Media Assignment 1

MEDIA STUDIES AS LEVEL

ASSIGNMENT: COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT START AND END CREDITS OF ART MOVIES.

DHOBI GHAAT:

DHOBI GHAAT , a Kiran Rao film, producer Aamir Khan, is a Bollywood art movie based on a story of four people from very different backgrounds, who’s worlds intersect and leave them forever altered. As they find themselves drawn into compelling relationships, the city finds its way into the crevices of their lives, separating them even as it bringd them closer.

Fragments of their experience-seen through a naïve video diary, black and white images and painting-form a portrait of Mumbai and its people bound together as they journey through longing, loneliness, loss and love.

Followed by the story, the movie is based on an overall a genre more on the artistic side of filming rather than entertainment itself. Coming towards the start credit, after an introduction of the production house, that is Aamir khan production- Eros Entertainment, the scene starts with a close up of a bunch of fake grapes hanging down from the small mirror of a car moving back and forth, creating an impression of the vehicle being in motion, whilst on the devided sides of the mirror, a raw extreme close up of a guy driving the car is taken repeatedly along with the whole scenario around, that is out side the windows of the car is taken.

On the other seat, no one is seen but you can instantly tell that a girl holding the camera is sitting making the video and she delivers dialogues telling the guy about the city and you immediately know that the guy is new to the place and she is intruding him to his new home. Throughout the scene, only use of diegetic sound is used as the girl talks, the guy responds, the sound of the continuous movement of the car as well as the noises from outside, mainly, the sound of the raindrops falling on the windshield.

The director has broken conventions, that is seen when during the entire start credit, when the two characters are in the car, the camera movement is not like the typical camera movements in every other professional film, instead, the film goes on in a way just like an ordinary person would hold onto a camera casually, that is not at all steady followed by the audio that is not super clear but is just how we’d hear out of a recording in our won cell phones or cameras. This has been done in a very clever and wonderful way creating the imagine of it being completely simple and realistic yet so different and attractive.

And the scene shifts to the guy standing on top of a building in an open room, not constructed, having his back towards the camera and his face towards the big shiny city, Mumbai and the colour of the sky changes from dark to light shifting the scene to the next morning where the guy, after doing some manual work, sits and smokes at the same spot where he stood the night before looking at the city, when a non diegetic music starts and the name Dhobi Ghaat appears, and that’s when the film starts.

On goes the film till the end credit starts where the girl is in the car, the guy runs to her all the way from his place crossing a ridiculous traffic jam till he finally reaches her and hands her over a piece of paper, leaving her while a smile on her face and tears in her eyes and the entire game of constant diegetic sounds converts into non diegetic sounds, when a background music starts and the film ends.

DELHI SIX:

The film Delhi Six, director and producer Rakesh Omprakash Mehra, is another Bollywood art and adventure movie having the story of a guy living abroad all his life going to stay in the old streets of Delhi with his grandmother, where he discovers, within a period of time every thing he had missed all his life that comes to him as a completely amusing and climatic adventure where he manages to fall in love with a girl who is in every way, different from him, and so he learns to happily adapt to the environment shown in the movie till the time he stays there.

The start credit of this film is fast, short and mildly amusing. It starts with the use of non diegetic sound, when a third party narration is done followed by an extreme long shot of the precious “Delhi”. And then the scene shifts to inside a room showing a man in bed, not speaking within the frame, but having a voice over explain how he is so used to his daily life, and then suddenly the camera movements and the background music go fast, quickly showing shots of the over congested houses in Delhi from their tops creating a very hyper, adventurous and interesting image when suddenly the man is shown again stuck to a wall on his roof top, urinating, when he slowly looks up and something falls onto him and he screams. That’s when a simple wall with a beautiful pigeon sitting on it is shown and the name of the film appears along with the movie’s soundract giving the movie its final start.

COMPARISON:

The main similar features between these two films are than, frist of all, they are both within the same art and adventure genres. Secondly, they both, to some extent, they both have stories based on their city lives in India with the introduction of a character who is new to the cultures and trends and overall the city itself. The difference would be that, both films have a completely different use of audio and editing. Dhobi Ghaat has used deigetic sounds more often whereas Delhi Six has used diegetic sound a lot in the entire film.

In both the films, the setting is exceptional as it allows you to instantly know when and where the scene is portraid. Characterization and dialogues do the gaming. The dialogues, either within the text or as a narration or voice over tell the audience about the story and concepts of the films. Camera shots do their own magic. In the first movie, it starts with a close up of grapes while in the other movie, the start credit appears with an extreme long shot of the city.

The end credits. However are different. Dhobi Ghaat has a moreover depressing ending where the two characters part, whereas in Delhi Six, the end is on a happy side having the audience satisfied by the hero and heroin having to be together.  Iconography of the two films still remains slightly similar as the shots of the city are taken repeatedly making their theme more obvious.

Delhi Six was still more of a commercial film as compared to Dhobi Ghaat. Dhobi Ghaat was more simple and more artistic. This was mainly due to its different kind of use of camera and audio.  

However,  coming towards another Hollywood film, Run Lola Run, is another reference to me for my film even though it is quite different from the previous two films mentioned. I chose Dhobi Ghaat and Delhi six as my reference films since they both had the story of a new character coming to a new place and had shots of cities which I plan on doing in my film too, when a child is unknown to the events taking place in the famous Empress Market, here I’d like to take a long shot of the market determining where and when the event is taking place. On the other hand, Run Lola Run has appealed to me due to its very interesting and adventurous starting credit where a chicken is running through the market and every scene and shot of the market is taken exactly as I plan to for my film.

By : Sakina Ali.