I shot this short film a year ago, finally got to share the grabs.
Hello! I’m a cinematographer based in India, and I DP’d this short film about a year ago. Now that its festival run is over, I’m finally able to share some grabs from it.
This was a small indie production shot over just two days. From the beginning, I knew I wanted the film to feel dark, moody, and atmospheric — almost suspended in time. A big part of creating that feeling came from using fog heavily for depth and texture, while still trying to keep the visuals grounded and naturalistic.
Since the budget was limited across departments, we decided very early on that we would lean into available light as much as possible instead of fighting it. Most of the film was shot using natural daylight, shaped with a lot of negative fill (something I absolutely love working with), ultrabounce wrapped around a poly, and a single Nanlux Dyno panel. The Dyno ended up becoming an incredibly useful tool because of how soft and broad the source felt — at times it genuinely looked like the sky itself was illuminating the actors.
The process itself was honestly challenging from the very start. We had an extremely limited window to shoot because the entire visual approach depended on overcast weather. We specifically chose the monsoon season because we wanted soft ambience, muted contrast, and absolutely no hard shadows or direct sunlight. The weather, though, was unpredictable throughout the shoot. Clouds would constantly move in and out, so there were moments where we had to completely stop and wait for the light to return to the look we had established. It slowed us down quite a bit, but consistency in the atmosphere was really important to me.
Another major challenge was finding the location. Since we were shooting in Bombay and didn’t have the budget to move the entire crew out of the city, finding a forested area that actually felt isolated and cinematic became surprisingly difficult. We spent a long time scouting different places before finally locking a spot in Film City. Ironically, the location hunt itself took so long that we almost missed the monsoon window we were depending on to shoot the film.
The second and final day of the shoot became especially intense because we were racing against both time and light to finish the major scenes. We somehow managed to get through the essential material, but a lot of inserts, cutaways, and B-roll still remained unfinished. Those portions were eventually shot later on using multiple DSLRs and whatever gear we could access at the time.
I’m incredibly indebted to my colourist because matching all the footage from the different cameras together into one cohesive visual world would have been nearly impossible without his expertise. A lot of the continuity and texture of the film really came together during the grade.
Camera: Arri Alexa LF
Lenses: Leitz Primes
The film is currently on Vimeo. If anyone’s interested in watching it, feel free to DM me and I’ll send over the password.
Would genuinely love to hear your thoughts, feedback, or any questions about the process. Thanks for taking a look!