Over the past few months, a number of classes have been involved in film-making classes with Mr. Bernard Marescot, and these workshops have given birth to six different student films! These films are going to be screened in school today both at 6:30 and 7:15.
The school invites all of you to come and see them
An overview of the films:
Blu Gene: (A film by Yatharth Shah, Tanveer Shah, and Yash Patel)
Synopsis:
Working on the theme of ‘Colours of India’, The students decided to portray the ubiquity of blue Jeans and how this western article of clothing has become a vital part of the wardrobe of India’s youth.
Filmmakers’ comments:
‘We felt that Blue is especially relevant to India, as during the British Raj, indigo was amongst India’s biggest exports. Furthermore, one of it’s principle uses, both then and now, was in the making of Jeans.‘
‘Through the entire process, we feel we’ve learned a lot- how to use camera, how to plan a shot, how to write a script; Basically the many different aspects of filmmaking. But also, general skills- we learned how important public relationships are, and how important it is to always be prepared and make plans well in advance.’
Click here to read a news-paper article covering the above film
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The Colourful Concrete: (A film by Amitesh Chaudry, Samvid Sheth, Aakash Brahmbhatt, Salma ranginwala)
Synopsis:
The film chronicles a day in the life of a foreigner as he spends time travelling around the city, seeing the many sights, eating lunch, and clicking pictures. Watch as these seemingly mundane events all culminate in forming his perception of the city.
Filmmaker’s Comments:
‘We worked on the idea of capturing the colours that represent the city of Ahmedabad and decided to use architecture as a medium in order to do so. That’s why we shot different buildings from different time periods, not only to depict the city’s palette of colours, but also to show the modernisation of its architecture.’
‘Doing this project changed our perspective about what Ahmedabad was and what it is now. It also taught us a lot about filmmaking, things like the suitable conditions for a shoot, how to write a script, the different factors that go into making a shot
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Today’s Special (Ashini Jagtiani, Rutvi Ajmeira, Anjali Bhavre
Synopsis:
Portraying the colours of India’s cuisine, the film is a documentary about how a traditional Gujurati thali is made for an event. The students went into Mitakali gaam, recorded the entire process and interacted with all the cooks. This shows the audience a slice of life of villagers living within the heart of the city.
Filmmaker’s Comments:
‘It was such an educational experience, especially in terms of the film making process. I didn’t even know how to set up a tripod before this project. We learned all about script writing and camerawork and so on.’
‘What was difficult and also interesting about making a documentary was that although we had a basic script, while actually shooting and interacting with those people, there were a lot of unexpected changes that we had to adapt to.
Also, we learned how challenging it was to try and interact without coming across as intrusive or being a hindrance. Some of the cooks were quite hesitant to speak initially, and we had to really coax them into it’
- Ashini
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Vegetable Dyes (A film by Zara Desai, Chandrika Makwana)
Synopsis:
Centred on the theme of colours of India, this particular film documents Mr. Toofan Refai, as he illustrates and discusses the process of making natural dyes. Mr. Refai is one of the pioneers of the usage of natural dyes. Watch him at work in this documentary.
Filmmaker’s comments:
‘We wanted to make a film mainly to be involved in the process of filmmaking, and learn about the different factors that go into it. It was an added bonus that we got art-related subject, so we we’re doubly excited! Also, of course it was an absolute privilege to work with Mr. Refai and we learned a lot just doing that.’
It was also a new experience this time because we had to pretty much work without the aid of a script.’
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Super Tare Zameen par and Mini Tare Zameen par (Standard 8 and 9):
The two classes have been working closely with Mr. Bernard Marescot in learning the different aspects of the film-making process; everything from the budgeting process, to the proper methods of using a camera, to auditioning for roles and so on.
As a way to culminate this module, and try and apply what the students have been learning, they decided to recreate a particular scene from the film ‘Tare Zameen Par’. The idea was to have the students divide themselves into groups and actually work every element of the film entirely by themselves!