Darpankumar Patel, aka Ace Patel, makes movies even in the most extreme challenges

Movies can demand a lot out of one as an individual. The situations are not just challenging but they are new. One has to keep evolving and keep pushing themselves. It’s an unsaid rule. This is the best thing about the new Director and Director of Photography, Darpan Patel. 

Shall it be “The Briefcase”, his first film as a Director of Photography, shot within a tight schedule with more than 45 camera setups a day in hot and humid Florida, or “Rook”, his first feature film as a chief lighting technician in freezing temperature up on the Rocky Mountains. 

“He was being frost bitten and yet he had solutions to all the lighting challenges we were facing on that day with a brightest of smile there is. A true mark of an extraordinarily skilled and a champion human being.” As described by Mauricio Vega, the director of photography, Rook. He recently finished his first short film as a director - Last Words. Let’s get to know his experience with that in his own words.
 
"You don’t make a successful film just like that. It takes a lot behind the scenes for a film to be as good as it appears on the screen.
Such is the case with Last Words. A week before the shoot day, the production team ran into major crisis including the scheduling and preparation. The choice was to either postpone the shoot or work around being creative and finding solutions to the problems faced. That’s when as a director and the creative head of the project, I had to make few adjustments to the initial plan and roll with a plan B. But, whatever you do, it is not going to work unless you have your team on board and on the same page. The team was solid and ready to face the challenges and it was their confidence in me that gave me enough confidence in myself to move ahead and get the shoot done on a scheduled day. One example was the bullets used in the film for a slow-motion shot. On some film sets, you are not allowed to use bullets or even prop bullets for that matter unless you acquire special permits. So, what do we do? We decided to craft the bullets from crayons and paint to make them look real.

One thing I learnt during the shoot of Last Words as a Director was the fact that you can’t make but, only prepare your films on paper. Films are made on film sets with problem solving and team work. The stronger your preparations are, the better you have problem solving capabilities on a given day.

I plan to move forward with my next projects with this mantra in my head and continue providing quality entertainment to the audience and contribute to the industries.

We are currently facing challenges for our next project, Mammon, under the banner of Evil Astronaut Productions. We have the funds secured for the film along with a successful Hollywood Producer and an Oscar-Nominated Actor on board but, we cannot proceed due to the pandemic. 

We are thoroughly preparing for the film and as soon as it is safe for all the cast and crew members, we will be rolling the camera. As a lead of a department that is something you can always work on because the team depends on you and the project depends on your skills."
 
We wish him absolutely the best and we look forward to a lot more from this promising and talented artist.

• Darpan Patel