A Few Thoughts On Cinema

Sometimes I think a filmmaker can only be a student all his life. A feature length film is undoubtedly the most powerful medium of expression. An average cinema viewer invests ninety minutes of undivided attention in the most ideal setting of a dark room with surround sound. Minor intrusions of popcorn combos apart, of course. This is a deal that no other medium can match, be it newspapers, TV, radio, billboards or any other. Therefore the power a filmmaker wields over his mass is incredibly heady. Potentially at least.

Also, cinema is one of the only media in which the viewer directly pays for the content. TV, the written media, and radio are almost wholly advertiser funded. Their capitalistic allegiance lies only towards the advertisers. Where as, the filmmaker is directly responsible to his well paying, time investing viewer.

The filmmaker's challenge is to hold that attention, even though it is already paid for, for the duration of the film. Every scene, every shot, every frame can be reduced to an elaborate con - a con that is designed to keep the viewer seated for the next minute.

But of course it can't be this simple. There are a number of factors in this multiplayer con game. It is not as straightforward as the filmmaker versus the viewer. The filmmaker's vision passes through a number of filters. The budget, the producer, the starcast, the talent, the distribution, the time constraints , the censors to name a few. What eventually makes it to the screen is only a sieved and strained precipitate. And it is this precipitate that still has to work.

I thought this would be easy. I didn't respect the medium for what it is. A year and a half in my chosen field of education has left me as much in awe of cinema as in love with it. When I joined the course, what I had in mind was to exploit the studios, cameras and other facilities available to me, working in tandem with talented like minded people in order to learn by producing as much work as possible in terms of short films. But, the learning I've gone through has been enormous. It is important to grow as an individual.

I had already spent a couple of years as a dignified word peddler at a small print adverising agency, producing work at a client's behest suited to the client's narrow ends. My writing as a copywriter, at least the ones that made it to the publications, were more math than art. I realised that I wanted to make something of my own. Something that begins from within instead of beginning from someone else's financial needs. Films then seemed the obvious medium of choice.

After having spent this time as a student, I've come to appreciate the truths about filmmaking as a career. It is not the cliched 9 to 5 job that pays the bills. It is a job that requires a great investment not only in time and money but also emotions. There won't be placements, as a post graduate from a reputed institute might deem his right these days. It wont pay well in the beginning at least. It will take a physical effort as much as an intellectual one. Your commitment has to be firm. You've to put your faith in the Idea. Lie, cheat, con, steal, you must do whatever it takes. But be brutally honest to yourself. And to your god, The Idea.

The Idea is a sperm. It contains your DNA, the alchemical composition of your experiences. It must be quaked, conceived, gestated before it is born, then nourished and brought up. And when it comes of age it will no longer be your own.

You can only learn from it. You'll be a student all your life.