Ben Kumanovski Interview(s)

I'm a director and cinematographer and have worked in the commercial film industry for the past 10 years. I love the creative process; filmmaking is my passion, from the technical to the creative. communicating ideas with film is what I do. I feel privileged to have a career where clients pay me to do the thing that I love doing the most.

I always wanted to be a filmmaker. Movies fascinated me. I started making videos when I was 10 years old. I used to take my parents home video camera and make stop motion Lego movies.

Online video advertising in this last few years has grown immensely. But it's still very much what we've done for decades with TVC's. Unfortunately audience's don't want more ads (hence the rise of ad blockers). They are however hungry for content they can engage with. I believe advertisers have not yet seen the full benefits of online content. I'd love to see more advertisers engaging in the creation of sponsored content that is delivered to their audience as a form of entertainment. The rise of web series has created a new hoard of audiences heading to the internet for short form entertainment. And I believe there is a huge opportunity here for brands to engage with their target audience with branded web series. Give them something to watch, like and share. Take those bloated TV commercial budgets and put them into drama, comedy or documentary. "Sponsor" the content so the audience knows who's giving it to them and then promote the series via low cost social media advertising. Then watch view count roll in, and your audience positively engage with your brand via a memorable and entertaining piece of advertising we call "content".

For me, there have been many mentors. In many ways my dad was my main mentor. He taught me how to communicate with people. And that goes a long way into understanding the need of the client before translating that into the complex visual language of film. He also taught me about business, for which I am grateful. Even art cost money, and knowing how to make money work efficiently for the creation of art is a talent that I'm grateful to have learned.

Other mentors include my college lecture, whose wisdom continues to guide me, and a handful of commercial filmmakers with one to two decades more experience than I have who have been kind enough to provide advice when asked.

Each of these people have been instrumental mentors in helping to further my career path.

I think about filmmaking all the time. So if I'm not working on a commercial job, a hobby for me would be getting out with the camera and shooting something else. There's something special about a digital film camera... it has this way of capturing life and playing it back in ways that our own eyes can't ever see it. Think of slow motion, fast motion, time-lapse, aerial cinematography, etc. I love that.

Seeing something created from nothing more than a vision and words on a page.

The biggest challenge is working with a small budget and then being asked to produce something bigger than Ben Hurr (pardon the pun). It happens, but it's our job to manage the client's expectations and explain "why" if something is not possible, and to suggest a budget friendly alternative that will work for both us and them.

With the growing popularity of online streaming services and the decline in FTA television viewer numbers, TVC's are moving online. But is another ad what online audiences want? No. So advertisers need to engage in new and creative ways to promote their brand. As a result, I believe the commercial production industry is going to be more entwined with drama production for advertising purposes. But agencies will still need to engage directors who understand the TVC, because it's truely an art form to deliver a dramatic, engaging piece of content with an advertisement at it's core.

I'm currently in post production on a web series titled "Escape". The series was funded as part of a initiative to raise awareness of domestic violence. It's a 6-part drama; my co-writer and I had a lot of creative freedom to tell this story and we put many hours into developing the story from real case studies to make it as real life as possible. As director and cinematographer, it was my mission to create this in the most realistic way possible, right down to the way it was filmed. The subject matter is confronting, and I want my audience to feel uncomfortable. I shot it with a very voyeristic approach - I want the viewer to feel like they are the 3rd person in the room, witnessing as the victim suffers abuse, but not being able to stop it. I'm convinced that when this series hits public screens, many people will be touched in different ways. The message is clear, but the delivery is disused as entertainment.

On a personal level, the work demonstrates my personal ability as a director / cinematographer - a combined skill that I've cultivated over the past decade. It's my view that when a filmmaker is both the director and cinematographer, only then can the complete artists vision be produced.

Directing is 90% good preparation. Cast well, plan the shoot with your crew, and know your end game. If you've done that right, then when you get to the shoot day your job will be done for you. Now it's just communicating with the cast and crew to actualise it.