Four boys were studying BA in Journalism and Mass Communication at Asutosh College in the City of Joy. They all shared a common passion for filmmaking, and instead of waiting till they got out of college, they decided to make them right away. And thus began VIEWFinder. By their own admission, the first few films weren’t great technically and had many flaws. However, there cannot be failure without subsequent improvement, and the group reached a stage when they began to get approached for making videos.
Priyankar Patra (21), one of the founder members of the four-member group, recalls the initial days of the group, “At that time we didn’t have any technical knowledge, we would just grab the camera and start shooting whatever we liked. The end-product wasn’t good, but we approached people with experience. Some of our fathers were in the industry too and we began to improve with every film.” The group’s Facebook page has this in its description – “…a result of a few friends sharing their dream of making films, and hoping to make our way to the Oscars through it.” Clearly, they didn’t lack ambition.
The group, whose other members include Anupam Sinha Roy who does the editing, Sukrit Sen who handles the sound design and music composition and Agniprava Nath the cinematographer, has worked on a few thought-provoking short films which are available on Youtube. The Hat is their first such production and is an abstract tale of an artist’s masterpiece after a lot of struggle. Calcutta on Canvas shows how an artist looking for inspiration finds it in her beloved city. There’s also a KKR fans’ version of Happy, made after the Knight Riders won the IPL. Apart from this, they have also produced music videos and collaborated with many other groups.
The members also do individual projects, and one such project on which Priyankar worked involved him acting in a commercial for Sony cameras. Two months after his participation in a screenwriting workshop mentored by Anandi Ghose, daughter of celebrated Bengali film director, music director, and cinematographer Gautam Ghose, Anandi suddenly called him to offer the ad.
The ad, directed by director Qaushiq Mukherjee of Gandu fame, was shot as realistically as possible. Describing the shoot, Priyankar says, “My character buys a Sony camera and writes to Sony for help in learning photography. Sony arranges a meeting with veteran photographer Santosh Verma. We met in Calcutta Coffee House. Our meeting is like a workshop – we talk the entire day, and he gives me a task of taking a shot of my mother’s hand, which is when I realize how hard she works. So that’s the concept of the commercial. Q (Qaushiq Mukherjee) preferred a very realistic setting. He would never give us dialogues. He would just explain the situation and tell us to talk whatever we felt like.”
However, in spite of all the good work and subsequent appreciation that has come their way, the group won’t be able to work together for the time-being, as three of its four members are leaving the city for various reasons. Priyankar, who’s going to the States to pursue Screenwriting at Northwestern University in September, says he hopes they can work together sometime again in the future. VIEWFinder has certainly given these four passionate guys a great platform from where they can further their ambitions.
Reach Out: facebook.com/team.VIEWFinder/