You studied mechanical engineering and architecture, and now, you are using both of them in your creative works. When and how did you decide to be a director?

Growing up, I was always balancing my creative interests against my technical ones, never thinking I would have a job that allows me to combine them all.

I always had a passion for the process of making things, even more than the final result. One of my earliest memories is of my father showing me how to build model planes and teaching me the importance of planning, precision and, above all, patience (always the toughest one for me). At the same time, my mother put me in music lessons and often took me to the symphony and the opera. Although I wasn’t always happy about it at the time, it gave me an appreciation for the arts at a very young age.

When it came time to go to college, I chose engineering over music. I did well, but quickly realized I wouldn’t be satisfied with it as a career. After I went abroad for a semester and studied architecture, I decided to give it a shot. I thought it might be that perfect combination of art and science that I was looking for. I learned two important things in architecture school; one was the ability to be self-critical, and the other was that I didn’t want to be an architect.

After graduation I started up a small design firm in New York with a good friend from school. We decided we would each follow our own interests hoping to eventually make some money at it. I made a couple of short films on spec that eventually got the attention of a few commercial clients. One thing led to another and eventually I left New York for Los Angeles to be closer to the production and post-production companies that I wanted to work with.

What does your workspace look like?

( Answer of this question is in the magazine. )


Which software and what kind of computers do you use for modeling, rendering and chroma keying?

To be honest, I use Microsoft Word more than any other piece of software. Every project begins with a treatment which is written and rewritten dozens of times. For me, it’s the most important part of the process because it’s where the idea is formulated. Everything else follows from that.

When it comes time to do some preliminary design and previsualization, I use 3ds max. I know it well enough so that it is like a 3D sketchpad for me. I have found that more and more post-production companies are using max now so I can hand my files directly over to them.

I am very particular when it comes to the lighting in my projects so I only use rendering engines that are able to simulate photorealistic effects. Most of my projects were rendered with Mental Ray, but on a recent commercial project we used Vray which worked out well. On that same project we used Nuke, a compositor developed at Digital Domain, for all the chroma keying. Of course no keyer is perfect; there is always some rotoscoping that needs to be done by hand.

Can you tell us about the working process of your "Les Jumelles" project which you produced as a part of Nike's "Art of Speed" campaign?

The origin of Les Jumelles goes back to a class I took in college which was taught by a brilliant physicist from CERN. I remember learning about Einstein’s concept of time dilation, specifically the twin paradox:

If we placed a living organism in a box one could arrange that the organism, after any arbitrary lengthy flight, could be returned to its original spot in a scarcely altered condition, while corresponding organisms which had remained in their original positions had already long since given way to new generations. For the moving organism the lengthy time of the journey was a mere instant, provided the motion took place with approximately the speed of light – A. Einstein

It seemed like a good concept to approach Art of Speed with because Nike did not have a specific directive. So, using the idea of the twin paradox as a starting point, I wrote a simple narrative about a set of twins that live together in a “futuristic�? chateau. One of the twins gets up on a winter morning and goes for a run in her Nike running shoes. She runs until she becomes a pulsing beam of light. Time begins to accelerate and she quickly passes through days, weeks, and months. When she returns to the chateau a short time later, we see that the seasons have changed and that her twin has aged (having grown long locks of hair).

The idea of twins and symmetry figured prominently in every aspect of the film. If you watch closely, you will see a set of twins, spatial symmetry, or a reflected image in almost every shot. The edit also followed a symmetrical pattern; many of the shots appear twice and in the reverse order they appeared before. I also managed to hide Albert in there; you’ll have to watch it closely to spot him.

It was a tremendous amount of work, but a great experience. I collaborated with some very talented people including Dean Di Simone (2D graphics & titles), Chris Buckley (producer), Oliver Zeller (architectural modeling), TRS-80 (soundtrack) and Nike, who granted total creative freedom. It would be nice if more commercial projects worked the same way.

Which art movement do you find closer to yourself? Can we describe Joseph Kosinski as a futurist?

I would prefer not to be associated with any movement, manifesto, or label. I am inspired by ideas, images, and sounds that are interesting to me on an instinctive level rather than a socio-political one.

What do you think about the future of architecture?

Prefabricated customization – I look forward to the day when I can design my house online and have it delivered by Fed Ex.

Personally, which project in your portfolio satisfied you more than others? Which one do you like most?

I think I am most proud of "Desert House " and "iSPEC " which were done purely for the sake of making a film -- there was no client or budget whatsoever.

Imagine that a building named "Joseph Kosinski" will be built in the middle of New York City. What should it look like to describe you best?

Tall and thin, with no windows.

Are you interested in movies? Which directors do you find closer to yourself in terms of visual comprehension?

Absolutely – I am in the process of developing a couple of films right now. From a visual standpoint, my favorites are Stanley Kubrick, Michelangelo Antonioni, Andrei Tarkovsky, Peter Greenaway, Alan Pakula, Michael Mann, Ridley Scott and David Fincher.

Do you listen to music while working? Which genre do you find effective enough to change the soul and the course of your work?

I listen to music constantly; it stimulates that dark and mysterious part of the brain from which ideas occasionally bubble up to the surface. I listen to a lot of ambient, electronic, classical, and jazz. Some of my favorites include Boards of Canada, Brian Eno, Miles Davis, Tortoise, Air, & Stereolab.

Theme of our 4th issue is "2050". What comes to your mind when you first hear that? What kind of changes do you expect from the future especially in visual arts and digital technology?

I think technology will continue to be something that seems to improve the quality of our lives and, simultaneously, threatens to destroy us. I read an article recently which posed an interesting theory about why we haven’t found evidence of life on other planets. Basically, it said that the window of time for any civilization between discovering radio and destroying themselves with nuclear energy (or global warming) is so brief that by the time we got a signal from them, they would already be extinct. That’s the small slice of time that we find ourselves in now and it will be interesting to see how we keep from becoming just another fleeting blip of activity.

In regards to the visual arts, I think technology for the production and distribution of “media�? will continue to be made available to a wider audience, so (hopefully) those with the most talent and best ideas will rise to the top.

And personal jetpacks…that would be cool.