Lockdown times: Mahesh Muthuswami

Filmmaking   –  in the Lockdown times

India entered into a full lockdown due to the Covid pandemic, in the last week of March 2020. We all looked at it as, may be as a maximum for  a three week period or so. But here we are now , June 2021 , just trying to coming out of the second wave – full lockdown.

Lives and lifestyles have changed in these several months. The new normal has evolved.  Masks are part of our attire. So are the routines of sanitization and social distancing.

A full lockdown means an individual  has to help in curtailing the spread of the infection , by confining one to one’s own closed space, without stepping out at all.

Just think , 24 hours a day , for days together , one has to remain shut , inside. Can’t step out into the open space.

Human mind needs to think and express . The mind needs to be fed too , just like the physical hunger. And a Filmmaker’s mind is more hungry , creatively. In that sense , one of the most affected tribe , is the filmmaking community.

Filmmaking is an art and an endeavour which requires a collective effort. Professional teams might need hundreds of people and  even  an independent filmmaker might  need a minimum of 10 or 20 members crew.

So, what would this confinement  mean and do to the filmmaker. This confinement can’t contain the expressive zeal in him.

Locations are the backbone of any good film. The  actors are the beings who bring to life  the soul of a film. He cant have access to these and many , many other resources.

His plans and executions everything take a halt. He can’t spread his wing of thoughts to spread out, without boundaries. The boundaries at the most , are the walls of his home.

If he cant go far out , so be it.

He can go deep ;  Deep inside into him , internally.

And come out with stories and scripts,   which he could shoot and cast , with the available minimal resources, which are at his disposal in his home, itself.

– above still from a short film  VIRUS made by Cinematographer Vaidy

Those confined spaces of his home , now take on a different form and shape. Discovering new ways of seeing your own space , by juxtaposing and juggling of the existing elements.

They are now looked at it with a different perspective. Newly minted actors , from the kith and kin , start performing with ease in front of the camera. They become your collaborators.

– above still from a short film SELFIE by Cinematographer KV.Pavithran

To put it simply , Maximal thoughts with Minimalist resources.

This minimalism has resulted in some  really interesting films, from , both professionals and  beginners alike. They were able to express fully, the pandemic experience and experiences beyond that. On Hope , Fun , Loneliness and on cherishing the present moment ;

For some it was an ideal way to polish their skills. After all, practice makes one perfect . Some filmmakers even tried complex technical things like dual roles and perspective gimmicks credibly.

All these were possible thanks to the new tech , of course.

Affordable Digital Cameras or Ultra Smart phones to capture, open source  softwares for editing and grading , uber-compact & multi efficient LED based lights , hand held gimbals , quality microphones which doesn’t cost a bomb and the huge , accessible music and sound libraries.

Professional crews squeezed the available resources to come out with feature length films like ‘C U soon‘. The small crew literally stayed together in a confined space , for the whole length of the film.

OTT platforms like Prime video , managed to shoot an anthology series amidst the lockdown , fully adhering to the protocols.  The filmmakers, stretched what they could deliver inspite of very meagre resources , without ever compromising the spirit of the  script.

– Above still from Amazon prime video content ‘Puthutham Pudthu Kalai’ shot by Cinematographer P.C.Sreeram

Or the made over online –  shorts ‘The Lockdown Shorts’ with different people  from different cities doing the roles of cast and crew, but connecting virtually.

Some Film Festivals have acknowledged the films from these times and hence,   having a separate section and theme for these films calling them ‘ the Isolation Cinema’.

Adding to this repertoire would be the newly burgeoning non-fiction , short videos which were filmed and published online , by homemakers and novice-bakers to exhibit their baking and culinary skills. Even children sharpening their musical skills and publishing it as a small film. This list is endless.

All these films goes to prove nothing else , but the indomitable spirit of filmmaking. To keep going at it,  in spite of the pandemic adversity.

This new normal is going here to stay , at least for several more months . So its better to adapt and keep making films.

– Article by Cinematographer Mahesh Muthuswami