The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Lessons in film appreciation for children

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 29, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Lessons in film appreciation for children

Sandhya Soman

Idea is to give them a taste of good cinema, say organisers

SNEAK PEEK: Students taking a look at a projector as part of a two-day workshop on film appreciation at the Film & Television Institute of Tamil Nadu on Wednesday. — Photo: S. R. Raghunathan

CHENNAI: They had left behind textbooks to take a good look at the big screen. The two-day film workshop for city school children made Jasmine, friend Bharathi and several others think and talk about the movies they saw on Wednesday morning.

"We like watching and talking about movies," said Jasmine from Mylai Karpagavalli Senior Secondary School in Besant Nagar.

So the workshop started with the screening of `Vanavil,' a short film in Tamil about how kindness from a stranger changes the life of a terrorist.

Reaction

Trainer V.M. Raviraj with the Film & Television Institute of Tamil Nadu then asked the audience, nearly 50 students from three city schools, for their "reaction."

"The film is about a girl and a terrorist... " went the first response.

The next participant gave her opinion on the storyline: "It was an emotionally touching movie."

Mr. Raviraj noted the change from story telling to commenting on the movie. And went on to throw some theory into the proceedings:

What's the smallest unit of a film: A shot

What's the next big unit: A scene

Exposition to conclusion and the non-linear form of narration

The screening of Santosh Sivan's award-winning `Malli' offered much more to talk and think about before the students went on a tour of the various sections at the Film Institute to learn more about cinematography, editing and film-making.

"It is important to develop a taste for good cinema as there are increasing complaints about standards going down," noted K.P. Ramakrishnan, organiser and regional officer of Children's Film Society of India.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu