American Cinematographer - July 2008 - 22

Above: As the monsoons finally begin, Moores contemplates his ruinous actions. Below: Director/ cinematographer Santosh Sivan, ISC discusses a scene with Roache and Jennifer Ehle, who plays Moores’ wife. yard that is open to the sky. “We put a big scrim across the top and cut out all the sunlight,” continues Sivan. “I wanted ambient light from the top but wanted the flames next to T.K. to always dominate.” According to Sivan, the most challenging part of the 33-day shoot was the construction of the road that Moores is building in order to expand his business. It is imperative the road be built before monsoon season begins, and Moores hires dozens of locals for the job. “It’s very difficult to start building a road,” declares Sivan with a laugh, “so we found one that had been abandoned. We actually had three or four different stages of road building, each in a different location. We used two cameras for these scenes; one was on a crane and the second was locked off.” Sivan relied on an Indian crane, manually operated, for many of the shots. Frequently, the director/cinematographer began scenes by pulling back from a close-up or medium shot, as when Moores’ wife and son arrive at the dock, or during the antiBritish protest when the villagers block the road into town. “I like the idea of things being revealed,” he muses, “and I like the idea of motion because it serves to lead an audience into a scene. I also like rack-focuses because they slowly shift an audience’s attention.” Equipment was rented from a variety of rental houses, although Sivan uses his own lights. The production also had a Jimmy Jib and an 80' Akela crane; the latter was used for a shot of T.K. climbing onto an elephant. “The crane had a trunk like an elephant,” laughs Sivan. “The elephant was a little confused by it!” Although Before the Rains is set in the 1930s, Sivan didn’t want a typical period look. “I wanted to give the story a somewhat contemporary feel, which is why I chose Cooke S4 lenses. In India, we normally use Zeiss lenses, but I tested both brands and liked the sharpness of the Cookes.” He also used an Angenieux 25-250mm zoom. The production’s cameras were an Arri 535B and an Arri 435. During his interview with AC, Sivan repeatedly praised his crew, which included production designer Sunil Babu, sound man Paul Schwartz, gaffer and 1st AC Anjuli Shukla, and Bcamera operator Alphonso Roy. Before the Rains was shot in standard 1.85:1 on two Kodak Vision2 stocks, 500T 5218 and 100T 5212. “I like the way the colors jump out at you,” explains Sivan. The negative was processed and scanned at Prasad Film Labs in Chennai, and the digital intermediate (DI) was carried out at Hollywood Intermediate in Burbank. Sivan did not make any extreme alterations during the digital grade, but he says the DI process proved helpful in matching the light in some shots. An example is the scene in which Moores carries Sajani’s lifeless body into the river and sinks it. The wide shot shows Moores wading into the water, carrying the corpse, but the water was so cold it was impossible to do the close-up of Moores submerging her. Instead, the filmmakers set up a tub of warm water near the river, and, with the camera shooting from above, the actor released the body into the water. “Matching the light reflection on the water to the wide shot required time and patience,” says Sivan. ¢ 22 July 2008

American Cinematographer - July 2008

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - July 2008