point in the painting where it almost looks like a Renaissance painting. After rejecting some other ideas, such as using a canvas to show the combat taking position in silhouette, Zeinali keeps the series firm but reinforced. Where we land is that it would be in the frame of this door, the frame is the separation between the two worlds, and it’s kind of caught in the middle. She’s a little there, but not at all. She’s a little disconnected, both in terms of where she is in the relationship, but also in terms of how she closes her eyes.
Zeinali filmed “Please, Please, Please” in a single day at a disused Staten Island prison, but Keoghan recommended preparing for the fight the day before to make sure the one-take scene was shot smoothly. “He was actually aware that this was Sabrina’s video, it was Sabrina’s day, he didn’t need to be the one to delay a shot or take up too much time or space,” Zeinali said.
“I worked a lot with her stylist,” Zeinali said. “I always like to create a very strong point of view for outfits and costumes. With that in particular, I knew I wanted Sabrina to have something in her wardrobe that was consistent throughout and almost felt like a hyper fixation, so I can sense that this user is obsessive and obsessed with things. And where we landed were those type of stirrup socks that she wears everywhere.