By Khai Huynh – Pioneer Online Editor

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Rahul Chakraborty is living a dream as a filmmaker that was only afforded to him through hard work in Oklahoma City Community College’s film program. 

Graduating from the OCCC’s Digital Cinema Production (DCP) program in 2019, Chakraborty now owns boutique production company Chakra Media where he continues his passion for art and filmmaking.

Chakra Media is located in Oklahoma City but has worked all over the U.S. and the world.

“We call ourselves the director’s house,” Chakraborty said. “We came up with ideas which are unique, stand out, and we work with other collaborators to make projects happen.”

Chakraborty began his journey in production by making commercials, music videos and social media content. He has worked with numerous clients from different countries and international artists since the start. 

“We make a very limited amount of content, but we make sure that every single content has the best creative quality and the ability to stand out,” Chakraborty said.

Chakraborty is known for his work with an American pop star Greyson Chance on music video Bad to Myself which has over 400,000 views on YouTube. The music video is about Chance’s struggle with his eating disorder and that he would go 48 to 72 hours without eating.

Other works that he is known for include working as the director of photography for a music video named Pick Apart by the Oklahoma Native musician Samantha Crain, and directing a music video named Stripped by the Oklahoma-born artist – Mothica.

Chakraborty is very thankful for the opportunity he was offered in the DCP program. 

“The OCCC film and video production program gave me the learnings and teachings that I don’t think any other film school really provides in Oklahoma City,” Chakraborty said.

At OCCC, film students can check out school equipment to work on any type of project, and learn to work in different roles from dedicated classes. Every class in the DCP program provides students with hands-on experience from making short films, documentaries, to feature films.

“When I am directing and writing a project, and since I have all the knowledge from the school, I can manage it in the most efficient way,” Chakraborty said.

The skills and knowledge Chakraborty learned from the school have helped him connect with different people on set.

“When writing a script, I can think like a producer, a sound engineer, an editor, or a director of photography,” said Chakraborty. “I can connect with people on set like gaffers, grip, sound engineers to make their life and mine easier.”

Besides traditional feature films and documentaries, Chakraborty suggested that the program should extend its specialties to commercials, music videos and online video content.

“When we are directing a commercial, we are not only directing for the TV, we are directing it for social media platforms also,” he said. “I think that is something important for students to know.”

Chakraborty has words of advice for OCCC’s current film students.

“I would suggest that film students should learn everything in class but then go home and watch as much as they can,” he said. “The more you watch, the more you gain, the more knowledge you have, and the more dimensions of thinking.”

Chakraborty’s recent work is working as a director of photography and co-producer of a feature movie named The Squad distributed by Buffalo 8 Films.

The film is planned for worldwide release in Spring 2022. 

You can check out some of his work below.