A Conversation with Cinema

We tell the idea through images that move and bracket it under the heading of Cinema. Lights, Cameras, and action! When you manage to grasp the thread of your concepts and combine them with the vision of how to interpret, joining the dots to create the desired image that has life to it, the step to film-making is taken. A process of capturing the moving images that have the power to bring about restlessness in the whole society is the crux of this cinema. A genre that is an amalgamation of thought, creativity, vision, practicality, and desired skill-set is what we called as cinema. Along with the camera, what is needed to make an effective piece of cinema is the makers and the audience. The connoisseur of concept that not only entertains but is also able to inform, expand, enhance, and can reform the views that are floating around. We absorb and then synthesize the whole process of conceptualizing, and carving the thoughts that we inhale from our surroundings and experiences. Actual films are made when we consciously select the thoughts and convert them into related images. A strong medium that is not a mere literary expression; an area that focuses on structures, themes, characters, plots, text as-well-as desired narrative. Along with this paraphernalia, there is the strength of sound and desired effects that add color and depth to everything, behind the camera. The desk has gradually gained its due importance, however, there is still a long way to go – the editing desk with its thought process that justifies the imaginative flight of the filmmaker. They hold a great power behind the actual projection of the thought of the filmmaker. The silent torch-bearers are the backbone of this industry for they are the ones who give real shape to the writer’s imagination. An editing desk is a place where dreams are recreated into reality. They put in the chain of practicality to wild horses of imagination of filmmaker, bringing it closer to the ground reality. They are the actual mouthpiece of a film writer and director.

This makes us go deeper into the study of symbols and signs used consciously, subconsciously, or unconsciously. They are a very integral part of visual storytelling. They assist the audience to understand those concepts that may look abstract but have a greater meaning attached to them. In cinema, most of the tools can be referred to as having a connection with symbolism. The concept, the plot, the projection of characters, the movement of sound throughout, usage of color balance, camera angle involved, scene transitions, and many more aspects can be converted into symbolic notions in cinema. This is where Semiotics and the study of the inside with the outside world come in. It is what we call the language of cinema and here is where we try to understand what and how the films speak. Even the general audience can have their identifications because of the use of various signs and symbols. They are not only making sense of what is happening around them they become stronger judges of what occurs and what is their contribution to their existence in the world. Every concept that the director puts in front of the audience has a specific thought or even multiple ideas and opinions. What is needed, is to put a little time and effort and an unbiased view behind identifying it.

The maker of the film has a vast space with a panoramic vision to capture anything and everything under the sky that has the potential to go way beyond. The broader perspective of a writer’s concept must be transcended to the filmmaker and further on the editing desk. Then only a wholistic piece of visual art can be created that becomes powerful enough to have an independent voice of reason. A panorama of emotions and visualization of thoughts is a weapon with which they can communicate to an individual audience. A vision that has the power to choose what to show and how to communicate a thought. A strong yet extremely addictive capacity to be able to change the views of people at large. It is a big responsibility to be able to create a visual masterpiece in such capacity, that thoughts of the creator can flow smoothly to the receiver who perhaps has zero conscious ideas about its impact on society. An editor is a voice of reason that enters at this point and brings everything that a filmmaker has captured, into a coherence. It is at the editing console that things start falling in line. The thoughts become streamlined, real and the film is fine-tuned to be presented for the audience so that it can be absorbed. The voice of cinema may look feeble and frivolous to many even today, but its strength has a wide reach and great insight into the human psyche of emotions and aspirations. The language of cinema is a fabric that is vast and varied in its texture and has innumerable flavors ready to be radiated for the recipients to taste and value to its maximum.