Architecting a Showcase: Capturing Auro Realty’s ET Award-Winning Commercial Project
This project was special—not just because the property went on to win The Economic Times “Iconic Project – Commercial (South): Completed” award, but because of the creative and operational journey it demanded. While at Nukesynth Creative Services, I was entrusted with planning, shooting, and editing a film that would represent one of Auro Realty’s flagship commercial developments in Hyderabad.
The ask was simple on paper: show the building. The real brief was deeper—tell its story.
The Brief & Creative Intent
We wanted every frame to communicate scale, finish, and purpose. Clean modern lines, expansive glass façades, lobby volumes, circulation paths—these weren’t just surfaces; they were signals of brand positioning. I built the visual language around three principles:
- Clarity: Let the structure breathe. Wide, glide, and reveal.
- Premium Tone: Shoot in controlled light windows; use reflections, not flares.
- Narrative Flow: Exterior to arrival, public to private, feature to function.
Camera moves were intentional—slow dolly-style passes, vertical tilts to emphasize height, and rack-focus reveals in key interior zones. Timing light became critical: we blocked shoot windows to catch reflective glass planes without harsh clipping and to pull warmth from interior lighting grids.
Creative Ops: Where the Work Really Happened
Some projects test creativity. This one tested coordination under constraint.
I led the project end-to-end and interfaced directly with:
- CEO
- Head of Marketing
- Assistant Manager (Ops / Site Access)
- Head of Security
- IT Team (access, permissions, screens, power schedules)
Because the building was active, shooting couldn’t slow operations. That meant:
- Scheduling after traffic / before peak footfall interior sessions.
- Getting security-cleared camera paths for gear movement.
- Blackout windows where tenant privacy needed to be maintained.
- Coordinating lighting overrides and digital display loops with IT so screens showed branded or neutral visuals when filmed.
Every location move was pre-scouted. Every elevator ride was timed. We walked the line between creative expression and operational discipline.
Shoot Execution
We ran lean to stay mobile: two-camera primary setup + gimbal unit. Lenses were selected to minimize parallax in tight interior volumes while still pulling architectural depth. Reflective surfaces demanded flagging and polarizing control; we brought in black cloth cuts to kill stray light during lobby sweeps.
When available light delivered elegance, we rode it. When it didn’t, we supplemented with soft indirect fill—always invisible to glass.
Post-Production & Delivery
I oversaw the full post pipeline:
- Edit Structure: Exterior pulse → arrival → lobby transitions → amenity + circulation → hero features.
- Music & Tempo: Confident, restrained score; no hype spots—this was investment-grade, not real-estate-ad loud.
- Color Grade: Neutral-to-warm, controlled contrast, specular highlight retention on glass & metal.
- Versioning: Master film + cutdowns for decks, award submissions, and investor previews.
Impact
The finished film has since been used across client presentations, investor decks, internal showcases, and as supporting media in recognition cycles. Its clarity and pacing helped non-local stakeholders grasp scale and finish quickly—one of the goals set early by Auro Realty’s leadership team.
“When access is limited and expectations are high, discipline replaces luck. Planning earns the shot.” — Navjyoth Kumar
Reflection: Leadership in the Details
What stays with me isn’t just the final grade—it’s the coordination. Creative leadership here meant understanding operational realities, building trust with security and facilities teams, and designing a schedule the CEO could rely on.
This project reminded me: great creative work isn’t just light and lenses—it’s alignment, timing, and respect for the people who make spaces function.