New York City-based Learan Kahanov is a 30-year industry veteran, contributing to a wide range of television and feature films. While an NYU student, he got experience working in the grip and electric departments, leading him to focus on lighting and working as a gaffer. A year after earning his BFA in film, TV and radio, he got the call to be the gaffer on director Kevin Smith’s Chasing Amy.

In 2000, Kahanov hung up his electric tool belt to focus full-time on cinematography. His DP credits include independent films such as A Perfect Fit, The Insurgents and Reunion and the television series Madam Secretary (check out our interview with him for this show), For Life and Stargirl.

Kahanov recently returned to his roots working with Smith again, but this time as director of photography on Clerks III. We asked him to tell us more about this full-circle opportunity.

Tell us about Clerks III. How early did you get involved?
My good friend David Klein, ASC, who shot the original Clerks movies, was unavailable to do the third and asked if I’d be interested. I said yes, and within two weeks I was at Kevin Smith’s comic book store, Secret Stash, in New Jersey.

What direction were you given about the look Kevin wanted?
Kevin is an interesting director when it comes to visuals. We wanted to honor the style of the earlier films, especially the black-and-white original, but since Clerks III takes place in the present, the visuals needed to reflect that.

How would you describe the look? And can you talk more about how the previous films played a role in developing the look?
I think of the movie as having three looks. There was a certain approach to all the scenes at the convenience store that was a throwback to how the original was composed, but I did “pretty up” the lighting.

Then, there is the movie within the movie; I wanted to ensure we were honoring the first two films while still updating the look. The original was shot in 16mm black-and-white — not even Super 16 — and Clerks III is shot with an 8K large-format sensor.

For the movie-within-a-movie sequences, we matched all the shots to the original. We would have reference photos from the first films on our phones or monitors and match the size and angle in the sequences, which often was a challenge due to the different formats of the original and the new film. While Kevin never really had comments on my lighting, he did have specific thoughts on where the camera was placed and the compositions therein. He is very specific when he wants to be, but he mostly had me set up all the shots after a brief discussion, as we did not “shot list” anything traditionally.

How did you work with colorist Ken Sirulnick to achieve the intended look?
Ken and I had worked on a concert film (SUSS – Promise Live) that I produced and shot, and we had a great rapport. When it came time to talk seriously about post production on Clerks III, I suggested Ken, who works at Goldcrest Post in New York City. Dan McGilvray, our post producer and an EP, worked out a scenario where Goldcrest was able to set up a remote color suite in the production office housed in Smodcastle in Leonardo, New Jersey.

Since we started talking about post in preproduction, we were able to test different things before we were even done shooting. One of those involved discussions with Suny Behar from LiveGrain, who showed us how the LiveGrain system could help us. We found that we didn’t need to add much grain to the image at all and liked what we had straight out of the Red camera. We did add some grain to the newly shot black-and-white footage, however.

Ultimately, the tests and prep saved us enormous amounts of time and money, allowing us to dial in a look before the final edit was complete. When it came time, Ken had a couple of days alone to set a base look. Afterward, we were able to sit together for the duration of the color grade and work together to finesse the scenes and make all the different deliverables. Ken has a great eye and knows what I like.

What were some notes you gave to Ken to make sure you got what you wanted?
The look was very natural. Most of my notes were about adding elements to help enhance what we wanted to highlight. Some things were about cleaning up what I couldn’t do on-set (darkening walls or floors), and some was done to clean up some faces, but mostly it was about shaping the image to enhance the story.

How did you go about choosing the right camera and lenses for this project? Why was this the right combination?
I knew we were working with a lower budget, and I wasn’t going to have a full truck of lights and gear, so light sensitivity was a major factor. We ended up testing the dual-ISO Sony Venice and the Red Monstro VV. I make a distinction about the Red sensor over the camera “body” because we ended up feeling that the Red system was the best option, and this is how it all landed.

Our main camera body was the Red Ranger (with Monstro chip), and our B cam was the Red Weapon (DSCM2). The C camera was used not only to film some scenes but also as the on-camera prop for what the characters used to make their movie. I wanted two Ranger bodies because they are all-in-one bodies with all the connectivity we needed, but due to availability, we ended up with the DSCM2 Weapon (albeit the same sensor), and it was a blessing in disguise. We were able to use the Weapon for Ronin gimbal/stabilizer work and whenever we needed to get the camera smaller.

Any challenging scenes that you are particularly proud of?
There was one situation where we had planned on shooting in a hospital chapel, but we had to move the scene to the waiting area outside the ER. We started losing light outside due to a storm, but we pushed through. It actually benefited the sequence because there was a natural progression from when we left the seating area to watch what was happening in the operating room and when we returned to the seating area. At that point it was even darker.

While we were shooting the second half of the scene, there was a lightning strike in the distance outside the windows — it couldn’t have timed out better. Later, in sound design, they added a thunder crack, and it just made the scene so much funnier and more visceral. Some things you just can’t plan.

What inspires you artistically?
I am a firm believer in story first. All cinematographers have their own aesthetic and style. I am not an exception, but I also pride myself on being a chameleon — using my creative and technical expertise to what the story in the script requires while still leaving my mark on the project.

What’s your go-to gear (camera, lens, mount/accessories) – things you can’t live without?
My career has spanned ultra-low-budget movies to major network and premium cable TV shows. I have worked with all kinds of gear and resources or lack thereof. So there is no particular gear I “must have,” but instead I hold on to lighting techniques. So, whether I have a full truck of lighting gear or just a handful, I know how to use the resources to create the emotion on-camera that the project requires.