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Recorded Rain

The account of a rainy day plays out in forward and reverse footage.

  • Achyut Prashast Singh
    Director
  • Achyut Prashast Singh
    Producer
  • Achyut Prashast Singh
    Cinematography
  • Achyut Prashast Singh
    Editor
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Runtime:
    57 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 1, 2023
  • Country of Origin:
    India
  • Country of Filming:
    India
  • Language:
    No Dialogue
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    9:16
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Achyut Prashast Singh

Achyut Prashast Singh is an Indian author and independent filmmaker. He began making amateur films in 2015 and continued the practice until 2023, when he decided to switch to documentaries.

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Director Statement

Recorded Rain is what some call an "actuality" film. It has no story, no characters, no conflict. It is a real-life footage of a rainy day in Haridwar. It's my first documentary short and it was shot in a vertical resolution so as to create an ideal smartphone screen experience. My target was not the television or laptop screen audience; they just need to use their smartphones without rotating them in order to experience this scenic downpour footage.

The film was shot without any prior planning. I just wanted a short clip of rain to post it on my Instagram. But as the rain intensified, I ventured out into it with the same intention, and soon ended up realizing I needed to turn this into a film. I kept on recording in slow motion and ended up drenched as well as collecting a lot of footage. It pained my heart to delete a lot of it since I wanted a strict under-a-minute final product. But the real pain began when I realized the videos could not retain the slow motion effect outside my iPhone. Since they were all shot at 60 FPS, I decided to edit the final film with the same framerate, and ditched the slow motion plans.

I am also a fan of reverse footage in movies, so I wanted it for my own film as well. Now, how could I do that when the duration was so short? I edited the film further, shortening the length of every shot and bringing the duration close to 30 seconds. Then I reversed that clip and connected it to the original footage, thus bringing the total close to a minute. Another experimental trick I did was reversing the audio which includes sounds of rainfall, but using it when the footage is played normally, while using the normal audio when the footage is played in reverse.

I also eschewed my screen presence, and allowed the rain and its surroundings to become the main characters. I don't have any acting credits in the film, and I don't appear even briefly in it. This is totally different from what I have done in my highly unsuccessful, amateurish filmmaking career. For the first time, I felt I could nail the documentary genre and this is also where I realized I should have been doing this a long time ago instead of wasting such exotic locales on my poorly executed narrative films.

Recorded Rain is just a clip of rain falling on the ground and then returning to the sky. It's not a complex message movie or blockbuster spectacle. It's just a short meant to help one unwind, especially those who admire rain irrespective of its duration.