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Peer Review: Adam Muscat
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From Anselm Kiefer to Kendrick Lamar, Studio Private artist, editor and filmmaker Adam Muscat shares the painters, designers, hybrid documentaries and dreamy music videos that have influenced his approach to directing.
Who are three contemporaries that you admire?
Anselm Kiefer was a significant influence when I was studying art at CSM, there is so much I admire about his work. How scale, texture and materiality come together in a space, moving painting beyond its traditional modes and into something you feel physically present within.
The sparkly lights, the variety of textures, the canted angles, it’s so fun and is genuinely mesmerising.
Gearry Suen, Jewellery Designer. A friend and a true artist. The way Gearry uses colour in his work is genuinely remarkable, and the texture he creates through setting stones produces forms I have never seen before on a piece of jewellery.
Someone I find myself returning to constantly when looking for inspiration is Oneohtrix Point Never. His layered, textural approach to sound opens up a visual world as much as a sonic one, and I love the way he works across both music and film, having scored some of my favourite films in recent years.
Above: Painting by Anselm Kieffer Glaube, Hoffnung, Liebe.
Please share 3-4 pieces of work that exemplify great direction.
Jonathan Glazer - Zone of Interest
This film completely captured my attention: the visual precision of the multicam setups, the grade, and most importantly the way sound and image tell two entirely different yet codependent stories, relying on collective consciousness to construct a harrowing reality that is never shown but always felt.
Deftones - Sextape (Music Video)
Having seen them live recently I've become a little obsessed with this video. The sparkly lights, the variety of textures, the canted angles, it’s so fun and is genuinely mesmerising. On top of that it's cut together quite seamlessly which gives it the flow or feeling of immersion. Definitely not your stereotypical rock music video.
Kahlil Joseph - Good Kid, M.A.A.D City
I first saw this in person at The Infinite Mix at 180 Strand in 2016 whilst I was studying, and it was one of the first pieces of work that made me want to go into filmmaking. The way Kendrick's music is woven into the film, combined with a documentary style of shooting punctuated by surreal moments, came together as one of the most powerful and affecting ways of story telling.
Credits
View on- Director Kahlil Joseph
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Credits
powered by- Director Kahlil Joseph
What do you like most about the work that you do?
Over the past four or five years I've really enjoyed developing a rhythm within the context of short form filmmaking. It's given me the time and space to understand how my cuts lend themselves to a broader visual language that I want to carry forward into my directing work. Which starts to speak to the aesthetic world that I was creating in my fine art practice. Seeing it all come together as a singular trajectory with coherent instincts is what I find most rewarding.
That understanding of rhythm, pace and the relationship between sound and image is something I'm now taking into my directing work.
Credits
powered by- Director ZFCL
What has your career journey been like so far, and how has your experience as an editor shaped your approach to directing?
I've been lucky enough to work with some amazing directors, and that's allowed me to push editing beyond the simple cut and develop a visual style that distorts, layers and creates texture within imagery, which is where it gets interesting for me.
That understanding of rhythm, pace and the relationship between sound and image is something I'm now taking into my directing work. Having that editorial instinct also means I can almost visualise a film before we shoot, building detailed storyboards with a clear sense of what is and isn't needed on set in order to tell the story I'm looking for.
Above: Official trailer for Jonathan Glazer's Zone of Interest
What is one thing every director/editor needs?
Patience.
[The industry] moves fast and keeping up with it while still making work that feels considered is probably the real challenge.
Who is the greatest director of all time?
I don't think I can pinpoint one person as the greatest director of all time, there are far too many. But one director whose work I'm really enjoying at the moment is Lance Oppenheim. I first came across his work through Some Kind of Heaven and since then he's gone on to make some really strong films, his most recent being Primetime starring Robert Pattinson.
Above: Official trailer for Lance Oppenheim's film Primetime starring Robert Pattinson.
What’s changing in the industry that all directors/editors need to keep up with?
The content landscape feels like it's in constant shift. There's a clear move away from larger scale campaigns towards smaller, more social style films that reflect current influencer and social media trends. On top of that, the demands around deliverables are constantly evolving, with brands needing more output across more formats in order to reach the audiences they're after. It moves fast and keeping up with it while still making work that feels considered is probably the real challenge.
