In conversation Vijay Karthik Kannan – Jailer!

Cinematographer Vijay Karthik Kannan  was very much appreciated for the creative light strokes he  framed in the   experimental feature film ”Aaadai”and he continued  his experimental visuals in the film DOCTOR  which had a unique style of composition and the recent release  Jailer creating storm in the box office, simultaneously cinematography is raved among critics and audiences.

Vijay Karthik Kannan happily shares his visual journey with SICA.

* Tell us about your initial days of interest towards photography and Cinematography?

Earlier stage of my school life that’s during Plus one… I developed strong interest towards Cinematography, my mind always started analyzing the reason behind the good visuals on the films i watched in theatres…that propelled me  to explore the possibilities. First it was from my cousin i started learning photoshop …so it was like from photoshop to photography and then Cinematography.

* Your association with Director Nelson for the film  Doctor?

Director Nelson first saw the trailer of my film ”Aaadai”..then we met, it was a very casual one…talked about mutual likings we had for the  cinemas  and its sensibilities. During our conversation Nelson informed me about his next film is with Sivakarthikeyan and finally he said  will call me after watching Aaadai.

After one week Aadai got released again Nelson called me to say he watched the film with his team and impressed with my cinematography and gave me bound script of DOCTOR…I was very much impressed with the narrative…generally i used to take a lot of notes while reading the script, so i did the same and met Nelson…on the go he said shall we try  creating a lot of head room in the framing Like Polish Black and white feature Film IDA…i too was excited as i already tried a sinking headroom style in few portions for  Aadai..where i kept Amala Paul down the frame with more ceiling space to create loneliness in the empty space.

* Your cinematography in Aadai would caused more challenging moments?

Till date my toughest film was shooting Aadai..each day each shot will impose new challenges. For example  a shot where Amala Paul is got trapped inside a building with leak of sunlight  in the background…so i have to frame a shot where the character overlaps the sun light and Sits down..i have to compose it without revealing her  nudity.

Aadai  is a thriller where a women gets trapped inside without having any dress on her body…to bring the images convincingly  i have to refer many images on  artistic nudity.Director Rathina also informed me audience have to see nudity without any vulgarity and experience it like a Baby’s skin.

So both Lighting and Composition should break from regular pattern and i have to invent different light strokes falling into the character.

Even censor board officials appreciated me…for the way Amala Paul was portrayed throughout the film.

* Coming to Doctor your cinematography was much appreciated?

Mood played the important role…as said earlier i too was excited to experiment with the headroom in the composition that worked very well for the film…Nelson also was curious that i  maintained it throughout the film.

* Jailer – what came to your mind after hearing the storyline from Director Nelson?

I really liked the way Nelson narrated to me…on first hearing itself i  could sense a lot of high points throughout the  film…Especially Rajini sir characterization was very different portraying a quiet family man playing a grandfather role but when the storm hits the family  he arises into a completely different avatar was the key point in the film.

I was very sure this film will be very special and different for Rajini sir also.

* What are the first few decisions you made regarding visual scheme?

First thing came to my mind was the film has a very Massy interval block and stunning Climax sequences. We want that to be very special for the audience and try to make it work with the Visuals strongly by choosing dynamic camera angles…keep the camera very close to the characters…at the same time the narrative of the film at the beginning is to be very grounded.. so treat them like a very classy visuals with Dark and shade also explore middle greys.

Above all i am great fan of Rajini sir ..so i wanted to present him very well especially to make him look very attractive, he  is also playing a aged man role so to have eyebags. But  make him look healthier with beautification al not to miss the skin textures, Visual wise  i wanted to create unique separate looks for Rajini sir for 1st half and second half where the mode of the film changes.

I did not use any deliberate zoom in or dolly ins throughout the film…we wanted even mass scenes look like a strong narrative visual point.

* What was your idea of color scheme for Jailer?

Important point was the house Rajini sir character is living where it can be of 20 years old of outer Chennai. Deserted so even when shootout happens nobody will be there nearby ..i want these to be very realistic as possible so i had a colors that of old buildings that of 2007-08 where the middle class independent house will have wall of blue colors..grills with black & white paint.

Rajini sir we gave Pastel shirts not the checked ones, for others i had costume colors revolved around primaries, for antagonist places we went with darker shades of color…in the lights also we had specific colors inside house source will be in blue…lights coming from outside source into the house will be in warmer colors.

i always remember from my childhood outskirts in the city  have sodium vapour lamps in the streets ..during night if we switch off our house lights we have streaks of sodium vapour light leaks in our home..so i wanted to recreate that for Jailer…especially it worked very well for interval sequence where light will be cutoff by Villainy gang in a dark spell there will be orange color light.

So finally we had first half of the film  blue color wall interiors with costumes of pastel colors and second half telugu portion all primaries with vivid colors with good saturation and again the underground sequence darker with more neutral tones.

* Can you explain the different backdrops that you had used in the film!

Jailer had variety and end number of backdrops…first half was the Rajini sir house and lots of night streets, Sweet shop of Saravanan and Villian place…so i opted for a low key lighting approach to these backgrounds. Keep the face with light but create a contrast and audience should feel the enveloping darkness for thrilling effect…second half backdrop  keeps changing to Hyderabad, Shooting floor, hotels, Other states, Jails and there is a convoy fight sequence on a deserted road. Here i want to keep things very bright and even over exposed a bit.

challenging one was to find a very long single stretchy road  for convoy sequence….we tried to find all over India and finally got at Jaisalmer  it was not shooting friendly especially mobility wise uneven roads.

Antagonist under ground den was filmed by erecting a spacious set…the problem was we want  to have a real worn out texture wall…we tried many and finally art director Kiran mixed sand with the paint …it worked out excellently.

Kaavala song was picturized at EVP chennai…that song color, backdrop, lighting scheme all was created by using artificial intelligence ( Mid journey,Adobe fire fly) references.

* Cameras and Lenses used?

I used Arri LF camera with Signature prime lenses and also had Arri Mini LF as second camera always, Zoom lenses was Fujinon Premista but in this movie i didn’t use much Zoom lens except for Close ups and additionally i utilized Probe lens (Laowa 24mm)

I had used  a lot of close up diopters like plus one, two, plus 0.5 ..then i had used lot of filters i wanted to be done in camera instead of post in that one was hollywood blackmagic.

* Any particular reasons for using Warm lights? 

I always fascinated towards warm light and color to the extent i was upset when our street lights switched to LED bulbs. According to my perception for Indian Skin tone warm lights looks very good,

I think i grew up seeing sodium vapour lamps and inside our house we would have Tungsten filament round bulbs which create warmer lights.

* Color grading pipeline for Jailer?

Color timing for this film happened at Mumbai done by a colorist Andreas  German native settled in India.

Software used was Baselight we started grading process with HDR workflow through a calibrated monitor and finally adjusted for P3 projector for theatricals.

We did not try any particular tone for this film…our aim was to bring organic images  with color balance and contrast perfectly. Then  we removed warmth in the shadows and kept cold and highlighted warmth in the skin, we tried to use HDR range as much as possible as a technique we tried high density images through post.

overall our aim to bring a very clean image having a lot of color separation with good punch of contrast.

* Being a fanboy how was your experience working with Rajini sir?

First i am very grateful to Director Nelson for the trust he had in me and Sun Pictures for giving me a once in a life opportunity, as i was great fan of Rajini sir from childhood days now viewing him through viewfinder cant be expressed in words.

On the work front he was very professional and humble …that really inspired me very much, Rajini sir knows all the crafts still he doesn’t interfere. At the beginning as i show him the scenes in a small shogun monitor he would ask me about the low key lighting style…how it would look at B and C theatres…Director Nelson said to sir that DOCTOR also had darkness in the frames….after one stage he started enjoying the  lighting and composition…would compliment immediately.

There was a action scene which was very complicated i asked for a retake ..Rajini sir wanted to know why …i explained that i am going to sync the Gun shots with spills of light  using skypanel..he readily agreed after the shot Rajini sir asked me whether i a going to maintain this wonderful technique for the counter shot, i was really taken away by the dedication and the knowledge he had, Jailer film making was very challenging i had always a kind of workfear to deliver the best…now i am very happy about the result and appreciations i am receiving.

SICA wishes Vijay Karthik Kannan continue to experiment his ideas into visual framework and all success in future endeavors.

Article by

CJ Rajkumar

Author/Cinematographer