Yogurt Studio releases first Video — Parvaaz’s new Single “Colour White”
I have shot, and continue to shoot as a professional Cinematographer on some of the world’s best and most expensive motion picture cameras.
But in recent times, the advancements made in the smartphone camera technologies and my age-old love for futuristic, disruptive technologies led me to co-found Yogurt Labs.
At Yogurt Labs, we are building business-grade mobile video maker platform that is easy enough for anyone to use, yet powerful enough to generate professional-looking, on-brand videos that can be easily incorporated into broader marketing strategies by businesses of any size.
Smartphone cameras have improved tremendously over the years, whether in terms of colours, exposure latitude, low light noise etc. As a Chief Creative Director(CCD… yeahh) of Yogurt Labs, I have been working with team of filmmakers to shoot videos using smartphones under various conditions, environments and different use cases.
An initiative dedicated to experiment and promote smartphones for producing mainstream videos
After shooting almost 150+ videos for various customers, we want to take our experiments and learnings to next level. For such experiments in form and content, we are launching “Yogurt Studios”, an initiative dedicated to experiment and promote smartphones for producing mainstream videos.
Meanwhile, an old friend, Jaideep Varma, introduced us to a Bengaluru based band ‘Parvaaz’. Parvaaz is an experimental rock band best known for their high energy live performances and expansive sound-scapes. The band recently released their debut LP “Baran” and received an overwhelming positive response from fans and critics alike. The band’s sound shifts seamlessly between heavy arena rock and soulful acoustic songs.
However, as is the case with most musicians, making a video is an expensive task, and we felt an immediate connect with what we are trying to achieve. Nishant, one of our co-founders, was already a fan of the band, and it didn’t take long for us to jump at the prospect of shooting a music video for Parvaaz! Jaideep suggested Gokul Chakravarthy, who was already shooting a documentary on the band, for the video. The mandate was simple: Shoot on a smartphone!
Parvaaz was recording a new single called ‘Colour White’, a beautiful song about a restless heart yearning for peace. Gokul felt it would be apt to shoot the band in the studio itself. This would serve the purpose of introducing the band members to new audiences as well as shoot in a dimly lit studio, pushing the camera’s sensors as far as they would go.
Gokul decided on long, often floating takes as the underlying style, trying to visually build the yearning restlessness the song is about. Such long and fluid/ floating takes, in the low light levels were made possible by shooting on an iPhone 6, with its very capable sensors.
Of course, it could have been easily achieved with bigger cameras, steady cams and grips, but that would have meant huge budgets as well. Something that’s not accessible to most indie bands.
When the first cut of the video came out, everyone loved the song. For us at Yogurt, this was a great news. A film’s tools should be as invisible as possible, letting only the content shine through.
“Shooting on iPhone 6 was a new experience for me but this phone truly amazed me. We all jumped with joy after watching the final cut.” says the director, Gokul.
Parvaaz nailed it : “When we saw the final video, we realized that this was our ‘Birdman’ moment.”
When we showed around, people couldn’t believe this video was shot on an off-the-shelf iPhone, handheld, using available light in a regular Bengaluru sound studio. Wow! Video 3.0? Watch for yourself.
Param Vir Singh
Co-Founder | FLIX
