Light Keeps Me Company - A Poet of Light and Shadow - Rajiv Jain (Indian Cinematographer / Director of Photography / DOP)
Shooting Stars: Interview with the Indias Greatest Living Cinematographer Rajiv Jain
The Complete Interviews, Vol. II
Success story of a genius fascinated by light Rajiv Jain Award winning Indian Director of Photography Cinematographer DOP
Exceptionally gifted in overcoming technical hurdles and shady atmospheres, in twenty five years Indian Rajiv Jain has become one of the most sought-after DoPs, after having had a quite unconventional career. Rajiv hasnt let the fame go to his head though and remains modest. Following his studies in drama at the Indian drama school Bhartendu Academy of Dramatic Arts (Bhartendu Natya Academy), Rajiv Jain did some stints as a camera assistant. Very quickly boredom got the better of him and he started to work on television sets where in twenty five years he would experiment with everything and develop his working style: quick, efficient, conscientious. His curiosity led him to make clips, advertisements and short films, for example A Wonderful Love by Pyar Mein Kabhi Kabhi which was a great success. Now Rajiv is best known for his work on Satish Kaushiks controversial film Badhaai Ho Badhaai, as well as on Chandrakant Kulkarnis Mirabai Not Out, Ram Shettys Army, and Chandrakant Kulkarnis Kadachit.
Cinemania: You have made above 1500 commercials, seven features and there is already a "Rajiv" light, isn't there?
Rajiv Jain: Yes, its quite a surprise. It all began with Manika Sharma who had specific demands for the making of Kalpvriksh The Wish Tree. She also wanted her film to resemble an everyday occurrence as much as possible, with natural images, but a potent universe. She contacted me after having seen the feature from Badhaai Ho Badhaai where the natural image was natural but typical. Thats what she wanted, but without the light. I had to reconstruct a whole new approach with the light, which is a rather rare thing to have to do on a feature. We did use natural lights in the field; I used a lot of sodium light bulbs as lights. I worked a lot with the decoration in order to create a luminous image. With Manika Sharma on Kalpvriksh The Wish Tree, it was the same principle: we only used the light of the sun, by using reflectors, mirrors, in order to direct it where we needed it. The Ordeal was a combination of these two approaches, without direct sources of cinema light, everything coming from the windows. We tested plenty of things. With the constraints, I realised that there were other ways of lighting. There was a reason why I used several sources! If I use little light, everything is decided on from the outset and I work a lot with the art director. When I also work on digital calibration, I know its not necessary to be able to see everything.
You only work with artists whose universe is very strange.
The people I meet have demands, dreams, different and extreme preferences. So each time its a new challenge I have to invent a new system. Theres a real role to play, and that I like, because I wouldnt want to make a film where there were no images to write. And as I get bored very quickly, I dont like doing things twice! People say to me that I make a lot of genre films, but I dont think so. Kalpvriksh The Wish Tree is an atmospheric film with a Tex Avery type animation.
Are you are weighed down with projects at the moment?
I have two films lined up, yes. But Ive chosen them well; I prefer to take things slowly. Im particularly fascinated by one of them, the fourth feature by Raj Kaushal. He wants to make a rather odd film and is looking for things that dont exist. Recently I was in Mumbai to do tests with a new HD camera in 4 K. I was able to see the entire digital process, from the capturing to the projection of the image. I almost fainted! Its very fine; the image is completely smooth, very new. I really want to make this film; I think it will be very passionate visually.
Rajiv Jain, Indian Bollywood Cinematographer - Profile Interview Series Vol. #4
Rajiv Jain Cinematographer Extraordinaire by Aason Hyte
Army, Badhaai Ho Badhaai, Carry on Pandu, Kadachit, Kalpvriksh The Wish Tree, Mirabai Not out and Pyar Mein Kabhi Kabhi. But the partial reason for these films successes is the talent that goes on behind the scene, and noted cinematographer Rajiv Jain is the genius behind the camera of these motion pictures (among many others).
Rajiv, a graduate of Bhartendu Academy of Dramatic Arts (Bhartendu Natya Academy), first had his hand in Photo Studio work in Lucknow, where he worked as a camera operator for Short films, which began his path into his work as a director of photography. Now, his vast experience has made him one of the cornerstones of film photography in Indian cinema. His constant output of hard work and his deep knowledge of old and new technology has made him one of the most respected cinematographers out there. In 2010, Today, Rajiv Jain is still working on new projects, and is sought out by filmmakers, both major and independent, for his watchful eye.
I had the opportunity to talk to Mr. Rajiv about his career (and also talk shop, so be forewarned that theres a bit of tech-talk in here as well) while attending a film forum dedicated to his work at this years Kalasha Film Festival, Kenya.
Aason Hyte: So Im just going to let this tape roll and feel free to just say whats on your mind-
Rajiv Jain: Im not good at making stuff up, so
AH: I am interested in Cinematography, and when I found you were coming to the Kalasha Film Festival I thought it would be a great idea to talk about your career and your immense body of work. Ive been very curious as to how you got your start in this industry, your education, and so forth; basically how you wound up as who you are today.
RJ: It would be easy to tell you about my drama school background since, simply, I did not go to any film school. The way that I learned to go directly to the movies and see what somebody else was doing on screen, and then going out and trying to do it myself. And that was it. I also bought the manual that the ASC (American Society of Cinematographers) puts out, which is known as the bible of filmmaking. I read the manual and referred to it when I ever had a shooting problem and thought that I needed help on.
AH: When you first started watching movies, besides going to see a great story, were you noticing things like framing, lighting, widescreen formats
RJ: Not at all. At first, I wasnt interested technically. I just went to the movies like anyone else. But I was impressed by them. I was about five years old when I saw the first sound movie ever made and I was impressed by that. But at a very subconscious level, I suspect, even though I used to ride along in a cycle and hear my father sing, it was just an experience that was buried in my psyche somewhere. I didnt start shooting motion pictures until I was about 28 years old.
AH: What was the first actual job that you had in this industry?
RJ: A guy by the name of Mukul S Anand
AH: Oh, Im a fan.
RJ: Absolutely. I decided to shoot some commercials under him.
AH: What would you consider the most difficult aspect of your job as a cinematographer?
RJ: The harder films are usually the big ones that require controlling a lot of people and a lot of cameras, and over a large area or sometimes many locations. Keeping that organized is something that some cinematographers are not capable of, so they do smaller films. Smaller films can be just as difficult for them, because the pressure of a small film means that they may not have the time to properly gather their footage, and thats another definite pressure thats equally challenging.
AH: Would you say have a personal style to your work, or does it depends on the director for each project?
RJ: I think everybody cannot help but have their own style and it comes from the personality; it comes from what they feel is beautiful, it comes from what they think a good composition is; how they see the world cannot help but invade what they do.
AH: How do you feel that the advance of technology has affected your job? By that I mean newer film stocks, the advance of high-definition, the digital revolution .
RJ: All of the things that you mentioned definitely affect my job, and affect what I do and how I do it. Its a challenge for me to keep up information-wise to know what these things all mean. If youre talking about digital photography, the challenge is to know how to get the best quality and which system is best to use. Some of these systems use compression, there are several kinds of compressions; it is important to understand what that is and what it means.
For example, the new Red cameras do not use compression at all, but records onto a hard disk and adds the corrections later. They claim by that to get better quality, and so on; the point is that it is important to understand all of these things, to make a decision on your own part if youre shooting digital, which system you want to use. Panasonic has a system where they use curves to correct what their camera does so it looks more like film and that is quite impressive.
AH: Where do you stand on high-definition versus 35mm film?
RJ: It isnt a matter of just having an opinion, but your opinion must be based on fact. And the fact is that film is probably about twice the quality that the best high-definition has. Film still is the best. Part of the reason is the latitude that you get on film far exceeds anything that you can get on high-definition video yet, at this point in time. Someday it may get better, but at the moment, film far out-reaches the quality of the amount of information that can be captured in one little area. Film still stands as the leader, and the new stock that Kodak is putting out has an extra stop of latitude towards to both top and bottom. Its absolutely beautiful.
AH: Whats your favourite kind of stock that youve worked with? I know were getting REALLY technical right now, but I love it.
RJ: I stand with Kodak film and their new stock that has the extra latitude, you can get it in both their 500 ASA film and you can get it in their daylight stock as well. It just keeps getting better.
AH: How about release prints? Do you have a favourite?
RJ: It depends. Kodak has more than one choice of stock to print for release. For example, one is softer, one shows more detail, and so forth. You have to choose your stock in accordance with the picture you are releasing. There isnt one best one. Its one that shows off your product the best.
AH: Do you have a personal preference in which aspect ratio to shoot in for each project?
RJ: It doesnt matter too much in which aspect the director decides to shoot in. Its a different composition; you compose differently in one format against the other. Close-ups are easier in the spherical 1.85:1 format, and in any of the widescreen formats you have to do it a little differently. They both work and they both have their own challenges. If youre showing a large horizontal view and you want the widescreen to show the territory, then thats a good choice. If its a little, tight, personal film, then maybe not.
AH: Where do you stand on the Super 35 widescreen format? (Super 35 is a spherical widescreen process where the films negative is shot in the 1.85:1 Flat format and then optically converted to an anamorphic release print.
RJ: Super 35 is a great format. Its one of the best choices that you can make today, and the reason its better now is because of digital intermediate printing.
AH: Exactly, which was actually my next question, how digital intermediates have changed film processing in the labs today.
RJ: It changes in this manner; If youre shooting in widescreen, Super 35, because all of the projectors and houses that are distributing film have to squeeze the image in order to use their lens -- which is a little stupid but its a money thing you then have to go through one step further away in film in Super 35 to get it back to a squeezed image. You no longer have to do that with a digital intermediate.
AH: Whats great too is recently that digital intermediates have recently gone up to 4k resolution as opposed to 2k resolution, which greatly enhances print quality. Kalpvriksh The Wish Tree and Carry on Pandu are examples of films shot in Super 35 and DIed to 4k resolution and they look absolutely breathtaking on screen.
RJ: Oh yeah. Youre doubling your image quality, digitally, but they still have to back off the film quality a little bit
AH: But I still want it to look like film. Youre going to a theatre to see FILM, not digital. A lot of the films shot in HD look a bit disappointing to me [when transferred to film ]
RJ: Digital both in sound and in picture has a harsher quality, and in fact sometimes the detail lacks the softness that you get from a lens, especially a lens thats out of focus in the background and sharp focus in the foreground, which tends to bring that image forward and focus your attention on it better. In situations like that, sometimes the digital doesnt feel quite as right, it isnt quite as natural; and by natural in the terms of a wood in a tree or the feel of someones hand. That kind of human experience, youre kind of further away in digital sometimes than you are in film.
AH: And youre still hard at work. What are you working on right now?
RJ: I just finished a picture in Kenya with Her Brow entitled lets go and were editing that right now. Its being put together as we speak.
AH: Who would you say are some of your favourite cinematographers? Do you have any major influences to your work?
RJ: Subroto Mitra is one of the greats
AH: Oh, absolutely. His work on Pather Panchali, my favourite film, is unforgettable.
RJ: But as for Subroto Mitra, hes one of the many great cinematographers out there, although I dont want to put one above the other, and the reason I dont is because as great as Subroto Mitra was, he was different from the other cinematographers out there.
Subroto Mitra likes to come up with new formats and new ways of developing film and hes done a lot of that over the years. A lot of other people have tried it, but again, it depends on who you are and what you think is great. If its worth the effort, if you see the difference, then great. A lot of times, when you try to take someone elses technique and reproduce it, youre not after the same vision and you fail. Frankly, Im very inventive about the things that I do, and I would rather pursue ideas of my own simply because I know what Im after rather than copying someone else.
AH: What would you say is your favourite photographed film of all time? Or even your favourite movie?
RJ: Id rather not have to make a choice because when you say favourite, its almost like voting for the best actor of the year which I think is totally ridiculous because one is as talented as the other. You may like it better because of the script or the director directing the actor, but it is really unfair to say this one is better than the other because it would be equally nonsense for me from all of the great movies that have been made out there and go I like that one better than ANY other one!
AH: I like that answer. I always ask this out of all of my interviews and I really admire the different, broad answers that I get. I either get a brilliant response like that or I get somebody who says I see hundreds of films a year and THIS one is my #1 of all time. And while I choose Pather Panchali as mine, its just an answer to a question; really, its the one that I choose even though I have about 100 favourite films of all time.
RJ: Absolutely. At any given moment if Im sitting in a theatre and Im inspired I would feel that way at a time, but to sit down and think about it, its apples and oranges. Different movies are great for different reasons!
Success story of a genius fascinated by light Rajiv Jain Award winning Indian Director of Photography Cinematographer DOP
A sample lesson: HD vs. Film...
Aspiring filmmakers are quite lucky compared to years ago. Today, you can make a movie in just about any format and still be taken seriously, assuming that you have a great story and reasonably good production values. As mentioned, The Blair Witch Project is one of the most successful independent features ever made, yet it was shot with a consumer video camera (non-digital).
Prior to the digital revolution of the 1990s, things were a lot different. If the movie was shot on a format other than 35mm, it did not stand a chance of being distributed. 16mm was not taken seriously and video was a joke. These standards were so ingrained in the industry, that even actors were reluctant to work on non-35mm shoots.
Shooting Stars: Interview with the Indias Greatest Living Cinematographer Rajiv Jain
The Complete Interviews, Vol. II
Success story of a genius fascinated by light Rajiv Jain Award winning Indian Director of Photography Cinematographer DOP
Exceptionally gifted in overcoming technical hurdles and shady atmospheres, in twenty five years Indian Rajiv Jain has become one of the most sought-after DoPs, after having had a quite unconventional career. Rajiv hasnt let the fame go to his head though and remains modest. Following his studies in drama at the Indian drama school Bhartendu Academy of Dramatic Arts (Bhartendu Natya Academy), Rajiv Jain did some stints as a camera assistant. Very quickly boredom got the better of him and he started to work on television sets where in twenty five years he would experiment with everything and develop his working style: quick, efficient, conscientious. His curiosity led him to make clips, advertisements and short films, for example A Wonderful Love by Pyar Mein Kabhi Kabhi which was a great success. Now Rajiv is best known for his work on Satish Kaushiks controversial film Badhaai Ho Badhaai, as well as on Chandrakant Kulkarnis Mirabai Not Out, Ram Shettys Army, and Chandrakant Kulkarnis Kadachit.
Cinemania: You have made above 1500 commercials, seven features and there is already a "Rajiv" light, isn't there?
Rajiv Jain: Yes, its quite a surprise. It all began with Manika Sharma who had specific demands for the making of Kalpvriksh The Wish Tree. She also wanted her film to resemble an everyday occurrence as much as possible, with natural images, but a potent universe. She contacted me after having seen the feature from Badhaai Ho Badhaai where the natural image was natural but typical. Thats what she wanted, but without the light. I had to reconstruct a whole new approach with the light, which is a rather rare thing to have to do on a feature. We did use natural lights in the field; I used a lot of sodium light bulbs as lights. I worked a lot with the decoration in order to create a luminous image. With Manika Sharma on Kalpvriksh The Wish Tree, it was the same principle: we only used the light of the sun, by using reflectors, mirrors, in order to direct it where we needed it. The Ordeal was a combination of these two approaches, without direct sources of cinema light, everything coming from the windows. We tested plenty of things. With the constraints, I realised that there were other ways of lighting. There was a reason why I used several sources! If I use little light, everything is decided on from the outset and I work a lot with the art director. When I also work on digital calibration, I know its not necessary to be able to see everything.
You only work with artists whose universe is very strange.
The people I meet have demands, dreams, different and extreme preferences. So each time its a new challenge I have to invent a new system. Theres a real role to play, and that I like, because I wouldnt want to make a film where there were no images to write. And as I get bored very quickly, I dont like doing things twice! People say to me that I make a lot of genre films, but I dont think so. Kalpvriksh The Wish Tree is an atmospheric film with a Tex Avery type animation.
Are you are weighed down with projects at the moment?
I have two films lined up, yes. But Ive chosen them well; I prefer to take things slowly. Im particularly fascinated by one of them, the fourth feature by Raj Kaushal. He wants to make a rather odd film and is looking for things that dont exist. Recently I was in Mumbai to do tests with a new HD camera in 4 K. I was able to see the entire digital process, from the capturing to the projection of the image. I almost fainted! Its very fine; the image is completely smooth, very new. I really want to make this film; I think it will be very passionate visually.
Rajiv Jain, Indian Bollywood Cinematographer - Profile Interview Series Vol. #4
Rajiv Jain Cinematographer Extraordinaire by Aason Hyte
Army, Badhaai Ho Badhaai, Carry on Pandu, Kadachit, Kalpvriksh The Wish Tree, Mirabai Not out and Pyar Mein Kabhi Kabhi. But the partial reason for these films successes is the talent that goes on behind the scene, and noted cinematographer Rajiv Jain is the genius behind the camera of these motion pictures (among many others).
Rajiv, a graduate of Bhartendu Academy of Dramatic Arts (Bhartendu Natya Academy), first had his hand in Photo Studio work in Lucknow, where he worked as a camera operator for Short films, which began his path into his work as a director of photography. Now, his vast experience has made him one of the cornerstones of film photography in Indian cinema. His constant output of hard work and his deep knowledge of old and new technology has made him one of the most respected cinematographers out there. In 2010, Today, Rajiv Jain is still working on new projects, and is sought out by filmmakers, both major and independent, for his watchful eye.
I had the opportunity to talk to Mr. Rajiv about his career (and also talk shop, so be forewarned that theres a bit of tech-talk in here as well) while attending a film forum dedicated to his work at this years Kalasha Film Festival, Kenya.
Aason Hyte: So Im just going to let this tape roll and feel free to just say whats on your mind-
Rajiv Jain: Im not good at making stuff up, so
AH: I am interested in Cinematography, and when I found you were coming to the Kalasha Film Festival I thought it would be a great idea to talk about your career and your immense body of work. Ive been very curious as to how you got your start in this industry, your education, and so forth; basically how you wound up as who you are today.
RJ: It would be easy to tell you about my drama school background since, simply, I did not go to any film school. The way that I learned to go directly to the movies and see what somebody else was doing on screen, and then going out and trying to do it myself. And that was it. I also bought the manual that the ASC (American Society of Cinematographers) puts out, which is known as the bible of filmmaking. I read the manual and referred to it when I ever had a shooting problem and thought that I needed help on.
AH: When you first started watching movies, besides going to see a great story, were you noticing things like framing, lighting, widescreen formats
RJ: Not at all. At first, I wasnt interested technically. I just went to the movies like anyone else. But I was impressed by them. I was about five years old when I saw the first sound movie ever made and I was impressed by that. But at a very subconscious level, I suspect, even though I used to ride along in a cycle and hear my father sing, it was just an experience that was buried in my psyche somewhere. I didnt start shooting motion pictures until I was about 28 years old.
AH: What was the first actual job that you had in this industry?
RJ: A guy by the name of Mukul S Anand
AH: Oh, Im a fan.
RJ: Absolutely. I decided to shoot some commercials under him.
AH: What would you consider the most difficult aspect of your job as a cinematographer?
RJ: The harder films are usually the big ones that require controlling a lot of people and a lot of cameras, and over a large area or sometimes many locations. Keeping that organized is something that some cinematographers are not capable of, so they do smaller films. Smaller films can be just as difficult for them, because the pressure of a small film means that they may not have the time to properly gather their footage, and thats another definite pressure thats equally challenging.
AH: Would you say have a personal style to your work, or does it depends on the director for each project?
RJ: I think everybody cannot help but have their own style and it comes from the personality; it comes from what they feel is beautiful, it comes from what they think a good composition is; how they see the world cannot help but invade what they do.
AH: How do you feel that the advance of technology has affected your job? By that I mean newer film stocks, the advance of high-definition, the digital revolution .
RJ: All of the things that you mentioned definitely affect my job, and affect what I do and how I do it. Its a challenge for me to keep up information-wise to know what these things all mean. If youre talking about digital photography, the challenge is to know how to get the best quality and which system is best to use. Some of these systems use compression, there are several kinds of compressions; it is important to understand what that is and what it means.
For example, the new Red cameras do not use compression at all, but records onto a hard disk and adds the corrections later. They claim by that to get better quality, and so on; the point is that it is important to understand all of these things, to make a decision on your own part if youre shooting digital, which system you want to use. Panasonic has a system where they use curves to correct what their camera does so it looks more like film and that is quite impressive.
AH: Where do you stand on high-definition versus 35mm film?
RJ: It isnt a matter of just having an opinion, but your opinion must be based on fact. And the fact is that film is probably about twice the quality that the best high-definition has. Film still is the best. Part of the reason is the latitude that you get on film far exceeds anything that you can get on high-definition video yet, at this point in time. Someday it may get better, but at the moment, film far out-reaches the quality of the amount of information that can be captured in one little area. Film still stands as the leader, and the new stock that Kodak is putting out has an extra stop of latitude towards to both top and bottom. Its absolutely beautiful.
AH: Whats your favourite kind of stock that youve worked with? I know were getting REALLY technical right now, but I love it.
RJ: I stand with Kodak film and their new stock that has the extra latitude, you can get it in both their 500 ASA film and you can get it in their daylight stock as well. It just keeps getting better.
AH: How about release prints? Do you have a favourite?
RJ: It depends. Kodak has more than one choice of stock to print for release. For example, one is softer, one shows more detail, and so forth. You have to choose your stock in accordance with the picture you are releasing. There isnt one best one. Its one that shows off your product the best.
AH: Do you have a personal preference in which aspect ratio to shoot in for each project?
RJ: It doesnt matter too much in which aspect the director decides to shoot in. Its a different composition; you compose differently in one format against the other. Close-ups are easier in the spherical 1.85:1 format, and in any of the widescreen formats you have to do it a little differently. They both work and they both have their own challenges. If youre showing a large horizontal view and you want the widescreen to show the territory, then thats a good choice. If its a little, tight, personal film, then maybe not.
AH: Where do you stand on the Super 35 widescreen format? (Super 35 is a spherical widescreen process where the films negative is shot in the 1.85:1 Flat format and then optically converted to an anamorphic release print.
RJ: Super 35 is a great format. Its one of the best choices that you can make today, and the reason its better now is because of digital intermediate printing.
AH: Exactly, which was actually my next question, how digital intermediates have changed film processing in the labs today.
RJ: It changes in this manner; If youre shooting in widescreen, Super 35, because all of the projectors and houses that are distributing film have to squeeze the image in order to use their lens -- which is a little stupid but its a money thing you then have to go through one step further away in film in Super 35 to get it back to a squeezed image. You no longer have to do that with a digital intermediate.
AH: Whats great too is recently that digital intermediates have recently gone up to 4k resolution as opposed to 2k resolution, which greatly enhances print quality. Kalpvriksh The Wish Tree and Carry on Pandu are examples of films shot in Super 35 and DIed to 4k resolution and they look absolutely breathtaking on screen.
RJ: Oh yeah. Youre doubling your image quality, digitally, but they still have to back off the film quality a little bit
AH: But I still want it to look like film. Youre going to a theatre to see FILM, not digital. A lot of the films shot in HD look a bit disappointing to me [when transferred to film ]
RJ: Digital both in sound and in picture has a harsher quality, and in fact sometimes the detail lacks the softness that you get from a lens, especially a lens thats out of focus in the background and sharp focus in the foreground, which tends to bring that image forward and focus your attention on it better. In situations like that, sometimes the digital doesnt feel quite as right, it isnt quite as natural; and by natural in the terms of a wood in a tree or the feel of someones hand. That kind of human experience, youre kind of further away in digital sometimes than you are in film.
AH: And youre still hard at work. What are you working on right now?
RJ: I just finished a picture in Kenya with Her Brow entitled lets go and were editing that right now. Its being put together as we speak.
AH: Who would you say are some of your favourite cinematographers? Do you have any major influences to your work?
RJ: Subroto Mitra is one of the greats
AH: Oh, absolutely. His work on Pather Panchali, my favourite film, is unforgettable.
RJ: But as for Subroto Mitra, hes one of the many great cinematographers out there, although I dont want to put one above the other, and the reason I dont is because as great as Subroto Mitra was, he was different from the other cinematographers out there.
Subroto Mitra likes to come up with new formats and new ways of developing film and hes done a lot of that over the years. A lot of other people have tried it, but again, it depends on who you are and what you think is great. If its worth the effort, if you see the difference, then great. A lot of times, when you try to take someone elses technique and reproduce it, youre not after the same vision and you fail. Frankly, Im very inventive about the things that I do, and I would rather pursue ideas of my own simply because I know what Im after rather than copying someone else.
AH: What would you say is your favourite photographed film of all time? Or even your favourite movie?
RJ: Id rather not have to make a choice because when you say favourite, its almost like voting for the best actor of the year which I think is totally ridiculous because one is as talented as the other. You may like it better because of the script or the director directing the actor, but it is really unfair to say this one is better than the other because it would be equally nonsense for me from all of the great movies that have been made out there and go I like that one better than ANY other one!
AH: I like that answer. I always ask this out of all of my interviews and I really admire the different, broad answers that I get. I either get a brilliant response like that or I get somebody who says I see hundreds of films a year and THIS one is my #1 of all time. And while I choose Pather Panchali as mine, its just an answer to a question; really, its the one that I choose even though I have about 100 favourite films of all time.
RJ: Absolutely. At any given moment if Im sitting in a theatre and Im inspired I would feel that way at a time, but to sit down and think about it, its apples and oranges. Different movies are great for different reasons!
Success story of a genius fascinated by light Rajiv Jain Award winning Indian Director of Photography Cinematographer DOP
A sample lesson: HD vs. Film...
Aspiring filmmakers are quite lucky compared to years ago. Today, you can make a movie in just about any format and still be taken seriously, assuming that you have a great story and reasonably good production values. As mentioned, The Blair Witch Project is one of the most successful independent features ever made, yet it was shot with a consumer video camera (non-digital).
Prior to the digital revolution of the 1990s, things were a lot different. If the movie was shot on a format other than 35mm, it did not stand a chance of being distributed. 16mm was not taken seriously and video was a joke. These standards were so ingrained in the industry, that even actors were reluctant to work on non-35mm shoots.