Thinking without Thinking
iView Author: Manu Warrier (Mumbai, India)
Email: warrierm [at] gmail [dot] com
Thinking without Thinking and Visual Language in Indian Cinema.
Disclaimer: I am a student of Cinema, for a lifetime. I have not attended any film school so whatever expressed on the article is based on my observations and understanding of this medium by watching movies. I just have two short films to my credit and currently writing for someone detested here on PFC, every thing expressed here is purely my opinion, meaning no offense to anyone.
Recently I came across the trailer of Dev D on PFC, after watching the trailer on the comments section I impulsively wrote “Reminds me of Requiem for a Dream.” Later on however I thought, I should not have made the comment without seeing the whole film. It set me thinking why that happened. If you have read Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink, he puts forth the theory of “how we think without thinking”; it was a similar situation, impulsive reaction. The whole thing nagged me and later that night I sent the trailer link to a friend in US to get a different point of view. He immediately responded after watching, it reminded him of Trainspotting. My immediate retaliation- why can’t two directors have the same idea while making a film? They can result in different stories, both original. Does watching a huge collection of foreign films give us a right to compare a genuinely original film to some foreign one? It could be a mere coincidence that the trailer reminded you of a particular film. His answer was pretty interesting “thoughts and ideas can be the same, but not the same visual language”.
Another incident, on a TV show, Anurag Kashyap recommends “Battle of Algeirs.” I managed to get hold of that film and watch it; the opening scene of the film has soldiers questioning a bearded man in his underwear shivering, not able to speak. The soldiers are trying to get some information out of him. The soldiers even offer him water. D'©j' vu !!! Black Friday, Mumbai cops questioning the Memon’s manager in the jail cell. It could be tribute, inspiration or a sub conscious decision to do it that way. What stood out was what my friend called Visual Language, it was similar. Tribute and inspiration is acceptable, but if it’s a sub conscious decision to attempt it, the problem needs to be addressed. Being original in your scripts and stories is not enough, it is fine as a writer, but a director needs to approach his original work backed with original execution of visual language. Other examples, which I would like to point out here, the last scene of RGV’s Bhoot reminded me of Exorcist, many scenes from Mani Ratnam’s Nayakan had a Godfather hangover, Bhansali’s BLACK had the Road to Perdition look, there are countless examples if you dig deep. Again I emphasize on the point on having a tribute or inspiration, with due credit, but if it’s a sub conscious decision to execute it that way I am not sure what the solution to the problem is. Are the directors aware that they are following the same visual language of the originals while trying to be an original film? Are we pushing the craft in terms of visual execution or is it cool way of doing it because “I have seen it in this film” and “I can work it into this film I am making”?
Visual Language, of what I have to come to understand over the years, is the use of all elements of cinema and creating the visuals within the rectangular frame in front of you. Placement/actions of actors, cinematography, editing cuts, props, lighting etc.
At the Screenwriter’s conference Sriram Raghavan spoke about the Cinema greats of India who brought in a particular persona to their films over the years and through their works. Abbas Tyrewala spoke about the last of the Giants of Cinema and how we no more have them as times pass, which I disagree. Over the time in search of finding true Indian stories Indian film makers forgot the importance of visual language or execution. The Giants and the greats were also original in their execution of visual language with respect to their stories, be it in India or abroad.
When I asked a director on visual language problem, the reply was “A new visual language is extremely hard to invent.” Hard not impossible. As much as there is talk of craft developing in Indian cinema, barring a few, most film makers who talk of their craft are already doing tried and tested methods set by the giants, or because it is not done before in the Indian scenario. I refuse to believe that new methods and craft in film making are no more possible, it’s firmly about pushing the craft from the seed idea. As much as we are progressing towards better stories and content, there should be more focus on developing the Indian film making technique along with the stories. And I don’t mean the use of songs into films, the so called Bollywood films, but visual styling is lacking in India; I am also talking of the niche, alternative wave of cinema that’s mostly discussed in these forums. Visual language is the last factor paid attention to in those movies and they seem to be inspired originals in terms of visual execution. I am not sure how many directors get their cinematographers to read the script, sometimes cinematographers seem remotely disconnected from the scene. Directors are not able to create original visuals by the references of countless films provided to the cinematographer to achieve a look, maybe not time invested to work out a visual language for the entire film. There could be mighty budget restrictions, but even budget restrictions can be used to an advantage in achieving unique visual language, thinking original in these circumstances. In the broader sense, somewhere in execution and in production values our films are lacking and are unable to raise the bar while competing internationally.
I do not claim to have the solution to this problem, merely pointing it out as a problem. If people think it’s alright for film makers to attempt already attempted visual techniques because their stories are original. The cleverer ones build it into their narrative making sure even the original film maker who first attempted the techniques cannot figure it out. It might be something that we need not worry at this stage since we are waging a war with the commercial star driven format for now; we have a long way to go before our film makers try stuff like Citizen Kane, Forest Gump etc. The larger implications of this problem is that we might never really have the so called “Unique Indian film” as times pass, just Bollywood musicals without soul and alternative, different cinema with techniques tried, tested and aped from the west or set by the Giants, we will just have content imitations of world cinema and Hollywood visually. An example of a seed idea pushed by craft of film making to final execution is Sholay. Wikipedia quotes “The Indian film Sholay (1975) borrowed its basic premise from Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven. The film was declared BBC India’s “Film of the Millennium” and is the highest-grossing Indian film of all time.” We might never find an original visual language in future, but as an independent film industry we definitely should try to find one.
So coming back Dev D, I haven’t seen the film, read it’s an adaptation of Devdas, definitely not Trainspotting or Requiem for a Dream, but the visual language definitely reminded me of other drug movies I have seen. Now why did I think before thinking?
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
good cogent argument. several points to ponder
– would u call it a unique visual language if the stylistic elements from one genre were applied to a completely different genre thereby creating something new? eg., the rapid cutting in Hot Fuzz, which is generally not done in a comedy.
– there will be a lot of comments about nothing is truly original, blah blah, blah, i hope the argument doesn’t get lost in that threadjack
– u have asked a valid question. Is there an attempt to create something truly unique or are people happy with an imitation of something they have seen?
– shooting the bylanes and slums of bombay in black friday were truly unique. aamir pushed it farther and made it more kinetic. slumdog shots felt inspired for obvious reasons (anurag’s involvement)
– the mind is lazy and what people call instinct in shooting a scene may really be their subconscious channeling inspiration, and every visual artist must be aware of this and have a healthy criticism of their subconscious.
– musicians have the hardest time with this. they are constantly exposed to a beat, rhythm,, melody, and they must be wary of the source of their inspiration, if their desire is to create something new.
– I disagree with your notion of “unique indian film/visual”. a visual stylist owes no one anything. S/he is not required to come up with something “indian.” what they must do is force themselves to create something unique, and years down the line, if a pattern of artistic expression emerges among a group of contemporary artists, the critics of the time can wank to that and call it whatever they want. Indian hyper-surreal expressionism, or whatever is the flava of the day.
– i do believe that our filmmakers attempt to create something new, and have those discussions with DPs, and prod designers and others. each dept head however must feel the same, and must see themselves as an artist and not technician, and long to create something unique. This needs a more rigorous approach with greater criticism and self-appraisal.
dabba!
“each dept head however must feel the same, and must see themselves as an artist and not technician, and long to create something unique. This needs a more rigorous approach with greater criticism and self-appraisal.”
meri taraf se ek beer/pepsi/coke… kya baat kahi wow!
one more question!
If I were a music director (wannnabe) how do I make sure that the tracks I create, come up with are original, and never been created earlier? Am I supposed to have an encyclopedic knowledge of almost all the songs ever created? I always wonder. Make no mistake I want to create new, fresh, original sound, songs every time but how do I make sure I don’t do a Pritam? It must be really difficult on MDs’ part to come up with original score every time, forget making blockbuster music!
i think its a really stupid argument considering if you look at the world we are living in. A world full of repetation and reproduction. If you think devd reminds you of requiem then i suggest you to wach ANGST to see where’s requiem comes from see PARANOIA to know where’s PI comes from. I don’t think i am trying to point fingers here maybe arnofsky might not have seen it but still it feels somehow as if he has. So the whole big talk about is unique visual concepts etc doesn’ make much sense in this state. If you really looking for something watch experimental films wach godard and few others they suit more to the topic of discussion here …
Very interesting issue. The mind thinks visually and at times it ensembles visual based on past experiences. It may be from a movie, documentary or from real life situation.
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The question is now: whether I should always try to strive for a new visual language or if I have some interesting to say within the constraints of a usual language.
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One of the guideline that I would believe is nothing should interfere in story telling. If it enhances that part, go for it but if it comes in the way and only thing people remember are the visuals then somewhere things did not go right.
@dabba
I see your point when you say it is also the job of the artist to see it as a responsibility while working for the director.. but the final decision for a film stays with the director..it’s his vision…. he is not able to detach from the thought process and see the film as a whole…I guess like you said “a more rigorous approach with greater criticism and self-appraisal.”
@Nitin
I would like to point your attention at what Dabba mentioned ” there will be a lot of comments about nothing is truly original, blah blah, blah, i hope the argument doesn’t get lost in that threadjack”
if arnofsky has seen those films or not…you’ll know if an uneasy deja vu creeps in more than once..when it happened it to me all I bothered to do is ask around why it happened and what leads to that happening? I am trying to ask if it’s a problem with the film makers or the way audience perceive a film?.. I am trying to pursue a career in the field for sometime…so it’s pretty much clear why I posted such an argument… I cannot ignore what is happening around..I come from a business management background..why do you think Apple makes such great products? Why are some films gems in a world of “repetation and reproduction”?
Secondly as much as it is art and passion for me a film is also a product you need to find your customer that is the audience here. Be it the so called “experimental and godard films” you call.I don’t differentiate.I could have mentioned the films you talk about but i chose not to,hence i pointed Sholay as an example…pushing your craft from the seed idea and the final visual language…be it any film…for me a film is a film is a film.period.
This is one of the best argument I’ve witnessed at PFC. My thoughts are like most of the film makers or other technicians like cinematographers, editors, screenplay writers, sound designers go so much through the foreign stuff or are made to see by their mentors and teachers that their originality gets bound by what they learn in the process. So in initial days when one is doing his first or second project, this exposure has a definite bearing on his work. Now we call it inspired or plagiarised, it depends on how much of his own he adds or is allowed to add to this learning. Only after one has attained some recognition, he could really experiment and try to create something which would not have any ostensible bearing of his own learning… so to be creative enough to produce some genuine stuff, DELEARNING is an important step one must undertake after some point of time. A new visual method we recently saw is passage of time through still’s montage in OLLO. Now this is really genuine or inspired, one who has seen it before elsewhere can explain. For me , this was original as I haven’t seen similar visuals before.
rather UNLEARNING is the proper term for everybody and this should be the name of the game… foreign filmo se seekhna chhodna padega… aggar hum kuchh apna create karna chhate hain…
There are a couple of points to be made here:
There is a difference between merely borrowing certain cinematic traits and quoting,rearranging your influences.It is an entirely different thing to absorb your influences than to merely quote their most superficial aspects.
Anurag Kashyap was certainly drawing from the well of Lang,Coen Bros,Lynch and Kaufman in No Smoking,and the Dev D promo screamed Aronofsky from every shot.Its not unlike Brian De Palma who couldn’t resist trying to pilfer every Hitchcock shot he came across.The same could possibly be said for Shaad Ali-JBJ more or less proved that Saathiya and Bunty aur Babli constituted a throat clearing session for him,as only in this film did a truly original voice,his voice,emerged.
Some times influences can over-ride the voice of the creator and have him come across as a fearful impressionist,a cinematic karaoke machine…It is definitely incumbent on him to be deeply critical of his subconscious to avoid the same from happening.
The accusation that the visual language isn’t developing in India is unfounded as when it does turn up people fail to recognise it.There aren’t many style equals substance directors in the Hindi film industry so we aren’t going to get films where the style is invariably tied to the theme being tackled.But when we do,we fail to recognise it or adapt ourselves to see what is being attempted:Sarkar Raj.This is a film where the frames were steeped in mystery,the camera seemed to stay afloat and often shots were taken from almost impossible heights,incredible angles.But did a single review of the film try to see the film from the prism of style?The reviews were clearly content to check off the items in their lists:loud score,one-expression-acting by Abhishek,silly story,poor politics and so on.
The critical faculties need to develop and grow along with the artists they are critiquing.It is stupid to expect the same kind of films from Ram Gopal Varma you once liked because his vision of cinema would invariably have changed,and if we are to critique his work now,should our reasoning not be inclusive of what he is actually trying to do as of this moment?
great post daedalus. but the original post raises a very interesting question.
hindi cinema absolutely had a visual language. a unique visual language. that made sense. now i think we are going through a total crisis and in my opinion only RGV has a truly original visual language. even when he is so called paying homage. cinema has always borrowed from each other. no point trying to be nationalistic about it. nothing original about cinema and that is okay.
what i seem to see in this so-called hindi new wave is lots of silly imitation at worst and at best, the visual language of hindi cinema put in quotes, fondly remembered but essentially lost.
there are good films now and then – a wednesday, aamir, – but these are owing to content mostly and mise-en-scene. nothing original about the visual language. sound i think is doing better right now.
perhaps it is our problem that we are having our new wave so late — when the movies are dying – globally.
this problem is going to remain. its because even the great directors are inspired by someone else. spielberg has been ‘inspired’ by Kubrick a lot. Kubrick has been inspired by Tarkovsky and so on.
there is never going to be a world in which one will remain free from all influences. worth of a genius is in how much he is able to alter it. how he is able to mould it with his own experiences. but it should stop there.
there is no justification for making a frame by frame adaptation of ‘memento’ to make gajini or man on fire to ek ajnabi or reservoir dogs to kante and hundred such examples. here the source style and material remains undigested.
havent Einstein said that creativity is about how you hide your sources?
I think one thing, let us understand that all of us will be influenced by something or other. Ideas dont just drop out from heaven, they are born in what we see around us, what we feel, what we perceive.
If i were to direct a movie, i would certainly have some inspirations or role model to look up to. Quentin Tarantino is the world’s biggest copycat, but he is open about it. He calls it as a homage or tribute. Reservoir Dogs was influenced by movies as diverse as Taking of Pelham 1,2,3, Stanley Kubrick’s The killing and Hong kong actioners.
Take the shack buring scene from The Searchers, the aerial dogfights from Battle of Britian, the two clowns from Japanese movie The Hidden Fortress and you have Star Wars.
Marty’s Taxi Driver itself was his homage to The Searchers, with both having the same theme of one man wanting to save a girl, who refuses to be saved.
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But the difference here is to what extent you are adapting the idea. The biggest Goddman problem i have with so called Knowledgable movie fans, who think Hollywood is God, is that they have no idea about the difference between adaptation and imitation. They just spout some drivel.
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I had one guy telling me, that Kuch Na Kaho was a copy of Jerry McGuire, and i asked in what way. He said see in both movies, the hero has an affair with a single mum. I just wanted to catch him by the collar, and thrash him till some modicum of sense entered his brain.
I cringe when people say Lagaan is a copy of Escape to Victory. It is not Goddamnit. AG and Aamir Khan, just took the basic idea of Escape to Victory, of the oppressed playing against their captors, and totally set it to an Indian context. That is not a copy, it is just an adaptation.
As also when “know all” critics sneer at 3 Deewarein being a copy of Shawshank Redemption. Yeah it does have influences of Shawshank, with Naseer’s character being somewhat similiar to Red, and Nagesh’s character being close to Andy, but rest of movie has not much in common with Shawshank.
THERE IS A LOT OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ADAPTATING AND WHOLESALE COPYING.
AG’s first movie as director, Pehla Nasha, i can say is a copy, frame to frame, of Body Double, as also the climax of Baazi, which was a straight lift from Die Hard.
And so are most of Vikram Bhatt’s movies. In fact Vikram Bhatt just copies blindly without even bothering to look at the context. He copied Jagged Edge frame by frame for Kasoor, and the worse part is that he made Lisa Ray wear mini skirts to a court in India. Damn Indian courts have not yet reached that stage.
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I think as long as one does not make a frame to frame copy of a movie, i dont think we should be having needless issues.
And yes i want to say people to get out of the Hollywood fixation. Hollywood makes a large amount of rubbish every year, and not all their movies were great. Its just that we seem to love every rubbish Hollywood flick.
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When i was reading reviews of U, Me and Hum, i heard a lot of laments about it being a bad copy of the Hollywood classic The Notebook. Excuse me, far from being a classic, The Notebook was one of the borest movies i had ever seen. So lets not get too ga ga over rubbish, just because the characters speak English and there r some great scenes.
Well lets say I go on to direct movies in the future.As an individual I’ve been a film lover all my life & lets say my movies are all based on original scripts.But if it gets noticed by certain people later on that there’s shade of similarlity in the visuals – maybe a techinque or a frame itself that seems similar to something else seen earlier- how would that happen?Most likely it would be because subconsciously there might be lots of images stored in my mind & when I’m filming I tend to do something I know that I’m aware of.here I am not actually copying or even paying tribute to anyone- its just a kind of vague recollection or association with a thought.So would that be considered strange?I guess not, right?
@ Ratnakar
Apart from Vikram Bhatt, Sanjay Gupta is another clear copy cat- be it Aatish, Kaante, Musafir etc.
Of course there are so many more who’ve been doing it in the industry for ages!!!
Also one more tendency i note, is that while people are generally vocal about Bollywood or Indian movies copying from Hollywood or other foreign movies, they some how give Hollywood flicks that openly filch from other language movies, the benefit of doubt or try to downplay the original source.
I cringed on reading some reviews, where they said The Departed is a remake of Infernal Affairs, which is a B movie.
Infernal Affairs, B movie, WTF??? I am sure many of these people might not even have watched Infernal Affairs, it has one of the most complex and layered plots i have seen, and i can say that its a much better movie any day than The Departed.
Regarding Visual language part, i think for me the basic failing, is that many Indian directors either lean totally towards content or totally towards style. Its the very rare movie i find that is able to manage both style and content well.
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Indian cinema generally has a tradition of visual imagery down the years. If we consider some of the directors. Raj Kapoor’s movies had this larger than life atmosphere, with huge sets, dream sequences. While Bimal Roy had the minimalist sensibility in most of his movies, a kind of homage to the Neo Realism in European cinema, he grew up with. Ashutosh Gowarikar and Sanjay Leela Bhansali, are some of the few directors i have seen in recent times, attempting to create a visual language. Call what u may SLB’s movies( Saawariya just went over my head), but the fact is in every movie he creates his own visual imagery, at times in your face, but it is his style.
I think the problem with some of our new age directors is that they feel that if they make their movies more stylish, it would appear as a sellout. So while they concentrate on the content part, they never really pay attention to the visual narration, barring some like SLB or Vishal Bharadwaj.
this discussion is turning into a list of who copies what from whom. boring. the original point about the lack of an original Indian visual language is a very good one. we need to be debating that. so see – luhrmann’s moulin rouge – borrows the ORIGINAL visual language of hindi cinema. slumdog millionaire does the same. but our movies are in a great rush to cast aside this visual language. sad.
Extremely interesting, thoughtful and compelling post. Superb.
This is the most intelligent piece i have read on PFC, ever since i have discovered this blog. Thinking without thinking, this is the most original thought of 2008 for me….Congrats!
@ Dedalus ..I did notice the use of visual language in Sarkar Raj…that most people criticized…but the content did not match up to the style…so the effort was lost
@Sangita I like the way you put it “it is our problem that we are having our new wave so late — when the movies are dying – globally.”
@Temple Oak Its ok to be inspired by the greats…even I am…like I mentioned if it gives you an uneasy deja vu…more than once..there definitely is a problem somewhere like you and Einstein agree “Creativity is about hiding your sources”
@Sethumadhavan when executing the shots think and dig deep in your subconcious and find any similarities between the movie you are making and the one u are inspired…the key here is to be self critical..don’t we all mutually agree
@Scorpius Maximus i agree about the knowledgeable Hollywood movie fans…most of them cannot understand the difference between Adapting and Wholesale copying..I have met such species
Thanks Jahan, Manish, vishesh and Gajendra
Very interesting article,
Thanks!!!
I’m facing this problem from long time, “Visual Language”.
I work in “Animation Film industry”,
And what I found out is; there is no solid “Visual Language” in Indian Animated films,
Most of our stuff is borrowing from ‘Disney’ style,
There were those Old ‘Film Division ki bhent’ Animation films, but that is not enough,
It is not cool enough,
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If you see Japanese Anime or French Animation films, they have their own Animation style,
We should have our own ‘Indian Animation Style’; without characters wearing dhoti or wearing sari and bindi,
My work is going on,
(Sorry this post is bit off topic, but I really need to crack this thing)
Excellent Post. By the way, there is this clip on youtube called “90 minutes of passion” and its from a Mani Ratnam film. I cant post the link right now as I’m in my office and youtube is blocked. One of the shots in that clip is breathtaking (with Tabu and that guy lying down in opposite directions, and the camera rotating from the top), and seemed original. I saw a similar take in Requiem for a Dream, which I’m assuming released after the Ratnam movie. Do any of you guys know if that shot has been done before? Its been on my mind for a while now. Because that is a very distinct shot that seemed original coming from an Indian movie.
Speaking of other original visual experiments, a lot of Indian Song sequences are visually unique/original. Some of Guru Dutt movie songs, Mani Ratnam movie songs (esp Dil Se), Vishal Bhardwaj, Bhansali and Shaaad Ali. These guys try to give unique visual treatment to their songs.
@ Shekhar — I completely agree. Not just regular Japanese anime, but also the Miyazaki stuff. And I still need to watch Persepolis.
@Manu
Great post.
You quoted Sriram Raghavan. He quoted Tarantino who said “I steal from every movie i see” meaning inspiration but agree with your argument that we need unique visual language. But if taking a scene or a story in writing is copy then why not visual language? Controversial but may be as Maximus (SMI) said it is called adaptation.
its really well written..its one of best post i have read in pfc recently.its really nice that u have quoted maclom gladwell’s blink.I think one have to be fearless in speaking his mind.i do agree with u i felt these things.whenever i watch adoor gopalakrishans movie.he is purely inpsired by rays visual language.
keep rocking..
Good Post, Manu.
NewB’s like me need more of these to read.
Only thing I would like to add to your post is about the film Sholay that you mentioned. Although, “its basic premise from Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven” which is true, the Visual Language (which the original post is about) is very much inspired/adapted from Sergio Leone’s ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’.
Forgot to mention, Sholay’s visual langauge is inspired/adapted from spaghetti westerns as Vic said.
When the zeal of understanding our own traditions and culture does not exist, how can one ‘honestly’ express about others or go on to make films in taking a ‘leap’ in defining their own visual language that could be called individualistic.
great post dude! and also some great comments. this is how PFC shud be…..go PFC!!!
I love copying. All power to thinking without thinking. All power to nascent imagination. Bring on all them cinematic inspirations.
Nice blog, btw. Reading up your takes on Malayalam cinema.
Thanks for the encouragement guys… we managed to get some interesting comments and insights..I truly loved contributing to PFC for the first time.
@Shekar Shimpi ..we are in the same boat trying to crack a visual language, i agree when you say how we can immediately figure out a Miyazaki film.. even Jumbo has shades of Pixar
@papaji the scene that you mention has Prakash Raj and Tabu relaxing after after love making /…prakash raj recites poetry …while Tabu hears in attention…the camera sways away from them in a rotating manner..I don’t know the origin of thought in this particular shot…But he is extremely unique with his songs most of the time.. Iruvar did have some fine cinematography
@J and Vic I agree Sholay is inspired by Spaghetti westerns…but even now when you are watching Sholay…you are watching Sholay…not a Spaghetti western/Sergio Leone film,..I guess thats how adaptation should be…No uneasy Deja Vu’s …
the thought about Thinking without Thinking originates from BLINK…I don’t take credit for it..Just applied the logic in films when watches trailers.. who knows tomorrow someone else might point out I am following the mental language of BLINK ?
Manu, Very interesting article. And great points discussed here.
This is my belief in understanding the making of films and the numerous DVD that i watch which have a directors commentary in it. I believe there is nothing original and everything is original.
For example a love story always have the same ingredients, but it is how the ingredients that are put together, which makes it unique. The director is like the master cook, each of them have their own style, some may borrow the recipe and some may try out something very different. It might surprise you, or it might disappoint you.
Visual language, i believe is translated by the director from the way he understands the screenplay, his understanding of the characters, what the character is going through as the scene is being depicted in the rectangle. To just clarify my point of view, i did youtube search ‘90 minutes of passion’ suggested by by papaji. The ceiling shot, where the camera keeps rotating, for me, depicts the effect of the poetry on the character played by Tabu. She is drowning in the whirlpool of words and is being hypnotized by the lyrical quality of it. Probably that is why the scene was shot like that. This can be seen in many other films made by great directors. You have to dig into the scene and try to get into the head of the director whilst asking the question why!
I feel, once the director is true to his story, understands his characters and the context, and treats the camera like a character which has subtle emotions, a visual style emerges.
Another example would be the film BLACK, though i have reservations for the content, i did feel the attempt, Bhansali made in treating the film. The films treatment slowly changes from dark shades in the beginning to lighter shades in the end, depicting the transition from darkness to light, something the protagonist is going through.
Again, is there anything that is ‘Right’ or ‘wrong’? After all, Right and Wrong is just a point of view.
Great story Manu intresting read….i think you made a lot of sense by asking “Are the directors aware that they are following the same visual language of the originals while trying to be an original film?
Well if you ask them the answer will be yes I guess. as they are aware of it…and it is copycat marketing with an art I think – packaging always changes though — different countries /different languages = New markets…and the masses are not exposed so much so this guys really don’t care I guess
In a certain sense, the basic element of visual language can only be a psychological entity defined by both the subjective and the objective aspects of percept…. And perception is always original and unique…. one cannot copy somebody else’s perception when one does it always does show….
So I think a perception or an idea born out of the same if is original then the same will follow in form of a visual language and will differentiate….
@Prakash
“You have to dig into the scene and try to get into the head of the director whilst asking the question why!”
if it’s woven well into the narrative, I really have no issues staying in the head of the director whilst asking the question why. Problem is when you are thrown out of the head and suddenly reminded of the similar scene you have seen before. everything suddenly goes for a toss, I have lost track of the story
@fleeting glimpse
“packaging always changes though — different countries /different languages = New markets…and the masses are not exposed so much so this guys really don’t care I guess”
when they don’t care, we end up only have content imitations, I am certainly not happy seeing that content, when the resources are available for you to make a film, why not make the best of it, right from the seed idea? Would you settle for a Zenith computer “a me too” product or an Apple computer a product with USP? I am quality conscious, so it the general population, but it’s not their job to make films, it’s our job, thats where you get to cash on your inspired ideas. But as a quality conscious film maker you should aim to make your product superior in all aspects starting from the idea, thats what packaging is for me regardless of markets/languages/countries