Director Ijaaz Noohu is a Sri Lankan-born, Los Angeles-raised director and writer. One of his most recent projects is the music video for the song “Jaunty,” which is a track from KOAD’s upcoming album, “Treehouse.” While Noohu’s resume includes a variety of narrative productions, a lot of his work involves music videos, such as New York by Subi, Effy Stonem by Nick Mono and Come and Goes by KOAD, all from 2021.
Director Ijaaz Noohu
We recently reached out to Noohu to find out about his workflow on the music video.
Can you describe the Jaunty video?
The concept for the video riffs off the themes of the song, which begins with a classic, all-American rock ‘n’ roll guitar riff and ends with traditional Indian tablas. From the jump, we always envisioned the arc of this video as going from “0 to brown, and we aimed to create something that reflected the East/West influences that shaped us as artists and people from the South Asian diaspora.
How did you get involved with Jaunty?
KOAD and I have been working together for a few years. Alongside Amit Dodani, we partnered to create KOGO, a multidisciplinary artist community that aims to tell unprecedented narratives across every medium. Besides developing my own film and TV projects, I direct all of the visual material associated with “Treehouse.”
Jaunty
Can you tell us a bit about the concept and video?
We had an ambitious vision for the project. It needed a precise lighting style, which Monty Sloan cued on the fly. It also called for evocative production design, which Maya Sassoon built with an eye for key props. That all happened alongside a climactic dance sequence that Amrita Patil choreographed for KOAD, which he learned the day of production.
Amia Serrano even designed a custom kurti for KOAD. We had to pull all that off in a single day. It was an extremely tight schedule, and every creative involved had to deliver under immense pressure.
What was the video shot on?
We were fortunate enough to have some of the best creatives in the space join our team. DP Justin Moore shot the piece on an ARRI Alexa Mini using these beautiful LOMO Round Front lenses, which our first AC, Sam Hecker, kept sharp through every chaotic dance sequence.
Can you talk about the post?
On the post side, Michael Scotti Jr. edited the project in Adobe Premiere. He honed our vision into something precise but frenetic, bursting with an energy that drove a clear narrative arc.
Finally, we finished the project with color in Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve with Sarah Sebring, who gave the project it’s saturated flair and distinct hues.
Ijaaz Noohu
What were some of the challenges you faced on the project?
The biggest challenge we faced was time. We knew we wanted to begin with a variety of looks that we could cut together frenetically, which would contrast with the measured pace of the climactic dance sequence. The whole team needed to move fast and precisely so we could cycle through all the looks, light cues and outfits and leave time for KOAD to both learn the choreography and shoot the dance sequence.
Did you have a favorite scene? If so, what was it and why was it your favorite?
The climactic dance sequence is easily my favorite sequence of anything I’ve directed. I think it melds all my artistic aims into one moment — evocative images and precise and spontaneous camera work, all in service of a climactic beat of storytelling. Also, it’s just really cool, and it’s really cool to look at this thing that is distinctly brown, distinctly American, and distinctly me.
