Por Thozhil: DOP Kalai Selvan Sivaji!

Por Thozhil a crime thriller Directed by Vignesh Raja has created huge impact with both critics and audiences.

Director Vignesh Raja  deserves praise for tightly-knit plot, brilliant writing and direction,apart from being a suspenseful film it also addresses important social issue.

The highlight of the film is the way visuals has been designed, Cinematographer  Kalaiselvan Sivaji composition and lighting transports audience into the edge of the seat experience.

Kalai Selvan Sivaji shares his visual journey to SICA.

Kalai can you introduce yourself?

* I am proud to say myself as the student of Balumahendra Sir, I had studied cinematography technology at his institute. My native is Tiruvannamalai.

How was your learning experiences with Balumahendra sir?

* It was really great learning experience that helped me picturising Por Thozhil confidently. Balu Mahendra sir main advice was to keep things very simple in the frame…do not complicate with technicalities.

What did you do after your film education?

*I had opportunity to work with Cinematographers Balasubramaniam and George.C.Williams, my perception of film making expanded by working with them,as both had distinct style of approach.

Balu sir never opted for Lighting call sheet for whatever big the setup was..he had such a clear Lighting plan for every moment.

George sir preperation  towards a project and Visuals especially during pre production was great lesson for me.

How Por Thozhil happened?

*Firstly I am thankful to Cinematographer Vidhu Ayyanna who referred me this project.

Director Vignesh Raja narrated me the script in a very detailed manner and I was able to feel lot of high moments during narration and felt it is a very special film for me.

Though director had specific idea,he gave me freedom to prepare on my own for the film.

What was your preparation like?

* First thing came after hearing the narration was to have a visual similar to Breaking Bad…and when I initially shared my thoughts to  Vignesh was also impressed as he was a great fan of David Fincher films.

So we decided to give a classical look,not to depend on flashy camera moves or editing cuts.

What was your lighting plan?

* Por Thozhil is a thriller happening in a city at a particular time period, so I first want to stick to that particular time period, I also wanted a contrast image (3:1) was my Lighting ratio.

As this film Actors role play had lots of emotions I didn’t want to create a harsh light and shadows on their face,so I went for a softer light for the face and backgrounds to have a scattered lights.

What was your light package?

* I used M 40 light as a major source, along with it I had tungsten lights like Senior,Juniors,Multi 20 , Kinoflo bulbs, at tight spaces I used Astra tubes and practical lamps

Your Visuals had a warm color light still it had a different tone?

* In one interview I read about Roger Deakins prefered to use straw light gel, that made sense for me,as I wanted to bring warm color light without much of orange…so straw color light gel helped me to achieve it.

What was important pre production plans that helped you during shoot?

* Director Vignesh Raja had a very clear plans for every aspect of this film so we shot this film in 40 days.

As a part of prep we had seperate look chart for each and every characters their costumes, accessories and properties for the frame.. altogether had a story board.

I also used during recce Magic Red viewfinder app,had lens coverage for different focal lengths…that really helped us to exactly plan where and how much light to use,art department to work precisely for the frame coverage that really saved us lot of time during shoot.

Can you detail the color scheme for the film?

*Por Thozhil had two protagonists both are different in nature, where one is a experienced officer but stiff in nature other one is a New comer with ambitious mood.

So we decided to use light color shades for Ashok Selvan and to use darker shades for Sarath Kumar.

Colors wise I was particular not to use flashy colors like red.

Sica general secretary Ilavarasu complimented about your composition especially the way you handled eyeline.

* I was really happy to hear that ..I tried to bring psychological mood of the character one being dominant and other being subdued so I thought I could achieve in composition using eyeline levels.

What camera and lens you shot with? 

*I shot Por Thozhil with Red Gemini and Cooke S5i and I was very happy with the results, especially RED Gemini performed very well under low light conditions, Cooke lens had very less lens flare.

My working aperture was mostly around T 2.0 and T 2.8 minus…for day conditions I worked around T 4 ( ND filters and Polarizers)

Did you use any special grips?

* Our grips was like Panther as we wanted a subtle movements in a tight space, Jimmy jib for two days and 40 feet crane for few days.

We didn’t try gimbals because that kind of moves was not required for the film.

Can you describe your DI work flow?

I choose to work with SDR workflow with ACES as working color space.

I had a good rapport with my colorist who understood my idea not to  manipulate much. I used color grading process to bring seperation.

Coming back to your early days ..what was the prime reason you want to become a Cinematographer 

I was like normal film buff watching movies for casual entertainment…but Balumahendra sir Neengal Kettavai one song Kanavu Kaanum Vazhkai visuals mesmerized me,the tranquil quality of images made me to get interested into photography and Images by PC Sreeram sir and Santhosh Sivan sir also had a great impact over my life.

What is your take on Cinematography

* I am a beginner to say but still on my experience cinematography as a art form should function based on the requirements of the film screenplay and understand Directors vision…also as my Mentor Balumahendra sir said to keep things very simple in the frame.

SICA wishes Kalaiselvan Sivaji lot more accolades for his future.

Article by

CJ Rajkumar

Author/ Cinematographer