Saro Acharya: the next James Cameron

This past month, junior Saro Acharya spent 20 sleepless hours on a weekend, eyes glued to his Macbook screen attempting to finish editing his Media Arts Project (MAP) short film: “Mishaps and Misdeeds.”

Acharya endured every minute of it.

"It was really challenging, but I loved every second of it" he said.

For Acharya, making movies is not a chore; it is something he loves to do. Acharya was introduced to filmmaking after watching the first Sam Raimi-directed Spider-man movie as a young child. Acharya soon realized that the creation of computerized  graphics and visuals was close within his reach.

He became acquainted with equipment like the Canon 70D camera, RODE microphone  and Gearbox camera cage.

Acharya’s deep-seated passion for media has allowed him to explore many different fields of filmmaking. His first love was animation, something he grew fond of from seeing fake characters come to life in animated films such as “Toy Story” in his youth. Slowly he also began to enjoy learning about and experimenting with movies incorporating real actors and actresses.

“Something about being behind the camera as well as forming a story through the personas that your actors inhabit appeals to me,” Acharya said.

But Acharya is not so much interested in the actual filming process; instead, he wants to explore the presentation of plot in movies and is enamored by the idea of videos being able to show the progression of characters, whether they be real or fiction.

“Film, at its basis, is storytelling and I love that aspect of it,” Acharya said. “I’d like to be a director or even a writer, either on television or on film.”

Acharya’s role models in the film industry have furthered his passion for filmmaking.

“The biggest idols to me as a filmmaker are Alfred
Hitchcock, Quentin Tarantino and Joseph Gordon-Levitt,” Acharya said. “It's a bit of an odd trio. I love Hitchcock for his ability in building suspense, Tarantino for his uncompromising sense of fun.”

Acharya began to admire Gordon-Levitt after his creation of a website called HitRECord, which is dedicated to online content creators to share and collaborate on projects, a concept that Acharya has taken much interest in. 

But Acharya’s influences are not limited to the big names of Hollywood; in fact, much of Acharya’s interest in film stems from MAP.

“MAP is one of the biggest influences in my life,” Acharya said. “The teachers, the students, the course, the program in general feels like one big family.”
Being a part of MAP even prompted Acharya to attend a film camp over the summer at UCLA to further his knowledge.

According to Acharya, his experience at the Department of Design Media Arts was very beneficial because he studied new techniques and fields including film theory. He will attend the camp again this summer to work as a teacher’s assistant.

At DMA, Acharya hopes to gain further hands-on experience that will help him pave a path to his career in cinema.
His classmates also appreciate his skills as a film-maker and collaborator.

“Saro [Acharya] is such a great team player. His camera skills are phenomenal and he helps everyone in his group do much better,” said junior Meghan Shah.