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The brief : To depict the car interiors as well as the exteriors, that is the shape of the car clearly. No affectation through techydistortions or alteration of the shape & size of the car!Secondly, the story had to remain simple & fun filled & not dangerous, considering the distance between the galloping horses & the speedingcar.

The Scenario: Ford had up till this film only shot with their preferred list of cinematographers. I was the first Indian Cinematographer who had shot their earlier film there still were some apprehensions. The Director mooted forme together we pulled off a satisfactory job.

My interpretation: For the story to remain simple till the very end, the shots needed to be simple rather than complex moves or any virtuoso show offs. Additionally, the Look had to be realistic for the communication to be convincing. The tools i chose were basic-a crane, a trucking jeep, a track & trolley. & a few reflectors.

The essential problems:

1. To shoot a car in the desert is fun but accompanied by distinct issues-the light is very mischievous. While the sun allows you to start at about 9 in the morning, by 10.30-11.30 it becomes toppish & remains that away till 3-3.30. Between 4-4.30, it is awesome. It deteriorates so rapidly afterwards that it forbids any shooting.

2. The choice of the color of the car (silver) imposed issues.The
immediate & easy choice for a cinematographer would bea distinct color such as red or yellow. I chose silver, as I wanted the proximity of the white-brown sand shade to infusea richness & distinctness to the look of the commercial.The choice made things difficult-to retain sharpness &steer clear of unnecessary reflections (of the camera & equipment). I added another layer to these complexities by wanting the reflections of the horses on the windowpane.

3. Another deterring factor was the coordination between the action master, the horse riders, the principal car, the truckingcar & the 3 cameras. We had a mix of artists from the Bombay advertising world, the Bollywood industry & locals. To grab a fewframes of the story within the limited amount of shooting time was a feat in itself.

4. For the story to develop with speed, I had to keep in mindthat the chase will cut more rapidly than the before & after, meaning more number of options for the editor-more shots to inter-cut with. On the other hand, all the shots should cut smoothly& not appear as most often cut-aways do-like cheats.

The other problem was the sand itself. & then, there were a few more.

Afterthought: After the shoot, I did feel that if there had been budget & some creative freedom, I would have liked to suggest an evening to night flow for the film. The sunset golden light & the silver in the dark would have added a stunning appeal to the commercial. 2001-jan.

Category: Automobiles

Product: Ford Ikon

Director: Anirudha Sen-Shantanu Bagchi

Location: Desert

Emulsion: 100 ASA 5248 Kodak (Tungsten)

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Brief: No script. What fun!!! The TVC ought to look like its been shot abroad in a club/bar/poolside. The ambience is all important.

The advantage:
1. A small set. The biggest advantage was the faith of the Director in me. It took about 3 hours to light up.

2. Fair faces that I was not used to. Kept cutting the light till I thought that they looked ok to my eyes-checked on the meter ; realized that they were one stop under. The walls were -0.7. Or even lesser. The sheer pleasure of shooting something like this where the director is not forced by the Agency to light up everything from the walls to the objects to the faces to the hair to . Dunno why Indian advertising does it to date.

3. Felt incredibly free ; confident of the look as I did not have to put lights for hair or for any glow. I love blacks because they enhance not only the quality of the image but also aid the story telling.

4. On the principal lights I used half ; quarter blue gels.

5. As I was shooting extreme tele, I foregrounded some glass ; even moved it about with the trolleys ; pans.

6. The result on the final film is exactly what I had recorded-no Telecine passes, extra coloring or tinkering on the post on the online machines.

Sometimes one shoots a film that is a satisfying experience. This was one of those films. It's nice to tweak the negative to the very edge.

Category: Liquor

Year: 1999

Product: Bluegrass Whisky

Director: Anirudha Sen-Shantanu Bagchi

Location: Set 15 feet by 10 feet

Emulsion: 200 ASA Kodak (Tungsten)
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The Brief:Vibrant, lively feel. Youthfulness of it all. Black &White other than the pack.

Cinematographic issues:
1. Black & White stock unavailable. As usual, everythingwas wanted yesterday.

2. The only lab nearby that can process B&W is the FTII,but despite being an ex student, would the job be done inthe prescribed time with the necessary quality?

3. Color stock does not render the contrast levels that theB&W stock does.

4. Devise the shots to tell the before & after plausibly&
convincingly - the dynamism of a rebellious young group transformedto rejoice & joy.

5. Wrap the shoot in 3 days.

Devices:
1. Use 50D. Delineate the costumes-dark colors & brightcolors. Do not keep the color shades together. Remember thegrey scale in continuum. Telecine the footage as it is withBlack & White.

2. Forget about the sky-if it burns let it burn.

3. Wides-9.8, 16, 24 (even for close ups). Documentary feel.Handhelds. Move the camera with the characters. Foregroundthrough out-whether they be barricades or the water itself.The mid ground as the action except in
the heat of the action - (thrice where the close ups &mid shots are of the artists.)

Afterthought:
Two shots stick out of the film like a sore thumb-the guyin the gallery shot from three stories below on a 250.

The constraint of shooting time. Wish I had.

Category: Soap

Product: Jai lime

Year: 1997

Director: Anirudha Sen-Shantanu Bagchi

Location: Outdoors (Hirandani)

Emulsion: 50 ASA Kodak (Daylight)

Brief: When he drives the bike, he should get transported to another mind state, as he does not realize his own actions. The bike has to come across as a hero.

My interpretation:
The script was ambitious. There had to be a transition as he drives from the real rusty warehouse feel to some other environment altogether. & then return once more to reality. There were stunts as well as location shifts. & above all, the monsoons!!!

Problems:
1. There was a set of the warehouse. I would have to match the look with the open warehouse with huge containers.

2. Despite the constraint of time, I could not hold up the shoot due to the erratic cloud behavior (monsoons). Whether I had sunlight or cloudy weather, I had to continue shooting as well as ensure that the shots would match.

3. The transition????

Solutions:

1. Match the fill light. I waited hours on end so that the fill light was the same in the set (sunlight). Tinkered with the key a little (2.5 & 4 Ks) as well as the floor treatment.

2. Stuck to close ups whenever that the sun would evade me. I won at the hide & seek game.

3. The transition-found a patch of ground, treated it & went toppish. Took some skimmer cloth & moved it a little as well as moved the camera just a wee bit. The shot then had the quality of otherness but at the same time looked real & seemed as if the guy was driving the bike.

In a lot of instances, a cinematographer cannot possibly include others in either his immediate experience or the decisions he keeps taking as he plays with light & color & his equipment. This was one of the instances when I was alone on the field fighting with the elusive sun.

Category: Motorcycles

Product: Kinetic Challenger

Year: 2000

Director: Anirudha Sen-Shantanu Bagchi

Location: Port, Godown, Road

Emulsion: 200 ASA Kodak (Tungsten)

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Brief: The car that cannot be caught on the camera as it is too fast.

Cinematographic inputs:
1. To use the existing ambient light from the locale (both the mill & the expressway) & mix & merge other lights (tubelights in the mill). Kinos had not come in to the market & I made do with tubelights in the mill.

2. Traffic on the expressway cannot be stopped. Hence, it is extremely difficult to shoot there. We visited the location the same day that we were to shoot. I traveled with the meter to check & gauge the fluctuations & to fix the locations. Realised that a documentary or guerrilla approach to the shoot will have to be applied. There had to be perfect coordination between the camera car & the product-the wagon R. The first attempt failed as the existing drivers could not comprehend the precision of movements & timing. My assistants took over the wheels of both the cars. To maintain correct exposure & timing to match the movements of the cars & can the shots, mobiles came handy. All the shots were completed within two hours.

Cinematographic Approach:
Some films are in entirety Director driven, when the Cinematographer aids him with the appropriate images he needs to later tinker on the post. This was one of those films.

Category: Automobiles

Product: Maruti Wagon R

Year: 2000

Director: Anirudha Sen-Shantanu Bagchi

Location: Expressway, Abandoned mill

Emulsion: 200 ASA Kodak (Tungsten)

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Brief: It should be photography, not cinematography.

My Interpretation:
After all the real advertising that I had seen, & with the specific situations that were offered, I felt I should go by my instincts.

1. Let the framing be loose so that it does not look overtly composed.

2. Allow natural light to play on the emulsion.

3. Allow the blacks to breathe in the frames.

4. Let there be negative spaces.

5. Let the lensing be for mid shots, mid long shots & extreme long shots.

What happened on the shoot:
1. I kept the key light in all the situations on the left of camera. (except when she is sleeping & in the mirror scene.) Both those times are her own moments. Also a change had to occur during the mirror sequence as the image ends the film.

2. I composed the main model slightly right of camera (as also most of the action). Even at moments when the negative space was not really adding to the specific image I retained the off balance as this sort of compositional consistency in the story telling would help the emotive content of the film.

The two places where I did keep her in the center of the frame is the school going shot (the only 135 teleish shot in the film) & at the end. At the end, the character has to be centralized as she looks into the lens & as it is the conclusion of the film. Restrained from moving the camera at all times.

3. Waited for the natural light to lessen & filter in for the staircase shot.

4. Used top angles to portray the woman in her space-afterall, the space (the floor & the objects on it such as the toy, or the washing & the bottles, or even the flower beds, etc.) defines the woman!!!

5. Created a few patterns on the walls to aid the natural patterns that the location had.

6. Did not allow the advertising temptation to light up each & everything.

7. In the bedroom sequence, made sure that the sleeping man catches the light & then moves out of it.

8. For the rain scene, waited for the sun to dip in the evening to obtain the correct hue & then shot with the rain machine Within 10 minutes.

Category: Health

Product: Iodex

Year: 2002

Director: Anirudha Sen-Shantanu Bagchi

Location: Bungalow

Emulsion: 200 ASA Kodak (Daylight)

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