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While every project is a challenge for a cinematographer, for VN Mohan his diploma film Mugaari on the art of traditional Bharata
Natyam dance was a landmark learning experience. He trusts Kodak to push the limits of his creativity and lives by the maxim that it
“Inspiration starts from
failures. At the young age
of 12, I took some family
photographs with a lot of
pride. Later to my utter
dismay, I found that not
even a pin point of silver
halide was converted into metallic silver.
It was absolutely silver blank,” says VN
Mohan, graduate from the MGR Govt Film
and Television Institute. And this is where
his journey began.
Mohan currently works with PC Sreeram.
Three years after graduation, he feels he
has lots to learn.
“We can’t predict the future, but capturing
good visuals on the screen requires a skill
– it is both an art and craft,” he says. “A
cinematographer is a creator, for him if art
is the soul, craft is the tool to achieve the
art – the body,” he adds.
He cites an interesting analogy to explain
analogue and digital.” If ten people handle
film, you will get different results, whereas
if ten persons handle digital, at least eight
results will be similar,” says Mohan.
“Using the digital format, we not only lose
film but also our individuality,” he says.
“Photography has evolved and is accepted
as an art form now-a-days, but paintings
have their own unique place and value, just
like film.”
Mohan uses both Kodak Vision 2 100T
5212 and Vision 3 500T 5219 quite
extensively. “Vision 2 is fine grain stock,
which gives the sharpest look and true
natural colour rendition over a wide
range of exposures. The neutral tone scale
provides easier colour timing in post. Due
to the high dynamic range, details can be
is best to fail by trying unusual things rather than to succeed by doing usual things.
extracted without using high level of grains.
“It gives an appropriate look, the one I want
to achieve,” says Mohan. “I choose 500T
Vision 3 5219, to work in low light, high
contrast situations. It gives me more control
and flexibility, it has less grain in shadows
and gives me a more gradient look on the
To translate the mood
of the script to celluloid
provides umpteen
challenges. Kodak
provides a medium to
effectively overcome
these hurdles.
subject,” adds Mohan. “It is good enough to
hold the shadows,” he says.
Right from his diploma film, Mohan has used
Kodak. “My journey is all about capturing
the mood and the atmosphere to depict
meaningful feelings. My portrayals are
always truly expressed by Kodak,” he says.
Commenting on the emerging trends in the
arena of cinematography today, according
to Mohan it is moving towards a candid
presentation of visuals. “Providing a realistic
look with a consistent colour palette,
superior technical quality and less contrast,”
are popular up-and-coming inclinations of
DoPs.
From my hitherto limited experience, I can
say that to translate the mood of the script
to celluloid provides umpteen challenges
– such as shooting in drastic climatic
conditions, low light situations and extreme
lighting situations and so on.” According
to him, Kodak provides a medium to
effectively overcome these hurdles. Even in
post, the Kodak negative retains maximum
useful colour information, which can be
accommodated in a ten-bit scanner data
encoding scheme. “Kodak is one of the most
superior mediums of acquisition,” he says.
While every project is a challenge for a
cinematographer, for Mohan his diploma
film Mugaari on the art of traditional Bharata
Natyam dance was a landmark learning
experience. “Aesthetics was an important
part of the film, and we had to work within
limits of budget, equipment and creative
freedom,” he says. “I didn’t use fill light to
get natural contrast, every shot was planned
with timings for the best angle of the sun,”
he says. “I used Vision 2 5212 and allowed
only one window source inside the house. For
OSS, half light was easily exposed at (t-4).
When my director asked for a profile shot
facing the window, the highlight was (t-16+).
Because I was using Kodak, on the belief of
the outcome, I pitched it in (t- 4). Without
burning, I got a little bright background with
expected details because of the extended
dynamic range,” he says in conclusion.
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