Crafting art is innovation

Narration with the camera is the art of connecting your audience to visuals and not words because body language conveys it all.
Expressing oneself is art, be it through singing, dancing, painting, writing or something else. But what comes most naturally are the spontaneous movements and gestures by which attitudes, and feelings are expressed with more clarity. Everyone inherently perceives this purity of body language that is acting. Each one of us is a born actor. How else can we survive in this wicked world?
 
Drama is a performing art, an outlet for self-expression. Performing arts – unlike visual arts such as painting – pertain to forms in which artists use their body language to communicate. It expresses the artist’s emotions and feelings.
Unfortunately, most of this has now been commercialized in cinema. The big-screen projects a larger-than-life image and exudes glamour. With moviemakers seeking a global audience, budgets are magnanimous that makes producers and the middlemen – the so-called distributors – call the shots.
The performer is no longer himself; he has turned into a brand. The audience is hypnotized by a dramatic experience with which they are induced to hallucinate as if they were drugged. The addiction keeps the audience coming back for more. In this process of business oriented filmmaking, the actual ‘art’ is completely ruined and lost.
Since time immemorial, art has educated the masses and satisfied the quest of the intellectuals. All of it is now enslaved to money. Authentic talent is dead. The need for rich and soulful beauty has been replaced by greed, the cause of all grief in the developed world today.
But Mother Nature never fails to strike a balance. The so-called swellheads who thought it their birthright to sit on their butts and slave-drive talent have been taken to task. The technology has turned the tables on them and digital era has taken the world by storm. Today, anyone who wants to tell a story merely needs a smartphone. The social media has given art the much-sought power to express itself.
It is a common knowledge now that traditional filmmaking has been subjected to heavy abuse by the established rogues of the film industry.
Millions of aspiring artists are exploited when all is decided by the bosses who have mastered the art of killing their talent.
 
So, what is the usual concept of making movies and how should it be modified?
 
A screenwriter writes a screenplay using someone else’s life and experiences. The director tries to understand it, makes some changes and selects actors to fit the characters. The feasibility of this depends immensely on the basic nature; the characteristics; and the background. Fitting into a predefined character is a monumental task. The director tries to get the best out of the actors and the camera. Ultimately, it is the editor – with a personal perception – who decides on the final story.
Who is telling the story?
 
Too many cooks spoil the broth Resulting in a jumbled clutter.
Everyone shows himself to be the best. The unenviable task of handling ego clashes, conflicts, budget controls and schedules are assigned to the producer. He is the real captain who doesn’t allow the ship to sink. Ultimately, the film’s success depends on the caliber of the distributor who judges the film. Is this art?
No, it is arithmetic! While art is about passion and expression.
 
How should this amendment be made?
 
There is no easy way to do this, but we all have the freedom to experiment with our smartphones, and I think most of us do exercise that.
I too did it my way, I’m essentially a storyteller, and right from my childhood, I have been questioned a lot. My responses were truthful, but hiding what others didn’t want to hear, so there were a few twists. In the later phases of my life, I became a writer of prose and poetry. Very recently, I did what I wanted to do the most and that is to become an actor. And the only way out was to act in my movies, that too, to do it my way like everything else I’ve done in my life.
I do a visual script workshop which is an innovation with passion. There is no written script, only the premise and a structure, keeping that in mind, drawing on reality to make sure that every step moves towards the purpose of the premise.
All events are created on the spot, the participants, actions, and reactions studied, their performances examined. In short, it is about tracking the protagonist and the others with the camera. Editing is done by juxtaposing shots to make a scene, and scenes are joined together to make a movie. The story is straightforward.
We have made several such films. These have been uploaded on many digital platforms and have been well appreciated. Some of these are docudramas while others belong to the fiction genre.
There is a distinct advantage if the teller is an interpreter as well. So, I took the liberty to act in all my stories.
Actors cannot play a character unless they are able to adopt their traits, which is difficult and time-consuming. So, it is more effective to adopt the actor’s individuality and construct a character around it. This gives the actor an advantage to be himself without attempting to be anyone else.
An actor is more natural when he speaks his mind than when he is trying to remember the lines. A narrator is at his best when his characters speak for themselves.
Furthermore, if he chooses to play a role, it is easier to influence others to play theirs as he sees fit. This innovative approach makes it an independent cinema that does not belong to the mainstream and thus more democratic and economically viable.
As a result, several companies have emerged to help filmmakers obtain independent films viewed and sold through the mainstream Internet.
With Internet film distribution, independent filmmakers who choose to forgo a traditional distribution agreement, now have the ability to reach a global audience.
 
To ensure nothing is left out, in simple statements I would like to summarize all that I have said and more.