Observation - Another key to success

Observation

For becoming a famous film director it’s obviously important for your films to succeed, and for the films to become successful it’s very important for the story, plot, etc. to be well written. But there is one more reason for a film’s success, and that is the ‘connection’ made from your film to the audience. If your film is not being connected with the audience then your viewers won’t be interested in watching the film. But how can you make it possible? As far as I have learnt, and experienced the most vital part for the ‘connection’ to be successful is when the audience will be able to relate the character, or story to himself/herself. The key for making this point possible is dependent on your observation skills. For a director, how much ever qualities he/she would have, being a good observer will also come on the list, as without it you will fail in front of the audience. Creating a character into your mind, and including a very unique story is a talent for sure. But we have to agree that the ‘character’ will surely have the same kind of qualities or behavior some other person may do. Sometimes when we go for a film, and watch a character which is very much like you, then there is also an automatic kind of smile which arouses onto our face, and also helps our film to become more connectable to the audience. We meet many people in our day to day life. But observing them is what a director does. If we observe the things around us it helps our imagination to arouse even more for sure. I am not saying that it is compulsory to observe a stranger you just saw, but in my point of view that will also somewhere help you create one character into your head, for example observing the way he/she would walk or talk. Even sometimes being observant will help you have great dialogues into your film. For example, if we have a person in our life who motivates us whatever he/she says could be also the part of the ‘dialogues’ into our film, but this is also possible if your observant. Being a good observer can also help us to understand the human behavior even more, and it’s a fact a that we even will have the ability to adjust with different kinds of people around us. This point is also the key to success for a director especially. Observation at the end of the day helps you understand human behavior, and also helps your story to be connected to the audience who are watching your film, and can help you become a successful film maker as well.

Comparison- Is it really necessary?

Comparison

Comparison is become a trend now. We live in the world where comparison is become very necessary. Take up any examples, like our parents who compare us with our friends, our teachers comparing us with other students, or even two actors, and movies are being compared with each other. No, I am not saying that it is a crime of comparing, as sometimes it’s important to do so to know what the other person is in front of you, but what if you do not want to be like the other person. Talking about films is it really necessary to be compared?  In my point view I think comparing two movies especially with different genre is actually very unnecessary. I mean, come on can you ever imagine film like ‘Avatar’ being compared with a film like ‘Fast and furious’? (DISCLAIMER:  JUST AN EXAMPLE!)  The matter of fact is that most of the comparisons are made when the movie is released on the same date. Ironic part is that even though both are of the completely different genre, the comparison will never be ended. If we compare ‘Annabelle’ with ‘Conjuring’, or even ‘Iron Man’ with ‘Superman’ that points will actually be valid, won’t it? Comparing a science fiction to another science fiction film will at the end of the day justify your point. Every film is good at it is place, and it’s very obvious that everyone would not like a similar film or a certain genre. If I like romance more that horror, and if I would go for a horror film, it is but obvious that how so ever the film would be but ‘mostly’ my mind is set with the thought that it’s a ‘horror’ film. As a director you cannot expect the whole audience to stand up and clap for your film, but as an audience you also shouldn’t expect a specific type of film to be the way you want it to be. Comparing two films which shouldn’t be compared is actually really very unfair. Yesterday I was just scrolling on my Facebook wall, and I saw something which had left me scandalized, and forced me to write on this particular topic. It was the comparison of the recent released films; ‘Jungle Book’, and the Bollywood film, ‘Fan’.  ‘Jungle book’ is almost all of our favorite history of childhood which is revolved around a fantasy world, whereas coming to ‘Fan’ it’s a drama & thriller film which is also loved by most of the public. Did you notice both of the genres? Both the films are amazing at their own places. I personally found it even more irrelevant comparing both the actors. When the types of film aren’t similar how can you compare the character of the actor?

 Making a film takes a lot of hard. Taking a 45 minutes film it might take two whole days, and making a film more than an hour you can imagine the hard work done by all the people. Comparison isn’t wrong, but comparison of two distinct things is also not correct. 

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Ideas.

Ideas

Thinking of an idea which is out of the box is a job which might take you days, months, weeks, or even a minute. Considering this particular post, it took me just a minute to think about writing it, as I was wondering about what to post in my next blog keeping you guys indulged into reading it. Obviously, a story only develops if you have an ‘idea’ about what your writing about. What is the challenging part then? Well for me, if I start something the stimulating part is the way to complete it. We often hear that a film’s first half is much better than the second half or just vies-versa. Most probably because the idea won’t be strong enough or developed as well. It might have happened to all of you that you might just take an hour, or a day, or even more time for completing to write a story, just because your ‘idea’ is not being developed fully. The most insecure part of this field is that if anyone could steal your idea, without your knowledge. An idea can be born depending on how strong your imagination is, and your imagination can be grown with many different kinds of techniques such as, reading, or even observing.

How can ideas be created? Let’s take a situation. For example, you are sitting in the restaurant all alone waiting for your order to arrive, and then you see a couple. If you are a film maker then definitely there will be an idea which aroused into your mind. Maybe there will be different kinds of stories developed into your head, and a situation might be created as well. It’s also very vital for us who are in the course of film making to get ready as maybe in future if we are asked to create an idea within five minutes we should be well prepared enough to do so. In college once I was asked to write on a topic within that ‘one hour’ class, but unfortunately it took me two days to complete it. The reason for that was because, I wasn’t in that scenario where I write; a peaceful place. These all things should be taken care of in future as well. Personally with me, it has happened many times that while I am travelling I think of many stories, but as I was lazy before I forgot half of them, and could not note down my ‘idea’. This is one of the saddest part we do, that is wasting an idea which you never know could have become famous in future. It’s very obvious that we will share the ideas to the person we trust the most. But the thing about film making is that it is collaboration, so two heads are just better than one. Hence, it’s very important to be careful to whom we are sharing our ideas with, and how do we keep it secure. I think this is one of the toughest parts in film making, as when we will share our idea to someone for just offering to start the film, you never know who may take it away from you. But this challenging part is not always guaranteed, and it depends on you how can you take care of your idea, and make it famous also.

Screenplay –The Visual Writing.

Screenplay –The Visual Writing

A screenplay is basically ‘visual writing.’ It’s the theoretical part of what exactly will be done practically during the shoot. A screenplay is a combination of the script where the dialogues will be involved, and also the shots which will be taken place during the shoot, the locations and time, and also the action of the characters. With the help of a screenplay, it makes the task easier as whatever we want to attribute it practically is already written, and planned as well. There are different kinds of rules to follow during writing a ‘screenplay’. The first and most important rule is to write it in ‘present tense’, and only what the audience can hear and see.  In this type of writing, there are many elements which are considered as well. The first one is the ‘slug line’ where we establish a few things such as if our shoot is indoor then it’s termed as ‘INT.’, and if we shoot it outdoor it’s ‘EXT’. After that we add our location with the description of what the current time is, for example, day or night. It basically looks like this; EXT-HOUSE-DAY.  Extra detail like ‘travelling’ can be added just beside it the same way as well.  One more important thing is that the ‘slug line’ is always written in capital as well. The second element is the action; where we write the exact description of what our character is doing. This is also one of the most straight forward parts of the screenplay writing wise. A character’s name is always written in capital when we write the dialogues which are in the central.  The parenthetical also plays a very important role in the screenplay as it can be used as describing the current emotions of the character while he/she will deliver the dialogue. In my point of view, this also makes it very clear for the actor for what to do in that current situation.  

As far as I have learnt about screenplay one more definition I can give it is the ‘visualization of a director’. In practical terms it’s very obvious that we cannot make the other person think ‘exactly’ what you want, and the way you want it to be done. Well, this job is also done by the help of a screenplay. A director puts all of his imagination into the piece of paper with the help of a ‘screen writer’ to make the impact come out just exactly he/she wants it to be done.  Recently I had read the screenplay of ‘Good will hunting’, and it helped me a lot to improvise as a beginner. Well, this part of film making is actually very tricky but interesting as well, as through this we can look into the mind of the director’s imagination as well, and also it helps the output of the film to come out really well.

Script writing.

Script Writing.

A script is the spine of a film. Without a script it’s very obvious that it’ll be impossible to make a film. It is used for everything we want to shoot just like, YouTube videos, short films, or even monologues. The challenging part is converting the story into a script. Even though the characters, plot, and a story has been created, giving each character what to say is actually a tough job to decide. In the term of film making, the ‘dialogues’ plays the role in the script. If the dialogues are flat then the film will also be as well. Dialogues usually help to spice the film up. It’s very important for it to connect with the audience, as if that ‘connection’ isn’t made, then the film won’t succeed surely. With the help of the dialogues it also helps the message to reach the audience clearly. But this is just not the only thing required. The actor should understand what he/she is going to deliver, and also have the exact knowledge of what character he/she is going to play, so it’s also vital for him/her to know the ‘way’ to deliver the dialogues. Usually over here the ‘diction’ problem arrives. For example, if our actor is a Punjabi, and we ask him/her to play a ‘South-Indian’s’ role, then it would be actually a difficult job, as when the actor will deliver the dialogue he should make the audience believe in what he/she is portraying.  Without a script the actor would also have no clue what to say. It’s not important that he/she will ‘deliver’ the exact words in the script; there is always space for ‘improvisation.’ But the actor should have the idea of what he/she will say during that specific scene.

Having a script also plans our schedule. One great thing about writing a script is that it also helps us in developing our characters, and gives them a specific voice that will really speak to their fans. One more tough part in writing a script is the action vs. dialogues. Sometimes just actions can speak more than words, so it’s not necessary to just scribble words into the script. The dialogues shouldn’t just look for the sake of using dialogues. Instead of just talking heads sometimes it helps us to be more realistic as well.  So while writing a script balancing both of them together is necessary, and in my personal point of view it’ll take time to learn this, and it will help making the film successful as well.

Time- The leader of our life

Time
Time is the main protagonist of our life.  We are so indulged into preparing the work which we want to present that we forget about the main aspect which will make us reach somewhere, and that is our ‘time’. Now if you are wondering how, let me tell you. Considering my personal experience, once I had prepared a script, choosing the cast for a theater play to be presented in college. After months of preparation, ironically I still couldn’t find the perfect time to present it. This point sometimes makes me feel devastated, but I motivate myself thinking that there would be a 'time' which would be perfect to show the hard work created by my team. One more very important thing is how your time is; good or bad. For example, as a fresher if we would go to a producer to narrate the story which we visualized in our mind, and asking him for the money that supports the budget of the film, no matter how presentable you can be it depends on the ‘time’ which we will be visiting the person. If we get into details, it can also depend if his/her mood is good/bad, or if there are even better projects in the line. On the other hand, if we create a different scenario with the producer being keener and having a free schedule the chances might increase more comparatively to the previous scenario. It  might have happened to almost all of you that, everything is right in your hand, but the perfect ‘time’ to distribute that particular thing might not be found yet. So the better your 'time' is, the more chance you get to reach a particular platform. The word 'time' might be monotonous over here, but the reason for it is to emphasize how vital it is for our life.

  

Our 'time' can take us to the worst situations, and also the best situations of our life. When I will in future walk out of my college with my degree, my work would be on my right hand, and my presentation on my left. But 'my time' is the one which will walk beside me. and decide when I can have the opportunity to become a director. We can control over our talent, we can control over the way we work, and in fact we can also sometimes control over the people we are working with, but your time is the one which will control over you.

The 3 act structure.

3 Act Story Structure

This is one of the most common thing we have heard when we were learning how to write a story. Obviously we all have the idea of the three basic elements; Beginning, Middle, and the End. The 3 act structure is the heart of the film, as if this fails then the movie would also do. In a three act structure of a film, for example, if it’s a two hour movie the first act (Act I) will be about 30 minutes the second act (Act II) will be around 60 minutes, and the last act (Act III) will be approx around 30 minutes.  The first act basically just establishes the characters, the plot where your story revolves, and the time of the story (for example if it’s history or the current century). Usually after the Act one, in the 30 minute mark our protagonist faces a conflict which takes the story to Act two. In between of the act two there will be a dramatic turn in the story which is termed as the ‘turning point’. Well in my point of view, the turning point also attracts the audience attention even while watching a film. The key to success for this is to make the unexpected part to be expected. If your film is predictable, then your viewers will surely get bored, but if your film takes twists, and turns which will make the audience stay on their seats, it will be a success surely.  There is another turning point in between of Act two which considers on how our protagonist deals with the conflicts, which then shifts the story to Act three.  Act three is the resolution of the film. Before writing a story it’s very vital for you to decide how you want to leave your audience; if you want to make them smile or cry. So for making that succeed the level of intensity during Act three until the film is resolved is very important to be interesting as well. .

While I was learning the 3 act structure, at start understanding these points started to get things very complicated for me while writing a story. I had later on then noticed that after keeping the 3 act structure in my mind it made it much easier for me to write the stories, as everything was fixed, and planned. 

Being creative with following the rules.

Being Creative & Following the Rules

Before joining a film school, I used to just utilize my free time in writing stories to explore my creativity, and dreaming of seeing it on the big screen. At that time I thought that having the raw material, which is the paper where you have filled different characters, is just enough for choosing them in real life, and shooting them in front of the camera. As I had taken my first step into this world, I realized that there is much more than just a simple story. Even a lay man person would know that what would be the first step of making a film; having an ‘Idea’, and then penning it down creating different kinds of characters after choosing a particular plot. Before having the exact knowledge of film making, there was just one important thing considered the most which is your ‘creativity’. I am not saying that this is still not important, but as far as I have learnt about films, creativity is just a ‘part’ of film making. The thing which replaces the part of being free when you are writing is the ‘rules’ of making a film. The rules are applied in almost every stage of film making. For considering the writing part we could take the example of, while writing a script or a screenplay. It’s very important to know the way to structure it, and how to write the key words as well. As a beginner, at start it used to take a lot of effort to divide the part of being creative, while writing the screenplay or a script applying the rules to it as well. In an orientation programme, I was honored to ask ‘Ketan Mehta’ about the rules which comes in between the creative line and he had agreed to that saying, ‘sometimes there is a border line between the both of them which gives limitations to what you want to write.’ After struggling a lot, I slowly started to get used to this, and I still have a lot more to learn. It’s very interesting to also have the knowledge of how to put the proper story which we watch on screen into a theory. Which field doesn't have any rules? With the help of some rules it will make your output perfect with your creativity as well. 

Being Patient

Patience- The best medicine

Managing people is not a very easy task, especially the people who you aren’t in relation with you ‘personally’.For example, if you are a class monitor, can you give the guarantee to make the whole class do what you want the way you want it to be done? At a certain point of time, your temper rules over you when nothing is in control. This is the most challenging part for me. While making a film, there might be a crew of more than 500 people.  The figures sometimes scares me , as preparing the raw material of the film, and making it practically with so many people involved is actually a very big task. 

Being patient is the best cure to this, but how? Well I feel that understanding the point of view of the people who you are dealing with is the best way to make things go smoothly. If your actor is having difficulty acting a particular scene instead of being furious, having patience, and understanding the struggles of him/her will help the coordination even much better. Even sometimes giving your cast his/her time to understand the whole character sketch which he/she will being doing during the whole shoot will avoid making them feel stressful.

 Recently I had read on the internet that films like Iron man 3 and Captain America: The first avenger had a crew of more than 2500 people. Like wow! As a director, it might have been a roller-coaster during the shoots. I was scandalized, but looking at it in the other way it’s always an experience which is very essential to learn, especially for us film makers!!!

 If we aren’t patient with the people who are working with us, then your work will either get delayed, or destroyed. As I had said in my previous post that the skills of a leadership is very important, but having patience will help you even more.  At the end of the day, to get your work done, you have to overcome all these, and you would be the happiest person after you have accomplished that as well. So if in future if you get sick of handling things which is out of control, just remember that patience is the best cure to everything.

Just For Information

Hey guys! Just wanted to let all of you know that I'll be posting three days a week; Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday!
I'll share all my experience, and information about films, as you all know I am a 'Filmholic'
Stay tuned for next week's post; 13th of April!

Being Energetic- A Big Struggle?

Laziness

Being lazy is one of the most common things almost everyone in this world has. Do you agree? I mean come on, there might be a day where you had a thought of doing something productive, but you just prefer to delay it, doing it some other time, apparently when your ‘mood’ agrees to do it. Well, the profession which I am jumping into is not a 9am to 5pm job, right? The word, ‘rest’ or ‘sleep’ or any another synonym related to ‘inactive’ should be deleted from our minds. Sometimes we have to shoot the whole night getting just an hour sleep, and then back to work after that as well. Actually  the creative profession is considered the most. This field surely convinces us to become a ‘workaholic’. So is it a positive thing or a negative? To be honest, personally for me, it was a rough start, because it was a big job to even roll down from my bed, and get ready for my college. I also started to feel frustrated, as I was dying for a power nap. But with time I had slowly started to sleep only after I could do something productive related to what I am currently studying about; ‘Films’. For me personally, if I even watched a film, which may not exist for many other people anymore, or if it’s boring, I still feel that I have learnt something from it.  Having energy the whole day, in spite of hardly taking a nap is also another talent, don’t you agree? Basically, the struggles are the negative part, and when we adapt that habit it turns into a positive one. Funny, but at start I always hated the fact of being always energetic, but now I cannot resist not doing something useful related to which path I have taken to work now. At the end, the more you love your work, the more you forget to 'rest'.

Being A Leader

Leadership

There are two types of ways for ruling over people. The first one is forcing your orders upon them, and the second is the art of winning people. Well, I know that most of you will agree to the second point as we cannot have the right to rule over someone, especially forcefully. 

But what happens if we are in a situation where it is necessary to apply the first point after we have applied the second one? These circumstances usually appear in such kind of field such as, ‘film making.’

 In this field without a team it’s very obvious that it’ll be impossible to complete a particular project. So if you will know the art of winning people, it’s obvious that they’ll be keen to work with you. 

Sometimes, the same people later on will disagree to every single point of yours. Then appears the first point; forcing your orders upon them. Isn’t it ironic?

 Well the solution to this problem is to have the skills of a ‘Leader’. 

Personally I am in my learning stage, where I have directed two stage plays, and one short film project, and so far I have noticed that it’s very necessary for you to give people a reason to listen to you, and just being in the position of a leader isn’t important, but also showing the talents, and having command on your language is very important as well. 

So basically, ‘Leadership’ is the foremost important point, as being a leader will help you also to be a winner.

Everything has a 'NewStart'...

A New Start

Sitting in front of your laptop with a blank page, wondering how to start, and what to write just to impress you're reader? This is one of the biggest problems we face, and it gives us a second thought to even start something! 

Well, I love writing, and I am crazy about psychology as well, but my main motive is film making. I wanna go places with the camera on my right hand, and a pen and paper on my left, but for that starting something of your own is very important right?

 I ain't an alien who is very different from the others. I am sure there are many people out there chasing for the same path.  But what matters is the way you start it. Being under pressure,keeping the first priority about impressing others can never help you to reach somewhere. It's very vital to start something new, just for yourself 'first'. 

Film making is a thing I'm obsessed about! But before that writing stories was born into me first. Everything surely has a new start, and now this is mine...