Unravelling the science of cinema

The fundamental purpose of language is to communicate. Every language has a structure associated with it. And every language has semantics. So far so good? I already knew this before the film appreciation workshop which I attended a couple of weeks back. On the first evening, I got to know a new word, semiotics. Language has semiotics too. The semiotics of a language appeal to a person's senses. Why is it that when I saw "Neal and Nikki" (a Hindi movie) I left kicking myself and not believing that I actually subjected myself to such crap while others left humming "I'm Nikki Bakshi. Sweet and sexy, hot and happening"?! Semiotics. In simple words, the way that we are 'affected' by a film and how its message seeps into our consciousness and arouses feelings within us.

Film as a language has no rigid structure and depends a lot on semiotics. The semiotics of a film are invariably affected by society and opinions. How we watch and appreciate a film is influenced by what information we carry about the message of the film, the people involved with the film and what we have already heard about the quality of the film. I was quite surprised when I heard at the workshop that renowned Indian filmmakers like Guru Dutt and Ritwik Ghatak were hailed as wonderful filmmakers only after they died! Reason being that the film society of that time had decided that films which had song sequences were trash. Simple. Sad isn't it?

Another interesting thing that I got to know was that cinema is a very mechanical art form. Everything about it has mechanics associated with it! From the equipment that is used to capture scenes to the film which stores the images to the screen on which the film is eventually showcased. "Do films reflect society" is a common essay topic in schools. Let's not get into that but film certainly reflect technology. As advances are made in technology, the face of cinema changes. Cinema really has come a long way from black and white silent films to digital films like "300".

"Cinema stands at the crossroads of real time and elapsed time". One of the many gems that Prof Hari Haran scattered for us fledglings to peck on. Time is probably the most important element of cinema. As he so beautifully put it, "A shot is born only when it ends". "A film becomes a film only when it ends". He asked us to come up with an example of a constant stream of visuals. Constant because it never ends. Answer; close circuit TV! Close circuit TV constantly records the happenings that it focuses on. It may move and thus the point of view that is depicted may shift but it never changes or ends. Not surprisingly, you don't generally find people standing and watching that kind of footage with drooling tongues and sparkling eyes. That is simply not cinema.

Coming down now to 'real time' and 'elapsed time'. A film is a piece of work that is supposed to be watched at a single stretch. (I do know people who watch a film intermittently but have never really understood that.) When a filmmaker makes a film, he makes it keeping in mind that his audience is not going to ditch him midway through it. There is in a sense an unsaid commitment between the filmmaker and his audience. It is clear that time constrains a film. It's not like a photograph or a painting which can be savoured all the time. Time is harnessed by the filmmaker. He uses it as a tool. A long shot communicates that a lot of real time is passing. Many short shots indicate more elapsed time. Elapsed time is the time that a movie depicts which real time is the actual time that is shown on screen. Simply put, a typical movie has about two hours of real time and may represent any amount of elapsed time.

From time immemorial, man has invented tools that replicate his body parts. The simplest example being that of the wheel which was inspired by his knees which he would use for locomotion. Man invented the lens to replicate the function of the eye. It is truly interesting to note that lens in French is objectif. In other words, the lens is objective and does not lie. "Seeing is believing" is no longer true in this day and age. These days we need a photograph in order to believe! (Of course, with the advent of image manipulation even this doesn't really hold water. We should probably get back to good old instincts!)

There were quite a few films shown at this workshop. I found myself noting that the discussion that follows a film screening interests me far more than the actual viewing of a film. At the workshop, there was a discussion on form and content and it is then that I realised that the reason for the above observation was probably that I didn't really know how to view a film. You may be scratching your head and wondering, how difficult is to "know how to view a film"?! Well, tell me something, if I were to put before you a plastic bottle of water, what would you say to be the form and content of what you see before yourself? Is bottle the form and water the content? What if you put beer or milk in the bottle? Same form and different content? What if you use another container to store the water? Different form and same content? WHAT'S the deal? All this leads to an idea that form and content can be separated. That doesn't make much sense, does it? The critical question is, are we deliberating over the form and content of the bottle or of the water? The form and content of the bottle is plastic and the form and content of the the liquid inside the bottle is the liquid. Now, you may be wondering why I'm such a fuss about this. The reason is simple. Each and every film is made for a purpose. The filmmaker has a story to tell to people. This is the content of his film. The way in which he presents his movie, whether it be through a huge budget, hand held cameras, animation or stick figures is up to him and his constraints of purse strings and imagination. This is the form of the film. Too often it happens that we watch a film, appreciate it's story and go home. But what about what the movie is trying to tell us? A simple analogy to illustrate my point. Who are you? Answer without thinking. Fast! If your answer is engineer, student, doctor, alocoholic, drug addict or anything on those lines then that's not who you really are. That's not you at all. That's the function you serve. You could be a person who likes to walk on the road, think about what life really is, throw some stones to the side, smoke a cigarette and get back to working in a factory. Or you could be a person who likes to be involved in multiple relationships at a time, go partying whenever you possibly can, read Mills and Boons on the sly, secretly love C programming and adore cutting work. That's more on the lines of who you are. Similarly, the story of a film is the function that it serves. There's much more to a two and half hour stay in a cinema hall. Films are a medium of communication first and entertainment later. Let's keep this in our pockets, please.

This is turning out to be quite a long post and there's still some stuff which I would like to put down. I may do so, sometime later when I feel like it. There were quite a few short films which were screened at the workshop. There were innumerable names which were scattered around in the various discussions that took place. Prof. Hari Haran was a brilliant teacher! His lectures were captivating, interesting and illuminating. He was talkative even during the breaks between sessions where he regaled whoever cared to hang around him with hilarious anecdotes and beautiful nuggets of information. There was another prof at the workshop, Prof. Manu Chakravorty. He didn't speak nearly as much and wasn't really a captivating speaker when he did speak. But he did come through as an immensely knowledgeable individual and raised some highly pertinent points on occasions.

All in all, the workshop was a wonderful experience. I left it knowing that from now onwards any movie that I watched would hold something interesting for me. After those two days of the workshop I felt as if I had been educated. Not much, just a touch.

Faces from the college at the end of the universe - Memento

The last drag

For the past week I was in Manipal. Had gone over there to submit my final semester's project work. I don't really know what I expected when I boarded the bus in Bangalore. Was just relieved and happy that I'd be getting away from work for a while and meet people with whom I have had some special times. There is a stark difference between my school and college friends. If I had to bring it down to one point, it would be that with college people the conversations mainly happen in Hindi whereas with school friends it's usually English which holds sway. The funny thing is that it just feels better that ways. Anyhow, I find it particularly interesting that even though I have even lived with college people and never really done so with school friends, there is just a different connection I have with the people I meet from school. Guess this is where childhood, innocence, age and maturity come into the picture.

I reached Manipal early in the morning on Saturday. The room I entered was packed with people. People who had come from various parts of India. Come to submit their final semester's project work. But actually they were in Manipal for one last drag from this oh so exciting place.

This week in Manipal was supposed to be special. Special because it was going to be the last time when so many people from my batch were going to be together. It may happen again much later this year when the convocation will be held. But somehow I don't really see that happening. Simple reason being that we won't be required to come down that time. People that I meet unabashedly proclaim their love for Manipal, how unforgettable an experience college has been here and how much they'll miss the friends and times that this place has given them but I'd like to see how many of them come down to Manipal for their convocation when they won't be required by college to do so and would be coming purely for sentimental reasons. Would be interesting to see who all turn up then.

Anyhow, all that is for later. (I really should stop digressing no. But then writing wouldn't be nearly as interesting.) There were lots of people who had come down to Manipal this week. Obviously there was no chance of different groups staying together, whether in the college blocks or in a lodge. So there were groups scattered all over Manipal in different accommodations. They did meet at the various watering holes that Manipal is replete with! Over drinks and cigarettes, many hugs were exchanged, conversations struck, notes compared and promises made of staying in touch even after Manipal. Nice, fake and beautiful. The way Manipal is.

The first few days that I was there, I had to do a lot of scrambling around in order to get my project report in the prescribed format. I just don't get it. You do a project somewhere outside college. When you come for your submission, the one thing which is obsessed about the most is the format of your report. Whether the lines have been indented properly or not, whether undeserving people have been thanked, whether font sizes have been followed or not. Such crap!! Anyways, I gritted my teeth and came through it. That and the project submission. I enjoy preparing presentations. Like to make the slides crisp and relevant. I found myself quite unashamedly procrastinating when it came my project's presentation. It was the last drag. I think I can be excused. Don't you?

I had gone over to Manipal a couple of months back. I hadn't really roamed around the campus then. Was busy catching up with friends then. And there wasn't that feeling of inevitable departure then. This time, I decided to walk around the campus. Trudge along the straight and long road which has no trees lining it. Alone. With my old and worn bag slung across one shoulder. Walk all the way from college to tenth block. Pass the blocks which lie by the side of the road, the small eatery and the basketball court (which is actually used for basketball), the messes where I have had so many meals, the tennis courts (gosh, I wish I had played more!) and reach the block where one gets solitude in a single room. Tenth block felt different this time. It seemed as if I had left it eons back! The corridors seemed weirdly wide and the rooms inhospitable. Guess staying there was an experience of which I had had my fill and more.

Walking around campus felt weirdly good. My mind is infested with memories of this bare campus. Bare campus with its turns, retreats with thatched roofs strewn by the wayside, stores which sell items of daily use and dark alleys. When I looked around at the boys and girls who were walking beside me I felt that right now they were living in a safe and secluded world. Away from the rigours, idiosyncrasies and tensions of the real world. I too have enjoyed my fill of this life. Enjoyed and wasted it too! Can it be enjoyed without being wasted? Rhetorical questions do have a weird kind of empty truth oozing from them, is it not?

Manipal has a long road which pierces it into two. There is a steep slope to it which levels out. It's about three km long and its ends mark the beginning and end of this town. I enjoy walking along this road, when the weather's nice that is. There's hardly ever a semblance of traffic on this road. No swanky cars here. Far from it! Old fashioned Indian cars, various kinds of two wheelers and pedestrians parade this road. And the thing which struck me this time was the lack of sound which emanates from this road! There is strange kind of buzz which one hears. Apart from that? Nothing really. The atmosphere is peaceful and serene all right. Dull and listless too. Ideal for aimless wanderings during college years. More of it? No, thanks.

Coming to the people now. As I said, various groups were staying in Manipal this week. At different places. There was an occasion when a friend of mine called a lot of people for a dinner. People from various groups came. They still sat in pockets though. And it wasn't much fun. I did have fun when I bumped into a couple of people. One of whom I know well and the other was an acquaintance. We chatted for a couple of hours by the side of the road, under a tree. I think I made a new friend then. Manipal does have a certain charm to it. A charm that I feel intermittently when I'm over there. When I sit in front of a roadside watering hole on ground which has ants running all over it, take a swig of some beer, make some simple conversation, wonder what a career really is, enjoy the cool evening weather and gaze at the peaceful road going down the hill.

There were a couple of unforgettable conversations which I had this time in Manipal. Two with school friends who did college in Manipal and another with a person whom I had got to know quite well while in Manipal. As I have said earlier, relationships fascinate me! (And not just 'relationships'. When a 'relationship' ends, does a relationship end?) Anyhow, relationships do change a lot over time. And some of them don't need to be sustained as such. They just need a connection.

There are some college friends with whom I have spent a lot of time while in Manipal. Stayed with them in the same room or adjoining ones, gone on trips to places around Manipal, had some exquisite conversations while inebriated and generally spent a lot of time as we grew younger together. A group of us would always get up, form a huddle and sing "Wish you were here" whenever it played at a particular joint that we'd frequent a lot. On the last night, we didn't. A guy was missing but I don't think that was a reason as such. We just didn't feel like it. You know why? Because college had come to an end. Because it felt like first year again with everyone unattached and staying as we used to in 101 (my hostel room in first year where at any point in time there were in excess of five people in a room meant for two, with at least three people sleeping there at night!)

Because we wanted to enjoy this last drag of Manipal. Savour it. Roll it in our mouths, run it over our tongues and smack our lips. Doesn't quite sound like a last drag does it?

Language and the new online lingo

Each and every language has semantics and semiotics associated with it. These can be considered to represent the structure of a language. Technology can cause immense changes in the dynamics of a language. This can be demonstrated best if we consider filmmaking or photography to be a language. The ‘visual’ languages are most affected by technology. As advancements in technology have been made, films and photographs have completely changed! From the black and white silent films of Charlie Chaplin we have come to the purely digital realm of a film like “300”. I talk about all this before getting down to the issue of online communication simply because I want to illustrate that technology has completely altered the experience that gazing at a photograph or viewing a film has been. Altered the way in which our emotions are affected by these experiences.

Online communication clearly deals with the languages that we use in every day life in order to communicate with one another through the medium of words. We communicate online through the internet and the short messaging service provided by the cellular providers. In the past few years it has become clear that the English language has been greatly affected because of online communication! Youngsters these days have no qualms in quite literally murdering traditional English usage and communicating in what appears to be a different language altogether! Vowels are often skipped, sentences are broken, punctuation is ignored in most cases and to top it all, the ‘text’ is interspersed with strange looking emoticons.

So has much the English language been ruined because of online communication? It has been ruined to an extent keeping semantics in mind. The rigid structure that has been followed for all these years has undoubtedly been ravaged. Apart from this, phrases such as “lol”, “asap”, “brb” have become part and parcel of everyday usage. Purists obviously look down upon these new developments and in most cases cannot even decipher what a youngster may be attempting to communicate through the medium of online communication!

Like all languages, the English language also has semantics and semiotics associated with it. We have already seen the impact that online communication has had on the semantics of the English language. What about the semiotic aspect? In my opinion, online communication may have had an immensely negative impact on the semantics but it undoubtedly has had an even bigger impact on the semiotics of the English language. Messages sent in the apparent gibberish of online chats or SMSes are extremely personalised so to speak. Each person has his own way with the new lingo that we see around us. Apart from that, we need to question the reason for this lingo actually coming in to being. One reason obviously is that it is much faster to use. Another and more interesting reason is that society has changed and the way in which we express has changed.

The grammar of language may have been ruined because of online communication but language is definitely richer because of it.

Hmmm... 30 minutes... 500 words... Not bad I'd say. Posting it as I wrote it under those constraints. Not very good work by any means. Under the circumstances? Nice.