Arvind Mattadeen : the rise of a Mauritian videographer

From ‘amateur’ to a successful international videographer, Arvind Mattadeen, CEO of Hysteria Productions, has never backed down regarding his passion. Well supported by inspiring and encouraging people, he is on the path of achieving greatness.

Initially named as ‘Wasted Productions’, the company’s application was rejected by the authorities. He then came up with Hysteria Productions, inspired by the song of British Band MUSE. When Arvind started taking videography seriously, some ten years back, he tried to look for an internship and applied to many well-known video production companies where his request was rejected. “My dad and my two closest friends, Vishal and Ali always supported me.” He has never been to any film school. All he did was practise, make errors and learn while making some short movies. “That's how I learned and that how I'll keep doing it.”

When big clients started calling me, I had no choice but to make it official. This is when Hysteria was born."

“I was always inspired and passionate about movies, movie making (Hollywood movies mainly).” That's where he wants to see himself in the future. His multiple rejections, and being told that he does not have what it takes to be a good cameraman/videographer only fuelled his passion even more. He always tries to innovate and adopt new camera technologies, bringing new experiences to those who follow him on social networks.

According to him, there were not many free or paid online courses on filmmaking at that time. Going abroad being too expensive, he had to learn the hard way by trial and error. “Camcorders were quite expensive and were not really accessible to everyone. My passion for film was also growing.” His friend Amit (Pop) used to lend him his Sony Handycam with which he would film some Rock Concerts while learning how to edit as well. Being a go-getter, he would show the musicians the edited version, who would then invite him for further events.

“It was for free but I was happy just with the idea of getting experience.” He also covered a few weddings along the way for a relatives for free. In return, his knowledge in the field was improving. A couple of years later, he met a group of young and very talented skateboarders namely: Yanish, Xavier, Mayur, Alexandre, David and Bryan who are now his friends with whom he used to hang out around Mauritius. “Loving skateboarding but not being a skater myself, I had nothing else better to do than filming their stunts.” Possessing no camera, he had to borrow a camera from another friend Ali, who later came to join them. “At the end of the year, we had so much of good video shot all around Mauritius that we decided to make a 60-minute Docu-feature/movie. “Wasted Youth" was born and quickly became very popular among youngsters. Long story short, word of mouth, my name was becoming popular and people started hiring me for small jobs.” One year later in 2008, he joined Facebook which later turned into a major marketing tool. “I had some savings from previous work and my dad helped me to get my first Camcorder.”

Sharing those experimental videos on Facebook together with their previous skate videos and other events brought him more work. “When big clients started calling me, I had no choice but to make it official. This is when Hysteria was born.” He started investing more in getting a better camera, lights and tripods, etc. And he always had this obsessive need to have the latest version of everything…..like every geek. 

They are currently working with a lot with hotels doing corporate movies and concept/promotional movies. “We have clients all over the world, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Europe, Middle East which means we (the Hysteria team) do travel quite regularly to cover events or shoot documentaries. Our biggest client in our portfolio is Redbull (Mauritius/Dubai), they fly us everywhere in Africa to cover most of their events and we get to meet great athletes and legends.” They have also shot a wildlife documentary in Tanzania, Serengeti for over 45 days and that was an incredible experience. “We have been to places where very few people in the world would have access to.” One thing he has learnt is that “My camera brought me to places where my books never could.”

I was always inspired and passionate about movies, movie making (Hollywood movies mainly)."

There are many film makers/cinematographers that he admires and who contributed a lot to who he is today namely, Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Stanley Kubrick, Tim Burton and many more. “There is no specific reason why, because each of them has his own style and way of doing films, but I just wanted to be able to work like them.... some day.”

He was recently in Hollywood, Los Angeles and Las Vegas for the annual NAB Show (an event mainly for filmmakers worldwide) where he got to meet some of his icons/mentor who so far taught him many things via YouTube and other networks! “I never expected that I'll meet them someday.” He had the privilege to meet Vincent Laforet (the first person who did a film using DSLR), Philip Bloom, Devin Supertramp (a legendary YouTuber) and Garett Brown (the person who invented Steadicam), that was an accomplishment on its own.

“We can all make it only if we are passionate about it. I've seen many people come and go over years but only a few are here to stay. Buying a pro camera never made someone pro and never will. Respect is earned and art is respected, learn to respect others and you'll have the same in return.” For him, nowadays everyone is a photographer and cinematographer. “Do not let those words fool you. Let your work speak for itself, it does not happen overnight so please be patient and work hard. ”

He does feel a little bit good about everything that happened and he knows that he still has a long way to go. “I would tell my younger self "never back down" and where there's a will there's a way.... always!”