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.
