SOUTH INDIAN CINEMATOGRAPHY- III

 SOUTH INDIAN CINEMATOGRAPHY- III

ALOYSIUS   VINCENT   [A VINCENT – A VETERAN CINEMATOGRAPHER]   

14-06-1928—25-02-2015

The name – A Vincent used to have a possessive effect on the movie goers –Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi and Telugu. Before he managed to be in the limelight, his career, like anyone else’s had a modest beginning at the age of 20 as an ‘Assistant / Trainee’ in the movie-making house –The Gemini studios, Chennai. For aspirants into movie dom, ‘Gemini’ was a mesmerizing name.  The then trend in movie-making was to have ‘employee technicians’ and not contractual engagements of technicians per movie. It was under Kamal Ghosh that A Vincent was groomed in his early career. There were 2 0r 3 different groups of cinematographers in Gemini studios then. Working styles of each group had a stamp of its own and were known as distinct schools of thought on the way of movie picturisation.  Clearly, they had lighting styles, scene-lab co-ordination and methods of exploiting camera angles and so on. Obviously, aesthetic presentation determined the efficacy of cinematography which was making a deep impact on the audience through the celluloid imagery.

The art of cinematography was then through a phase of experimentation, deeply constrained by an ‘emulsion characteristic’ called film speed [expressed in ASA –the arithmetic scale or DIN –the log scale]. Considering those limitations, Indian cinematography can hold its head high in pride, thanks to all our pioneer technicians who have given us delight through those immortalized images though they must have toiled a lot. The brief reference to the situations then is a must for us to recognize the value of human effort and that success in the era of technology is a product almost for the asking.   It was A V who disbanded the traditional grey back drop and chose to prefer orange background for balanced tonal reproduction. His grasp OF THE WORKING OF MOVIE FILMS WAS so clear that he worked out the ‘gamma value’* as a useful indicator for laboratory technicians for ;correct grade of film processing.

Soon, [1950s] A V moved to Venus pictures with T. Prakash Rao as their Director. If ‘Gemini’ was a macrocosm of the industry, Venus pictures was a microcosm that groomed talent in all spheres of movie making and understandably Vincent became their cinematography chief and hogged the limelight by his sheer novelty in lighting and image rendition that were distinct and demanding attention. It was ‘UTHTHAMAPUTHTHIRAN’- a Sivaji Ganesan starrer that catapulted Vincent’s popularity as a high-profile technician in Cinematography.  [In a song sequence work at Brindhavan garden, A V found a tourist using a ZOOM lens; he borrowed it for a while and shot a few frames using zoom. He sent the film to KODAK, LONDON and wanted them to bring out blow up pictures. Technicians in Kodak London were awe-struck by the exceptional skill of Vincent in making use of Zoom lenses –not known in many parts of the world then. [ Veteran actress Padmini,in an interview,  has vouched for this happening during UTHTHAMAPUTHTHIRAN shooting].

 In that movie, he had effectively captured 2 Sivaji Ganesans coming together in a single frame in several shots. It was a very healthy presentation devoid of a faint line of separation between the two images of the same artiste –in a well known par lance ‘double acting’. Instead of masking the lens alternately right and left to register 2 images of the same actor in the same frames, Vincent perfected a technique called ‘light masking’.

Light masking meant that one half the scene was held dark and later the other half held dark to facilitate the same person to get registered as 2 different persons in 2 places in a single frame. Perfect regulation of independent lighting of the scene, while the camera ought to stay steady in a place, is no mean feat to perform especially while registering the second image on the correct frame numbers –to ensure perfect assembly of 2 persons on opposite halves in responsive conversation. The non-occurrence of a separating line between 2 images was considered a magic of sorts even for cinematography technicians, since Vincent merely said it was ‘light mask technique’. Not many cinematographers could grasp what AV meant; anyhow A V had worked systematically on some strategies of improving the presentation on screen. His other specialty was upkeep of ‘lead lines’ though a shot to ensure the visual delight for viewers. Yet another fame for Vincent WAS his picturising the song sequence “Sonnadhu nee thaanaa sol sol sol in NENJIL OR AALAYAM movie. The song runs almost without cut shots – a secret till date; more cameras seem to have had parallel work and by appropriate linking of shots – a natural continuity has been delivered. [It was Vincent- Sundaram feat] Vincent was the first technician to have used a plain glass filter as a ‘diffuser’. He smeared Vaseline along outer perimeter of the filter to form a fuzzy outer region while the inner would present a ‘clear image’. His ingenuity in picturising a dance in ‘meenda sorgham’ using a camera suspended on a chord and of the song sequence ‘pen ponaal’ in ‘ENGAVETTUPPILLAI’ were sheer marvels. On the second occasion, his ‘end to end’ clarity along the very long landscape of Brindhavan gardens as a night shot was simply out of the world.

His camera work on ‘KADHALIKKA NERAMILLAI’ in Eastman colour was a grand acknowledgment of his mastery in handling colour films; as much as  of the processing standards stuck to by M/S Gemini studios. Till then, even Tamil movies were being sent to Film center Bombay, on the faith that Bombay lab was more established. But, the quality of prints from Gemini labs proved a point that Chennai can deliver goods if called for. The Aaliyar dam site where 2 cars make parallel exit / entry just moving round the round-tana was an absolute delight to watch. Visual presentation of all songs in ‘KADHALIKKA NERAMILLAI’ was another matter of delight for movie viewers then. There was always a stamp of class in any work executed by Vincent. What a great craftsman he was!

*‘Gamma value’ is a measure of assessing image registering capacity of films relative to that of human eye.

Prof. K. Raman