Workshop on Film Making During Pandemic Situation

The Department of Data Science the and Department of Media Studies, Christ (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru in technical association with Computer Society of India (CSI) organised a one-day workshop on 'Mobile Filmmaking During Pandemic Situation'. The workshop took place on December 18th, 2020, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. via the Cisco WebEx platform. Around 150 participants from different schools and colleges participated in the workshop.

The event began with Mr Nihal Thapa, the student coordinator, who welcomed all the participants and gave general instructions on attending the workshop. Dr Samiksha Shukla, head of the Data Science Department, Christ (Deemed to be University), Pune Lavasa Campus, addressed the gathering. This was followed by an inaugural address by Dr Jossy P George, Director and Dean of Christ (Deemed to be University), Lavasa, Pune Campus. 

The first half of the session was conducted by our guest speaker, Dr Kannan S, who discussed the importance of Film Making and explained the different stages of filmmaking, emphasising the pre-production stage. 

He further, introduced us to the theory, 'From concepts to completion', Dr Kannan talked about how coming up with an idea is the first step of filmmaking, followed by imagination and visualisation.

He explained the use of the 'Three-Act structure' in filmmaking. He shared a short story with the participants to read and analyse, further explaining how to develop a story through reverse engineering. He also explained the concepts of Hook, Plot, and Story to the attendees by using scenes from different movies. He explained to the participants, the protagonists' character, flaws and adversaries in their life. Dr Kannan shared information about the many software that are used in scriptwriting and making the storyboard. The first session ended with Mr Kishore instructing the attendees to take video clips based on any particular topic for editing in the next half of the session. 

The second half of the session was led by Mr Kishore Kumar, who explained the different angles and camera techniques to the participants.

With the help of a 4-minute video, he, in a very detailed manner, explained the concept of transitions and acts, explaining to us each scene and shot, which included cutting in action, cutting-away, cross-cutting, jump-cutting, match-cut, etc. The transitions had fade in/fade out, dissolve, smash-cut, iris, wipe, etc.

Mr Kishore Kumar further explained to the participants the process of editing with the help of Adobe Premiere Pro. 

Towards the end of the session, Dr Kannan S gave a short description of the Clapper board and HOLD, few android apps that can be of great help while filming.

He also introduced us to a few essential gadgets used while filming, such as Tripod, audio recorder, and action camera.

The last part of the session was an interactive session, during which all the attendees shared their feedback. The event ended with a vote of thanks proposed by Prof. Shynu Philip.