Hemant Gaba : Interview with a film director.

Discuss film direction, directors, and assistant directors, their job profiles etc here


Post Reply
User avatar
parambyte
Site Admin
Posts: 165
Joined: Sun Jan 24, 2021 5:28 am

Hemant Gaba : Interview with a film director.

Post by parambyte »

Hemant Gaba worked in Software Companies for 7 years before taking the plunge into filmmaking in 2008. He has directed a feature ‘Shuttlecock Boys', a short ‘Super Girl', a collaborative feature as one of the 11 directors ‘X-TheFilm' and a documentary ‘Japan In Nagaland'.


 

As a child what were your early influences towards cinema? Art, literature, graphics, photography?

I didn't really watch films as a child. While growing up, I was more interested in History & Music than anything else.    

 

How did you first become interested in film direction?

I was not very satisfied with writing software programs that paid very well, so was always on a look out for some alternative that would excite me. And it turned out to be making films. So, it primarily came out of the boredom in my last career. 

 

What steps did you take to train yourself?

I had attended filmmaking workshops at School of Visual Arts in NY to get some sense of what filmmaking is all about. But I guess, working on my debut film Shuttlecock Boys was the best training.

 

Have you assisted anyone? How does it help one?

I didn't assist anyone, but IMHO – it would help to get an understanding of how to manage a film set, how the production works and the whole lifecycle of making a film. But am not sure if it helps in the creative aspect unless your mentor is really an evolved filmmaker.

 

How did your first film project come about? Tell us something about the experience.

My first film project was Shuttlecock Boys which I had conceived while taking screenwriting workshop in Gotham Writer's Classes. We had started working on the film in 2008 and it got completed in 2011. Making the film was only the smaller beast and bringing it out was a bigger one. The film festival screenings started in Jan 2011 and lasted till Oct 2014, during which it also got a very limited theatrical distribution in India (in Aug 2012) and few paid screenings in Singapore. The film is now available on iTunes, Google Play and Eros Now. The film also got listed as one of the top 10 Indies by IANS, under the Best Indian Indie Cinema by Raindance, one of the best Indies on Scoopwhoop and Polkacafe. So when I look back, I think the journey not only has taught me a lot but has also changed me as a person.

 

Tell us something about crowd funding. Do you think the process can be improved and become a larger contributor to a film's budget?

In my opinion, crowd funding model shall be used cautiously. It's mostly friends, relatives and friends of friends who end up contributing for your project. And they would contribute only once unless your project has been a roaring success. But in cases, when the film deals with a particular issue let's say LGBT then there are good chances of getting contributions from unknown people. Crowd funding campaign shall be planned meticulously if one wants to opt for it. But it can contribute only a very limited portion of the budget.

 

 

How do you decide on a film subject. What are your inspirations?

The feature Shuttlecock Boys was partly inspired from my growing up years and partly from a vague start up plan that I had. Super Girl, a 16 mins short that world premiered at this year's TIFF Kids Intl Film Fest was already scripted when I came on board to direct it with Vaani Arora for School Cinem. Also I directed one segment in X-TheFilm (a collaborative film by 11 directors), where I had to create a story in pre-defined parameters. My current project is an hour long documentary called Japan In Nagaland, which was inspired by a newspaper article in Telegraph by Smitha Verma.

 

Is film direction intuitive or is it something you learn?

Craft and skill can always be learnt but storytelling is very instinctive.

 

Do you think the audience is perceptive about how a director establishes a mis en scene in the sense of time and space?

Audience may or may not be able word it in the sense of time and space but they are very perceptive. There are a lot of elements that audience understands subconsciously but share it in the form of how they feel after they have watched the film. So one has to decrypt the audiences' feedback. 

 

Film technology is continuously changing. Do you think it affects you as a director, in the way you want to tell stories. 

Technology has only enhanced the way of storytelling. And willingness to pick up technology for any director always helps. Birdman wouldn't have been Birdman had this technology of making it seem like a single shot film wasn't possible.

 

Your favorite films or directors? At least two of them?

List is endless but few from the top of my head from last few years are – Searching for Sugarman, Stories We Tell, Inception, Amour, A Separation, The Social Network, Birdman, 3-Iron, The Lives Of Others, Man On Wire etc.

 

Any hurdles you have encountered in your journey. Things that are blocks in a achieving your vision while making your film.

NA (haven't encountered that so far)

 

Do you often get all that is in your wish list or is it a hard bargain every time? 

It's always a bargain, though degree differs. But everything in life is like a bargain including the life itself  

 

What is in the kitty now?

Final leg of Post Production of Japan In Nagaland (a Documentary) about the Anime Subculture in Nagaland.

 

Any advice to the inspiring directors?

I think I haven't reached a position yet to give any advice to others. Everyone has to carve their own road and figure out what works best for them. Am hoping the new age filmmakers will push the form. 

 

Any memorable blunders?

I had lost more than a year because film negatives of Shuttlecock Boys were damaged at one of India's premier labs. Then, I wished I had shot in digital and that wouldn't have happened.

 

Your dream project?

Yet to hit my brain.

 

Who would you like to take out for dinner?

Stephen Hawking.

 

What are you listening to right now? And most recent book? And Movie?

Listening to Summer Memories Deep House Mix; Book – You are now less dumb by David McRaney; Movie – The Cove.

 

Your twitter handle?

hemantgaba

 



This post has been promoted to an article
Post Reply

Return to “Directors and Assistant Directors”