COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a difference in every field of work. Short filmmakers had to stop shooting and at the same time got a much-needed break. Shravan Kotha, a city-based independent Telugu short filmmaker known for his YouTube series Late Comers shares his experience and how he made two short films during this lockdown about the virus namely COVID-19 and Late Comers 7 which were released on his YouTube channel.
Credits: Dhanush
Shravan said, “Before the lockdown began, we had a script which was ready to be shot and we were looking for a place to shoot when the lockdown was imposed. We didn’t know what to do because we were ready and excited to shoot but there was not much investment so it was fine.”
However, he expressed, “But I felt the pain of many filmmakers who were in the final stages of shooting and production. Few people in the industry who I know told me how difficult it was for them since they don’t know when the lockdown would end or how the actors will look because their physical features might have changed. The problem after the lockdown was that the continuity was lost in filmmaking. Almost, 90% completed films suffered a lot as far as I know.”
Shravan said that he was sure they won’t be able to shoot for another couple of months. “We anyways did not go ahead with the script and I was planning about the future. During regular times when you are working on your skills as a filmmaker there will be a lot of disruptions but this time due to lockdown there was plenty of time and nothing would restrict you. I learned a lot of craft, researched a lot, and eventually ended up writing a film script,” he shared.
He was able to make short films during the lockdown and release them online. Shravan said, “The seventh episode of Late Comers was shot at home by the respective actors with the help of their family. The rehearsals for it were conducted through video calls and I did the post-production work. The message of the episode was about staying at home and being responsible and it reached 1 million views just in 3 days.”
Shravan Kotha Handout
He added, “As a writer, I need some break so that I can personally get out of the script, and then when I go back, I can judge it properly. During these breaks, I worked on short films parallelly while watching films, web series to learn the craft.”
Shravan shared that his focus has now shifted and that he has clarity over what he wants to do in the future. He said, “I don’t shoot many short films now like before lockdown. I enjoyed writing the script, I have a complete idea about making a film. Right now, I am concentrating on writing and doing feature films more than short films. I have done my share of short films for 3-4 years. I gained the confidence and clarity during the lockdown for making a film.”
Shravan released only two short films after lockdown and added, “A script was ready for a short film but you can’t make one until you are excited, I wasn’t excited. I already made short films which were comedy genre and most of which I was scripting now resonated with the earlier ones.”
Currently, Shravan is spending his time working on the second draft of the film script he wrote during the lockdown. He said, “My ultimate goal is to enter the industry. My dream has always been to become an actor actually and not a director or writer. Initially to prove the acting skills I wrote short scripts during my BTech for Late Comers series. It got a good response and I continued writing it.”
However, Shravan concluded that he would wait and try for roles while parallelly engaging in scriptwriting which he enjoys. “For me now acting comes after directing or scriptwriting. Most of the lockdown was spent in learning writing techniques and direction. I would do work in these fields first and then venture into acting.”
Listen to Shravan's journey here:
Credits: Ananya Mariam Rajesh
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