An interview with AMIT PATEL, director of “CROSSHAIR: A TIPPING POINT”

04 Ago An interview with AMIT PATEL, director of “CROSSHAIR: A TIPPING POINT”

Posted at 09:37h in Interviews by


                                                         Amit Patel

 

“CinemA” starts with Letter ‘C’ to bring “Creativity” and ends with letter ‘A’ -to portray “Art”.  If films don’t have Creativity and Art, That is not cinema to me.”

 

BIO

Amit Patel is a filmmaker and an actor based in East Windsor, New Jersey who was born in India. He currently works as a full-time program manager and is also an Entrepreneur.

Amit has completed his MS in Computer Science while not forgetting his passion for cinema or stage. He has performed in very popular Indian TV series, “Ek j daal na pankhi” (Translation: “Birds from the same Branch”), and also took part in many stage acts during his childhood. He used to direct stage acts during his college days.

Amit has been writing stories and screenplays and directing them to tell those stories in a creative way. He is in love with Film-making. Being an Indie filmmaker, he creates films while wearing different hats as –  a writer, director, actor, editor, sound designer, colorist and promoter for his own work.

Amit shot his first Zero budget short film, Corontine: Time to stay home, in 2020 while the whole world was under lockdown during pandemic, which was officially selected in 2 film festivals for best picture and was dedicated to front line workers in pandemic.

Right after that, Amit worked on a very interesting Suspense thriller short, Crosshair: A Tipping Point, which was released in July 2020 by Amazon Prime in the USA and UK. This film became truly a reflection of his creativity and art in storytelling, -due to the symbolism and audio-visual storytelling techniques, Crosshair: A tipping point, was loved and screened around the world in many film festivals and was officially selected as a best short for his direction, story and acting.

While being an independent filmmaker, Amit is also shining as a very talented actor in Hollywood films like, Eleos and The final decision.

Amit’s dream is to keep directing new films and web-series with professional filmmakers and actors and is currently building his body of work in that direction. He really enjoys the art of storytelling.

 

Filmography:

1.       Crosshair: A Tipping Point (Short Film) (Released) – Writer/Director/Actor – 2020

2.       Corontine: Time to stay home (Short Film) (Released) – Writer/Director/Actor – 2020

3.       Eleos (pre-production) – Asoc.Producer/Actor – 2020

4.       The Final Decision (filming) – Actor(VO) – 2020

 

 

 

 

Your film has a strong authorial identity, thanks to the virtuous direction and the excellent script. But “Crosshair” can also be called a thriller, due to its proximity to this film genre. So what were your sources of cinematographic inspiration?

Thank you for the kind words about the film and the script. Yes, The film touches lot of aspects of human’s mind and his behavior in certain conditions. Now, when you are portraying a character, character’s life, as well as his behavior in 7 minutes, it becomes so challenging to communicate your character’s front and back story with the thrill it requires to entertain the audience. I think, that became the biggest motivator or a source to deliver my vision in the story. Our mind is beautiful, once the thoughts and visions are created, – mind starts working like on a jigsaw puzzle and it helps start putting the pieces together. That’s exactly what happend with me. After the script was written, I deep dived into the core of each scene and absorbed the feeling and the moment from the scene, which helped me to visualize each scene through the lens of a camera and how i can create this beautiful script into a best thriller suspense experience.

 

 

 

The frenetic rhythm of the film builds a magnetic and disturbing tension that keeps every spectator glued to the armchair, from the first minute to the last. What fascinates you about suspense and narrative tension? Why did you choose to tell this story?

You know how they say, “There is always an interesting story behind any perfect story.”.  So, after finishing my first short “Corontine”, an idea crossed my mind about how i can get some experience in every scene, so that every moment that spectators spend on my movie is worth for them. Having some outdoor shots and moving shots always bring some action to the scene. I decided to have a car as one of the most driver of the scene and the story. Then I had to have a Protagnist who brings the action into each scene – to get those actions, a tension has to be created and….
(Spoiler alert) I brought into my story -the most common condition in human lives in current times – Depression & Anxiety. This film is not just a story of someone who is suffering with it but the story has a hidden message that human mind is so powerful that it can take control over any kind of depression or anxiety if diverted in right direction. In Psychology, we study an anxiety curve and that curve has ” A Tipping Point” – If person slips downwards through that point and can’t gain control to his condition, he/she can not be saved. If person takes a U-turn from that Tipping point, he/she will survive. A force is required to push him away from that tipping point. Now, to build the tension and to narrate that tension in 7 minutes, i used 5 point scale of anxiety in my story. I brought all the different emotions from that scale into my story and every scene followed with a new behavior or the emotion of the protagonist. Suspense has to be the key to catch my audiences’ attention even before movie starts or whn the movie ends. The most interesting touch this story needed was its music. I asked one of my close friend “Umesh Patel” -who is a very talented singer to compose the music. He has never composed music before for any films but he took the opportunity and created the original soundtrack/theme for this film. With his amazing talent, the frenetic rhythm was built throughut with the amazing storyline and artistic direction. Rest is we know.

 

 

 

 

 

You are also the protagonist of this film, as well as the director. What was it like being on both sides of the camera? What is your favorite role?

Ohh !! It’s never easy to wear different hats -specially when a director is working as a protagonist. The amount of energy it will take to do the forth and back between shots and to be on the both sides of camera, will drain all the energy out physically and mentally.
On the other hand, good part is it’s easier to deliver the scene as protagonist because being a director the vision and meaning of the scene is so clear to perform. Hence, Good part is, it will take less efforts to prepare and deliver.
Although, I would prefer to be behind the camera, because then i can concentrate on each scene to bring the artistic touch that is required.

 

 

 

Thanks to new technologies and the formation of new professional networks, today it is possible to create beautiful films in the independent circuit with a very low budget, as you did. What are the advantages of independent cinema for you? Are you comfortable with these agile production dynamics?

Everyone has a story to tell and with the digital camera and new technologies It has become so easy for a true storyteller to come out and tell the story. Professional Networking has become easier as well to collaborate with different kind of skills. Filmmaking is not a one man process and variety of skills are more important than one can think of. The bigger advantage of an independent cinema is that it pushes you all the way to the edge and it gets the best out of you being a filmmaker. I love the agility because your freedom of art becomes extensive. It gives wings to an artist to fly as high as he can in a creative sky.

 

 

What was your film formation? In short, how did you get to directing?

I have worked as a child actor as well as a stage and TV actor. I have seen what it takes to deliver a vision from the script. It fascinates me, how a story is born and it takes the shape over time and gets into a live virtual reality with the director’s direction. I started directing stage acts in college and that role impressed me more as an artist.. and here I am, telling stories by making movies.