In the previous post , we proposed Athmaspandana-soul to soul communication. Now, we will explore Philosophy of Film. One would naturally ask-why? The Philosophy of Drama, Dance, Music and Poetry, is well understood. This understanding can be extended, to examine the power of film-medium. Film has in it, the power of all those art-forms, perhaps diluted by the richness of expression. There is a good reason why film commands the largest viewer-base and the highest amount of revenue, amongst all the art-forms. But the complexity of the medium forces people to operate from the gut.
If you have an idea, to convey and if you are contemplating whether film is the correct medium of expression, this post will help you. A film maker interested in questioning subtle details of this medium will find this article to be a nice starting point. Let me give you a simple analogy. A mechanic fixes problems, an engineer designs them and scientists are possibly the reason why the car exists. A mechanic doesn't have to go to a school, but if he can understand science, his work could receive a quantum leap. This post attempts precisely that- Philosophy of Film!
Those folks, who love counter-strike, might appreciate this analogy. While a sniper gets you accuracy , a short gun gets you speed and a bazooka creates hell lot of damage. When you fight a war, you need to know your weapons, don't you? So when do you use a cut, a transition, some music, few emotions? Some times too many choices confuse film-makers. Usage of heuristics becomes inevitable. A simple analogy again- Although Paint suffices to edit photographs, Photoshop is gold! So my dear film-makers lets develop the weapons for the future of communication!
In simple words, audience amble through your very own world, which you create with passion and perfection. You tell a story within this world! Sometimes you don't really have a story, but your world is so wonderful that people would want to experience it! Power of film medium lies in delivering great visuals alongside suiting music. The power is enormous! Editing lets you deliver multiple points of view and it also lets you control the pace of the film. Music creates the mood. The power of vocal-art forms, literary art-forms and dance are well understood. I won't say-you can 'accommodate' them in your film. Will you 'accommodate' diamonds? Ofcourse not, they just walk in, any day!
Space creation and smooth flow of time are mistakes, we amateurs can make, quite easily. I write my visuals by keeping my audience in mind. I know my world, but what would I want to show them. I can hear a bullet-shot, so I would want to turn around and hence I would cut to that angle. You are allowed to move freely without any restrictions- that's the power of editing. An editor has two roles- firstly, he has to ensure that these abrupt camera movements are pleasingly smooth and two the visuals move at the appropriate pace. These tasks are to be done by the director, but the editor delivers the finishing touches on the editing table. They say film is made on two tables-scripting and editing. Editing is possibly the most powerful weapon we have, to tell the story slow enough for people to understand and fast enough for them to be involved and engaged.
Music influences emotions and controls heart-rate. For instance, when you don't want audience to think, you may use fast-beats and scare the hell out of them. However, when you got the attention, you better deliver something! Watching Hans Zimmer's videos (Making of Dark Knight Rises-Audio) will help in understanding mood-creation. You can watch a movie, without background music (with dialogues), that's quite a learning experience. Audio fixes many cuts, besides creating the right mood. Listening to movies, working as sound-assistant during productions, editing films- will all help in appreciating the role of sound track. The role of sound-track is perhaps underestimated, and it makes a lot of difference.
An art can be monetized there are people who would like express something and people would like to experience that something. This creates a market! People who would like to watch a movie, do so as they would like to experience an emotional ride, or a roller-coaster I may say! You need to deliver a smooth 'flow' of emotions. I shall write a complete article about flow, it is actually a psychological phenomenon. But the bottomline is deliver experience which people will love. This drives commercial art, revenues from commercial art must drive R&D-Philosophy of Film! We are making a case for good films- those backed by a strong understanding of the medium. We wan't good art, don't we? But that needs money, money comes from commercial art and commercial art needs understanding of art. That's an awesome ecosystem of philosophers, film-makers and artists. Think about it, it is not that very complicated!
If the pacing of visuals is good, you get attention. If the flow of emotions is smooth, you deliver happiness. If you deliver a roller-coaster ride of emotions, audience will love your movie. If they love your movie and find some content in it, their heart will answer their brain as to why the movie is good. It is not the other way round. So, it is perhaps all about delivering the ride alongside content. You make an 'epic' movie if you have something awesome, packaged with a wonderful roller-coaster ride. That's pretty much what Dark Knight did! I will make a case for an approach, which guarantees the ride, if you have a strong motivation. It is all about putting a great painting on a great frame. Fortunately frame development is a barrier, which needs to be surpassed before delivering the content. A man is a slave to his hormones and emotions!
You may ask yourself this question- "What is the experience, I would deliver, through this film?". You could be producing the film either because you want to express yourself or because you feel audience need to experience it . What would that experience be- horror, love story or something else? Do you think people should experience the implications of corruption, which they don't face otherwise? A one-line statement may help in the connecting the crew with the mission.
Sekhar Kammula's mentor said that one must start scripting only after experiencing a strong emotion. Sekahr scripted Dollar Dreams after his sister,a gynaecologist, told him about one of her patients who wanted her delivery to be delayed by a month, just so that their baby could be an American citizen, as they were leaving to the US. Strong emotions, backed by intellect, help in unleashing your athmaspandana. I feel that a writer must research and understand the subject very well, besides developing a strong emotions within.
Once you know your goal well, you may want to read,watch and listen to a lot of content on that topic. Discussing that, with a lot of friends will help in understanding- the content and the emotions involved. These emotions, backed by intellect, get you-everything which you need. As you already know, the 'funda' is simple- Persevere and let your athmaspandana emerge!
I will keep updating this post, to ensure a good introduction to the film medium. We are requesting experts to help us, in improving this blog. Hope to have a lot of articles exploring minute aspects of film- action-sequences, music, frame-composition etc.Quite a few articles promised already!
If you have an idea, to convey and if you are contemplating whether film is the correct medium of expression, this post will help you. A film maker interested in questioning subtle details of this medium will find this article to be a nice starting point. Let me give you a simple analogy. A mechanic fixes problems, an engineer designs them and scientists are possibly the reason why the car exists. A mechanic doesn't have to go to a school, but if he can understand science, his work could receive a quantum leap. This post attempts precisely that- Philosophy of Film!
Those folks, who love counter-strike, might appreciate this analogy. While a sniper gets you accuracy , a short gun gets you speed and a bazooka creates hell lot of damage. When you fight a war, you need to know your weapons, don't you? So when do you use a cut, a transition, some music, few emotions? Some times too many choices confuse film-makers. Usage of heuristics becomes inevitable. A simple analogy again- Although Paint suffices to edit photographs, Photoshop is gold! So my dear film-makers lets develop the weapons for the future of communication!
In simple words, audience amble through your very own world, which you create with passion and perfection. You tell a story within this world! Sometimes you don't really have a story, but your world is so wonderful that people would want to experience it! Power of film medium lies in delivering great visuals alongside suiting music. The power is enormous! Editing lets you deliver multiple points of view and it also lets you control the pace of the film. Music creates the mood. The power of vocal-art forms, literary art-forms and dance are well understood. I won't say-you can 'accommodate' them in your film. Will you 'accommodate' diamonds? Ofcourse not, they just walk in, any day!
Space creation and smooth flow of time are mistakes, we amateurs can make, quite easily. I write my visuals by keeping my audience in mind. I know my world, but what would I want to show them. I can hear a bullet-shot, so I would want to turn around and hence I would cut to that angle. You are allowed to move freely without any restrictions- that's the power of editing. An editor has two roles- firstly, he has to ensure that these abrupt camera movements are pleasingly smooth and two the visuals move at the appropriate pace. These tasks are to be done by the director, but the editor delivers the finishing touches on the editing table. They say film is made on two tables-scripting and editing. Editing is possibly the most powerful weapon we have, to tell the story slow enough for people to understand and fast enough for them to be involved and engaged.
Music influences emotions and controls heart-rate. For instance, when you don't want audience to think, you may use fast-beats and scare the hell out of them. However, when you got the attention, you better deliver something! Watching Hans Zimmer's videos (Making of Dark Knight Rises-Audio) will help in understanding mood-creation. You can watch a movie, without background music (with dialogues), that's quite a learning experience. Audio fixes many cuts, besides creating the right mood. Listening to movies, working as sound-assistant during productions, editing films- will all help in appreciating the role of sound track. The role of sound-track is perhaps underestimated, and it makes a lot of difference.
An art can be monetized there are people who would like express something and people would like to experience that something. This creates a market! People who would like to watch a movie, do so as they would like to experience an emotional ride, or a roller-coaster I may say! You need to deliver a smooth 'flow' of emotions. I shall write a complete article about flow, it is actually a psychological phenomenon. But the bottomline is deliver experience which people will love. This drives commercial art, revenues from commercial art must drive R&D-Philosophy of Film! We are making a case for good films- those backed by a strong understanding of the medium. We wan't good art, don't we? But that needs money, money comes from commercial art and commercial art needs understanding of art. That's an awesome ecosystem of philosophers, film-makers and artists. Think about it, it is not that very complicated!
If the pacing of visuals is good, you get attention. If the flow of emotions is smooth, you deliver happiness. If you deliver a roller-coaster ride of emotions, audience will love your movie. If they love your movie and find some content in it, their heart will answer their brain as to why the movie is good. It is not the other way round. So, it is perhaps all about delivering the ride alongside content. You make an 'epic' movie if you have something awesome, packaged with a wonderful roller-coaster ride. That's pretty much what Dark Knight did! I will make a case for an approach, which guarantees the ride, if you have a strong motivation. It is all about putting a great painting on a great frame. Fortunately frame development is a barrier, which needs to be surpassed before delivering the content. A man is a slave to his hormones and emotions!
You may ask yourself this question- "What is the experience, I would deliver, through this film?". You could be producing the film either because you want to express yourself or because you feel audience need to experience it . What would that experience be- horror, love story or something else? Do you think people should experience the implications of corruption, which they don't face otherwise? A one-line statement may help in the connecting the crew with the mission.
Sekhar Kammula's mentor said that one must start scripting only after experiencing a strong emotion. Sekahr scripted Dollar Dreams after his sister,a gynaecologist, told him about one of her patients who wanted her delivery to be delayed by a month, just so that their baby could be an American citizen, as they were leaving to the US. Strong emotions, backed by intellect, help in unleashing your athmaspandana. I feel that a writer must research and understand the subject very well, besides developing a strong emotions within.
Once you know your goal well, you may want to read,watch and listen to a lot of content on that topic. Discussing that, with a lot of friends will help in understanding- the content and the emotions involved. These emotions, backed by intellect, get you-everything which you need. As you already know, the 'funda' is simple- Persevere and let your athmaspandana emerge!
I will keep updating this post, to ensure a good introduction to the film medium. We are requesting experts to help us, in improving this blog. Hope to have a lot of articles exploring minute aspects of film- action-sequences, music, frame-composition etc.Quite a few articles promised already!
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