We are coping with a "niagara of visual gabble". It's very hard to zone oneself out of the visual over-information we are living with. We are swamped by the stampede of emotions relayed to us via TV, Internet and Bollywood. Come friday, and we have an quick flick ready to be visually embraced by thousands of movie-goers across the nation. Public consciousness has been subject to some serious visual, aural memorizing. No matter how moving the creative work, it fails to leave enough impression into our consciousness. It has become absolutely imperative for an art product to literally sweep the audience into its realm, otherwise it will fail to leave a mark.
Is this matter of fact which artists, especially filmmakers have to learn to get used to? Is it a capitalistic consumeristic reality of our postmodern era? The world has shrunk and people are presented with varied choices of entertainment. Such abundance impedes our ability to appreciate art, especially film art. I confine more to the film art because it is far more accessible to masses than any other form of art in contemporary societies, developing or developed alike. Television has also become a carrier of movie notions into our mindsets. People rely more on television since movies don't last in theaters much. Uncanny wisdoms have silently seeped into the labyrinth of modern tastes. People watch movies perfunctorily and pass snap judgements using such wisdoms. Every common movie goer can boast of being a movie critic.
Lets shift the attention to filmmaking briefly. Before going there we need to acknowledge the technological advancements into photography in recent times. Camera and photography has become a pervasive hobby. A visit to any of the social networking sites can testify that. People are aggressively pursuing their photographic passions so much that lines have completely blurred between a professional and non-professional photographers. Post processing techniques have made it possible for one to take their hobby to a level of perceived professionalism. Enter, modern cameras with video capabilities. Professional filmmakers admit the power of an iPhone to make reasonably good quality videos. Such capabilities abound, leads to gadget obsessive cultures. One can capture quick footage, edit it superficially, lay their favorite song in the soundtrack and post the film on youtube and voila you're a filmmaker already!
What challenges does it leave to a film practitioner? Although film technique is too vast to be be fully pursued as a hobby, it still leaves the market open for a range of competition between not so evenly matched skills and changes the rule of the game.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
Notes from a filmmaker's diary
Memories of a film move you, so much that you vibrate with her emotion, within her world. You want to be one with that world. It resonates within you and outside you, thus evoking a sense of longing for that world. How many times have I heard the music of Truffaut’s “Stolen Kisses” and have just pined to see it?
A film also needs some time to grow on you. Depending on the subject and treatment of the filmmaker it may take a finite time to draw you into it. Very, very few films have achieved this from the first scene and first line. One good example is “Pulp Fiction”. There is something (I still don’t know what) in the mood of the film that makes you love her from the first shot. This technique of instant intoxication is present in many Hollywood films, which casts its spell from the opening frame. Very often it is used - although not always inspired by the narrative - to grab the audience’s attention from the first scene. This is also one of the popular techniques of screenwriting practiced in Hollywood.
Film is the science of repetition, of doing that exercise over and over again until you feel satiated and de-satiated. I wrote, re-wrote, read, wrote and re-wrote that script but still that elusive something is missing.
Memory and grief have a strange connection. You are thrown back to past memories in your most weak and fragile times. Somehow that memory saves you from further dilapidation.
Characterize the space and let the actors enter into that space. Many good filmmakers like Bresson will use space to convey an emotion which no actor or music can. It contributes very significantly to the “world of the film”, through some psychological genesis.
A good film has a tendency of finding its audience.
Are true creators really lonely people or they just revel in their own glory? A true artist has no right to shun himself from the rest of the society. He owes them too much to remain divorced.
A film also needs some time to grow on you. Depending on the subject and treatment of the filmmaker it may take a finite time to draw you into it. Very, very few films have achieved this from the first scene and first line. One good example is “Pulp Fiction”. There is something (I still don’t know what) in the mood of the film that makes you love her from the first shot. This technique of instant intoxication is present in many Hollywood films, which casts its spell from the opening frame. Very often it is used - although not always inspired by the narrative - to grab the audience’s attention from the first scene. This is also one of the popular techniques of screenwriting practiced in Hollywood.
Film is the science of repetition, of doing that exercise over and over again until you feel satiated and de-satiated. I wrote, re-wrote, read, wrote and re-wrote that script but still that elusive something is missing.
Memory and grief have a strange connection. You are thrown back to past memories in your most weak and fragile times. Somehow that memory saves you from further dilapidation.
Characterize the space and let the actors enter into that space. Many good filmmakers like Bresson will use space to convey an emotion which no actor or music can. It contributes very significantly to the “world of the film”, through some psychological genesis.
A good film has a tendency of finding its audience.
Are true creators really lonely people or they just revel in their own glory? A true artist has no right to shun himself from the rest of the society. He owes them too much to remain divorced.
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