RAS STAR IS CURRENTLY FEATURING AT THE INTERNATIONAL MUSEUM OF WOMEN FILM FESTIVAL.
Raj next job was on a brief film, Rasstar, based on the chronicle of African rapper Nazizi, which was aired on M-Net.
Synopsis: A teenage rapper, Amani, from a staunch Muslim family teams up with her brother Abdosh, an emerging jailbird artist to figure out a artefact to attain money and intend her into the talent show finals. As the news unfolds, Amani and her brother intend caught up with a local movies and a stolen phone incident and use her brother's plausible tongue to intend them out. Through absolute blind luck they control to find the money they need only to come to blows with their Uncle Shaka, the family patriarch and Mlandimu, the local crook who finally saves them.
Rajeev Jain, a well-versed Bollywood Cinematographer and Director of Photography, discusses his new Award-winning film, Ras Star, and the unique camera approach he utilised specifically for this flick most one teen woman’s hunt for life. With a background as movies of picturing for features such as Army, Badhaai Ho Badhaai, Carry On Pandu, Kadachit, Kalpvriksh – The Wish Tree, Mirabai Not out and Pyar Mein Kabhi Kabhi, Rajiv has had more than enough undergo behind the lens to attain the move to cinema. He also has photography credits for the Award success African TV Series Heartbeat FM.
Where are you from and how did you become a cinematographer?
[Raj] I am from metropolis in the North West of India. My prototypal degree is in Science and it took a while to find my artefact into a more artistic world. After individual meanders I ended up at the Bhartendu Academy of Dramatic Arts (Bhartendu Natya Academy) studying drama. I managed to direct a some brief plays and did camera for many more. Since then I have enjoyed both documentary and drama camerawork with each informing and advancing the other.
How did you approach the photography of Rasstar?
[Raj] Through discussions with Wanuri, finding films we both liked visually. We desired to find separate looks for each news and a different look for the inform day. We found a seeable 'theory' for each section ( for example a deep flushed and black colouration plot for Amani story, daylong movies for Abdosh news and rattling wide lenses for Mlandimu). The looks had to be able to compel quickly (then aided in the grading) because of the rattling tight schedule. We then applied the seeable theory to a shot list (which we often had to do this the night before cod to locations changing or not existence found yet)
what was it like employed with HD for the prototypal time?
[Raj] With a 35mm camera you are hunting direct through a beautiful lens and seeing the scene in colouration and can trust your eyes as conception of the photographic process. With an HD camera you are hunting at a tiny black and albescent ikon through the viewfinder so you need a large (ideally 24\") HD guardian to properly determine what you are filming. This is Brobdingnagian and totally impractical with such a small gathering and low budget so we managed with a 14\" guardian a fair amount of the time but up a mountain or on a remote beach only a small shelling guardian is possible. This was rattling frustrating and led to some things that could have been better.
HD is horrible hunting if any area is overexposed. This proved most questionable in outdoor which we chose to shoot on rattling wide lenses meaning there was a lot of sky in the shot. Unfortunately the skies were particularly flat and overcast but relatively bright white.
The biggest plus to HD was existence able to travel a lot lighter with a pair of zooms up the town for instance and existence able to flick 2 hours worth of touchable with no worries ( which would movies been roughly 12 Brobdingnagian cans of 1000 feet of flick to carry and load). It also meant Wanuri and I could go soured at weekends and flick city shots and pickups rattling easily.
Does storytelling matter?
[Raj] Storytelling is a Brobdingnagian conception of chronicle from an early age. It’s a artefact of finding meaning in the world. For a child it’s a artefact of understanding the movies through metaphor – not that a child thinks of it in that way.
If the world blew up and the some stragglers met up it wouldn’t be daylong before they gathered around a fire and someone started telling tales to attain sense of things. Stories entertain, wage an escape or catharsis, stimulate intellection and speaking and attain you laugh.
What was the best abstract most making Rasstar?
[Raj] The best abstract was existence up in such a beautiful conception of the world employed on a playscript that utilised the African slum as conception of the story.
What was the poorest thing?
[Raj] The prototypal day of the action sequence in market. The gathering took so daylong to movies onto the location that we on the camera gathering were low to making beards out of moss and a feature length documentary on clouds (some rattling dustlike clouds though).
