We were three screenwriters who had gone to watch Animal. Beyond the snowballing judgment everyone showered at the film, we were stuck by the number of metaphors Sandeep Vanga Reddy was trying to juggle: Indo-Pak partition, Kashmir conflict, man as an animal, generational father-son conflict, etc. Usually, as screenwriters, we learn to tackle one metaphor per film and go soul-ripping deep into it. But here was Reddy, as unhinged with his metaphors as his protagonist with violence. Was he trying something so different the three of us weren’t getting?
I did have an inkling then, but it clarified itself after Shankar, promoting his upcoming film Game Changer, said, "Today’s audience has a very short attention span. They watch reels, so we kept that in mind while making Game Changer." Damn! Animal was a ‘Reel film’ (no, not as opposed to a real film). I watched the film again and realised you can chop its 201-minute runtime into hundreds of reels. Call it the fast-foodization of cinema.
Films have always been about what we call ‘moments’. As screenwriters, one of our primary jobs is to craft those moments you’ll carry back home. Watch a really good film, and you’ll realise that each scene is self-contained and, like the larger film, has a central dramatic conflict with a sort of resolution, a kind of ‘this happened’ leading to ‘therefore’ in the next scene. Every scene has to craft the conflict between characters to advance the film’s narrative. So, in that sense, every film is already made up of many ‘reels’. So what’s different between this and what Animal or Game Changer are doing? The answer can be found in psychology.
What is the most priceless commodity in the world today? Gold, diamond, oil, data? Nope! The most coveted asset in the third decade of the third millennium is attention. Go to the ‘Digital Wellbeing’ settings on your phone and see how many notifications pop daily. Yesterday, 639 notifications vied for my attention. That’s like one every two minutes of the day.
Step out of your house, and a cacophony of hoardings will assault your senses. Loudspeakers will pull your eardrums, and gauche colours your eyeballs. The perfume in the malls pulls you to them by your nose, and so do the food courts. Gloria Mark, a University of California, Irvine professor, has studied how digital media affects attention spans. Her research over nearly two decades has shown that “our attention spans are declining, averaging just 47 seconds on any screen."
47 seconds! Imagine. Do I even need to tell you - social media reel fiend- why is that the case? Or why even babies throw tantrums if you take away screens from them? Or why teens have killed themselves for the same reason. Our attention spans are worse disaster zones than Gaza right now, with each reel we view, we devastate it further.
Filmmakers, naturally, are aware of this. We are meant to be opposites of you. After all, we’re meant to be attention cokeheads. So, as you expect, we – the makers of TV and films, are deliberately designing our content to be more engaging and fast-paced to retain your attention. And most of us are miserable doing that. In the past we competed with each other to grab you by the eyeballs. Now, we’re fighting an ever-losing battle with TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube reels; yes, the same reels you think you’ve watched for five minutes, but two hours have elapsed.
Naturally – unnaturally, if you ask the purists – many filmmakers want their films to feel like a series of interconnected reels rather than a coherent film. Animal was one such film. Then there is Singham Again, with four cop entry sequences amidst bright colours, loud music and decimated goons. Jawan, too, is a reel-film.
If there ever was a franchise made for this reelification, it’s one that has inspired endless reels and memes: Deadpool. I saw Deadpool & Wolverine expecting a strong emotional core like the first film. Instead, I got more of the other things it is well known for: fourth wall breaks, irreverent humour, bromance, meta-commentary, over-the-top action, parody, satire, and pop culture references. What was missing? Emotional subtext, themes of acceptance and identity, coping with trauma, redemption, etc. I remember the emotional core and a lot of the story of the first Deadpool that came 9 years ago, but I remember very little of its 2024 version (except for the ugly dog who was magnificently beautiful). Guess how much money the film made? At $1.34 billion, almost as much as the ₹11,833 crores or $1.42 billion that all of India’s film industries made combined.
This means that my not remembering much of Deadpool & Wolverine isn’t a flaw but a feature: Watch! Forget! Wait for Sequel!
Strangely, the traditional roles have been reversed. Once upon a mere decade ago, legacy filmmakers like Shankar, those in Hollywood, Bollywood, and the TV industries, i.e. people who studied media and content creation for years and practised it for decades, taught the upcoming generation the tricks of storytelling. Now, the same people are learning tricks of reelmaking from novices who hold the camera vertically. Industry cue: fade to darkness!
Walt Whitman said, "Be curious, not judgmental."
So, I approach this new kind of filmmaking with a Whitmanesque mindset. After all, if Ryan Reynolds can do it, why not an insignificant, insecure, struggling screenwriter like myself? If fast food is the content mantra these days, maybe I have to learn how to cook it, even if I don’t consume it. Call it dhanda, eh?
Reel-filmmaking, to tap into modern audiences' shorter attention spans and evolving consumption habits, incorporates quicker cuts, shorter scenes, and more dynamic storytelling techniques. Rapid shot transitions using quick cuts are meant to create a sense of urgency and excitement to engage you with constant visual stimuli. The scenes are markedly shorter. So, no waiting for a speck of dust on screen to mirage into Omar Sharif carrying a rifle for over two minutes. Instead, these scenes put out the information, deliver the punchline, and move on to the next quickly.
Next is 'Dynamic Storytelling Techniques'. Call them gimmicks or actual craft, but this is deploying tricks like non-linear storytelling, split screens, visual effects, etc., to mesmerise viewers' attention with engaging and immersive narratives. This is achieved by a combination of both shot-taking and rapid cuts at the editing table.
These and other tricks are what is called ‘engagement farming’. Studies have shown that younger audiences accustomed to short-form content on TikTok and Instagram, prefer this. And the rest of us don’t? Naturally, greedy traditional media need no persuading to dirty their gumboots by entering the field with shovels and pickaxes to farm your attention.
As we succumb to the instant gratification of reel-films, Anurag Kashyap's comments on Shankar’s words serve a warning: "Filmmakers who, at one time for me, were like chefs for me, creating things, are becoming caterers."
Filmmakers are trading their chef's coats for catering uniforms, serving up empty calories instead of nourishing storytelling. Remember, fast food may taste good in the moment, but ultimately leaves us malnourished. Is this a passing trend, or will we really sacrifice the depth and richness of cinema for the fleeting high of reel-film?
