Clearly defined borders and direction can be fertile soil for the creatively inclined. Cinematographer Jonathan Ohanna proclaims the validity of this premise with his work in an underappreciated genre; namely, commercials. Social media has led us all to comprehend that having a massage and having that message become noticed by the masses is not the same thing. Simply stated, it takes a lot of talent to deliver an idea or a product in a way that leads to mass awareness. To do so with style requires even more skill and vision. While he has gained the respect of his peers and the industry with his contributions to films and music videos, Jonathan asserts that commercials allow him the means to deliver imagery that elicits a specific emotional tone within the desired parameters.
There’s a certain requirement to be “comfortable” within confines that he wholeheartedly embraces. He reveals, “I think that there is a real benefit to not knowing everything and how it will work out. Embracing the unknown and finding a way to make things work for the best is one of the most important skills you can have. I was always fascinated with how movies are made, since I was a kid, I loved to watch the behind-the-scenes of movies that were included in the extra content on DVD’s. I also loved animation and comic books as a kid so I drew my own cartoons and comics all through childhood, dreaming that one day my job would be a comicbook artist or an animator. It wasn’t until I joined the army that I realized that I don’t want to sit in a room drawing all my life but still want to be a visual storyteller. I realized that I had always loved movies more than a normal person. After I finished my service in the army, I went to study film. All of that taught me to be adventurous and ‘solve the puzzle’ that comes my way.”
The imagery of an advertisement is typically the most important factor in transmitting emotion. This is certainly prominent in the commercial which Jonathan DPd for Australian clothing company Redback. The vignettes of a man working the fields and enjoying a romantic moment with someone special near an open fire tells as much about the person wearing Redback work boots as the shoes themselves. Even in the absence of dialogue with the actors onscreen, the message is clear. A minimalist approach that yields substantial emotional content is the calling card of Mr. Ohanna who states, “For the Redbacks shoot, we used mostly natural light, though in some cases we did use a light or two. I shot most of this with a handheld. For some shots we used a small dolly known as a dana dolly, that way we could build it up and take it down fast. We kept it light because we needed to shoot five different locations in only one day. Overall, the shoot was pretty simple, I just had to make sure we stayed in the same tone and most importantly, had the shoes and clothes in every shot so the brand was highly visible.”
Conversely, the visual style of the commercial Jonathan shot for Gan Shmual looks drastically different, ranging from bright daytime settings with vibrantly colored fruit to drone shots of fields and factory settings. Highly polished and thoroughly planned out, this commercial comes across almost like a mini documentary rather than the short film tactic of Redbacks. This type of diversity is a requirement as a professional cinematographer as Jonathan points out, “As soon as I was approached to do this commercial, we took a tour of the factory and I began creating my shot list. It’s always about the story you are telling and the impact you want to make. There isn’t ‘one’ way to shoot a story or ‘one’ type of story to be told. I have to open myself up to how the story wants to be communicated. That’s one of the most fulfilling parts of what I do. Whether I’m shooting a film, a covid video for a hospital in Israel, a mini-series, or an advertisement, I’m serving the story.”
Writer : Basil Thomson