Action packed realism - Kodak

6 Mumbai 7
Mumbai
responsible as well as careful while working
with them," he says. "It is not that being a
senior you can dominate," adds Lal. "At times
you have to be a guide and at times a learner,"
according to Lal.
Commenting on using raw stock such as
Kodak film for capturing cinema rather than
hard disk digital formats, Lal says, "Everything
has its own minus and plus sides. When I
compare the output of raw stocks and digital
formats then I can differentiate the grain
structure between the two." Recently, in Love
Express for Mukta Searchlights he ran a test on
Kodak 16mm stock and compared it one
simultaneously shot on digital. "The output I
got in the film stock was quite brilliant than
the digital output and so I decided to go for
film. Also, a film has motion whereas a digital
doesn't have motion. In film, the whites in
overexposure still have the details while in
digital formats it is very difficult to manage,"
he says.
Today DI has become a combined tool for a
director and DoP. "When there was no DI
technology, different cinematographer's work
with the same set of stocks and camera,
processed in the same lab, was reflected in
different manner," points out Lal. "In some
cases a director gives a freehand to DoP," he
says. "Once the look of the film is decided it is
the sole responsibility of the cinematographer
to get the output according to the director's
vision," adds Lal.
Naughty@40
Before agreeing to any project, Lal considers it
is important to have a tuning with the director.
Thereafter, he considers the production house
and how they will carry out the entire process,
what are their priorities and strategies. "But
apart from this, I do consider the script
In the industry for the last three decades with films in multiple languages touching almost every
dimension of shooting, Lal trusts Kodak film since the beginning of his career. "The reasons are
very simple: Kodak raw stock generates good output, the saturation is dense and the shadow
detail is also very fine. The overexposure up to 4 stops latitude is good."
Lal used seven different emulsions in one song for the film Taal. The song Ishq Bina picturised on
Aishwarya Bachchan and Akshay Khanna was an indoor shoot and he used all the stocks right
from 50 D to 800 ASA to create a variation in the drama contained in the song. "That time there
was no DI so it was not very easy to use multiple numbers of emulsions in a single song.”
significantly; because I still believe the script
to be the backbone of any project and if that is
weak, the other factors, even being strong,
can't make a project stand straight," he says.
In all the films Lal tries out something
different. "In one of my films I lit up the entire
set with tungsten lights. People usually go for
a tungsten stock while I used the daylight
stock and that was definitely breaking the rule
as the result was good," he concludes.
"Kodak is trust.”
Technical Details
Film
Director
Producer
Stock
Naughy@40
& Love Express
Naughty@40 -
Jag Mundra;
Love Express - Sunny
Naughty@40 -
Shristi Creations;
Love Express -
Mukta Searchlights
Kodak Vision 2 50D-5201,
Kodak Vision 3 250D-5207
and
Kodak Vision 3 500T-5219
CROSS
Vijay Arora uses black as a recurrent
leitmotif in his camera work. He says, "Black is
always beautiful. It is the presence of dark
that makes you appreciate light and works
magic into images. Very early in my career
when I saw cinematographers making use of a
lot of 'fill light', I decided to make my images
different."
As a DoP he goes very rarely for sharp and
strong and saturated colors. He says, "Mine is
essentially a soft and pastel palette and I
prefer to de-saturate the colors as much as
feasible.”
CURRENTS
His idea of lighting is exceptional. He says,
"Light has always got to be directional as it
comes from somewhere, be it an actual or
imaginary source, within or without the gamut
of the frame. It does not make any sense
otherwise. I think very hard to get absolute
clarity about what source to follow and why
and how is that eventually going to impact the
visuals and the drama therein, in relation to
the script I am handling. In the end the text of
the script has the pointers for a DoP to get
started and build around."
As he works a lot in the mainstream cinema,
he uses Kaleidoscopic lighting patterns,
psychedelic lighting to build their visual
appeal deliberately. He says, "What else is the
connect for the audience. Also this helps my
films to cut the verbose flat out of the films I
work for. It is the beauty that beholds, words
may follow but they have to only support the
visuals and not the other way round.”
Vijay Arora, is the kind of DoP
who believes in the total
composition of all the elements
of a shot including actors
who he feels should be arranged
properly before he takes the shot.
Only then he says can a film be
successful.
About his personal style of image building he
says, "Though mise-en-scene is largely the
director's domain, I prefer to work closely
with my directors. If something is not working,
I mince no words to express myself. Because a
shot has to work as a shot and it is our joint
responsibility. And a shot will work only if the
mise-en-scene which is the joint organisation
of lot of elements including the actors works.
So as a responsible and responsive member of
the crew I just won't let go of it until the
elements come together and deliver.
Everything else, camera placement lighting
and movement are worked into contextually
confirming the mise-en-scene.”
“I have grown up
using Kodak.
It is my staple diet.”