Exclusive! Cinematographer Jayanth Sethu Mathavan Says - 'I Always Work For The Strong Vision Of My Directors'

Passion To Become A Cinematographer

I studied computer engineering in Coimbatore and worked in a software company for three years. As a hobby I was doing still photography. Slowly I started doing small assignments in photography. But it created a strong thought to make it as a full-time profession. I was not planning to do cinematography as I don't know anybody in that particular field. My friends, my elder brother and artist Murali suggested me to study in film institute to get an extensive knowledge about photography. So I applied and got admission for a film making post graduate course in Kolkata Sathyajit Ray Film And Television Institute at the age of 26. Immediately I quit my job in software company and joined in the film institute. I chose cinematography as the specialization and I got a great exposure to watch world films. I travelled a lot with my friends from the institute who came from various states of India. My perspective towards photography changed a lot after joining Sathyajit Ray Film Institute in Kolkata. I got an opportunity immediately after completing my course.

Revelations is my first independent film as a cinematographer. The film got selected in a lot of film festivals and finally it was released in Netflix. I went to Bombay and stayed there for more than a year. As I came from a film institute background, I got consistent opportunities as a cinematographer and I didn't work as an assistant with any cinematographer. I learned cinematography through my independent films on trial and error basis, which has its own advantages and disadvantages. Most of my films were independent projects as I don't have enough contacts with the industry people. My second film was Baaram, which is again a minimal budget film. Then I did a commercial film Kathir.

This Is How I Choose My Scripts

More than the story, I look into the vision of the director. I will say yes to a project only when I get a strong bonding with the film-maker. I always feel that the wavelength between a director and a cinematographer is very important to bring out a brilliant film. Every film that I did so far had a completely different story from the others. Nirvana Inn comes under thriller. Kathir is a college story. Baaram will deal with a family story. And I would love to try unique and convincing looks for my films based on the nature of the script. Revelations will have a slow paced classical approach. Whereas Baaram will look completely away from it with a documentary feel throughout the film. I will always discuss a lot with the director and fix a particular look for the film before starting the production.

So script, creativity, budget, experience and everything else is only secondary for me. Their belief of a director in his particular story will get my involvement automatically. In that ways, I feel lucky to get great scripts so far.

My Way Of Working

Till now I never did shot division for an entire film. Only for some scenes, we will be in a situation to work on the shot division and stick to it. For example, we discussed and arrived at an idea to bring out certain scenes with a specific look in my upcoming film J Baby. In such cases, we have to work on the shot division and storyboard based on the requirement. But generally, I will always make the director to speak out his vision and observe it clearly. It will give me a deep understanding to know why the director has written a scene in a particular way. Then we will decide about the usage of colours, lightings and camera movements. It will be fixed in our minds to follow all these parameters while shooting. Above all, being in a collaborative work there is a chance of last minute changes in every department. So I will be always ready to think and work alternatively based on the availability.

Biggest Recognition That I Got

The moment when my father, mother, brother, wife and my friends tell their feedback after watching and enjoying my films in big screens near them. I consider this as the biggest recognition personally and it gives me a great level of satisfaction. My profession as a cinematographer changed my father who doesn't love to watch films earlier. But now he is watching more films and reading reviews of those films that he watched. His involvement in movies makes me happy and I started spending more time with him especially to discuss about my films and scripts.

My Assamese tribal language short film Boy With A Gun got the National Award in this year's Best Short Film category. Apart from that my film Baaram got National Award earlier.

I Love To Direct Documentaries

I don't have any idea to direct a feature length film but I always love to do documentaries. Because directing a feature film needs a lot of efforts in bringing up the co-ordination of all the departments and it is difficult to concentrate more on cinematography. It needs a completely different attitude and mind set to become a director and I believe I don't have that. A director should focus also on pitching a script to a producer, handling actors, working with editors, sound designers and marketing the film. Whereas I'm completely enjoying the process of handling cinematography and I'm extremely comfortable with it.

I Don't Follow Any Cinematographer's Style

I like any cinematography work that supports to convey a story clearly. For me, a cinematography should not be highlighted while watching a film. Cinematography, editing and sound are just tools that should only focus on telling the story of a director. The story should grab the attention of the audience. Rajiv Ravi is one such cinematographer from Kerala and he came for some useful workshops when I was studying in the film institute. Abhik Mukhopadhyay from Bengal is another great example for his contemporary works. He did films in Hindi and Bengali language. In Tamil, I like Theni Eshwar's cinematography. He does variety of films such as Merku Thodarchi Malai and Bachelor. He easily adopts his cinematography style based on the story requirements.

I Don't Prefer Metaphors

We cannot say yes or no directly when it comes to a metaphorical story telling. Sometimes it works beautifully and blends well with the story. But on the other hand audience may get diverted with the forceful usage of a visual metaphor. It depends on the story and the vision of the director. I personally don't prefer direct metaphors as it is too far from real life. We don't usually notice such metaphors in our day to day life. I always like to keep the presentation very simple.

My Upcoming Films

My upcoming film J Baby, bankrolled by Pa Ranjith's Neelam Production will be released in a couple of months and you can expect an official announcement soon about the release date. We just completed shooting for a film with actor Manikandan in the lead role. The film is directed by Vinayak Chandrasekhar. Few more projects are in discussion stage.