Check Out Sibi Naayagam’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sibi Naayagam.

Sibi, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was born in a culture where the release of a movie is celebrated as though a festive season has begun, with ear-deafening crackers, fireworks and hundreds of people clamoring in large queues to catch their favorite actors on screen. I’m originally from Chennai (India), home to Kollywood. Here, films have an immense influence on our lives and mine was no different. To add to that, my father was a cinematographer, producer and my mom was an actress. More so, my father is very passionate about films and would often share his experiences with me. He actively engaged me in film discussions right through my childhood and continues to do so till date. But despite my love for films, I chose to focus on becoming a research scientist and I enrolled for an undergraduate degree in Engineering.

As fate would have it, I couldn’t get the specific major I wanted and as someone who refuses to do something I don’t like, I soon began questioning my future. At that time, I had been playing professional cricket and I also had an interest in astronomy, teaching and music but photography was my favorite hobby, so it made sense for me to start exploring my future by sneaking out of the house with my dad’s DSLR camera. My first professional experience was as the cinematographer and editor for a dance company. Soon, I partnered with my friend to make a lot of dance covers of our own under the name ‘Pranayagam Productions’. Growing in confidence, I tried to make a short film, but I failed twice to my over-ambitious efforts before I successfully finished one in 2015 when I was filming it at the same time as I was preparing to write my final semester exams. A few weeks later, with an Engineering degree in hand, I posted my short film online. It was very fascinating to see surprised yet supportive reactions from my family and friends, most of whom had no idea that I had an interest in making films. But after all, I wanted to be a scientist because I loved the idea of invention. As a filmmaker, I felt I was still creating and inventing.

Soon, I decided to make my filmmaking dream official and applied to the USC School of Cinematic Arts. My life has turned around since then. In the following months, I got the opportunity to work as an assistant director to acclaimed director Sudha Kongara. It felt like a crash course in filmmaking and screenwriting before I headed to Los Angeles for the beginning of my incredible journey at the world’s best film school. In the five years I have been here, I have had the pleasure to be mentored and inspired by outstanding professors, cohort-mates and industry professionals. While initially, I struggled to find my purpose as a filmmaker, it all fell in place when I took the virtual production class. As someone who is extremely fascinated by visual effects and new ways to tell stories, the onset of Virtual Production as the next big thing in Hollywood was just perfect timing when I began my journey in this new medium.

Now, I introduce myself as Sibi Naayagam, a director and virtual production artist with great passion for photography.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My experience at USC has played a big part in making me the person I am today. On the day my USC application was due, I had no internet or electricity because of a monstrous cyclone that flooded the city. Thanks to a backup dial-up connection that was still working, I submitted my application barely minutes before the deadline. I remember telling myself and my parents that it would be a miracle if I still got selected. If I wasn’t, then my life would have undoubtedly been much different as I would have never gotten a formal education in filmmaking. And as I have come to learn, unlike in Hollywood, the most common path to becoming a director in Kollywood is to work as an assistant director, which I was beginning to pursue after submitting my USC application. It was an unbelievable feeling when I eventually got the admission letter from USC but my father, understanding the immense financial need to pursue my education, asked me to reconsider and stay back while I continue on the assistant director path. But to me, education was important, and my family understood. In an act of incredible support, my family members, especially my aunts, grandmother and cousins came together to pay for my flight tickets, funded my early semesters and even co-signed my loans when I struggled to find larger scholarships from the school. It was their collective efforts that helped me just focus on my learning and not be burdened with the thought of having to drop out.

I had seen a lot of films in my life, but an overwhelming majority were Kollywood films from the late 50s to 2010s. Meanwhile, only big-budget studio films from Hollywood were released in India. My dad’s personal Hollywood collection of 10 VHS tapes too were no different. I had watched a few Mollywood and Bollywood films too but being exposed so little to world cinema, I had an immense internal struggle during my early days at USC. What is my voice? What is my style? What do I have to offer to the world of cinema? I decided to restart as an empty cup. The following years of exploration, experimentation and education gave me the answers I sought.

I’m an optimist and a very ambitious person so my future struggles are no doubt going to be with pushing the boundaries of reality. Although, that should hopefully be an exciting struggle!

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m most likely to take the road less traveled or better, not traveled yet. Call it a scientist’s desire to invent, an engineer’s mind to upgrade or an artist’s need to create, I don’t like to take the world as it is but rather make the world as I would like it to be. This not just reflects in the kind of projects I have made but also the events surrounding them. The thesis film that I directed and VFX supervised, ‘Ponni’, is USC School of Cinematic Art’s 1st animated short film out of the Production division which has so far only produced live-action pieces. It uses cutting edge technology such as performance capture and combines traditional workflows with custom-built virtual production pipelines. It’s a testament to the project’s promise and scale that the Production, Animation and Interactive Media divisions at USC came together to make new provisions to support this project. The project also received the prestigious Epic MegaGrant award. Now, following ‘Ponni’, there are at least two similar thesis projects in pre-production at USC that I’m an advisor of and I expect more to follow in the coming years.

To me, intense character dramas and 70mm prints are still the most riveting idea of cinema but I’m also focused on having a new approach to directing and the medium of storytelling. I have always believed that my role as a director is not limited to just filming what I envisioned. It would be terribly unfortunate of me if I couldn’t present my case to the many brilliant creatives working on the project and let the vision evolve with their inputs. I simply must just direct our collective choices towards the same goal. The result of such a collaboration will be a film that is always better than what I can imagine.

It’s not just about the final film but the experience of making it matters a lot to me. One of my friends shared a quote that he heard from a professor, and it has stayed in my mind ever since. “We are all here because we love films. So why do we stress ourselves out so badly trying to make one?”.

What matters most to you? Why?
I want to be a trailblazer. I want to be knocking on the doors of reality, pushing boundaries and setting benchmarks. Personal success would be nice, but if I manage to inspire more people with my choices and open the doors to a larger land of possibilities, then I would truly be happy. I love being around a lot of people. Even better if I can be working together with them. One of the industry professionals I worked with recently told me that I had an instinct to surround myself with people who are not just skilled but are also warm at heart. I consider that as one of my most favorite compliments because I care a lot about the people whom I work with and the kind of environment we are in.

I’m also in constant search of new knowledge and it matters to me most that I never stop being a student at any stage of my life. I consciously walk amongst greater creatives to pick their brains. It’s been a great journey so far to have them all not just share their experience with me but also deeply care about my progress. Michael Fink, Dr Dhananjayan Govind, Sudha Kongara, John Brennan, Ray Massa and Steve Albrezzi are a few of my mentors from the industry who have greatly inspired me and supported my work for many years now. I also feel extremely blessed to have been on the receiving end of overwhelming support from many. From friends and family to professors, support staff and colleagues, I owe my success to all of them. It is important to me that I continue to preserve these beautiful relationships to persevere.

Contact Info:

• Email: me@sibinaayagam.com
• Website: https://sibinaayagam.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/sibi.naayagam/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz_neGF6yntYO0xyfOSp00Q