Jonathan Ohanna is Where Cinema Meets Music Video
Jonathan Ohanna has spent his life driven by a passion for storytelling. This can take many different forms in present day. While his films such as the much-celebrated Noam (a nuch celebrated hit at the Shabulim Film Festival) and other long form productions have earned him international notoriety, Jonathan has often found great creative expression in his collaborations within the medium of music videos. Following in the steps of predecessors like Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend, Water for Elephants) and David Fincher (Gone Girl, Fight Club) who vacillated between music videos and films, Jonathan contributes his profound talent as a director, cinematographer, and VFX artist to crafting unique looks and styles for these productions. It is his assertion that the mingling of music and visuals is a unique combination which cultivates something uniquely possible within its own world. The productions he has undertaken illustrate how diverse and powerful the final outcome can be.
As the cinematographer, editor, and VFX artist on a music video for Daniel Grant, Jonathan was essential in manifesting the psychological space presented on camera. Collaborating with Daniel and director Romi Grant, Ohanna cultivated a visual approach which communicates the artist’s anxiety about getting to the top of the music industry. Jonathan was specifically brought aboard the project due to his impressive ability to create compelling images with the way that he shapes lights and color. The video itself is a master lesson in economy of visuals to illustrate internal feelings. From dark close-ups to surreal moments such as when Daniel is inside a matchbook, the overall dreamlike quality of this music video is highly stylized without being overly reliant on VFX. Ohanna succinctly describes it as surrealistic with a pastel color scheme and high contrast. He was highly involved in key decisions which led to the final look and concept of this production. Jonathan stipulates, “We tried to make the style of the music video clean and simplistic which is a common approach that I like and use in my work. Clean camera movement and static shots are what are mainly used in the video until the last part. Here, we wanted to make the anxiety go to a maximum with the room shaking like an earthquake, with Daniel tiring from fighting the hand which is trying to close the box on him and leads to him taking the risk and finally jumping from the tall chair.”
Reaching different audiences is very important to Jonathan. He achieved unexpected success with this through his work on Ofir Zacks’ music video for the song “Ashmadai.” The name of the king of demons in Jewish mythology, “Ashmadai” found an enthusiastic fanbase within the devoutly religious community in Israel. Jonathan brought a very different style and pace to this music video as its director, cinematographer, and editor. The song is about the evil inclination or in Hebrew ‘yetzer ha-ra’ which in the Jewish religion exists within every person. God uses the’yetzer ha-ra’ to test people, giving them opportunity to make a choice between good and evil. This video presents Ofir Zacks as both the interrogator and suspected criminal, necessitating some fine shot designs and camera work to pull this off. In the climax of the song, the demon uses magic to release Ofir from his handcuffs. As Ofir answers the phone, the prison cell bars explode and the prisoners attacks the inner characters of Ofir. Ofir stays alone in the darkness in a void while the demons are laughing. Ohanna describes, “To make the video clip more interesting I proposed to Ofir that we make the table interrogation scene look like a one shot, by moving the camera in a precise manner to make it look like there are no cuts. This technique is called stitching. Basically, you filmed two shots but one of them starts a movement while the other one continues it with the same speed and position. Then you cut between the shots where the frame looks the same in both shots. Usually, on big sets, to achieve this technique they use motion control camera rigs which give the ability to shoot precisely the same movement again and again, but I didn’t have the luxury of this kind of equipment so my solution was to make the interrogation room black. This allowed me to easily hide the cuts. The other problematic situation was the need to time the cuts just right so the singer would always sing on time and the lip sync will be perfect. My solution for this was to model the space of the scene, the table and the characters in a 3D software (I used Blender), and animate the camera movement in 3D space according to the song. Then on set I had to follow the movement and timing of the model as bestI could”
Music artist Harel H desired a music video for “Don’t Worry” that would build upon the hopeful message of the song’s proclamation that the residents of Israel persevere during this current time of war. Asking Jonathan Ohanna to direct, shoot, and edit (as well as add VFX) was Harel’s move towards the realization of this goal. This production is a triumph in its refusal to be sorrowful or mute joy in the face of such chaos. Full of dancing and smiles throughout the city streets of Tel Aviv, “Don’t Worry” depicts more celebration and confidence than anything. Jonathan informs, “We had a plan but we embraced the spontaneity of the moment as well. It was mostly about capturing positive energy. It was an interesting experience for me to be on a project because I had to let go of the controlling aspect and just let things happen as they are naturally. The music video tries to have hope and positivity for our people without involving the political sides in it and reminds everyone that we are all together. I think it presents what myself and so many others desire, which is to live in peace. We didn’t choose this war and it’s sad that people are dying in both sides.”
Writer : Winston Scott