By Hariharasudhen Nagarajan
Firstly, thank you, Baradwaj Rangan (BR), for providing me with the opportunity to discuss my experience filming my first narrative feature film, ‘Tether’, on this blog page. Before I do that, I’d like to share how I started interacting with BR. When I first sent him a write-up on the Kannada film ‘Dia’ to post on his blog in early 2020, he responded to my email, asking if I’d be okay with him sharing it on the Film Companion South website. I was ecstatic to say yes. After that, I sent him a few more write-ups over the next several months without any expectations of getting featured on FC South’s website. All my Tamil Cinema-related pieces ended up getting featured on FC South’s website. We also discussed the possibility of doing a series of video essays for FC South over the next twelve months. After that, I planned to start making short films. However, within minutes of one of the essays going live, the video was taken down due to a copyright strike, with multiple strikes potentially leading to the channel’s termination. So, I thought, let me take the plunge into making short films. I felt I was good with the theoretical aspects of films, such as how to analyze a shot, but I was still new to writing. My goal was to find talented writers and scripts that I will fund myself to direct.
My first three short films (two 2-minute films and one eight-minute film) were setbacks. They weren’t professional-looking and also lacked finesse. So, I had to find a way to create something that would make people take me seriously. I worked as a script supervisor on a student film set for a short film, led by a first-time director. The director had a “look book” that outlined how she envisioned the film should look. Whatever I saw in the document and whatever I saw getting executed on set, they turned out to be the same. All departments were in sync to meet the director’s vision. I knew then that this was what I was missing. After that, for four of my following six short films, I created a look book and found cinematographers who could bring my vision to life. Three of those short films got into Canadian Screen Award-qualifying festivals.
In early 2023, I read the script of ‘Tether’ by writer Anghus Houvouras on Reddit. Since it dealt with the aftermath of a mass shooting attack with the story focused on few characters inhabiting an unknown US town, I knew it was niche and that I would be the only one willing to fund it, which meant a good chunk of my savings from my day job as an Electrical Engineer had to be put into the film to make it. Based on my limited experience with short films up to that point, I decided to give it a shot. Short film is an art form with incredible artistry on display, but looking back, I made short films with the intention of eventually making a feature. I hired a producer, Nicole Wu, who would handle the paperwork for signing cast and crew members, as well as coordinate the shooting schedule. We planned to film this in eight days. We interviewed nearly every cast and crew member before they joined the project. Nobody got the job because they knew me or Nicole. At this point, I had been working on the project for close to seven months, balancing it with my day job. The concept of an Assistant Director doesn’t exist in Hollywood, so I had to do everything by myself regarding the film. Around this time, the actor auditions started.
My DP (Director of Photography), Nick Walker, came on board two months before the filming. At no point did he get overwhelmed by our aggressive shooting schedule. I shared the film’s look book with him, along with the shot list detailing how we should block each scene, the shot types (close-up, medium shot, etc.), and the lighting (in some scenes) we need. Nick took the call on the lens.
After the actors were finalized, we held reading and rehearsal sessions to help them get into character, as we aimed to complete this shoot in eight days. I also had to create the costume look book and storyboard a few complex scenes to save time on set. This way, it would be easy to coordinate with various departments so that we are all on the same page on set.
And then it began. There was no time to think about anything other than the film during those eight days. Everyone was professional. Everyone knew what they had to do. We were able to get enough coverage on all the shots. Since live sound is the norm in the US, we encountered difficulties in a couple of locations where background noise affected all of us and necessitated numerous retakes. But we were still able to overcome that hurdle.
And then came the editing phase. Anghus and I watched our first cut, and we felt we could film a couple more scenes and replace them with ones we had already shot to make the film more emotionally impactful. So, we went back to set two months later to film those scenes. Thus, in total, we had eight days of principal photography and two days of pick-up. Editing ‘Tether’ taught me to write, as its longer runtime demanded every moment be resonant. ‘Tether’ turned out to be my film school.
Submitting ‘Tether’ to festivals and waiting for the results was a challenging process. I had to find a way to keep myself creatively occupied. That’s when I started screenwriting. It’s a hard process, but I’m liking it so far. After months of uncertainty, ‘Tether’ got selected by Dances With Films, Los Angeles, to make its world premiere at their prestigious festival at the iconic TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. The festival focuses on films and filmmakers over celebrities. The short films that played at the festival blew me away, making me feel even happier that ‘Tether’ found the right home and that the struggle was worthwhile. ‘Tether’ premiered on June 22. I enjoyed the film, watching it with world-class projection and sound, along with an energetic crowd. This was the first time I watched my work on the big screen. It was surreal to see my film lighting up a darkened hall in TCL Chinese Theatre. This was my 17th, and favorite, watch so far.
My decision to self-fund ‘Tether’ was not only to create a portfolio as a director but also to make a film, whose emotional intensity is inspired by films like ‘Asuran’ and ‘Pariyerum Perumal’, dealing with a topic that most filmmakers in Hollywood haven’t touched. An uncompromising film that didn’t have any interference from anyone else. I have spent over two years on the film, and haven’t earned a single dollar yet. However, I still sleep peacefully every night knowing that my intention was never about the money but to create something meaningful for people to see and start a conversation on how we could have a safer tomorrow for the USA and its people. For this reason alone, ‘Tether’ will be the gutsiest film I will ever make.
Tether premiered at Dances With Films, Los Angeles, on June 22. To view the film’s trailer, click here. To follow the film’s Instagram page, click here.