A script writer’s perspective in making cityscapes as a part of their screenplays. The film/movie narrations usually aimed at selecting spaces and elements of cities that could capture, relate, and speak to each other all about their tangible and intangibles.
This blog is indeed an interesting one! While talking to a scriptwriter and a former Junior Assistant director, it triggered my mind to understand their ideas of ‘cities and spaces’ as a lens for making cinematic screenplays. They idealize certain perceptions to portray urban elements that could excite the viewers and have a psychological imprint of how cities are perceived and function today and in the future. Firstly, introducing different terminologies needs special attention to focus on an in-depth understanding of the 'art of filmmaking'. Screenplay defines as the script of any multimedia like films, television shows, web series, etc. including acting instructions and scene directions. While capturing the scenes two terminologies Bird's eye view - A shot in which the camera photographs a scene from directly overhead that may be the typical aerial views of Mumbai's marine drive stating 'city of dreams' or 'Swapno ki Duniya'. Close-up, Close shot - A detailed view of a person or object, usually without much context provided as one captures the wrinkles of an old lady blank-faced and a dramatic background sound.
This blog is written by Abhishek Didolkar, a former assistant director and currently working as a freelance video editor and scriptwriter. He is currently focusing on developing a web series. He mostly likes to explore the noir genre because he believes noir films are the reflection of our life. He also likes to study philosophy, psychology and has a modest interest in political studies.
Why do people write? Blogs, diaries, scripts, comments, etc. Well, writing gives you a way to express yourself. The primary function of writing is to communicate with others. When we write for ourselves it gives us a way to learn, understand, think and enquire about various ideas, thoughts, emotions. But as with any other skill, writing is difficult. Many say that the ‘art of writing’ is 80% thinking and 20% scripting and that’s where I feel is the beauty. It gives our brain continuous stimulation and helps one to evolve. It makes one think and question ourselves about society, culture and our own conceptions. More than thinking it also eases one to communicate ideas through writing than face-to-face communication.
As an introvert right from the school days, I was hesitant but had an eager will to express myself, communicate ideas, philosophies through narrations. Often, people resist listening and indulging in long ideating conversations and this held me back. As the scriptures in every religion communicate the philosophies through stories, I too wanted to do that. So, I started writing stories, stories filled with metaphors, philosophies, humor, emotions. I begin this journey of writing scripts four years back to understand the art and test whether I can communicate my emotions or not? But the process of writing is something unique. As one continues to write, there evolves the skill and habit of constantly learning something new. I explored that through writing, we can influence the thoughts and actions of the readers in a particular way.
When a scriptwriter writes a movie/show, there are tons of tools that they use to make the movie/show journey interesting and one of the tools that they often use is to portray the city as one of the main characters in the film/show. But why and how did they do it? What is the role of cities in our life? Why it is important to portray the elements of ‘cityscape’ as one of the characters in the movie/show? After all, now if you look at the major cities in India, one way or another they all look the same if one excludes the famous tourist spots. Then why it is important to first understand the city and then set your story accordingly? These questions bothered me for a long time, but as I began to unravel the art, I had to get acquainted with the tool of identifying the apt ‘cityscapes’.
Cities are favorable grounds for knowledge, culture, innovation. We see cities as cosmopolitan landscapes due to mass migration from different parts of the country and the world. These migrations are not just people but the cuisine, fashion, ideas, cultural practices, etc. that make our cities more cosmopolitan. Cities in my opinion offer better opportunities than rural areas as seen from a cinematographic point of view. The urban setting provides ‘urban life’ mannerisms that curtails one to engage socially, culturally, economically in varied spectrums leading to numerous scenarios. These scenarios range from a plethora of daily incidents to the trendsetters in fashion, food and mannerism. The other aspect to also consider is the intention of the writer who wants to target a huge urban population to relate themselves to the character and spaces portrayed. Depending on the narrations, every city and village has a unique character with its historical significance to the current day scenarios that the director or scriptwriter wants to highlight. In movies, portraying cities as one of the characters provides a layer of atmosphere to the story. It enhances the experience of the viewer as he tries to understand the nature of this world.
So, how can a filmmaker or scriptwriter portray it in a movie/show?
Filmmakers, writers often use the big and famous infrastructures to establish the city. For example, Shot of Marine drive- MUMBAI, Shot of Hawra bridge- KOLKATA, Shot of big Hanuman idol- DELHI, etc. But this is not the case with every movie. There are numerous ways one can establish the city without using these famous infrastructures.
For a better understanding let’s explore some movies.
1) Dhobi ghat- Directed by KIRAN RAO. Dhobi ghat explores the lives of four individuals in MUMBAI. These characters find themselves connected by fate. But the movie is not just about these characters. It is also about MUMBAI, a lively, overcrowded, yet lonely city. We see MUMBAI as an equally important character in the movie. Shots of extremely crowded MOHAMMED ALI ROAD, a packed dhobi ghat, local trains, a jungle of slum surrounded by massive buildings, torrential rain, and of course the iconic MARINE DRIVE. Dhobi ghat beautifully captures the different emotions of MUMBAI as the city always changing as some things remain unchanged.
2) Masaan- Directed by NEERAJ GHEYWAN. Also explores the journey of four characters from the spiritual city of India, VANARASI. DEVI struggles to shake off the social stigma, the inter-cast love affair of DEEPAK and SHALU in casteist society. As the movie suggests, celebrate life and death and everything in between. We witness the story with shots of VANARASI (formerly BANARAS), the burning ghats, a small rail bridge, brightly blazing bone fire on the ghats. VANARASI speaks to us through these spectacular shots.
3) DAVID FINCHER, an auteur filmmaker, created dark, vulnerable and inclined towards urbanization- the city of San Francisco in ZODIAC. When you imagine SANS FRANCISCO, the first thing that comes in the mind is the famous GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE. The huge suspension bridge was built in 1937. But FINCHER didn’t use that bridge to establish the city. Instead, we see the beautiful shot of flying over the water and tilting up to reveal the SAN FRANCISCO in the ’60s-’70s. We then see the port of SAN FRANCISCO and other infrastructure. But why does he do that? He could have used the shot of GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE to establish SAN FRANSICO. The waterfront that we see today is completely different and to connect the audience with the city he created a CG shot of the waterfront. During the film, we also see some time-lapse shots of the building gets constructed. FINCHER created a city through these different shots of city infrastructure.
Filmmakers try to create an atmosphere and always portray the city according to the subject of the film. We see a dark portrayal of Gotham city in all the Batman movies. If the film is a comedy, then the filmmakers often focus on the funny and humorous part of the city may it be a Rambo circus in the film ‘Hera Pheri’. It helps the filmmaker to create a parallel world and then tell the story through the characters. The city portrayal from films impacts the minds of the viewers. It may help in the psychological, philosophical, and political building of an image of a city from different perspectives. The effect of the cityscapes on human life is remarkable. The art of filmmaking shows how architectural styles reflect the needs and preferences of people and how different designs mold and shape one’s behavior. Lastly, I would conclude that cityscapes are as important to filmmakers as they target large viewers. But, the current concerns are that of globalization impinging all Indian cities making them look similar that makes a filmmaker hunt for apt locations. We all must preserve the local essence of the city that what in my mind is the image of Ghats of Varanasi a unique scene with architectural wonder, social and cultural collaboration. I remember one said quote by Winston Churchill “We shape our buildings and afterward our buildings shape us".
I hope you liked this blog, comment if any city or spaces reminds you of any film scenes. Stay stunned for more blogs and suggest some interesting concepts. Get back to us...
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