NCERT Solutions Class 12, English, Kaliedoscope, Non Fiction, Chapter- 3, Film-making
Stop and Think
1. What childhood memories does the author recollect that had a bearing on his later involvement with filmmaking?
Solution:
The author had a childhood that made him aware of the two main types of characters in life. The good and the villainous. He came to know about these from his father who prepared sermons. From this knowledge, he easily connected to the stories.
Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, and all the others. And the wolf was the Devil, without horns but with a tail and a gaping red mouth. From imagining these bits to imagining church bells and hearing a piano from a picture at his grandmother's house at Uppsala everything was a part of his creative association with his childhood memories.
2. What connection does the author draw between filmmaking and conjuring?
Solution:
The author says that filmmaking and Conjuring are of the same dice because both require the deception of a human eye. Most of the time the viewer is caught between the frames of a movie. Cause whatever emotion or situation is shown in it is false or enacted. But with the help of certain filming instruments, the film seems to be a real-life event and people express real emotions while watching it.
Stop and Think
1. What is the nature of the first impressions that form the basis for a film?
Solution:
A film is a finished product. The basis of a film is laid on split-second impressions that disappear as soon as they come. This means that the birth of a film can be from anything as small as a note of music to an actor who seems to have been born for a role yet to be played. It isn't the story that takes the shape of a film. It is an idea, a feeling, a reflex of a second that draws into a film if it I followed beautifully.
2. Which art form is film-making closest to? What is the reason for the similarity?
Solution:
Filmmaking is the closest to music according to the author. This is because both film and music are based on a certain rhythm. It is the inhalation and exhalation in continuous sequence of recreation by directly affecting the emotions ther than affecting the intellect.
Stop and Think
1. Quite often a film made out of a book is not very successful. Discuss.
Solution:
There is wide range of difference between films and literary work. Every literary work has an irrational aspect which forms the basis of its existence. This irrational dimension is the inherent seed of every literary work and makes a reader connect to it. The bitter part is that most of the times this aspect of literary creation is not physical. It is an emotion that can be struck through innumerable written lines but can never be put into enactment and converted into films.
Even after knowing this, when a literary work is forcefully converted into a movie, the nucleus or the purpose of the movie is in mist. Or the adjustments done to put the novel in terms of a film breaks the backbone of the movie and takes the magic element away from it.
2. What, according to Bergman, is the relationship between a film-maker and his audience?
Solution:
A film maker essentially makes the story come live and the audience gives reactions. This means that the audience is meant to evaluate what the director has put into action. It's like the relationship between a teacher and a student. The audience is meant to rate or react to the movies. Reaction is the main element of movie.
Stop and Think
1. What is the story of the Cathetdral of Chartres and how does the author relate it to his profession?
Solution:
The story of the Cathedral of Chartres begins when the cathedral was hit by lightning and burnt down to ashes. Soon thousands of people came from all points of the compass, like a giant procession of ants, and together they began to rebuild the cathedral on its old site. They worked until the building was completed—master builders, artists, laborers, clowns, noblemen, priests, burghers. But they all remained anonymous and no one knows to this day who built the cathedral of Chartres.
The author says that in the old times the craftsmanship brought in glory. There was nothing like self-identity back in those days. It was all done for god. And the author wants to enjoy his own work. He wants to be satisfied by the quality of his work and enjoy his work. That’s all he desires.
2. What are some of the flaws of the world of filmmaking today?
Solution:
The world of filmmaking is dependent on learning from each other’s work and collaborating together. But today people have become so self-conscious that they do not want to share their ideas and the concept is that sharing will make the film vulnerable. Also, people are no longer polite and gentle.
The expression has become very brutal. What was as easy as play to the author once has now become a struggle. Failure, criticism, public indifference all hurt more today than yesterday. The brutality of the industry is undisguised.
Understanding the Text
1. Pick out examples from the text that show Bergman’s sensitivity to sensory impressions which have made him a great filmmaker.
Solution:
There are many instances. But the most prominent ones are when he could imagine a whole live representation of the wall hanging and could imagine even the church bells ringing. He also could visualize the pigeons fly and was transported into a completely different world. It was a complete melodramatic scene created by Bergman in his fantasy of imagination.
The second instance is when he sees the cranes at Dalarna and left all work to watch the cranes fly.
2. What do you understand of the complexity of the little invisible steps that go into the making of a good film?
Solution:
The first step is to get an idea of the theme. Once the theme is clear from split-second impressions and the topic is absolutely strong enough to take shape of reality, The next step is the storyline. Montage, rhythm, and the relation of one picture to another—the vital third dimension without which the film is merely a dead product from a factory.
The next important thing is shooting the movie helping each other work towards the same direction to make the film a success. So the steps of filmmaking are idea formulation, storyline, scripting, and shooting.
3. What are some of the risks that film-making involves?
Solution:
Film-making involves storytelling through a sequence of pictures. It is absolutely important that the public identifies with the theme of the movie. If the theme is completely alien, then the message that the film wants to deliver will not be understood. Another thing is choosing the idea. If the theme of the movie is different from the current demand of the public, it will be difficult for the producer to impress the viewers.
4. What misgivings does Bergman have about the contemporary film industry?
Solution:
The contemporary film industry doesn’t want to understand the fact that everyone learns from the other and that this is a continuous process. The current generation of filmmakers has the mentality of secluding oneself and ideas from everyone else.
They take it to be cheating or creating plagiarised content. But in reality, it is a fact that we are all a community of people and we have to learn from each other. Learning from one another is the ultimate source of knowledge for us.
5. Compare Bergman’s views about making films out of books with that of Umberto Eco’s.
Solution:
According to Bergman, a novel cannot be put into a film completely. If done so, it becomes a complete injustice to the novel because the novel triggers the intellectual faculty of a person whereas the film triggers the emotion directly.
But according to Umberto Eco, the film takes over the popularity of a novel and it's only when the movie is made out of a novel that the novel reaches the epitome of its popularity. So the film indirectly helps the novel.
