Enough is enough! I am going to write! Caution: If you find this post crappy, please forgive – this is my attempt to get over my block and I am determined to write something…even if it is crappy!
Last week I found myself in Bombay with a free evening with nothing to do. Tuhin, a friend who works for my ad agency was traveling with me suggested we go and see a play in the Prithvi theatre, which was quite close to the Hotel where we were staying. I have not seen a play in a theatre for many years now and jumped at the opportunity immediately. Anyways, we reached Prithvi and luckily got tickets for the night show for a Hindi play called “Bali aur Shambhu”.
Before, coming to the play we had spent the day in a studio supervising the post-production work that was happening on the latest TV commercial that we were working on for my company.
During the day, we were playing with frames, sound light etc. We were changing things at whim- even expressions can be changed by slowing them or speeding them. And in the evening we were in this completely different environment – the live theatre. Where we could reach out and touch the actors if we wanted, here I could almost feel the vibrations from the actors booming voice touch my skin. There was no scope to fix an expression; also there was no possibility to see the mistake again. The vector was however the same – that of telling a story by enacting it. The day was quite a yoyo for me in a sense, swinging between two extreme ends of the communication spectrum/vector.
What I realized is this, when you get exposed to the two extremes on the same vector of expression, you get a great understanding of the vector itself and also of the two extremes. If you want to play in the center (Like most of us do in our own vectors), I guess it would help us to visit the extremes ones in a while. If not anything else, it will at least help us define our centers a bit better.
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9 comments:
Yes Dev, well said. In management parlance, this is equated to a 'Worst case scenario', 'Best case scenario' analogy, if one understands and experiences both, he is in a far better situation to deal with reality.
On your example of theatre artistes, though one would expect all modern actors to have some sort of theatre experience, its surprisingly untrue. Theatre itself seems to be an art which has not caught the imagination of the masses at large..
Sudhir - wrt your comments on the theatre artists not making it to the TV/Film arena, i was quite surprised to see that most of the TV models and the good serial actors have come from theatre in Mumbai at least. Also the comments of Prithvi Theatre in keeping the movement going in Mumbai is laudable
Hi Dev - Mumbai is quite an exception though, there is not so much of it in the rest of India, they are like 2 parallel threads...In Chennai atleast, that's clearly the case.
i dont know much about the theatre or movie or ad scene in chennai so i cannot comment, you must be right. however, for Hindia main stream movie/tv/ad production, mumbai is the only centre. So i guess your comment may be more regional skewed ?
new ad for Sicilian Delight?
yes, thats right srinidhi - the ad is coming out tomorrow :-)
Interesting thought, Dev … reminds me of some truisms: you have to experience pain to know comfort, etc. Here’s my take on the subject of extremes:
I’m one of those guys paid for his ability to communicate effectively, professionally, accurately (going to ridiculous extremes like running a spell-check on this post!) and interact formally with business clients, having been a banker and all.
I’m now looking for revenge … I was googling for part-time courses in voice training so that I can pursue a hobby as a voice-over artiste for cartoons. My dream role is as Donkey in Shrek … I’m in awe of the versatility of some of those actors, especially Eddie Murphy.
Unfortunately all I’ve found till now are full time courses in animation. Any suggestions – in Bangalore?
Ha Ha ! Interesting. I would say do not worry too much about the training part, focus more on doing it. Not too much, but some amount of recording does happen in Bangalore also for various types of content. (Bombay is the place to be if you want to be in the voice over business). Also, do not restrict your self to cartoon movies - try ads as a start - thats the place where the most action is. I would suggest googling
- "recording studios in bangalore"
- "Voice over artists in bangalore"
I will help u also - remind me when we meet/talk next
Dev,
Once I went to watch 'Driving Miss Daisy', the play, by a local troupe, in a local theater. Theere were, if I recollect, only three (or four) actors involved -- the actual stage was on a raised platform in a very small hall (I had not expected that). There were approx 40 to 50 people assembled to watch the play. But, man, was it a blast or what....we were sitting literally a few feet away from the actors and we could feel the creative energy, just as you have alluded. It was something else man.....glad to see that you felt those vibes too (and obviously, your analogy on the vectors and extremes, etc)....
Sri
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