Exploring the Future of Digital Art!
Cinematographer, Sapan Narula, discusses and explores the various opportunities, challenges and advantages of NFTs and AI in the current scenario for artists.
In how many ways was your childhood influenced by art? And what has been the course of the journey from then until now?
As a child, I remember going to the theatre in our school, which had those old projectors for screening documentaries. I often got lost in those dust particles illuminated in the beam of the projector’s light, my mind floating away in their turbulent motion.
I took up photo manipulation and compositing pretty early in my student life and that helped me get my first job at an animation studio in Bangalore.
There, we worked on many high-end animation series for Disney, Mike Young, Warner Brothers, etc. back in 2003. Being the youngest in the entire studio and with a zeal to learn, I was deeply influenced by my colleagues, who were some of the best matte painters and concept artists in the country.
Gradually diverting from Visual effects and animation, the digital revolution in cinema in the late 2000s being the catalyst, pushed me into the magical world of filmmaking. I started producing films and spent the entire next decade learning and shooting films ranging from experimental films to TV commercials and genre cinema.
What has the significance of NFT been for you? How do you most effectively apply it as a medium?
Art is ever-evolving. Movements rise and fall; styles and tastes change and even artists turn to new mediums to present their ideas. NFT – NonFungible Token – has become a game-changer in the art world. NFT is a digital certificate for the ownership of a particular asset; it could be any digital art, photograph, film, music or even screenshot of a tweet, thereby providing new platforms for artists to create and sell. It challenges traditional beliefs and practices around who makes art; how art can be purchased; who owns it and what form or medium art can take.
Did you foresee the growing rise of NFT? How do you think its future course is likely to be and why?
NFTs are innovative and priced high. In December 2021 digital artist, Pak, set the record for largest sale by a living artist with the NFT drop, “Merge.” CryptoPunks, Beeple, Snowfro and Trevor Jones are a few of the top-selling artists. However, it is not cost-effective to use NFTs.
NFTs are still an earlystage technology and minting money could cost over $100 because of expensive gas fees. It is interesting to note the arrival of many reputed brands in the NFT ecosystem such as Nike, Turner Sports, Warner Music, Atari, Louis Vuitton, Formula 1, Ubisoft and many more.
Strong, vibrant lighting comes across as a salient feature in your works. What draws you towards it?
Being a cinematographer for TV Commercials and feature films gave me a chance to experiment with different lighting techniques to create and control contrasts – how we can guide a viewer’s eyes to the subject and create a certain mood. I try and apply the colour-grading tools and techniques we use in films to my work in post-production.
How do you technically achieve the stark golden and blue effects? What draws you to apply this effect so uniformly across your artwork?
The gold and blue colours are used in the work to create a strong contrast in hues. Blue/ yellow and teal/orange being complimentary colours helps me achieve that easily. It’s the magic of postprocessing that AI-generated artwork goes through.
What exclusive efforts and awareness does it take when crafting mythological and surreal characters?
Our life is a training ground where we slowly learn and train ourselves. It allows us to progress on the spiritual path towards the higher reaches of realisation. As a seeker, I’ve started exploring the ancient Indian wisdom preserved in our Itihas. For the first time in the history of humanity, human intellect is blossoming like never before.
For ages, it has been such that there would be one man in the village who thinks for everyone else. That time is gone. Now, everyone thinks for themselves in their ways. And everyone has access to just about everything in the world. While creating my artworks, I put a lot of effort and research into exploring different sources and their authenticity constantly.
What have been the advantages and disadvantages of NFT vs other platforms in your experience?
NFTs are here to stay. The biggest advantage is that it empowers the artist to prove the ownership of their art and provides opportunities to connect directly to their potential buyers. The problem only is the fluctuating prices in cryptocurrency and the confusing laws in different regions to deal with it.
What role does AI play in your work and how do you effectively apply it?
AI has expanded human creativity. As a director, it comes very handy to quickly create an artwork or reference image from basic hand-drawn sketches, guiding the AI with text prompts to render. The AI analyses thousands of images to comprehend a particular prompt, like a specific style or aesthetic.
What are the challenges and tricks of making AI Art?
The AI art-generating platforms are evolving at a very fast pace. There is a new tool or feature added every day. Also, now there are so many platforms to create stunning AI art. The trick is to be patient and keep testing how the algorithm behaves with certain prompts. Rendering a specific artwork that you have in mind may take a lot of time and iterations, which is quite frustrating at times. Once you get a hang of it, the sky is the limit.
Do AI works have an advantage on NFT performance and why so?
Not really, it's just the speed at which art can be generated.
What excites you, going ahead? Where do you want to head?
We live in exciting times; there are quite a few projects lined up from art installations to exhibitions. The next one I am working on is an elaborate coffee table book with 108 exclusive high-quality artworks.
What have been some AI works you admire?
I love Refik Anadol's (@refikanadol) work. He is a media artist from Istanbul. He's been creating large-scale interactive AI projects - and Taryn Southern (@ tarynsouthern) is another artist and futurist whose work has inspired me a lot. Her music album 'I AM AI' is composed using AI.
What's the future of AI according to you?
AI is here to stay and the way it is evolving is very exciting but, at times, also scary. The applications of artificial intelligence are impacting critical facets of our society 07 Gaga God of your most favourite or challenging projects and tell us all about them from brief to result. Sapan.
One of my favourite and challenging projects that I recently did was directing a TV commercial for the JEEP Meridian. The whole pre-production was done from a remote location in Himachal Pradesh while scouting locations for the film With no network whatsoever and shooting and economy. We are in the early stages of what many experts view as the most promising era in tech innovation and value creation for the future.
I can see AI bringing a big change in how we address the climate crisis, transportation, manufacturing, healthcare and education. Some sectors are at the start of their journey with AI and there is a long way to go.
Please elaborate on one or two of your most favourite or challenging projects and tell us all about them from brief to result.
One of my favourite and challenging projects that I recently did was directing a TV commercial for the JEEP Meridian. The whole pre-production was done from a remote location in Himachal Pradesh while scouting locations for the film With no network whatsoever and shooting at out-of-the-way locations in Kaza and Zing Zing bar, managing the entire technical crew was a nightmare.
Thankfully, we had amazing local support and pro-producers, so we were able to achieve the film in time. The fight always is with the deadline.
Another one was doing an award-winning short with Canon India at Meghalaya. It's a short documentary on conserving the Living Roots Bridges. We were the first film crew ever to shoot at a triple-decker living root bridge.
What's your fundamental creative process once you take on a project?
Creative advertising has taught me a few things which I’ve broken down as a list. It keeps on evolving and changing with the budgets and the mediums involved. The basics remain the same throughout. The constants are always three things – the story; the authenticity and the visual style. Here’s the flow:
Understand the Audience – the first and the most important part of the process. This, mostly, will answer your ‘WHY’ for the project
Research
Brainstorming, conceptualising and referencing
Creating the artwork/Producing
Analysing and improving
Finishing - colour grading/detailing and garnishing
Publishing - The most important part is to put your work out and be open to critics
What would you advise fresh artists just starting, especially those into a similar style of work?
We all are storytellers in our lives but finding a niche in audience/clients is a constant struggle for every artist. I would suggest the fresh artists who are starting to explore diverse ideas and keep evolving; improving and learning while keeping the essence intact.
