The air was thick with anticipation. Narrow lanes in Chennai aquiver with sounds of vendors haggling, children playing and the distant hum of traffic. Second-unit cinematographer Shelly Sharma loped through jostling bodies, her Red Gemini with Master Prime lens observing an intricate dance of daily survival. Plastic matkas in hand, a throng of women patiently queued up as the water trucks approached in a shapeshifting mirage of sweltering heat. "I remember getting on top of the dispenser and shooting from multiple angles, tracking people's expressions," Sharma confides. "You cannot recreate these moments in a studio set-up."

Spy thriller web series The Family Man, streaming on Prime Video, finds itself at a unique intersection of immersive long takes, real locations and the fluidity of handheld camerawork under director duo Raj & DK.

"I feel that as technicians, we get a lot of help when it is a real location because the mood, the authenticity of things is right there."

The Blink Of A Moment

With roughly 270 degree access to the live set, Sharma and DOP (Director Of Photography) Cameron Bryson acknowledge the vicissitudes of how much can go awry if there's not enough synchronicity between the image-makers. Subverting time and space, the masterfully choreographed single take in the shootout scene of Episode 6 (Season 2) will guide you through the police station, betraying a claustrophobic sensation of being trapped and the adrenaline of thinking on your feet.

Sharma was seated atop an old school crane, following the action on the ground, only to lift up and pan towards a balcony where the camera would be carried by the DOP in a nimble handheld manoeuvre.

"Cameron and I really had to be in sync with each other to be able to pass the camera in the middle of the shot while gunshots were being fired," Sharma explains. "I remember there was a shake but I think on the third or fourth attempt, we were able to pass it seamlessly."