Meet Jacob Haag | Music Video Director & Editor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jacob Haag and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jacob, do you have any habits that you feel contribute to your effectiveness?
I think my passion and drive for wanting each music video I direct to be better than my last helps me grow as a creative. I’m also always trying to push myself out of my comfort zone as a creative and try different shooting techniques with each video so I can continue to develop my skills as a music video videographer. I spend a lot of time watching other music videos on YouTube and taking notes on how other directors and editors approach their videos. I think my editing has really benefitted from the countless hours I spend in Adobe Premiere Pro just trying out different effects and transitions to expand my talents as an editor.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’ve been in love with filmmaking since I got my first camera on my 12th birthday. I really got into shooting music videos my sophomore year of college because I have friends in the music industry that were looking for a videographer and it was a perfect opportunity for me to pursue my dream as a music video director. I am able to use the skills I learn in film school with all my music video shoots from directing the artists, camera framing and movements as well as different editing techniques. However, my traditional narrative filmmaking background led me to use a lot of stationary shots in my early music videos but the more projects I worked on, I was able to realize how important it is to use dynamic shots in my videos. I prefer to stay away from creating my content under a stage name or some flashy logo. I view each of my music videos as a work of art, which is why I’ve started to end my videos with an animation of my signature. I like how painters sign their names on the bottom corner of their paintings so that’s something I try to recreate with my artworks.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If you’re coming to Philly you have to grab some food at Reading Terminal Market. My favorite spot to go out for drinks is Tequila’s Restaurant. You also have to check out a Philadelphia Union soccer game because the stadium environment is unbelievable.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Hue Hinton has been an extremely influential person in my story as an artist. He’s been a friend of mine since high school so it’s amazing to see how much we’ve each grown as individual artists over time. We’ve always talked about collaborating and working on a music video together. Once he sent me a new single he was planning on releasing I immediately knew that it was the perfect song to shoot a video for.

Instagram: @jacob.haag

Image Credits
Chris Jang