A Film in a film?
Off late, I’ve been party to a short film shoot and a mute spectator to a lot of other shorts around me. It’s refreshing to see so many new ideas and concepts – ranging from worst to interesting. The whole concept of ‘short films’ is still primitive in this part of the globe. There are numerous ‘aspirants’ – the so-called intellectual ‘film makers’ who have visualized their ‘dream short’ in their dreams, but when it comes to making one, they fall back.
The other day I was standing at the bus stop and I over heard two college students talking about a short film concept that they were planning to upload for some online competition. I guess I caught them in the midst of an argument they were having on which camera to use. One of them was a staunch SONY supporter while the other kept changing camera brands with every lost argument. Finally, they both zeroed in on PANASONIC (Maybe because it has a SONI-Y in it). Anyway, I was a bit keen on knowing what their concept was. I feel quite strange to interrupt discussions and poke my long nose in other’s business (read: concepts). So I was just observing them and their mannerisms.
Guy 1: So this time the theme is “A FILM IN A FILM”.
Guy 2: Yeah, so we have this guy and girl watching a romantic film, and we film them watching it.
Guy 1: No you’ve got it all wrong. That’s something that everyone is going to do. We have to do something different. Something MAADDDDDDDD!!!
Guy 2: Erm, okay? *closes his eyes* Ok I think I can visualize something…
Guy 1: What? Tell me!
Guy 2: We have 2 cameras, one behind the TV and one behind the couple, and we get a double perspective of them watching a film. So we basically get 4 films – 2 cameras, one film from the TV and one overall film.
Guy 1: No man, that’s also simple. We need to do something different. Something MADDDD! Like this guy who’s standing there with the briefcase, he should see it and go “Fuck. What a film!”
By this time, I kind of got more interested in what is this “madd film” all about. My bus arrived at the stop, but I decided to give it a miss. I wanted to get to the bottom of this. Anyways, continuing what they were saying –
Guy 2: Dude, you got to make up your mind man! You just can’t keep saying ‘lets do something different’ and not do anything about it.
Guy 1: *animatedly moving his hands and forming a ‘frame’ with his fingers* LOOK! Look through this frame and you’ll understand what I am saying.
I tried tilting my head forward to take a peek into the ‘madddness’. I couldn’t see anything but a dog peeing on the bus’ tyres.
Guy 2: Ok. I get it. You’re showing me a window. Of the bus? Right?
Guy 1: Yeah, but look beyond the window, what do you see?
Guy 2: The window of the other side…Aah! I get it now! It’s like a frame consisting of a window in a window.
Guy 1: Umm, no maybe I framed it wrong. Anyway, I’ll cut it short. What I am saying here is – we’ll take a frame. A single frame…
Guy 2 (Interrupting; confused): A wooden frame?
Guy 1: No you F*%k! We compose a frame in the camera and then we intersperse it with footages from old black and white films. So what we’re doing here is that we’re cutting time and space by showing them a frame that is 20 years old…but in present times!
Guy 2: WHAT? I didn’t get it.
Guy 1: You’re dumb. It’s like we’re cutting time and space here man…time and space…that’s what all the ‘intellectual directors’ did. And look where they’re today.
Guy 2: But there must be a reason why they did it! C’mon what do you mean by ‘cutting’? Edit cut?
Guy 1: See, I am doing this film right? So listen to what I’ve got to say and we’ll win this competition man. Everyone won’t be doing what we’re doing because they don’t know shit. We will construct a frame in a way, that it cuts the stock footage. Like we’ll hold a ruler in the middle of the frame so it becomes…
Guy 2 (Interrupting): …a split screen?
Guy 1: Not exactly split, but something that is ‘constructed’. I don’t like how films are edited man…we can edit them while we shoot it, so then we don’t even have to pay the editor.
Guy 2: I am not sure if I am following what you’re saying, but I guess you’re right. This sounds damn ‘intellectual’. So is this your MAD film?
Guy 1: No, we’ll make it more maddening, by constructing another frame in the existing frame – a frame in a frame, and then we shoot random stuff on the road…but not the entire object, a part of it. That way we’re cropping the object and making it as a work of art.
Guy 2: What about the stock footage?
Guy 1: It’s also there in the frame, at one corner. So we have two footage – one past, one present, and we’re cutting time and space…
I am sure no one would have got what Guy 1 meant, because I, for once, didn’t. I tried hard to keep pace with his ‘logic’ but couldn’t’. So I couldn’t resist myself, when I went up to him and asked him if he could explain me why he is doing what he is doing. He looked at me suspiciously. His long hair and goatee were the only thing striking in his otherwise confusing talk. Without any hesitation, he goes “It’s all film talk dude…You won’t get it”. I said, “Fair enough, but I am just curious, because even I want to understand film logic and I am trying hard but can’t seem to match up to the intelligentsia.” So he looks at his friend and then looks at me and repeats the whole conversation that you read above (excluding guy 2) to me in one breath. I am expressionless. I ask him whether he is going to make this film and he nods in affirmation. I give him my number and ask him whether I could just come and learn on the set, and he tells me “SURE BRO ANYTIME”.
I walk away confused. What was that all about? I wondered. Can anyone just explain to me – what ‘a film in a film in a film’ is? Because he for once couldn’t and now I am all curious.
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Haal me baithe do kirdaaro.n par gulzar saab ki ye khoobsurat nazm aapki is film ka theme song ban sakti hai..
“main bhI us hall mein baiThaa thaa
jahaan parade par ik film ke kiradaar
zindaa jaaved nazar aate the
unakI har bAt baDI, soch baDI, karm baDe
unakaa har ek amal
ek tasleem thI, sab dekhane waalon ke liye
main adAkAr thaa usamen
tum adaakaaraa thIn
apane mehboob kaa jab haath pakaD kar tumane
zindagI ek nazar mein bhar ke
usake sIne par bas ek aansU se likh kar de dI thI
kitane sachche the wo kiradaar
jo parade par the
kitane farzI the wo do, hall mein baiThe saae”
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erm, something like Mumbai Matinee… but no-one knows who is filming who. He could be filming Her but she could be filming another she…
basically, they mean filming a youTube video playing a googleVideo which is showing a black white movie in an eastman color. and will have a colorful flowery frame outside or inside the camera which will eventually show up in the film. geddit?
Pavan Jha, you are a living Gulzar encyclopedia/wikipedia. your music/poem/ghazal/lyrics/ library would be quite amazing.
why are you posting other peoples’ ideas online and ridiculing them, bro? let them make what they have to, you make your film.
i guess he has to write an article a month to keep his pfc writing rights alive! :D
this guys are doing only intellecual mastrubuation ……without any visual & imagination…………
goodone
@Amit: I am not ridiculing their ideas’ bro. I have heard such ‘film in a film’ interpretation a dozen times, and each time it was a different answer. So I am confused as to what is this ‘F-i-F’ ?
@Cy: I guess even you keep your pfc commenting rights alive by never failing to read my post and comment
@DSantosh: Thanks
Srini…who knows if they read ur post here..they will think their out of the world idea is now public. n that too without their permission. not fair…in a way. but ya can understand what u r saying.
a film within a film is where *%*^&%%*^%^&#$%&%#& happens ….
Just joking Srinivas – if u really want to know what a film within a film is then it is this – *%*^&%%*^%^&#$%&%#&
Heheheheheh … you dnt get it right ??? u cine infantile !!!!
Ok finally here’s the secret – a film within a film is *%*^&%%*^%^&#$%&%#& …….
And u know wat .. all the pseudo intellectuals will go
^:)^^:)^^:)^^:)^^:)^^:)^^:)^
I love the concept of media within media – I’m sure you know that since you’ve seen the only short I tried to make. But personally, my filmmaking abilities fall hilariously short of my thoughts and I guess that for the moment, I should restrict myself to the still image rather than moving ones.. but anyway, I digress.
Coming back to what I was saying – media within media can be fascinating primarily because it can be self referential and contradictory. And it’s not too difficult a concept – a book like Riot, for example. But this is where people often take a concept and just because it sounds so cool, the ‘intellegentsia’ pseudo-intellectualise it (and I use that term in spite of being guilty of the same, at times) and ‘to do something different and make a mad film’, convulate the whole thing into something as laughable as what you overheard.
I don’t think that the value of this post is to keep you alive on the site because you had to write one for the month … it represents, albeit indirectly, a whole mentality where the obsession with ‘being intellectual’ and ‘doing something different’ beats all else. It’s happened to a lot of artists (photographers, writers, filmmakers) and it’s not difficult to differentiate between someone who is actually thinking different and someone who thinks differently for the sake of doing so.
That was a long meandering reply..
- Raj (from college).
P.S. Any chance of me seeing ‘Tea Break’? Is it online? Can you give me a copy?
@RAJ: Well yes there you go bro. Someone who can post sense rather than just showcase their ‘pseudo coolness’. Anyway, the essence of this post was to find an answer/solution to my question, which is/will be always unanswered. But good to see you here.
PS: Contact me for “Tea Break”. No online version yet.
Will do that after the boards. Blog some more, I’ll get back to blogging and shooting after exams too. Tc..
Well, entertaining post. Very Filmi-funda-mirch-masala.
Intellectual masturbation probably has some form of payoff, i think this is more like “khayali pulao” (pet khaali dimaag bhi khali). Sure. Every one wants to make that “different” thing.
Film in a film seems interesting, but it isnt that clear as far as a concept goes. Any tips Srinivas?
PS
does the last bit of teabreak with the tv and the camera pulling out count as film-in-a-film??
:-?