Arun Gopalan

Hey Mark, Maybe you can rent it from one of the rental houses here in India. Try southern Indian cities like Chennai or Hyderabad. Would be a bit cheaper there as compared to Mumbai. The scope lens set locally costs about INR 2000/day.

Available for projects across India. Please do have a look at my showreel-> http://vimeo.com/17033422 Your views/feedback on the showreel are welcome. :) Thanks.

Hey Benzi, I am based out of Pune-Mumbai and currently working on projects in Pune, Mumbai and Chennai. The web hoster is currently carrying some upgradation stuff thus putting the site offline. Should be up in a day or two. That's how a free hosting service works.. :| And yes Mr. K.Hariharan- a very senior and respected person in the field- has been LVP's Director from day one. He's a walking encyclopedia (you can talk to him for hours on literally anything and everything)! As students we feel it's our privilege to have a person like him around as our teacher! :)

Yes all the above said schools have their diploma films ahot on 35mm except Whistling Woods International, Mumbai. The diploma film usually is like between 10-20 mins, but then it depends on the student. You can definitely chip in a few more bucks and make a longer movie. At my film school- L.V. Prasad Film and TV Academy- it's a trimester patter- total 6 trimesters in 2 years. we started off with HDVs- shot 3 projects on it. By the end of the first year we were shooting on S16mm- so that was 4 projects in the first year. Second year we shot a documentary on HDV followed by a music video on S16 and the final diploma on 35mm. Apart from this we have the daily practicals. In the third trimester- every day, you would be having practicals on S16mm- Arri SR2 and the second year you would be working on 35mm- An Arri3 in your practicals. FTII, Pune and SRFTI, Kolkata are too very similar but their's a three year course.

If you don't want to spend money on getting a domain, you could get a 'http://yourdomain.co.cc/' thing for free at http://co.cc/ This is much better than free domains like 'yourdomain.webhosters.com'!! Then open an account with a web hosting website which allows users to use their own domain like the http://yourdomain.co.cc/ one. You would then need to create your own html files and start uploading them in the file manager up there. Your 'index.html' file will be the homepage. You can actually learn a lot by just going through 'page sources' (by clicking view page source in your browser) of various websites. Once you get a nag of things it's pretty easy and interesting. And the above said way is free too! :) You may like to go through xhosting.com. They provide pretty decent web hosting services and their forums in there are pretty informative too. That's where I learnt web making for free! :P

Hey Nivash, Thanks for the reply. I did go with primarily 3 kinos, a 5kv and a couple of other tungsten lights(with CTBs) and the image has come out very nicely. Got what I was looking for. I did use the 5217 and 5219 stocks. :)

I missed out on one institute which has produced some very well know professionals. Film and Television Institute of Tamil Nadu, Chennai. It a well known institute but am not familiar with the institute or in touch with any of their current students. So can't comment any further.

Hi Marco, The Film and Television Institute of India, Pune has been around for very long now and most of the current industry professionals are pass out of this institute... you could say almost 90% of them. It's tough to get in here. Each year it gets like around 600+ applications for streams like Cinematography and Direction and they take in like 10-12 per stream. So you know the kinda competition there. But having said this, the institute has lost out now. Have seen students there who are in the 4th yr when the course itself is of 3 yrs. But then you need to be pro-active and complete the projects in time and pas out! There's this other institute- Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute of India, Kolkata. As good as FTII, Pune but not as old. Both these institutes are government run and the fees are very very cheap. They have all the facilities and equipments and definitely worth having a look. Quite a number of private institutes have come up. The L.V.Prasad Film and TV Academy, Chennai is from where I complete my 2 yr course this August. It's part of the Prasad Groups who have been into the film business for decades now. The group has its post-production house, laboratory, equipment rental house, anything and everything that's required in the film business and as students and part of the group we have access to them anytime. The fees is quite high if you compare it with the government run institutes but definitely worth the money and personally I would say better than the govt. run institutes. There's one more institute called Whistling Woods International, Mumbai and is run by one of India's top most Director Subhash Ghai. It's in the heart of Bollywood. But the fees is almost double of what one would pay at LVP, Chennai and almost 10 times of what one would pay at FTII, Pune and SRFTI, Kolkata. These are the top institutes in the country at present and you shouldn't look at others if you seriously considering for some quality education! At other institutes you would end up shooting your diploma film in DVCam or at max. HD! The Pune, Kolkata and Chennai institutes have their Diplomas in 35mm, not sure about Whistling Woods though. Good Luck. Arun

Hmmmm... Thanks Adrian for the replies. Helped me in getting a few things clear. :)

Ok. So you shoot with a 1/60th of a second shutter and turn the flicker reducer on from 60Hz to 50Hz or just shoot 30p with a 1/50th of second shutter, w/o touching the flicker reducer, is it? And thanks for the clarification on the ratio thing. That's what I had in mind too. Mask the frame with a tape for the desired ratio on the LCD for framing and crop it in the post.

Hey, I would be soon shooting a short film on EX3 with 35mm adapter. Now the thing is I would be shooting NTSC here in India which uses 50Htz/PAL. I haven't shot NTSC here earlier and a bit confused. Our target audience would be mostly on TV and net, and we don't plan to have a film out. So we would be shooting 30p. Now shooting NTSC 30p in PAL country, will the HMI and fluorescent lights give flickers? While shooting PAL here we have the shutter at 1/50th of a second. So, while shooting NTSC we keep it at 1/50th of a second itself or do I need to tune it to 1/60th of a second? Also, I would like to know how to get a 1.85 or for that matter 2.40 ratio (w/o anamorphic lenses) on the EX3. I did go through the forum here but couldn't find a satisfying answer. Probably masking the LCD with a tape is the answer? Thanks, Arun

The rates are around 4-4.5k for HR/Normal lenses- Scope/Normal. Ultra Prime lenses would obviously cost a bit more than this. Drop in at any of the production houses and get the price list.

Thanks. Yeah, I did take that into consideration when making my light list.

I know, HMIs and PARs would have made the job much easier for me, but I don't have access to them. :( So going with tungsten lights and then putting on CTB on each of them! Yes, I am thinking of having small areas of warm tungsten lighting inside the room.. a few practicals probably.. Anyway, thanks for the reply. :)

Hey, I am shooting my Diploma film starting the coming Monday. Shooting with 5219 and 5217. Using tungsten lights since I don't have much access to HMIs (it's film school project) and wanna avoid them as they cause flickers with high speed shots. I want a blue feel overall since it's a hospital scene. Attached herein are a few images of the hospital where I am shooting. It's shot on tungsten mode. And this is what I actually wanna achieve. http://arungopalan.co.cc/_MG_8375.JPG http://arungopalan.co.cc/_MG_8377.JPG http://arungopalan.co.cc/_MG_8378.JPG But somehow I feel using 5219/5217 without 85 I would be getting more blue. Am I right to think that way? So thought of putting up 1/2 CTOs on the window. And on the tungsten lights, 1/2 CTBs. So the colour temperature is around 4400k. So will I be achieving what I really want this way. That's with the room. On the corridor? Seems less of a Probably put up a 1/4 CTO on the window to the extreme end and if using any lights 1/2 CTB. Will that work. Any help appreciated. Arun P.S.- For camera filters, I have access to just an 85. Nothing else!! And post involves working just on the analyzer since we would be having a print. No D.I. and such stuff!

Hey Guys, I am shooting my Diploma film soon and the location is a hospital- the corridor and a room. I did go through the various corridor, hallway light up topics and some related to hospitals. But still had a few questions. The look I would like is something similar to Goodnight Bill- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLBWeETwc94. In short the story is like there's this old guy and old lady in the same ward, the lady's been a widow for all these years and towards the end of the film the guy and the lady get attracted to each other and she wanna stay with him inspite of being cleared to go home! So she fakes a heart attack and prolongs her stay in the hospital. So that's the basic theme. Now, the location is a real hospital and we are working on almost no budget. The lights I have are a few kinos- 10 bank and 4 bank, a couple of tungsten lights- 5k, 2k and 1ks, and three 2.5k HMIs and am working with the Kodak 200T 5217 and Kodak 500t 5219. The corridors that I am using is like 30ft X 10ft and has about eight fluorescent tubes up on the ceiling. Initially I thought of replacing these fluorescent tubes with kinos tubes, for the night scene, but that seems to be not working now due to various reasons. So thought of letting these tubes on, and have that slight green tinge. And then probably create some white lights coming from adjacent rooms. Now, for night scenes, I have the green tinge from the tubes. If I add a moonlight, HMIs with 1/4 CTO, will that look good. Blue and green together? Alternatively if I add a street light source- a tungsten with say 1/4 CTO, will this look good. Green and Orange? Not sure how to go about this different colour temperatures in the same frame. And once I move into the room from the corridor, I probably won't be having much of a green. I basically would be having just two ordinary tubes on there. So less of a green and more of white light and a few warm practicals. So will this change in color temperature and look be fine or will it be too big jump. And do the ordinary fluorescent give away flicker while shooting at 24fps. I am shooting in India, so its 50Htz here. Also if shooting high speed say like 48fps and 72 fps, I know ordinary fluorescent tubes will have flicker but then since these aren't the main lights and even the ambiance would be through some other light, will it really cause a flicker noticeable on screen? Thanks, Arun Gopalan

Sorry, wasn't too clear in my earlier post. The $10,000 budget is definitely exclusive of the prints. And yes, it's a feature length movie.. about ninety minutes. It's not just about one print, but we plan to release the movie on 35mm prints- the reason being digital projection hasn't picked up much in India yet. Only major cities and towns have the digital projection system. I was of the opinion that shooting digitally, knowing thoroughly how I want the look, it would save me the cost of the negatives and processing, which could be used elsewhere, in post-production/grading and then have the final output on 35mm prints. There are a few DPs who suggested me to go with cameras like the Sony PMW-EX1/EX3. However they did warn me to know the exact look I want, understand the difference between film and digital and light up accordingly and then work on the post. The rental for such cameras is very low and being our first film (the Director's and mine) we would be at ease shooting digitally- as there's not much fear of wasting stock!! But the only thing that I am not sure of is how would something shot on such cameras look when blown up on 35mm. On the other hand there have been a few DPs (like a few here) who actually suggested that it would be better and cheaper to shoot on S16mm and then have it blown up. But I really doubt the producer would go this way unless and until the shoot digitally and blow up on 35mm would look absolutely crap and costlier!! So coming back to my question, will shooting digitally be cheaper as compared to shooting on S16mm in my case? And more important, will the blow up look good enough as the cameras I would be using (if I do go for the digital way) wouldn't be like Red, etc.? Two, if this digital way does look cheaper and decent enough, what cameras options do I have? I have had quite a few who did specifically mention the PMW X1.

I am a film student and really like the way our film school works. We have the best of both worlds- film and digital. For camera operations one could try out with digital cameras like the Red, Viper, etc. Even small cameras like the HDV, etc work fine. And when it comes to lighting and focus practicals, start with Super 16mm and then gradually move onto 35mm. We here shoot a couple of projects on digital, then Super16mm and the final diploma film on 35mm. And this at the end of the course makes us well versed with all cameras and formats- digital and film!! I personally feel, both digital and film at schools are damn important.

Hey guys, I am from India and just got an offer, my first, wherein we plan to shoot digitally and then have a 35mm print. The thing is the budget is very very low- just $ 10, 000 (i.e. Rs. 5,00,000). Marketing and advertising, etc. don't fit in this. Now what I was suggested by the producer was to use the JVC 800 to shoot and then have a print. But wasn't too happy with that. Have never used that camera and am really not sure whether it's 2k (or close to it). The alternative that I suggested was to shoot with some 2k cameras and either have a digital projection or a 35mm print. Now with such minimal budget what are the cameras I could go for? I did go through 2k cameras, but am a bit confused! Moreover shooting on 2k and then having a 35mm print, is that ok? Will it look decent enough. Cameras like the Red One and Viper at present seem out of budget. Another option I have in mind is shooting with the Panasonic P2 with a 35mm adapter at 1080p. Though that wouldn't give me latitude and good colour, but still that saves a lot of money and a 35mm look will impress upon the Producer and Director. But is that good enough for a 35mm print? Also, JVC 800, has someone used it. At what resolution does it shoot? Is shooting Super 16mm and then having a 35mm blow up a better option than digital? I ask this just coz of the latitude film gives. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks.

Hi, I am a Cinematography student from India. Proficient in handling lighting, cameras right from video cameras like the P2 to 35mm, and HD cameras like Red One and Wiper. Also am good at editing softwares like Avid. Now that in a few months time I would be passing out, I have a question. Is it possible that people like me can work as CAs in Hollywood and elsewhere- in Western and European countries? I would be definitely working in the Indian Film Industry. But is it possible that simultaneously I can look out for jobs in Hollywood? I mean legally, is it possible? I understand there would be the various unions and all, but is there a possibility of working in independent films or for that matter collaborations with Directors for independent films? If this is possible, it definitely opens a whole new world- how people work in other countries, insights into their culture, way of lighting, etc. Any help on this would be appreciated. Thanks, Arun Gopalan

Hey People, I see that a lot of job openings are posted for places like the U.S and U.K. but very few (almost negligible) for countries like India, which have such a big film market. Anyway, I am a Cinematography student and currently looking out for job opportunities (any opening- DoP, CA, Runner, etc.) in India and elsewhere. Have worked in more than twenty short films, documentaries, corporate films, and a few features. My latest work as a DoP was a one shot 9:45 minutes long Tamil short film titled 'Home Sweet Home' shot on Super 16mm format using an Arri SRII. It's available for viewing here: http://arungopalan.co.cc/videos.html My other works too are available for viewing on my site. If there's any work in India or elsewhere, would be glad to be part of it. Please do get in touch with me regarding the same. Resume: http://arungopalan.co.cc/Resume.pdf Thanks and Regards, Arun Gopalan arun-gopalan@hotmail.com