Ringing in a reel change
K. PRADEEP
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P.R. Harikumar's 10-minute film `A Boy in His Time' has been sent to the Third Pocket Film Festival, organised by Forum des Images in Paris.
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ON THE MOVE: P.R. Harikumar has been inspired by the many features of mobile phones.
P.R. Harikumar, the man who put reader-friendly versions of Ezhuthachan's `Adyatma Ramayanam' and the `Thirukkural' on mobile phones, has now ventured into pocket movies or films shot on mobile phones.
Harikumar's 10-minute film `A Boy in His Time,' has been sent for the Third Pocket Film Festival, organised by Forum des Images, at Georges Pompidou Center, Paris, to be held on June 8 and 9.
For its inaugural edition, the organisers of the festival gave 3G mobile phones to 100 people and asked them to shoot movies of their choice. Out of the 100, they picked the best 14 and conducted an exhibition. It became so popular that these exhibitions were held in various other countries.
"The pocket camera, as this instrument is also called, is emerging as a serious medium. Usually, editing is done using a computer but I have done it on my phone. I have recorded the background music and mixed it in my film, again using my phone," explains Harikumar, Malayalam lecturer, at Sree Sankara College, Kalady.
The images, snatched from real life, are often rough. So there are no awards for picture quality in this genre. The story is told mostly through sound.
"I shot this film, my first one, using a Nokia 3230. The 5-MB film can be viewed on a computer or projected on a LCD screen. The film portrays the life of a young boy, a loner, who gets no love from his busy parents. The only sign of life in the apartment where the boy is forced to spend most of his time is a fish tank.
"I have tried to say that the life of the boy in these circumstances is much more desperate than that of the fishes in the tank. Of course, there is a twist in the tale, which makes up the climax." Harikumar has shot his second film, `A Woman in the Seaside,' in MP4 format on a more sophisticated N70 mobile phone.
"Many people who have the talent and creativity to make sensitive films are often restrained because of the lack of funds. Making films on a mobile phone can help surmount all this. I intend to make a pocket movie with actors from mainstream cinema and also start a website exclusively for such movies made in India."
Harikumar, a well-known writer in Malayalam, has to his credit two volumes of short stories, `Niram Veezhunna Varakal,' and `Aliyunna Aalroopangal,' an anthology of literary essays `Vakkinte Souhrudam,' numerous poems and articles. "I always wanted to do a film script. It was then that I was exposed to the unlimited possibilities of the Internet. I got hooked to it. Then came the mobile phones. I find this so exciting, so creative."
Initially, Harikumar explored the textual possibilities of the mobile phone. After making the `Adyatma Ramayanam' in Malayalam (340 KB), `Thirukkural' (110 KB), and following it up by downloading one of his own novels, `Neelakannukal,' he decided to move on to the visual side of the mobile phone.
Novels too
"The first phone novel was published in Japan in 2004. In India, an attempt was made the same year when an English SMS novel titled `Cloak Room,' was sent to customers in the form of 16 short messages. But this attempt ended without a real ending to the work.
"My novel is certainly the first in any Indian language. The size of the novel with its six chapters is 70 KB. It is embedded in a screen as a Java application and can be accessed by any phone that has this facility. I must have distributed over 800 copies of my phone novel free of cost by now."
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