Rajavel Olhiveeran

yes GregBest agree...but the point Mr.Nolan making is that when he can still give the best of quality in the current day of the world shooting film....why should he try digital which has not given anything 'better' than the film in the current scenario. what he is saying is that he has not seen a good enough reason to change from film. this i agree ..from a cinematographer's point of view...one who has to operate the camera...literally live with the camera on ur shoulder ...squeezing the eye into. apart from the quality in terms of 4k ..6k...pixels and pigments.....theres so much bonding happens with the camera we operate to create those stories and emotions. i have handled film cameras arri 435 for seven of my feature films...and have handled digital cameras from 5D to red epic to arri alexa xt for the recent 2 feature films. am afraid i could not bond with the digital cameras....not because i have closed mind..but they have 'not yet arrived'....to create the bond with the cinematographer..in the making of films. the concept of even looking thro the viewfinder has gone with on coming on board monitors. the whole organic flow of 'composition' has been killed by this. okayyy...even if i get to look thro the viewfinder...the optics of the digital cameras viewfinders are not yet arrived to give the same feel through a arri 435. what i am seeing with my naked eye is not what i see through the viewfinder...whereas that was the case with film cameras. and the ergonomics of the digital cameras and the weight distribution of the same with batteries and stuff is so cumbersome for handheld shots. film cameras felt so much part of you when doing handheld shots. that is no more the case with the current digital cameras. yaa...the digital cameras now are good....but 'not yet arrived' !! they are still in the process. since this is a piece of equipment to create art and move emotions.....it has to work at sooo many levels beyond some technical specs and economic values!

'...if u still are not convinced '.....i think u are in a great place ! as sir David says...there is no end to this learning...and its a constant thing for any artist. as always its been ...getting great visuals is just not by the camera we use to shoot. there are too many variables to get a great visual. and a great visual does not necessarily be a great 'looking' visual in terms of sharp and slickness....its what tells the story best and makes an emotion out of! may be u can try exploring and experimenting beyond just the camera....and try different time periods of a day or night...locations...characters...methods of post production...etc ...there is one thing i realised...and still learning is....that as a cinematographer....i cant just be a cinematographer to get some decent visuals! i had to put in my nose into everything about camera and everything not related to camera, like......costumes....make up...art direction....locations....shooting call timings.....where to process....who to grade the visuals with....phew ...the list goes on! the more u control these things keeping in sync with whats in ur mind the better the visuals are. may be u have to get back being that 'Alpha' !

Hey Mark My wishes for ur film in the cinematography contest. will be following :) Mark...regarding the grade..for example...if u notice the skeleton shots....in order of appearance...they vary in brightness and contrast levels. they get brighter and then get less brighter in the sequence which i felt was breaking the flow of imagery. and also felt the pink grade of the sky was bleeding too much below the cloud/sky...onto the trees and even onto the rocks near the actor. the gradation of the same could have been less prominent. the two full length shots in the beginning sequence where the man is standing facing away from the camera...at 32 sec and 45 sec....in between which no time lapse has happened...shows significant change in the grade..which stood out too much for me in terms of imagery. and....by 'restrictive' i meant nothing technical...but a 'feeling' that it was too straight and safe. showing such wild people and wild locations....the camera positions could have been more edgy...and more wild. it could have been more 'handheld' frames and spots rather than smooth butter like positioning ! replacing these wild ancestors with two corporate guys in ties would have fitted in with the existing smooth frames and operation. but as i told u in my earlier mail....this is just a creative endeavour and everything is a choice ....and what u have done is also working well. we are just exploring new windows in this forum. thanks for sharing this film. and my wishes for ur competition.

Hi Mark since u are not responsible for the scripting...characterisation....and various other elements involved in storytelling... am not getting in there. What u are responsible for... which is cinematography, is very commendable. What worked : very good opening shots. your choice of locations is great liked your lensing camera operation was good nice night effect mood What didnt work: there was no consistency in the colour grading of day sequence camera positions feels too restrictive. could have been more wild and yet fluid. Hey ..these are just my opinions. since this is a creative endeavour there is nothing right or wrong. its just a process! had fun watching it. was intriguing. cheers!

Thanks a lot Mark ! am glad u feel so! yes Mark its a real location...a temple tank in Kerala! we arranged a few hundred oil lamps on the steps of the temple tank to get this form...for a song sequence in that movie. the challenge was to take the shot in a minute or so before the wind current blows them away ! u can check out the song in this link .... thanks for ur generous words !

Thanks a lot David !

...few more screen grabs from my movie !

Hi David so if we have to get the effect that they achieved in 'Saving Private Ryan' battle sequences...where the bomb shell explosions show the stutter effect of the moving objects and an almost strobe effect of the soldiers running....which has been achieved by low shutter angle like 45 degrees or so on film cameras, how can we mimic this with our latest digital cameras. will changing the shutter to 45 deg in Arri Alexa give the same stutter..strobish effect. are there any other ways to create that effect with the digital platform during principal photography and post shoot. thanks for your time and energy which you infuse into this forum. thanks in advance.

hi first of all....thats a lovely goal to have for a film. and a challenging one too. since we cant shoot film nowww...am not even getting there of what it was shot on....processed on and other kind of realistic details which existed for that time period. now the job is what do we do with the present digital scenario. hmmm..... and...look which u have given as examples....3 photographs ..in my eyes....are 'completely different ' looks. the 1st pic has rich bright colours but the overall image hasnt lost the 'whites'. its brilliantly clear whites....whereas the 2nd pic has no clean whites at all. its muddied and white has a lot of green added to it. sooo that itself is one HUGE difference among the two given images. even the lensing is so different. u have to decide on one of these references as ur looks ok wat can we try..... 1. trial and error method. try different tests and see each and every trial works. thats the mind set needed to begin with 2. beg ur costume designer to get the right colours of those 'period'....including the right texture of the fabric 3. shoot the images from angles which receives the max amount of light....to get the brightest colours possible keeping in mind the exposures for ur sky....and water and generally all backgrounds. if ur BG and FG gets the closer exposure the overall image is gonna look saturated.. and it will lend to uniform grading in the post 4.try shooting with as much ND's as possible. try loosing the detail in the BG. and then if u add grain structures in the post it will be more exaggerated in the out of focus images and less pronounced on the images in focus. 5. may be Desat and blow up only the highlights by two stops. retain the whites as white. 6. for the 2nd image loose the whites...and add a little green over all. smudge the highlights. use soft effects filters...classic soft or sfx 1 or 2 7. hmmmmm...:) thinking.... if i get more ideas will feed. ...ok ....all the above stuff are very random thoughts of mine. nothing is a rule of thumb till u see it on screen. keep experimenting. cheers!

quite intriguing John! good attempt. i second Bill's thoughts. quite an interesting sound design too.

Thanks Wajeb !

Engayum pola brother!! ingaye than irukkom! :P Thanks dude!! ur music video is rocking man!! wishes

Thanks Leonardo ! much appreciate ur feedback. i had used UltraPrime lens on Red MX/Epic. and i hadnt used HDRx for these shots. Much of the 60's look was shot with red net before the lens with flares. the 80's look was mostly generated in post grading on Baselight. thanks

Thanks a lot Lucien! am glad u like the work. Well...that will be an offer i cant resist! it will be fab to shoot with you and create a great film..wherever ! will send the link of the film to you. cheers !

...a few more screen grabs from the song montage