#HGAcademy: At a time when our physical spaces are confined and movement is stifled, the only constant in our lives is our own creativity. For a while, we, at Homegrown have been toying with the idea of evolving our platform into space that inspires generations to believe that their career paths are not limited to those shaped by our society and that there is a world out there that where creative industries are thriving. Our sole motivation behind this attempt is to shift the needle in the Indian creative industries.
Homegrown as a brand has always stood for responding to the Indian youth’s needs, and to this end, we bring to you HG Academy, to teach you everything your school didn’t. As we spend our days inside our homes and within ourselves, HGAcademy with its commune of creative thought leaders and pioneers will teach you the basics that you might not get access to elsewhere. We hope for it to evolve into a culture of creation, collaboration, discovery through an exchange of thoughts & ideas.
The coming weeks will see digital festivals, skill-building sessions, new personal & professional strategies and similar efforts towards connecting you to the world of creators to learn and be inspired. The aim is to deep-dive into the creative process, new ways of learning, re-imagination of old ways and experience and learn more. This session, we have renowned cinematographer Jay Oza with us to explain to us the dynamics of effective filmmaking and the makings of a visual.
Jay was born and brought up in Baroda, India. He graduated from The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda in B.F.A majoring with Art History and Aesthetics and following his graduation, he moved to Bombay to work as a Set PA on Rang de Basanti (2006).
He then continued to work as an assistant director on several projects namely Loins of Punjab Presents (2007), I See You (2006), Jodhaa Akbar (2008). While working on the above projects, he first discovered his interest in cinematography. The actual journey began when he went to Prague Film School where he learned the discipline of Cinematography.
He returned to assist Ayananke Bose and Shudeep Chatterjee in several projects. His first independent job was Dewarists season 1 & 2, and it continued with him shooting for the Indian adaptation of the series 24 starring Anil Kapoor.
He debuted his film career with Raman Raghav 2.0 (2016), and later shot Ghoul (2018), Blackmail (2018), Made In Heaven (2019), and Gully Boy (2019). He won the Filmfare and IIFA for Gully Boy in 2020. He is currently completing the shoot of Toofan for Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra starring Farhan Akhtar. He is also a partner and producer with Pink Window Productions, a film and TV production house. Jay is touted as one of the best cinematographers of recent times. In his free time, he also lectures at film schools on cinematography and film making.
Below are his recommendations to practice good filmmaking and cinematography.
Films:
City Of God (2002)
The Godfather (1972)
Seven (1979)
There Will Be Blood (2007)
Raging Bull (1980)
Chungking Express (1994)
Lobster (2016)
No Country For Old Men (2007)
Lake Tahoe (2008)
Fargo (2014)
Gulaal (2009)
Ali (2001)
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Podcasts: When it comes to podcasts, Oza thinks that since cinematography is really all about collecting stories and perspectives, anything that might be of interest to one will be useful.
He says, “explore all cinematography podcasts or matter of fact anything that interests you because eventually, it will add to your perspective and process”.
Workshops/talks/seminars:
Jay stresses on viewing round table with cinematographers, directors, actors, producer. He suggests that you listen to everyone as it helps you understand the entire process and how they all need to come together towards one vision. Youtube is full of talks by various cinematographers so just listening to every filmmaker and get to know their story goes a long way according to him. He insists upon seeing the BTS (behind the scenes) of films.
Some cinematographers talks he follows are Roger Deakins, Christopher Doyle and Rodrigo Prieto.
Some of his favourite documentaries are:
In the Mood For Doyle (2007), Visions of Light- The Art Of Cinematography (1992) and Writing With Light: Vittorio Storaro (1992)
People/Accounts to Follow
Says Oza, “see all forms of art and follow different artists follow cinematographers, photographers, visual artists, see as much art as you can some accounts I follow are,”
Some of his friends in this space whose work he likes:
@swapsagram
@_architpatel_
@wrkprint
@aamir_mughall
Film schools he recommends :
FTII Pune: The Film and Television Institute of India is an autonomous institute under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India and aided by the Central Government of India. It is situated on the premises of the erstwhile Prabhat Film Company in Pune.
SRFTII Kolkata: Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute is a film and television institute located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Named after Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray, the institute provides higher and professional education and technical expertise in the art and technique of film-making and television production.
LV PRASAD Chennai: Top Chennai Film school that offers an array of courses.
Whistling Woods Mumbai: Whistling Woods International is a film, communication and creative arts institute located in Mumbai. The institute is promoted by the Indian Filmmaker Subhash Ghai, Mukta Arts and Film City Mumbai. In July 2014, The Hollywood Reporter named Whistling Woods International on its list of “The best film schools in the world”. The school was first ranked among the top 10 film schools by The Hollywood Reporter in 2010.
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