Beyond the camera

ISSUE: 131

What differentiates a professional cinematographer from an amateur with a camera?

NP: With the easy availability of professional cameras nowadays, you find a lot of people out there marketing themselves as cinematographers and a lot of them get hired too! However, the word cinematographer or Director of Photography has a certain weight behind it. As a cinematographer, you are expected to consistently do a good job. You are hired because the producers can rely on you to get the job done. Whether the lighting is great or not or the framing is perfect or not are entirely subjective matters, but the job will be done in the most professional manner. Being a professional means having proper work etiquette. Cinematography is not only about making your subject look good, but also trying to tell a story through the collaboration of so many other people; and that sense of telling a story through collaboration can come only with having invested a certain amount of time in learning the craft. Cinematography is not just about someone pointing a camera and recording an event – it’s a way of looking at life itself. It’s about the study of light and how it falls on faces and structures and it’s about having a personal point of view of events happening around you. A professional cinematographer is also good at troubleshooting since he/she is knowledgeable about his/her craft.

What are your views on the recent popularity of web-series and the shift to digital platforms?

NP: This truly has been an incredible change. In the last few years, the competition in the job market has increased drastically; the advent of digital platforms and web series has created job opportunities. In India especially, lots of new stories and ways of storytelling are being explored via nonrestrictive digital platforms. Digital platforms provide filmmakers, especially Indie filmmakers, the opportunity to showcase their work. I think a greater audience is being reached through these platforms. A lot of youngsters and newcomers have also got more opportunities to enter the professional field of filmmaking. Of course, somewhere deep down I am afraid that traditional cinema might decline, but change is inevitable and if the future involves watching films on mobile phones and laptops, we need to adapt and move on. However, the essence of filmmaking should not be forgotten, and that is, to tell compelling stories.

What are you currently working on?

NP: I am currently working as a second unit director of Photography on Made in Heaven Season 2. In between shoot dates, I am writing a script that I hope to direct and shoot in the near future. I am also developing a global documentary on an ancient water management system called Qanats. I had started shooting an exciting feature film in Assam before the lockdown and I hope we can resume that soon. I am also in talks to shoot two web shows.

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