Proprietor of ‘San Production’, Co-founder of  ‘The Recurrent’ and the General Secretary at ‘Musicians Guild’

Growing up in Kohima, Sanen, whose native village is Chungtia, studied filming and visual effect at Zee Institute Bangalore. As someone growing up in a family that loves music, Sanen used to be a part of the band, ‘Making Merry’ but today, he and his production house, ‘San Production’ has produced many incredible artists over the years and has gifted many couples with beautiful documentation and storytelling of their wedding through their cinematic direction.

 

Along with Sanen, San Production is a team of three very dedicated guys – Moalong, Tiachuba, and Merenlong who, according to Sanen, are the backbone of the production house.
Here is Mokokchung Times trying to know a little more in detail about Sanen and his crafts.

 

MT: Thank you for the opportunity, Sanen. Is all well and good with you?

Sanen: Hello! MTNews, thanks to you guys for reaching out and giving me this opportunity, this really means a lot to me. Well, I am doing really well; finally things are getting back to normal after the pandemic.

 

MT: So, what really made you pursue this career? Was it challenging at first?

Sanen: Videography for me came very late in my life. Growing up in a society where we all look for a white-collar job, getting a government job was one of my goals. So, after I came back from Bangalore, I remember going around looking for government jobs and applying for exams and also going to a lot of the officials’ houses requesting a job. After a while, I was managing 3 jobs at once which were my job in the election office, a piano instructor in a music school, and my video production.

It was that one evening when I was sitting in my office I was so depressed about life and the job I was doing because, honestly, I was working there just to please my parents and society. I knew I could do so much more than just sit there and do something which I didn’t like.

So, I left my job which was one of the biggest risks I took in life. I felt really bad for my parents too, ‘cause we all know how important government job is in our land. But I knew I had to make myself happy and do what I love to do the most.

I should say my parents played the most important role in my life ‘cause no matter what decisions I made in life, they were always there to support me and push me further.
But it was not easy at all when I started the production with a lot of pressure from the families, some uncles and aunties telling me to get a government job instead; also I was not getting many clients but I kept only one thing in mind and that was to just push myself to become better in what I was doing.

I remember my first payment was Rs 250 which I got after shooting continuously for 2 days and editing for another 2 days. I also got my first wedding gig through Lichan Humtsoe (CEO Ete Coffee) who was a photographer during that time. From there on, I was slowly introduced to the market and slowly people started to notice my work and that’s how it all started for me.

 

MT: How would you comment on the progress your production house has made over the years? Did you ever think your production house would ever reach the height that has reached now?

Sanen: That’s a very good question. Well, getting to where I am today is kind of like a dream for me, cause I remember starting the production house with a handy cam, and with the help of my dad, we build a camera stabilizer using a PVC pipe which we painted black and I would carry it around in different occasions. We had no professional light during that time so I made a light by myself using the CFL bulb and putting the reflective part of Everyday milk cover to bounce the light better, I even made a spotlight using a carton box.

Coming to my editing system, I used to borrow my dad’s huge HP laptop which was one of the slowest systems but it was the fastest one I had.

Just thinking about everything, God has been really gracious with me and it’s Him who has opened up ways for me to get to where I am today. Starting from a single camera to owning 6-7 cameras is indeed a blessing and a lot of hard work which I had to put.

All those sleepless nights of editing and learning from the internet, all those hours of standing in the sun just to get that one single shot, well I guess that’s how everything paid off for me.

 

MT: What are your duties or role in San Production currently? Do you have a favorite and least favorite part about your job?

Sanen: Initially, when I started the production I was the one who was managing everything starting from bookings, client meet up, storyboarding, shooting, editing, color grading, and delivery. But now with my team and experience over the years, things have become smoother since I am not the only one doing everything. So currently I don’t have a particular role in the team, but I look after everything and try to fill in the gaps.

My favorite part will be the production that is the shooting day. It’s interesting because every project we do, be it a wedding or music video, is different since we can put in our creativity and create something on our own. My least favorite will be when you have 30 -40 wedding projects pile up for editing and you are reaching the deadline (lol).

 

MT: You’ve worked for lots of well-known personalities and musicians but what projects of yours are you most proud of and why?

Sanen: This is hard to answer since every single project we did is different and something which is very close to me. Over the years we have done a lot of projects with a lot of different people and one project which I really like was working with the Polar Lights band where we did a lot of DIY since we didn’t have the equipment nor could we hire it. The shoot went on for almost 4-5 days and the editing took me over 2 weeks to finish since we had to use a lot of visual effects and masking.

 

Another one would be when we did a music video and I remember trekking up on top of a mountain with all of our gear, which took us around 4 hours to reach. Sadly, it was raining and our location became kind of like a swamp, so we ended up not using the footages. I should say it’s the tough ones that bring back a lot of memories.

 

MT: Describe a long-term video project you worked on. How did you stay focused and on schedule?

Sanen: The longest project we did was a departmental project which went on for more than a year. Its funny ‘cause programs were getting postponed or some officials couldn’t avail themselves for interviews, so it was hard for us to keep ourselves focused on work and since it went on for so long, we had to keep checking the script and kept ourselves updated with it. The most challenging part with long-term projects will be clashing with other projects and constant changes in dates which really affect the smooth flow of the production house.

 

MT: How do you usually plan for a shoot?

Sanen: Well, I usually have different ways of preparing myself for different shots like weddings, music videos, or documentaries. Say, for a music video shot, it normally starts by meeting the artist and getting their ideas for the video, then the main thing starts which is preparing a script or a storyboard for the video. I usually have a collection of screenshots which I took from the films I have watched or which I collected from the internet. This process really helps me out in production that is during the shooting day, ‘cause we can concentrate more on the shoot and not on what we should do next or which angle I have to shoot.

 

The next thing will be charging the batteries before the shoot as this part takes the most time for me since I have almost 30 different batteries to charge. So, with all this set and done, production usually goes in really smooth with very less hiccups.

 

MT: Do you have a future goal?

Sanen: I have a lot of things in my mind right now and I remember giving different answers every time I am asked this question, but as of now I have two things in my mind which is, very soon, San Production will start to make feature films, we don’t know when but hopefully we get some investors for the film. Secondly, maybe after a few years if everything works out we would love to open up a film school here in Nagaland.

 

MT: How would you advise someone who would love to pursue the kind of a career you have?

Sanen: A lot of people who know me from when I was starting; they know me as the guy who would mount a handy cam on PVC pipe and a Burma lamp on top of it and walk around the city trying to find opportunities and filming events for free ‘cause I loved what I was doing. It didn’t come easy for me, I was not successful overnight; it took me years, a lot of sleepless nights, a lot of failures, and years of experience to get to where I am today. My journey was not easy, I had to sacrifice a lot of things starting from friends to things that I love to do.

 

In the end, I would just like to say that when you are starting up something, please don’t think about money; think of how to grow your business or how to reach out to more people and improve your service. Money comes in last, that’s how it worked for me. No matter what field you are in, if you have the passion and the determination to work hard, you can achieve your dreams.

 

 

To avail their services, you can hit them up on Instagram @sanenkichu or @san.production or email at san.production6@gmail.com

Related: Uncover Mokokchung

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