Suchitra, a plus two student, was so enamoured by moving visuals that one day she grabbed her elder brother’s mobile phone and shot her picturesque village. It didn’t take her long to shape it into a shot film. ‘Changathikootam’, a three minute movie by Suchitra is one among the 40 short films selected for Teen Talkies, a week-long camp organised by the Directorate of Higher Secondary Education (DHSE) through Career Guidance and Adolescent Counselling Cell at the Sacred Heart School of Communication (SHSC).
“This is the first phase of the of a three-stage program on film making. As an intial step, students are introduced to the world of films by prominent film makers and technicians. Classes are organised on every aspect of film making, including direction, screenplay, editing, cinematography and sound engineering. A a second step, the students would be sent to the Pune Film Institute for an advanced study, equipping them with sufficient knowledge to make better films,” said Philip, an official from the Career Guidance and Adolescent Counselling Cell.
The camp begins at 7 am with observational assignments. In two sessions, established individuals from the industry, will lead classes. Evenings are set aside for film screenings, discussions and journal writing.
“In the camp, we learn how to use films to communicate with society. We have got an idea of how a powerful medium film can be in discussing social issues and prompting change,” said Shruthi M from Thrissur.
“Almost all the films by the students carry some significant social message. The camp teaches them how to express their ideas in a technically perfect and aesthetically pleasing manner,” said Asha Achy Joseph, head of the department of SHSC.
‘Vidarum Mumbe’ by Shameem V T focuses on problems of child marriage while ‘Veedu’ by Karthikeyan P S compares how different it is for a rich and a poor man to build a house - topics that left many guests wonder struck.
Leading a session at the camp, Harikumar, senior sound engineer, remembered how painful it was during his days to even go to a cinema. “It was hard labour collecting the money for the tickets,” he said. “Now the children can watch films on CDs and on TV and the technologies have become so cheap. That gives immense freedom to young film makers,” he added.
Forty students from different schools around the state are participating in the workshop which ends this Sunday.