{"id":7440,"date":"2021-06-23T09:52:47","date_gmt":"2021-06-23T09:52:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesica.in\/?p=7440"},"modified":"2021-06-23T09:52:47","modified_gmt":"2021-06-23T09:52:47","slug":"lockdown-times-mahesh-muthuswami","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesica.in\/ta\/lockdown-times-mahesh-muthuswami\/","title":{"rendered":"Lockdown times: Mahesh Muthuswami"},"content":{"rendered":"

Filmmaking\u00a0 \u00a0– <\/em>\u00a0in the Lockdown times<\/strong><\/p>\n

India entered into a full lockdown due to the Covid pandemic, in the last week of March 2020. We all looked at it as, may be as a maximum for\u00a0 a three week period or so. But here we are now , June 2021 , just trying to coming out of the second wave – full lockdown.<\/p>\n

Lives and lifestyles have changed in these several months. The new normal has evolved.\u00a0 Masks are part of our attire. So are the routines of sanitization and social distancing.<\/p>\n

A full lockdown means an individual\u00a0 has to help in curtailing the spread of the infection , by confining one to one\u2019s own closed space, without stepping out at all.<\/p>\n

Just think , 24 hours a day , for days together , one has to remain shut , inside. Can\u2019t step out into the open space.<\/p>\n

Human mind needs to think and express . The mind needs to be fed too , just like the physical hunger. And a Filmmaker\u2019s mind is more hungry , creatively. In that sense , one of the most affected tribe , is the filmmaking community.<\/p>\n

Filmmaking is an art and an endeavour which requires a collective effort. Professional teams might need hundreds of people and\u00a0 even \u00a0an independent filmmaker might \u00a0need a minimum of 10 or 20 members crew.<\/p>\n

So, what would this confinement\u00a0 mean and do to the filmmaker. This confinement can\u2019t contain the expressive zeal in him.<\/p>\n

Locations are the backbone of any good film. The\u00a0 actors are the beings who bring to life \u00a0the soul of a film. He cant have access to these and many , many other resources.<\/p>\n

His plans and executions everything take a halt. He can\u2019t spread his wing of thoughts to spread out, without boundaries. The boundaries at the most , are the walls of his home.<\/p>\n

If he cant go far out , so be it.<\/p>\n

He can go deep ; \u00a0Deep inside into him , internally.<\/p>\n

And come out with stories and scripts,\u00a0 \u00a0which he could shoot and cast , with the available minimal resources, which are at his disposal in his home, itself.<\/p>\n

\"\"–\u00a0above still from a short film\u00a0 VIRUS made by Cinematographer Vaidy<\/em><\/h5>\n

Those confined spaces of his home , now take on a different form and shape. Discovering new ways of seeing your own space , by juxtaposing and juggling of the existing elements.<\/p>\n

They are now looked at it with a different perspective. Newly minted actors , from the kith and kin , start performing with ease in front of the camera. They become your collaborators.<\/p>\n

\"\"– above still from a short film SELFIE by Cinematographer KV.Pavithran<\/em><\/h5>\n

To put it simply , Maximal thoughts with Minimalist resources.<\/p>\n

This minimalism has resulted in some \u00a0really interesting films, from , both professionals and\u00a0 beginners alike. They were able to express fully, the pandemic experience and experiences beyond that. On Hope , Fun , Loneliness and on cherishing the present moment ;<\/p>\n

For some it was an ideal way to polish their skills. After all, practice makes one perfect . Some filmmakers even tried complex technical things like dual roles and perspective gimmicks credibly.<\/p>\n

All these were possible thanks to the new tech , of course.<\/p>\n

Affordable Digital Cameras or Ultra Smart phones to capture, open source\u00a0 softwares for editing and grading , uber-compact & multi efficient LED based lights , hand held gimbals , quality microphones which doesn\u2019t cost a bomb and the huge , accessible music and sound libraries.<\/p>\n

\"\"Professional crews squeezed the available resources to come out with feature length films like \u2018C U soon\u2018. The small crew literally stayed together in a confined space , for the whole length of the film.<\/p>\n

\"\"OTT platforms like Prime video , managed to shoot an anthology series amidst the lockdown , fully adhering to the protocols.\u00a0 The filmmakers, stretched what they could deliver inspite of very meagre resources , without ever compromising the spirit of the\u00a0 script.<\/p>\n

\"\"– Above still from Amazon prime video content ‘Puthutham Pudthu Kalai’ shot by Cinematographer P.C.Sreeram<\/em><\/h5>\n

Or the made over online – \u00a0shorts \u2018The Lockdown Shorts\u2019 with different people\u00a0 from different cities doing the roles of cast and crew, but connecting virtually.<\/p>\n

Some Film Festivals have acknowledged the films from these times and hence,\u00a0\u00a0 having a separate section and theme for these films calling them \u2018 the Isolation Cinema\u2019.<\/p>\n

Adding to this repertoire would be the newly burgeoning non-fiction , short videos which were filmed and published online , by homemakers and novice-bakers to exhibit their baking and culinary skills. Even children sharpening their musical skills and publishing it as a small film. This list is endless.<\/p>\n

All these films goes to prove nothing else , but the indomitable spirit of filmmaking. To keep going at it,\u00a0 in spite of the pandemic adversity.<\/p>\n

This new normal is going here to stay , at least for several more months . So its better to adapt and keep making films.<\/p>\n

– Article by Cinematographer Mahesh Muthuswami<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Filmmaking\u00a0 \u00a0– \u00a0in the Lockdown times India entered into a full lockdown due to the Covid pandemic, in the last week of March 2020. We all looked at it as, may be as a maximum for\u00a0 a three week period or so. But here we are now , June 2021 , just trying to coming […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"2.8.1","language":"ta","enabled_languages":["en","ta"],"languages":{"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"ta":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesica.in\/ta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7440"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesica.in\/ta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesica.in\/ta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesica.in\/ta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesica.in\/ta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7440"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thesica.in\/ta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7447,"href":"https:\/\/thesica.in\/ta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7440\/revisions\/7447"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesica.in\/ta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesica.in\/ta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesica.in\/ta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesica.in\/ta\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}