Webseries a Highway Ride:DOP Shiva.GRN

CINEMATOGRAPHER SHIVA.GRN

Q) Tell us about yourself.
A) I’m a former associate of Legendary Cinematographer/Director Mr.Santosh Sivan and had worked with him in films like Raavan/Raavanan, Urumi, Thupakki, etc and few ads of popular brands. I’m an IT Engineer turned Cinematographer. As an independent DOP, I’ve shot more than 100 ad films with more than 25 celebrity artists like Samanta, Trisha, Lakshmi Menon, Anirudh, Rahman, Sharath Kumar, etc and very first popular Tamil Web series ‘As I’m suffering from Kadhal’ directed by ‘Maari’ fame Balaji Mohan.

Q) How did the Web series ‘As I’m suffering from Kadhal’ (ASK) happened?
A) Balaji is a good friend of mine for quite few years. After he completed Maari, he told me that he had an idea for a Tamil Web series. I found that thought very broad-minded and inspiring. I immediately said ‘Yes’ to him since I know his making style for sure.

Q) Can you brief us on it’s Pre-production process?
A) Yup. It was an interesting process. At that point, I was very clear that I should treat it almost like a feature film since the Director had already done 3 feature films. The entire Season-1 was shot with Red Epic camera and Ultra prime lenses. The script was very young & trendy, so I decided to give a playful look for the visuals. My mentor Santosh Sir used to say that the camera must be treated like a toy and not like an object. I had it in mind throughout the shoot and used Arri Alura zoom lens for major shots. Also, Four different tones were given for 4 different set of relationships which was the heart of the content.

Q) What were the major challenges during the shoot?
A) Since we were the first one to do a Tamil web series, we were in a situation to experiment the project within a short span of time & budget. Infact, that made the process more active and alive. Since Balaji had a clear edit pattern in mind and almost all the actors were spontaneous, we were able to wrap up the entire shoot of 10 episodes (Each one of nearly 25mins) in just 19 days in an unbelievable minimum cost. Very limited lights like Kino Flo lights were used and no regular generator was used for the entire shoot. The overall optimism in the set was extremely strong which made the shooting progress flow like a calm river.

Q) What’s the key idealogy behind ASK’s Cinematography?
A) The basic idea was to treat the visuals just like a feature film. As we know, Balaji was the first tamil director to successfully expand a short film to a feature film through his ‘Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi’. After Maari, he decided to try something new in this digital era as an Original Web series. So, the prime responsibility I had in mind was to make sure that the visuals are absolutely flawless.

Q) Tell us about ASK’s feedback?
A) ASK got released in Hotstar Originals on 15 June 2017. To be frank, most our audience were not even aware about Web series platform when ASK got released. Lot of my friends called me up and asked if it is a feature film. I positively took it as a compliment. Later the word-of-mouth was so rapid that ASK became an instant hit. People binge-watched it and started asking for Season-2. The reach of it was very strong that it went on to receive the best web series award in DESI (Digital Excellence of South India) awards 2017. I would proudly say that ASK was the role model Web series for many aspiring filmmakers.

Q) Your comment on today’s Web series outputs & it’s platforms?
A) As we know, There are lot of interesting Web series contents coming out regularly these days. It’s good that the creative space is wide open now. Thanks to platforms like Hotstar, Amazon, Netflix, Zee5, etc. Entertainment has become a part of our lives these days just like Food, Shelther & Clothing. This is easily fulfilled with a Web series platform. As a technician, I feel it is healthy that these platforms do a proper quality check before they stream the contents.

Q) What’s your suggestion to other upcoming Web series DOPs?
A) During Thupakki shoot, I observed and learnt from Dir.Murugadoss Sir that ‘Cooking for the guest is very important than cooking for our own taste!’. I feel that this is applicable to Cinematography too. For instance, few years back committing lights within the frame was in trend, later audience loved rig shots when equipments like Ronin started booming in the industry and now people like Bi-colour lighting pattern. So it should be our prime focus to deliver what the audience expects today visually provided it enhances the script. Script & team selection is the key aspect to look out for a successful project.

Q) How do you see the future of Web series?
A) As of now, Web series making is like a Highway ride. Fresh and enthusiastic. But once we reach a toll (Saturation point), there might be traffic! Some other route will open up that time. As a filmmaker/technician, it is always good to be technically updated and flexible. Technology has become like a daily newspaper. Updates itself everyday.

Q) What are your upcoming works?
A) I’m shooting an interesting tamil feature film named ‘Taana’ with lead actors Vaibhav and Nandita. 95% of it’s shoot is done. ‘As I’m suffering from kadhal’ Season-2 is expected to happen in near future. Apart from this, I shoot Ads and corporate films regularly with my twin Siddhu.GRN in our firm ‘Twin Stars Creations’.

Interviewed for SICA by

CJ Rajkumar

Author/Cinematographer