Filmmaker Joseph Kahn on Music Videos, Commercials, and the Essential Art of Editing

"Everything I do is an extension of my editing," says Joseph Kahn, whose music video and commercial work has won him critical acclaim in just a few short years. Voted by Variety as one of the top 10 directors to watch, Kahn is at the forefront of a new generation of filmmakers, and his innovative projects are supported by a flexible work style. He currently works out of his Hollywood home, where he has his own Avid editing suite. With two Avid Xpress Pro systems and Avid Mojo hardware, Kahn and his assistant Chris Abel rely on the systems' creative toolset and portability to work at home or on location, under the banner of their production company Supermega.

Joseph Kahn: Growing up on MTVKahn is a hands-on creative professional who handles everything from conception to shooting, directing, and editing. In fact, he has been single-handedly credited with helping to launch the careers of artists that he has worked with, and his lineup includes: U2, The Chemical Brothers, Blink 182, Eminem, Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Moby, Black Eyed Peas, and Muse. He has garnered multiple awards for his music videos, including several MTV Music Video Production Awards and a Grammy award for Eminem's Without Me video. His roster of commercial spots is equally impressive. Corporate clients include Acura, Ford, Budweiser, Miller, Sony, and, most recently, British Telecom, for whom Kahn launched one of the most expensive and aggressive advertising campaigns ever produced in the U.K. His Fox/NASCAR campaign won a 2004 Clio award for visual effects. And in 2003, he found time to make his feature film directorial debut with Torque, a tongue-in-cheek motorcycle action movie, starring Martin Henderson and Ice Cube.

Not bad for a Houston, Texas native, whose parents hoped he'd enroll in one of the area's prestigious medical schools. Instead, Kahn became intrigued with media as a kid. He absorbed the pop culture of his time - soaking in comic books, television, movies, and music - and began shooting skateboarding videos of his friends while in his teens. He eventually enrolled in film studies at New York University, but shortly after struck out on his own to create hip-hop videos, an experience that helped him hone his filmmaking skills. In 1995, he moved to Los Angeles and began a successful career that is notable for the ease in which he crosses over multiple disciplines.

"Editing creates the experience of film and is the core of filmmaking."
- Joseph Kahn

Linear Spirit in a Nonlinear World

Joseph Kahn: Lights... Camera... AvidKahn, who began editing on ¾-inch tape, has been working on Avid systems since 1995. For him, discovering the Avid system was a dream fulfilled. "When I was a kid in high school, back in the days of VHS tape, I used to edit with multiple VCRs," he recalls. "I hated shuttling and rewinding and overwriting hours and hours of material that I had shot, and I used to imagine how great it would be if there was some sort of nonlinear system. I pictured what that would look like. CDs had just come into vogue, and one of the cool things was that you could jump tracks and listen to whatever song you wanted, so I thought it would be amazing to do that with video editing. I imagined that on one side of the screen you could have your source, and on the other side would be record, and somehow you could file it all away. So, I had an idea of what an Avid

should look like already. Then, when I finally saw one, it was like a fantasy come true."

Joseph Kahn: The Art of Editing

Kahn now speaks of keeping a "linear spirit" while using a nonlinear system. "An Avid [system] makes editing so easy, and while it's wonderful to have this ability to explore concepts and to have it accessible to so many people, I believe strongly that editing is not about randomly putting things together to see what will work; [rather] it's about having a very constructed view of something. Then - what the Avid [system] does - is help you construct that story, as opposed to experimenting your way into it. I think of editing as a storytelling process conceived from a defined point of view and told in a linear way, where not one edit should be out of place and where each edit is integral to the whole."

While this linear vision serves him as an overall guide, he has mastered using the latest nonlinear technology to its fullest advantage to complement his approach. He often uses his Windows-based laptop with Avid Xpress Pro software to edit directly on set during a shoot. He explains, "As I'm shooting, I'm often sequencing shots and scenes together in my head. By the time I finish shooting, I pretty much have my idea of the edit locked, and then the Avid [software] really helps me add nuances to that. Most of my music videos are edited in six hours or less; usually within a couple of hours [after the shoot]. With commercials, I'll have my final cut in 10 minutes or less. Some people take 10 days. It used to take me three days to edit a video without the Avid [system], and now I can do it in three to six hours. That's what happens when you combine someone who already has a linear vision with a nonlinear system. If you have a nonlinear vision and a nonlinear system, it might take you 10 days because the choices and possibilities could potentially overwhelm you."

 

Joseph Kahn: The Art of Editing

Using the Avid Xpress Pro system was a perfect solution for Kahn and Abel, who acts as an editing assistant on Kahn's projects. "When we saw the [Avid] Xpress Pro, it offered us everything that we needed," says Abel. "We were looking for an offline system that was practical for our needs but also affordable - and the portability factor was a huge added bonus. We now take our laptops out into the field with the [Avid] Mojo attached and actually digitize directly from the video tap off the film cameras. This way, we can get an advanced start on editing and also show the clients what they're getting. A lot of times, Joseph will have 90 percent of the video already cut while we're on set."

For example, the recent Muse video that Kahn did, Knights of Cydonia, was shot in Romania and London and completely edited while on location. This included working with both PAL and NTSC material on the Avid Xpress Pro setup. By the time Kahn and Abel returned to their home studio in Los Angeles, their work was basically done, and Kahn only needed about an hour to refine some small details and complete the project. 

"We've had the [Avid] Xpress Pro for about a year now, and we've taken it on every set that we've been to," says Abel. "All together with the added equipment - external speakers, [Avid] Mojo, cables, everything - it weighs only about 25 pounds and fits in a backpack. I even had it set up in the back of my PT Cruiser once, running on the power converter from a cigarette lighter. We were shooting Walk Away for Kelly Clarkson on location and didn't have a generator, so I just turned on my car, opened up the hatchback, put the [Avid] Xpress Pro with the [Avid] Mojo in the rear of my Cruiser, and all we had to do was run a video tap and we were set."  

For Kahn, the next move will be editing in HD on his Avid Xpress Pro system, further

allowing him to blur the line between offline and online editing. He has recently begun this transition, shooting a project with the Panavision Genesis HD camera. "The limitation of the offline and online now has very little to do with the Avid [system] and everything to do with what source material I'm shooting on, whether it's HD or film. The only reason we have an offline right now, for me, is that I'm still shooting on film, and the film has to be colored and printed. If I could shoot in HD, which I intend to [do more of], and just download directly to my Avid [system], I could edit with the actual footage on set and go straight to the final cut from there. I'd essentially be onlining as I shoot," explains Kahn.

Joseph Kahn: The Art of Editing

Kahn currently onlines his projects using a variety of partners who work with Avid products, including Avid Media Composer Adrenaline, Avid DS Nitris, and Avid Symphony systems. By using a total Avid offline-to-online workflow, Kahn can be assured that every aspect of his creative offline work is automatically conformed to the online version for the most streamlined and accurate finishing process.

"We now take our laptops out into the field with the [Avid] Mojo attached and actually digitize directly from the video tap off the film cameras."
- Chris Abel

Editing as Filmmaking

Joseph Kahn: Editing as a mindsetAlthough he's now one of the most highly sought-after directors in the commercial and music video industries, Kahn considers himself primarily a filmmaker. "Editing is the purest form of filmmaking," he says. "Yet, it's the most misunderstood part of the filmmaking process."

Kahn believes that this confusion occurs on two levels: on a storytelling level, film is analyzed from a literary point of view, often relying on the same criteria used to discuss novels or plays; while on a visual level, film is examined from a 2D or 3D photographic perspective, without considering the vital dimension that makes it unique: time.

Joseph Kahn: The Art of Editing

"Filmmaking is a four-dimensional experience, and that's the biggest difference between film and any other kind of art form, except for possibly music," explains Kahn. "We have to experience film on a temporal basis, in a very specific period of time. To do that, we manipulate points of view, stretch time, slow it down, place two images next to each other, and manipulate how we feel about time and how we look at it. So, film offers this completely unique fourth-dimensional experience, and that's the most powerful essence of filmmaking. It's an undiscovered part of the process that people haven't really analyzed to its full extent. I've built my entire career based on this: filmmaking is editing - it's nothing else. Editing creates the experience of film and is the core of filmmaking." 


* CREDIT for Muse video stills: Stills courtesy of Warner Music. Copyright 2006. Acura stills: Photos courtesy of RPA.