Had an elocution competition in office on Tuesday. Spoke on the topic of how films are made. Here’s the bit from it.
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The first Indian feature film was released in 1913, made by Dadasaheb Phalke and was called Raja Harishchandra. Filming back then was very unstandardized since depended directly on the cameraman and how he moved the camera. Films were shot on a single reel making them only 15-20 minutes. Since then the art of filming has come a long way. Today I will share with you the steps involved in modern day film making.
Step 1: Writing the Script
A writer or a production house like Yash Raj films have a storyline in mind. Thoughts get the shape of Dialogues and Scenes. If the script is written by an independent writer he has to sell his script to a production house. A story editor and a producer go through the script and decide whether to buy it or not. The main character roles are sketched out and highlighted. After many edits and re-edits and the script is made final.
Step 2: Pre-Production
Careful execution is the first step to ensuring that the film will turn out well. In a word it is film planning. The producers will seek out directors whose talents match the subject matter of the story. Once the script is agreed on by all members, the director begins to choose his cast and crew. He also appoints his production manager, his cinematographer, the person responsible for actually filming the movie, and his location manager. The director then starts a process called storyboarding where he creates a visual image for every scene in the movie.
Step 3: Production
Production is the most grueling part of filmmaking and is indeed where “the magic happens”. At this stage the actual shooting of scenes happen. It consists of various important areas like lighting, locations, weather, dialogue recording, retakes etc. The cast and crew can frequently spend 12 or more hours on the set, filming only three or four pages of script.
Step 4: Post-Production
Post-Production involves editing and correction, reshoots, color-correction, voice recording and marketing, Editing eliminates unwanted footage and scenes are placed in a coherent order. Titles and credits are added. The additional background noise are recorded. The final step of making the movie is to show it and this is where marketing comes in. The key factor here is to show to it to an audience that match the film. The film is then sent for distribution where they are released in theatres for public viewing.
So there you have it, the basic outline of the filmmaking process. Hope it gave you some new insights or maybe just passed the time.
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