Behind The Scenes with Talented Cinematographer Darsh Desai
We recently caught up with filmmaker Darsh Desai about his latest projects, how he strives to be the best at what he does and some lessons he’s learned along the way.
Hello Darsh, nice to meet you. First of all, how was moving to LA after the pandemic and adjusting to the changes in the entertainment industry?
I moved to Los Angeles right after covid and I often hear about the city that LA was, before covid. I was tucked away in a small town in India which made creating art in visual media a bit difficult. Multiple projects that were in pre-production for at the time, either got cancelled or pushed back until a more foreseeable future. The good side is that I got a lot closer to my family and spent some quality time before moving onto this long outdoor adventure, to the United States.
Tell us about your background in cinematography and how it all started:
My curiosity has been in visual media since I was 13 years old, but I actively stepped into cinematography around 5 years ago, when I shot my first short film back in Mumbai, India. The battle before the battle was to convince my parents, so they could see my obsession with cinematography and take me seriously. After fighting for around 4 years, completing my engineering and doing a lot of street and conceptual photography, I was finally able to get a scholarship at The Los Angeles Film School to study filmmaking. As a cinematographer, I have worked on a variety of projects from small commercials to bigger brands like Nike, Fenty, Puma and Tinder India. From smaller budget 2-minute short films for Youtube, to bigger films screening in festivals, music videos for local artists and mainstream artists like Reason, Mark Lux, Avanti Nagral, Scayosis, Glassface etc.
Do you feel like you have grown a lot more as an artist/producer over the years, through your experiences?
My growth trajectory as an artist, has been in tranquility with my life journey. All the adversities and blessings, I have been able to pour into my art and then express it vigorously. Solo traveling and constantly changing my work environment has been a game changer for my adaptation skills in terms of working with new people, on new stories and new mediums of visual art. Being a cinematographer seemed like such a distant dream as a kid and now I have to pinch myself once in a while, questioning the existence of the beautifully crafted reality I live in. I have been perpetually resilient in learning about the depths of my craft and living on different sides of the world has kept me curious as a child through the process, leaving me always wanting more. I can now easily handle bigger scale and crews better.
My turn around time has increased a lot over the years. The work culture in India involves longer hours than the US and given my foundation as an artist was in India, the capability to work long focused hours has become my strength. Moving to America has also made me more open to varied behaviors, mindsets, and perspectives which I wasn’t aware existed before and through observation I have only become more appreciative and curious over time. I love the idea that I can roll my life experiences into a ball and then paint the canvas of my filmmaking career through that.
What has been one of your favorite projects to work on so far?
Spin The Bottle is a recent short film that I completed a few days ago and it’s by far the most ambitious project I have worked on as a cinematographer. The project was compiled into 3 different mediums for cinematography. A period horror and true crime thriller spread across shooting formats of Super 8mm, 16mm Black and White and VHS Digital. Not only that but Super 8mm will be presented as found footage in the narrative of the film operated by one of the lead characters which is why for the first time , I had to do a lot of character study as I went into this film as a cinematographer.
As it was my first time shooting on film format, I was nervous and intimated by the format but the 3 months of extensive pre-production process has unlocked technical and creative skills that I was totally unaware of. The short film was directed by Paolo Cerrino, an international director from Italy. The amount of blind trust of my judgement, Paolo had granted me for this project was a trajectory changing experience for me. I have never been able to create art this fearlessly until I was the cinematographer for the short film, Spin The Bottle.
What has been one of the biggest highlights/achievements of your career?
The achievements that I aspire to have are yet to come but the aspirations that I started with was having the privilege to make films. From where I come from, waking up and getting to be a cinematographer every day is a privilege. I am grateful that it was given but earned through countless battles. My biggest achievement is the stories I helped narrate and the impact it makes on people. My films doing really well in festival circuits and getting picked up to be turned into bigger projects which will eventually help me reach more people -which is a surreal fulfillment.
Who has been one of your favorite actors/filmmakers you have worked with so far and why?
Ngoc Anh Nguyen and Paolo Cerrino are one of favorite directors that I have worked with. Their dedication to their craft, how delicately they handle actors and the amount of trust in me as their cinematographer they show through their actions is a delightful energy to have on set. We have worked together on multiple projects this past year and I can’t get enough of their creativity and kindness.
What other projects do you have coming up?
I have started to zone into the world of narratives and commercials so most of my projects that are lined up for 2024 are those. I am working as cinematographer on four short films and two feature films. They are spread around in Los Angeles, South Africa and India. One of the feature films involves one of my favorite directors. I met her this year when I was a cinematographer on her short film and I love the way she writes and crafts her movies.
I have 7 commercials locked in and a few are still in early stages of pre-production. The Nike Commercial that I worked on as a cinematographer last year, is getting picked up by a streaming platform in a form of a sport documentary series with every episode being a different athlete. It’s called Overlooked for now and it’s by far the biggest future project I have in terms of scale and distribution.
What is your best piece of advice for aspiring filmmakers/producers?
Do more think less. The only reason I have come so far is by the resilience of my nature and trying numerous times until I get it right. After a point the tools to creation become second nature, and that’s when you wander in the depths of the craft looking for more knowledge while freely creating with the tools that you already have.
