This article, written by BBC journalist Rajini Vaidyanathandiscusses the change in Bollywood from the view of, romantic, performing art productions to a new breed of films which now challenges and confronts modern dilemmas rather than sticking to the previously used formula. Of course a key part of Bollywood is, and always will be the singing and dancing which if we do use an influence from Bollywood would be good to incorporate, but what this article says is that Bollywood accepts and will move on from the old style. This gives me confindence to progress with my groups idea as we had concerned the narrative wouldn't fit into a Bollywood theme and that it now might do that.
"For decades, Bollywood cinema has stuck to a tried and tested formula - boy meets girl, parents object to the marriage, family is torn apart - a few fight scenes and dance routines later there is a happy ending."
The brother went missing a long time ago and his younger sister was so distrort by this it drove her insane. The brother was found but the protagonist could not accept how and why he went missing in the first place so she became mentally ill and ignores this information. We shall show her ripping pieces of newspaper articles and drawing on photos to show her distressed situation. After the title appears we will then show the brother looking smart and relaxed to convey the juxtaposition between both their lives. This will reinforce her obsession over him and how she is unable to deal with his disappearance. We have not decided on a detailed shot list yet, however, this is a rough idea of of the sequence of events in our opening.
Shots to introduce the title of the film company
Shots of the protagonist looking distressed and mentally unstable
The first scene will build to a climax which will cut to the title
The antagonist will be shot looking smart, and relaxed to contrast the opening scene and reinforce the juxtaposition between the two characters.
My group and I still have a lot to discuss and this includes how we are going to present certain ideas to the audinece through:
Costume
Lighting
Camera shots/angles
Editing
Mise-en-scene
etc.
Where Bollywood comes in
As talked about a lot in previous posts a "Bollywood" influence is something that we would like to incorporate and to do so would have develop the ideas seen above.
Upon researching Bollywood one thing that I discovered was that with the mise-en-scene lots of candles are used and there is also an exaggerated use of diegetic sound with breathing, footsteps and clocks as well as other small features all often magnified. Religion almost always takes up some part of the productions such statues and refernces to the Gods are something frequently included. Most Bollywood films are made in Hindi the language spoken by predominantly poeple of the Hindu faith.
The costume is also one of the most iconic things of Bollywood with very elaborate, traditional costumes used for the females. Males often where traditional clothing however do sometimes where a modern western suit for some occasions depending on the narrative etc.
Performing art, music and dance is something that are common themes within Bollywood producitons. It would be hard to produce a dance as they often use large studies along with casts however music is something that we could use within our own and reflect the Bollywood influences. A possible idea that may not be used is that we still use music as a key theme however change it to western music. If we were to put it over the the screenplay when showing characters in Bollywood style clothing and also used the mise-en-scene to support it might be seen as contrapuntal sound as it is in reservoir dogs where the music doesn't match whats on screen.
As seen below we decided to Brainstorm some ideas discussing the possibilities for our project. Bollywood aspects or influence is something we are thinking about using and may develop but we now need to look at in what way these can be supported.
One strong contender that came up from possible ideas was a "Psychological Thriller" combined with themes of "Obsession". From this ideas such as unrequited love could emerge (love being a key aspect of Bollywood) other ideas included lost siblings as well as someone of suffered from hallucinations.
With regard to Unrequited love one of are main ideas was that someone had always had a love for someone since a young age and was to afraid or nervous to ever approach them. This could then lead on to obsession and the consequences of seeing the person they love with other partners. Although in a context of a Bollywood storyline this could work and would definitely help show our influence it may struggle to fit into other key areas such as the "psychological.
This is where our next idea fits into a more "psychological" theme. As children two siblings were separated driving the other insane whereas the other seems relatively unaware and ok. We believe that when developed could make a great psychological plot however lacks the Bollywood influence we wish to use.
Dominance of one or two actors (Usually a male and female)
Using other forms of performance art such as playing an instrument, singing and dancing
The presence of a religious figure that all the characters believe in, such as a God or Deity
Romance is the main plot or subplot in the story (This might include love triangles)
Large studio sets with elaborate design and decoration
Films are usually set in Mumbai, India (However, some popular Bollywood films have been set in western cities such as New York City, and London
Authentic and elaborate costumes, such as traditional clothing (i.e. saris and dresses)
Other key themes include; melodrama, obsession, and kidnappings.
There are also some traditional gestures and symbols used in Bollywood films such as:
Seeing someone tug on their ears– When someone tugs on their ears it is usually seen as an apology and the quivalent of saying sorry.
Seeing someone touch another person’s feet- According to Hindu theology feet are the most polluted part of the body because they are the closet body part to the ground. So when a person touches someone else's feet it is a sign of great respect because they are honoured and touching their feet is a privilege.
Someone waving their hands over another person’s head- Usually a person will do this to a bride. They will wave their hands over the bride and then make fists of their hands and crack their knuckles on each side of their own head. Whoever does this takes on any evil that may be sent toward the bride.
A woman wearing red dye in her parting- This red dye is called vermillion and when a woman wears it in her parting, it signifies that she is married and her husband is still alive.
Kohl is placed on someone’s cheek- When someone looks strikingly beautiful it is assumed that they will attract a lot of jealousy. Therefore, a black dot (kohl) is placed on their face as a blemish to ward off jealousy of a person's perfection.
When someone presses their palms together- When two characters first meet, one of them will press their palms together and say “Namaste.” This is equivalent to the American/English handshake because it shows the possession of manners. However, it holds a higher level of respect than shaking hands.
Evaluation
By using some of the conventions as seen above they would help create a more authentic production which would be recognised by fans of Bollywood and also bring a new audience in showing them examples of a different cultures. With them also being standard ways of communication it can't be seen as cliched as it is a way of life for many people.
As a group we wanted to go for a theme that is original and hasn't been done before. One of the possibilities that came up from are discussions was Bollywood we believed this was a market that had a lot of room to develop in and isn't as over saturated as some other themes.
Conventions of Bollywood
The most iconic aspects of Bollywood is the traditional music and dance. Although this is the most iconic part it's also the hardest to successfully incorporate. A lot of thrillers would use parallel sound where the non diegetic music would support the on screen so tense music would be used along with a tense moment on screen. As most Bollywood films use modern pop music this wouldn't really fit into a scene if we wanted to use parallel sound. One way around this would be to use contrapuntal sound as is used in the film "Pulp Fiction"
As seen in the clip above the music juxtaposes with whats happening on screen, this is just one way to get around the problem of music. Another way is to use more classical and traditional Indian music. Whereas the "pop" music is more upbeat with the use of high tempo drums, classical music uses more string based instruments with a slower tempo providing a much more dark tone.
When it comes to plot some of the recognised Bollywood styles include star-crossed lovers and angry parents, love triangles, family ties, sacrifice, corrupt politicians, kidnappers, conniving villains, courtesans with hearts of gold, long-lost relatives and siblings separated by fate, dramatic reversals of fortune, and convenient coincidences. With these being fairly common plots the feature in many styles of films not just Bollywood, it shows that the most important things to focus on is the cultural aspects. Which I believe to be music and also the props and clothing.
Discuss the way that status is represented in Merlin
To show “status” in the extract in the extract from “Merlin” the film makers make use of various different features such as camera, sound, editing and mise-en-scene.
The first time status is shown is from a long shot showing Merlin walking into a room. The luxurious surroundings of the castle doesn’t fit in and make Merlin in his bland, working class clothes stand out. Merlin is made to look furthermore out of place by the use of non diegetic sound. The eerie and tense music in the background enforces the point of Merlin not fitting in. Merlin’s slow look around the wall again enforces this, however by having him in the middle of the screen shows the viewer he is of importance to the narrative. When the female antagonist is introduced she is seen in purple. Throughout time purple has been symbolic of royalty and connotes luxury making her appear as a “higher class” then Merlin. Non diegetic sound is also introduced when the woman is first introduced. They use a sound effect to add increased tension to an already nervous situation, doing this only makes the reader think how out of place Merlin is and what will happen to him.
Non diegetic sound isn’t the only type used however. When Merlin talks to the Lady, he at first stumbles on his words. By doing so could suggests he feels intimidated by her and his surroundings, although the use of the camera shooting them eye line shots over the shoulder would suggest over wise and make them appear equal .
The following part shows a change of location were Merlin would appear to be much more suited. A long shot from a high angle is used to help show this as a market type environment with people dressed in the same manner as Merlin. The character Arthur is then introduced and is clearly seen as being in a higher social class. By having him centralised between guards and also dressed in armour all connote his power and wealth. On the contrary Merlin is on his own until Arthur calls him. Although at first the features of mise-en-scene suggest that Arthur is much higher up the use of camera would again suggest that’s not the case. Like in the previous scene Merlin has an eye line match with the person he’s talking to suggesting he’s not what a stereotypical person of Merlin’s background would be like. This goes on further to a point where Merlin actually appears to have dominance by being smug and humours, which after a short time annoys Arthur.
When they begin the start of the fight Merlin then appears far less in control, this is first show by Merlin dropping the weapon whilst Arthur can easily swing his about. The editing also changes to very quick cuts, helping add anticipation and show the danger Merlin is in. The camera also has takes a shot of Merlin from a high angle making him appear small. They then show Arthur standing tall which could represent the different social statuses. Whilst this is going on the non diegetic sound plays a jolly and upbeat score which helps add to the action. The use of the jolly soundtrack though suggest there is no real danger for either of the two fighting as something more sombre or scary would be played if one of them were to get hurt.
Merlin does get times where he gets in front of the fight, but this only happens when he uses magic shown by the change in his eye. By having a close up of his eye it demonstrates the change in its colour when doing magic and it takes up a flame like complexion. This could connote the passion Merlin had and refusal to give up against someone who is supposed to be superior to him.
This reinforced in the final scene were his teacher is angry at him but Merlin shows his passion for what he did and his belief in not being pushed about by people above him.
In today's lesson we discussed the way gender was portrayed in the BBC's Docter. As seen below the extract that we analysed was seen to be quite atypical an not going with a traditional "Hollywood" masculine approach.
The image above shows our brainstorm for our initial ideas. Some of the things we highlighted as possible points were making a hybrid of Bollywood/Thriller. upon researching Bollywood some of the key features are culture and music. To make an authentic product we would have to stick to those conventions. Another possible theme to base it on is "Obsession". We believed themes such as kidnapping are cliched and over saturated however "obsession" still has room for originality but still keeping it in touch with the conventions of thriller.
Today we looked at some possibilities of what we could go on to use when planning the opening sequence. One of the things that we had previously discussed the possibility of doing was to make a BollyWood. I believe this is quite original giving their a lot of room to play with. The idea of obsession is also a possibility to plan around.
Since September I've learnt lots with regards to how the media works, techniques and terminology used within. One of the most challenging things I found was to get my head around the terms used in semiotics and how to correctly apply them. I've now since broadened my knowledge on signs and know the difference between indexical, iconic and symbolic.
We then went on to study genre, where I learnt about the conventions of what make genre and also how they are split up into hybrids and sub genre. We also explored the possibility that their is "pure" sub genre and they are all some type of sub genre.
At this time I also developed my analytical skills writing essays on the titanic and the television series primeval. Although I believe that my analytical skill can still be improved I would say that they have progressed from what they were prior to the year.
Targets
For my first essay I received a C grade which I was pleased with but I then got an E in the next. Therefore I would say that one of my targets would be to improve my writing skills to boost my essay grades.
Also learning all the key terms is something that is important however this has been helped by creating a glossary with the words I see to be important I've also blogged on camera, sound and editing so when that is required I can fall back on it.
