Students watched the clash of swords on screen with bated breath, and as a character died at the end, there was a collective sigh of disappointment. This was no regular movie screening at a theatre, but an attempt to communicate the nuances of cinema, for students of the School of Communication and Media Studies of MOP Vaishnav College for Women.
The students were paying close attention to the sword fight towards the climax of the Chinese film ‘Hero', at the Film Appreciation Course organised by the department on Tuesday.
“The shared common experience which affects all those who watch a movie in a particular way is an integral part of the cinema experience. Watching movies on the computer screen is not cinema,” said Sunny Joseph, cinematographer.
“We saw that though fighting and killing was portrayed in the movie, that not a drop of blood or violence was shown. Many of the popular Indian movies on the other hand, appeal to the voyeuristic pleasure of the audience and show a great deal of violence, which is not required in a good movie,” he said.
Cinema is a visual art form and there should be very little emphasis on dialogues, he told the young film enthusiasts. After the session titled ‘Indian cinema-Panoramic View', R. Daya a post-graduate student of the School of Communication and Media Studies, said: “It was fascinating to watch a film being shot in the middle of the jungle, with live music recording. The clippings from some of the old Tamil movies were also interesting to watch.”
How to make a mark in the cinema world despite the challenges that any young film-maker faces was the question on the minds of many aspiring film-makers. For women, especially, it is particularly challenging to come out successful in an industry dominated by men.
“But it is important to take control of the situation,” said film director J.S. Nandhini, director of ‘Thiru Thiru Thuru Thuru'. Most of the guests who spoke said that a course in a film school would come in handy and give students some background knowledge and a better idea of the industry.
