DP - Gairik Sarkar (Typewriter, Ek je Chilo Raja, Crisscross, Finally Bhalobasha, Shob Bhuture, Bomkesh O Agniban, Saheb Bibi Golam)
Thanks for coming on board this QA.
You have always been someone to look up to from the city. From being an editor to being an award-winning DP, you have had an amazing journey so far. For this session we will basically talk about the same things we talk about most of the time in our chats, just with better grammar. :D
Like a lot of us, you also never went to a film school per se. How did you go onto becoming a DP, how did you get your first break into the industry?
The answer to this is a bit long-winded and complicated. I’m shortening it a bit. I guess the first break I got was shooting behind-the-scenes material for ‘Kahaani’ in 2009. Post which I got to edit the promotional music videos for the film as well. Sujoy Ghosh has been a pillar of support and a frequent collaborator ever since.
My entry into the Bengali film industry happened parallelly. Back in 2012, a bunch of us made a short film called ‘Guide Gufraan’. What started off as me helping out a group of St. Xavier’s Mass Communication students make their graduation film turned in to a huge collaborative effort and the film took on a life of its own (like most films do). I ended up shooting a bit of it, editing and doing sound design to meet the festival deadlines. The film was screened at a film festival organised by Max Mueller Bhavan where Pratim Das Gupta saw it and soon asked me to shoot his short film ‘8 to 8’. This short was part of an anthology film called X: Past is Present. And then when he was making his second feature film ‘Shaheb Bibi Golaam’, he was kind enough to give me my first film.
How did you handle your first film, a film that you went on to win the Best Cinematography Award for as well? How did you prep for it, both technically and grammatically?
It was tough. I had never planned for big setups or used big film lights before. Most of the shorts and music videos I had shot before this were shot in natural light or with just practicals. Probably just used 2Ks, 1Ks and a couple of Kinoflos at most. I had ‘learnt’ most of my lighting from observing Setu and his assistants during Kahaani. Between that and my first feature all my knowledge was purely theoretical. I read up whatever I could find online.
When it came to application, I just kept it extremely simple and minimal. Night interiors were mostly top-lit. Day interiors had simulated sunlight coming in through the windows. Night exteriors were lit by existing streetlights with some fill on the faces. These decisions were taken during prep and planned in the recces. So the lighting team knew what had to be done beforehand.
Grammatically, the director and I did a shot division before starting principal photography. So the basic coverage plan was already on paper. We took off from there and came up with some ‘special’ shots like the opening 3-minute long oner.
I think the biggest help was the fact we were shooting digital and that the Red Dragon camera system was in fact a glorified DSLR. We could monitor what we were shooting, and I had histograms and waveforms to tell me if I exposed correctly or not. If the film to digital transition did not happen when it happened, I would probably be working in some corporate office!
From our past conversation, I remember 'Shob Bhuture' is a film that was very close to your heart. It was what your 2nd or 3rd film if memory serves me right. As a DP I can understand how exciting it is to shoot a film on a subject like that and have gotten a chance to shoot something like that early in your career must have been very aspiring for you. How did you prep for the film and what was generally going on in your head when you got to know you are shooting this?
It was in fact my 5th as a DP. Saheb Bibi Golaam, Te3n (as editor), Bibaho Diaries, Durga Shohay, Byomkesh O Agnibaan and then Shob Bhuture. But it was exciting for sure since it was my first foray in to the supernatural.
I am a huge fan of the X-files. Probably watched all 9 seasons four times over in my life. Hence, I wanted to recreate that sense of foreboding and eeriness in every scene in Shob Bhuture. No jump-scares or gore, just pure visual discomfort. There is not a speck of sunshine in the film except at the end where the ghosts are set free. We just got plain lucky with the exterior scenes because we were shooting at the onset of monsoons and Birsa Dasgupta (the director) has an uncanny relationship with the rain gods. Having said that, more than 90% of the rain and storms that you see in the film are artificially created, with rain machines and propellers and welding machines (for lightning strikes).
One idea at the outset was to use low levels of light throughout. So whatever source of light you see in the frame falls off to darkness really quickly. Practicals were rarely supplemented by ‘film lights’. For example, daylight ambience from the windows were created with 4 bank KinoFlos rather than HMIs. Night interiors were mostly lit by practicals (fluorescent tubes, table lamps, candles etc). We shot the entire film full open on Master Primes and an Alexa Mini rated at 400 ISO for greater shadow detail.
One fun fact is that we decided to go handheld for the entire film 2 days before principal photography began. We had planned for a completely classical approach (tracks and sticks only) but both Birsa and I, out of the blue, got a gut feeling that a handheld approach would be more emotionally engaging.
Byomkesh o Agniban was a beautifully shot film. It had been my reference as well before I went on to shoot the same story as well. How did you handle this franchise and what went into making such a good looking film ?
Byomkesh was heavily influenced by film noir. I referenced films like Taxi Driver, Chinatown, Drive, and the noir classics like Double Indemnity, Touch of Evil and The Maltese Falcon. The characters and the milieu of Byomkesh lends itself to this kind of stark, shadowy and smoky visuals.
The film goes back and forth in time, from Byomkesh’s first case to the ‘Agniban’ story. The past was high contrast black and white while the main storyline was more about colour contrast (using complimentary colours of light to separate the background from the characters.) Also, the colour red features heavily in the visuals motivated by the red lanterns in China Town, the red neon of the shady dance bars to the red lipstick of the ‘femme fatale’. So, the idea was to keep the production design elements and costume muted and add colour using light. For example, the daylight interior scenes were shot at 3800K colour temperature making the natural daylight bluish while the tungsten practicals were gelled with full CTS to make them extra warm. Nights were always a mix of tungsten streetlights, fluorescent tubelights and red neon sources.
Being a DP, generally, you should know how the film is going to play out in the edit table. But how much does it help your work being an ace editor as well?
As a DP, you never know how the film is going to play out on the editing table! Having said that, every DP and Director must have a deep understanding of editing. No other technique is as powerful as ‘the edit’ in all of cinema. The downside of this is that a misplaced cut can sometimes ruin the intended rhythm and emotion of a scene. My job as a DP then is to discuss with the director how every shot flows into each other so that we don’t spend time on parts of a shot which might never make it to the edit. For example, there is no point re-taking a wide master 6 times if we only use it once in the beginning and once at the end for 8 seconds max. A decent knowledge of editing makes you more economical and efficient.
As a DP, what Genre of film or series would you say is the closest to you, or you think you can give you best output in. I know as a filmmaker we all like to be diverse and be equally good in all products we are involved with. But what is that Genre that just gets all the juices flowing?
I think a good script with well written scenes, interesting characters and challenging locations is what gets me excited the most. I like shooting dramas. I like using photography to get into the head of a character rather than for pure visual design. But I would absolutely love to shoot an out-and-out action movie!
For "Ek je chilo raja" you had a lot of beautiful outdoor shots for which you worked hard to nail timings of shoot. My question here is how important do you think it is to plan for proper timed shots during a production, the difference in quality it gives you, and why and if productions here in our city should try to understand the value of it.
The most important aspect of shooting daylight exteriors is timing. If you want your shot to look beautiful you have to recce and time it right. There is no other way. Having said that, your job as a DP is to figure out which shots you want to fight for and which shots you can let go of. Because given the insanely short schedules we work with, you have to do with what you get. But plan for the perfect timing, except everything to go wrong and have a decent backup plan. We got lucky with Ek Je Chhilo Raja. I hadn’t recced any of the exotic outdoor locations and we were constantly on flights going from one state to another. So, we made the best of what we got. Another example is Typewriter, where a lot of times we shot one scene all day long. So, the sun travels throughout the scene. I had to manage with that and avoid light continuity issues.
One thing I have noticed a lot when working with actors is a lot of experienced actors tend to always know how to take the right light, how to hit their marks and in general have an idea of how the lighting is and where they should be, even when its not marked. But this isnt the case with everybody, especially newer actors, How do you handle this or in general what advice would you give to handling this issue.
I think it comes out of not knowing enough about it. In general, I used to light in a way that actors did not have to worry about hitting their marks or worry about lighting. But for last few projects I have changed my way of lighting faces. Hence now I take the actor through the shot and explain the lighting during the rehearsal so that they can incorporate it in their staging.
As a DP you have to instil trust in an actor and this requires a lot of communication. I’m still working on this even after 11 films and a web series with children! A DP is always the first person an actor looks at when the director calls cut and that’s a huge responsibility. But once you develop a bond with the actor, all these issues about hitting their marks and taking the light vanish into thin air.
Do you use or like using LUTs that you or your colorist have prepared, during the shoot for monitoring? What is your monitoring preference during shoots in general? Do you add inputs into Production Design?
I have always used default rec 709 LUTs except in my latest film. On ‘Bob Biswas’ we wanted a compressed palette and very specific shades of colours which director Diya Ghosh insisted on. Michele Ricossa (my colorist) came up with a beautiful monitoring LUT which we burnt into the dailies as well.
I don’t have any monitoring preferences. I judge everything via the EVF on the Alexas.
After the director, the production designer is your next best friend. You have to discuss everything together. Talk about locations, layouts, props, wall colour, curtains, practicals everything. Then talk to the costume designer. Get everyone together and get their inputs. Then try to get everyone on the same page in terms of palette and visual design. This goes a long, long way towards making your life a whole lot easier during production.
You are someone who has worked here with the camera on your shoulders for almost entire films and at the same time worked on Netflix productions with panthers at your disposal. How much difference do you think certain equipment make in terms of quality and efficiency of production and the final product.
It makes absolutely zero difference. A good crew makes all the difference.
A panther is more efficient only on big budget shoots which can accommodate it in terms of space and logistics. A Steadicam is a particularly useful tool, but it can make you lazy. Similarly, handheld cinematography is quick and efficient only if everyone understands the grammar of it. You could end up with a hundred shots because its fast.
To achieve a high-quality product at the end of the day, you need a decent camera and great collaborators.
Finally, your 10 commandments you follow during production, or you would want to tell young upcoming DPs.
Read the script and feel the characters.
Communicate with other HoDs
Motivate and challenge your team.
Instill trust in your actors
Help maximize the time the director can spend with the actors on set.
Simplify: If you have used 6 lights in a setup, try and use 5.
Test the camera and lens package before shoot.
Review your past work and think about how you would do it differently now.
Keep yourself updated constantly about the state of the art form.
Plan your personal finances better. Talk to a professional.
ALL SCREENSHOTS USED IN THIS ARTICLE ARE COPYRIGHT OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.
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