‘SHADES’ In house Creovalley feature film
Creovalley campus is one of the most happening campuses in Bangalore when it comes to media and design. Here students are getting on field experience as recently we have launched the programme in which their theories are converted into practical on set experience by converting them into the crew. Creovalley have announced and currently is in production of feature film title Shades, Let us give a brief about this project. This feature length film Shades is an Anthology film of three chapters called GREY (Chapter-1), BLACK (Chapter-2) and WHITE (Chapter-3), the entire narrative of these chapters are stories based on social subjects. The look of the film is Black and White (Monochromatic) as the screenplay demands the performance of the actor and the makers are trying to create the character oriented plot and their realistic through this noiristic expression. Students of Creovalley have played a very productive role showing there involvement in the complete process of filmmaking, the role in which they were involved was Direction team- script supervisor, assistant direction, associate director, chief assistant director, Cinematography team- First assistant cinematographer, Camera man, focus puller, Gaffer, best boy electric, Art department- Prop master, set dresser. This film is an intense process and practice of guerilla filmmaking technique and the speciality about this project is to work on the cinematic depth and lighting for the monochromatic treatment. Students were involved from pre production like script discussion, actors workshop, location hunting/scouting, shot designing as well as during production like Shooting, script supervising, lighting, continuity and handling the crowd by supporting the narrative of the film.
We have recently released a glimpse of this film in a teaser format which will give you an outlook of this project. This film is written and directed by one of our filmmaking faculty Mr. Utkarsh Avinashrao Salunkhe who have received 7th Dadasaheb phalke film award for one of his Short film and Director of photography for this film is handled by our Filmmaking H.O.D Mr. Rajeev Ganeshan followed by all the students’ involvement as a core crew member. Actors who worked for this film are based from the Bangalore theater circle. We had a screentest organized for this film and we did casting which suits for the particular character nuance.
Here is the teaser for the upcoming feature film project ‘ SHADES’.
During this project we had an amazing journey regarding all the processes and students were involved and having an in-depth experience. We are sharing few glimpses from the process.
LOCATION HUNTING GLIMPSE- ‘FINDING NARRATIVE THROUGH THE URBAN BANGALORE’
These pictures were clicked during the location hunting from the city and streets of Bangalore. The look which we were hunting was some heritage of the city which had an impression of the old posters and grung for the need of the Mise-en-scene. Team Shades students and Faculty were visiting all the locations early morning, afternoon and evening to understand the light direction on the same location. They were using light meters to check EV (exposure value) for cinematography requirements and plan for the shooting schedule accordingly. We have a number of location hunting references and all we sorted into a folder to finalize during the production meeting.
SET LIGHTING – ‘BLENDING THE NARRATIVE WITH LIGHTS’
These pictures were clicked during one of our critical lighting situations where the space was isolated for the staging as well as to set the light, so we solved this problem with a few light equipment adjustments and students were a part of the major solution. Finally we achieved the cinematic frame we were expecting.
OVERNIGHT SCHEDULE- ‘PRACTICAL LIGHT SHOTS ‘
Sometimes we have to wait for a lot of things like passing crowds and vehicles, constant light and adjusting flickers, the need of this situation was to bring out the noiristic look to the frame. Students with DOP and Director have experimented and played with light and shadows during the night time. These moments from the film are very stylised for the viewer’s experience.
MONITORING THE SHOTS WITH STUDENTS TO UNDERSTAND THE EXPOSURE AND DRAMA
Monitoring the shot’s entire design including lights, staging and blocking is a very important aspect when it comes to intense performance. So in this image you can see that they are having an overall look out before rolling the shot.
MAKEUP AND COSTUME- ‘SHOOTING CLOSE UPS WITH RIGHT EXPOSURE’
Makeup and costume is a very important element in filmmaking, we had an intense discussion about the mood and color palette of the entire monochromatic treatment related to the deep requirement of the story. We have planned the exposure vise versa on makeup and costume at the right moment and shot. Focal length lens decisions were taken during pre production discussion for the closeups and makeup was planned accordingly. The team was relaxed after seeing the final output.
CONSTANT ENERGY – ‘ NO PACK UP UNTIL WE GET THE SHOT’
The process was long and intense but the energy carried by the students during this course of experience was tremendous, sometimes the process was taking a long time but they have carried the same energy and attitude during the progressive period of shoot.
Right now the 3rd and the final chapter is under production titled ‘WHITE’ which is the most challenging cinematic experience and there are new challenges in terms of performance and technical process. The team is already anticipated for this experience and already looking forward to completing ‘SHADES’ Anthology film. Post production is under process and soon the trailer cut will be coming out in a few days. Creovalley campus has a lot of stories and happenings throughout the academic year which will take the steps of students way further in terms of profession and passion.
If you care to learn further about how workshops are structured at LISAA School of Design, please click below to get in touch with our team.