Rajay Singh arrived in Thailand on Saturday, and he’s been busy judging this year’s Film Craft Lotus and New Director Lotus categories. He is Director and Partner at Directors Think Tank, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
You have a passion for custom building motorcycles. Do you think there are any similarities to advertising? As a director, you get a script and change it a bit, make it your own, try to push it to the next level and that’s what we do with the bike building thing also. We get a standard bike and change the look and everything. I think both are creative. It’s kind of the same thing because both are creating.
In a world of instant gratification, how do you capture peoples’ attention? I think you’ve got to do something weird, right? Do something totally stupid, to engage people. You know the Japanese guy Pikotaro that does ‘Pen Pineapple Apple Pen’? Something like that is going to be shared around. Stuff that’s either weird or emotional gets people engaged and hooks people.
Are there any platforms that you prefer to use? Any you refuse to use? I won’t do anything in 3D. I come from the analog world, from film. I think technology makes you lazier from what we used to do to now. It does take away some of the craft. You get to do things faster, you get to take your camera and just go out and shoot whereas in those days, you had to be very disciplined in what you do.
Does technology ever enhance the craft of filmmaking? It definitely makes it easier for younger directors to come out. In the old days, it takes like eight years to be a cinematographer… or maybe ten, but now… you got a digital camera… you know how to set an exposure in a white balance… you’re shooting!
Overall, you’d say technology is more negative than positive? I think it’s a balance, you know? For younger generations, it’s positive, for older, it can be negative. For me, it’s balance. You’ve got to try to find that balance.
Why don’t you like 3D? It just gives me a headache, I can’t even watch a 3D movie!
- Mahmood Ali
