Joseph Kahn - Case study of music video director

Ahn Jun-hee known professionally as Joseph Kahn, is a Korean American film and music video director, who has worked with a range of different artists including Taylor Swift, Imagine Dragons, Eminem, U2, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Gwen Stefani, Blink 182, Backstreet Boys, Mariah Carey, Aerosmith, Justin Timberlake, George Michael, Kelly Clarkson, Black Eyed Peas, Beyoncé, and many more. In addition to this he has successfully completed a twenty-five year run that's included hundreds of award-winning commercials and billions of music video views. He has won multiple Grammys, MTV VMAs, Clios, Emmys, and honoured with a lifetime achievement award by the UK Music Video Awards. Kahn started at the New York University Tisch school of Arts, which he dropped out of after a year, so that he could direct music videos. In 1999, Kahn started his own production company with Chris Lee, SuperMega  Media which enabled him to work with diverse artists and get him where he is today.

            Gwen Stefani's music video 'The Sweet Escape' includes many symbolic codes to highlight the pop genre, along with Kahn's intentions to meet audience expectations. Firstly, this is shown through the cinematography, as the repetition of close ups highlights the importance of the artists presence in the frame however, long shots are used to show the audience the artists outfit and surrounding to signify her criminal state of mind. Successfully, the Mise-En-Scene adds to the criminal aspect of the video as the artist in placed in limited, tight, stripy clothing with heavy makeup and well styled hair which meets audience expectations, as this is how women present themselves in society in order to be an attraction. Cleverly, many cuts are used within the video, this is significant as one scene refers to Rapunzel fairy-tale, symbolising that she feels trapped and needs to escape society this is also shown by the lyrics 'I need to get out'.