Veteran director teaches Coimbatore students art of making films

COIMBATORE: Students of the department of communication at the GRD College of Science have been given an opportunity to participate in a movie making workshop conducted by veteran film director SP Muthuraman. The workshop which began on Monday will conclude on Friday.
Movie-making is all about capturing emotion, said the veteran director. He teaches students about the various aspects of film-making through a short film which captures the frustrations of life in a software firm.This short film which is between 25 to 30 minutes long is directed by the veteran director himself where he has students don various roles.
From camera man to production executive and actors, these final year students of B Sc visual communication take on various roles to understand the nuances of making movies. The veteran movie maker who has directed big names including Rajinikanth and Kamal Hassan showed students how to deal with practical everyday issues of movie making in every shot. "A single scene which shows a person jumping to his death requires several shots, right from capturing his emotions just before he is about to jump to the reaction of the crowd after the act is completed. It is a painstaking process but well worth the results," he said.
S Arunmozhi, a former faculty at the Adayar Film Institute and a member of the censor board who is also part of the workshop said that workshops like this help students understand the practical aspects of the field. "Muthuraman is known to be a disciplined director who stays within his budget and works systematically. Students will learn some of these aspects in the five days of shooting and later during the post-production process," he said. At the same time, he says that such programmes are not a substitute for actual field experience but mere introduction to the field.
Students are unanimous in their appreciation of the workshop. "We usually rush through our practical papers. But here we learn to capture shots and make a film professionally," said Jithin K Salim, a final year student who participated as an actor in the project.