Tuesday 29 November 2011

BEST WORKAR SHORT FILM MAKER


Suresh Shelakar , a SSC passed seemed to have made the right choice of education for the longest time in keeping with his ambition of becoming a BEST service person. This till he decided to venture into short filmmaking - a field completely different from the academic background he had pursued . " I was a top performer in School. No one , including my parents, expected me to take up short films, shares Suresh , whose very short film Birthday went on to outdo everybody's expectations with a nomination at different film festivals.
Suresh is not an expectation. His is, in fact' a case amongst a growing number of students from completely unrelated and unallied  academic qualifications entering the world of short films- as writers, directors, editors and a lot more- first as a hobby that translates into passion and in some cases, a full -time profession.
For many, their first encounter with short films is triggered by the need to explore new media of visual expression. Says Suresh , a BEST worker , " As BEST worker , we are always exploring new media of visual representation. It was then I realised that filmmaking is not very different from my work and decided to try hand at it. I've never stopped making short films after that!.
Not belonging to a film or devoid of a course in filmmaking does not seem to be a deterrent to those who wish to share a story on celluloid." Filmmaking is for anybody who understands it. The only advantage of attending a film school is that it shortens the time frame for learning and lets you network with like-minded people. Apart from that , nobody really cares what institute you come from as long as you can tell and sell your story. From an Indian perspective , self-learning and practical filmmaking is even more important as film school fees are very high.
Cinema has always excited the average Joe on the street. All of us have a story to tell. Earlier, not too many people could be a part of it due to lack of resources. Slowly, people are realising the power of short films, which by virtue of their dynamics allow many people to participate in the process. making a short film neither requires excessively developed technical skills nor sophisticated equipment. This work very well for students, even those pursuing different courses."
In a bollywood-obessed nation like ours, it is not surprising to know that many are also looking at short films as a sort of launchpad for feature films. Agrees Suresh , " Short filmmaking is seen as a stepping stone towards feature filmmaking by many people. As a director you may have to manage only one particular task but as a film maker you are expected to understand every aspent of filmmaking from handling the camera to writing, editing, mixing sound, etc , which is essentially what making short films teach you."
What ever the reasons, the popularity of short filmmaking among people seems to be a trend that is here to stay. If you find yourself being constantly distracted by the lure of telling a story, you know short films is calling too.

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