Ramesh Bala @rameshlaus 50m50 minutes ago Chennai, India
Breaking: After Blockbuster #Kabali, #Thalaivar @superstarrajini to do one more movie with Dir @beemji - @dhanushkraja to produce..
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IMO, RK's intro in Kabali is one of the best, infact the best after Baba !
Om Namaste astu Bhagavan Vishveshvaraya Mahadevaya Triambakaya Tripurantakaya Trikalagni kalaya kalagnirudraya Neelakanthaya Mrutyunjayaya Sarveshvaraya Sadashivaya Shriman Mahadevaya Namah Om Namah Shivaye Om Om Namah Shivaye Om Om Namah Shivaye
Disclaimer: This work is based on my understanding and my viewpoints. It does not stand in no way as an official document or proof. The definitions are translated according to my understanding. All mistakes are mine.
Index
Section 1 - Introduction
Section 2 - Visual Story Telling Section 2.1 - Frames & Shots
Section 2.2 - Characters
Section 2.3 - Language of Colours
Section 2.4 - Costumes
Section 2.5 - Background Score (Silence)
Section 2.6 - Sounds
Section 2.7 - Objects
Section 2.8 - Lighting
Section 2.9 - Camera
Section 2.10 - Location, Day & Night
Any film will carry five structures within them - Exposition (the introductions), Rising Action (the events used to build up the proceedings), Climax (a point that changes the course of the characters), Falling Action (outcome of the climax), Dénouement (revelations).
There are six key points while constructing the dramatic structure which are basically the sequence of events - Setup (setting of the story), New Situation (establishing the character's journey), Progress (the situations resulting during the new journey), Complications (effects the characters undergo), Final Push (last decision of the character - do or die situation), Climax (character meets the obstacle), Aftermath (objective of the character experienced by the audience - emotional or exciting or romantic).
Previously stage plays and literature had five ACTS. Mostly there are only three acts in a movie called the 'Three-Act-Structure'. An act is a division of a full length film acting as an intermission between each other. The duration of an act could be around twenty (one-act plays or short films) to sixty minutes (full length motion picture). The basic components from which the Acts are derived are characters, desire and conflict. Act One, called as 'Opportunity', introduces the characters, roles and responsibilities - a basic layout. Act 2 known as 'The Point of No Return' is practically the midway of the film that explores and exploits the desires of the character. The initial personage is not the same anymore, and he/she cannot return back to how they were during the Act1 (works for all genres). Act 3, Climax, is where the character ends its conflict with everything he/she has accuired.
Intersecting the Acts, the 'Turning Point' creates the intermission, a sort of break between them. From this point onwards, movie swifts to roam inside unexplored areas each time. 'Change of Plans' separates Act 1 from Act 2. In Tamil films, this is usually the interval block where the film has reached a point which is not the same as the initial. A drastic swift happens driving the character towards its goal. 'Major Setback' lies between Act 2 and Act 3, simply pushing the character by limiting the choices.
Section 2 - Visual Story Telling
Keywords: shot length, camera movements (focus & angles), frequency of appearance, variety, presence & absence of characters, dialogues (including reactional shots).
Section 2.1 - Frames & Shots
Kabali Opening Shot
Duration approx. 5 seconds
Wide angle lens zoom in towards the concrete jungle. Caption "Malaysia" appears and stays on the left corner. The visual captures the night sky over a well-lit building of Kuala Lumpur. The lighting on several buildings are dim to highlight the two major structures: Menara Kuala - glittering green; and Tours Petronas standing bright white.
The objective is to give the viewer a visual tour of Malaysia where the story is set.
Kabali Closing Shot
Duration approx. 15 seconds
Wide angle lens zoom out sharply over the concrete jungle. The visual captures the night sky over a well-lit building of Kuala Lumpur. In contrast to the Opening Shot, the final shot is brighter surrounded by luminous structures. The two major monuments from the opening shot: Menara Kuala - glittering red; and Tours Petronas standing pale white, take prominence. The pale towers indicates the distance travelled by the main character Kabali as in "too far but still standing!"
Comparison: The opening shot enters towards the prime building structures (Menara Kuala & Tours Petronas), while the closing shot exits from behind the same buildings. The decorative colours indicate that the two sequences are days apart, depicting that the duration of the story had spanned over several days and both are not the same night. The luminosity refers the dull (initial) and bright (climax) moment of character Kabali. Wide angle lens zoom in and zoom out punctuating the start and the end of the travel of the main character through the city. Similarities is that the same group of buildings are present under a night sky. The visual theory is covered by the same musical bit, both sharing the exact same part from the Theme Music. The closing shot has an extended ten seconds run, to capture the life the character Kabali had led in the Visual Story Telling. Both are taken from aerial viewpoint delivering bird’s-eye view, where the closing shot is a top-down perspective to produce an overhead view as seen from the sky (The God’s Eye). Note : The character Kabali is seen watching towards the sky, and then the shot changes into a Point of View from the audience perspective, establishing an virtual communication (eye contact) between the audience and the main character Kabali.
Section 3 - Dialogues
Keywords: transcript, phrases, quotes, silence
Section 3.1 - Main
Kabali Speech (from the production transcript)
First uttered dialogue by the main character Kabali - : Magizhchi (மகிழ்ச்சி)
Last uttered dialogue by the main character Kabali - : Magizhchi (மகிழ்ச்சி)
Comparison: Even though the spoken words are the same, the way they are uttered is different. The first utterance registeres a kind of annoyance behind the smiling face, depicting the agony of 25 years of imprisonment. More over the word does not carry an appreciative tone indicating the time taken to be released was too long. Nevertheless it does register a sort of happiness in the atmosphere. The final utterance is more subtle. A kind of fulfilment that engulfs the atmosphere. It echoes the liberation of fear and the satisfaction of achievement.
The first Mazhichi is spoken while standing tickled by a sort of a rush. The final utterance is made while seated calmly and while thankfully looking at the sky. Both are uttered by the main character Kabali, where we see him unshaven, like a savage in a hurry at the beginning, and the same Kabali civilised with a clean shaven face during the climax. The same word is used to portray the journey and transformation of the character with visuals and tone. Silence projects the severity in both situation where the speaker Kabali addresses the one who had taken him out, and to the one whom he had taken out (respectively).
Last edited by mappi; 8th October 2016 at 04:50 PM.
Disclaimer: This work is based on my understanding and my viewpoints. It does not stand in no way as an official document or proof. The definitions are translated according to my understanding. All mistakes are mine.
Section 2 - Visual Story Telling
The basic definition of a visual story telling is simple - Showing rather than telling.
When more closeness is adapted in the narration, the non-thinking audience voluntarily respond to the characters when they are shoot in close proximity. A simple 'look space' (composition of a shot with respect to the space in front of the subject's nose while appearing in partial or full profile) can dynamically change the experience obtained by the viewer. An Extreme Close-up can be dramatic or self-explanatory which aids the audience to connect with the character.
The emotional arc, the blocks on which a complex narrative is built, influences the emotional response from the audience. Normally, a simple situation encountered by the main characters invokes the same sort of effect over the viewer’s reactions if the shots are zoomed or panned or jibbed or tilted under a defined range that the viewer watches. The tracking shots can buy time in the narration to allow the audience to feel the emotion projected by the character.
Six indicators position themselves in an emotional arc provoked by the Visual Story Telling: Fall-Rise-Fall, Rise and then a Fall, Fall and then a Rise, Steady Rise, Steady Fall, Rise-Fall-Rise.
Usually, the sub-plots establish a connection between the story and the viewer. A no-nonsense narrative places these indicators in regular intervals, thus making the viewer a silent follower of the characters journey inside the story world. As discussed under "Rajini Formula", Rajini films exploit the Rise & Fall situations which generates much interest among the audience permitting them to gain an unforgettable experience. Moreover, a tracking shot of Rajini fading away follows soon after a sentimental scene, providing the needed time to allow the audience to burn with a temporary emotion.
Apart from the shot types and camera movements, the very important aspect that envelops the audience are the location - Indoor (interior), Outdoor (exterior), Day (Light), Night (Dim light). An effective narrative will mix them regularly to convey a huge junk of information either inside a single shot or during a brief duration involving several meaningful visuals inside several frames that automatically registers the events with the viewers.
In Kabali, most of these techniques are well elaborated.
Rise & Fall - The Flame of Kabali
"Nerrupu Da" has its own meaning directly refering to the character Kabali - Flames sway in the winds of change, but are never extinguished.
Thus, Kabali's journey is denoted with the constant change in Rise & Fall:
1/ Rise and then a Fall: Narrator (Opening Scene).
2/ Steady Rise: Kabali gets hold of his place after his release.
3/ Fall-Rise-Fall: Kabali Flashback.
4/ Steady Fall: Kabali challenges Tony Lee but gets burnt.
5/ Fall and then a Rise: Kabali looks for his wife/daughter.
After the opening shot - view from the sky, the camera slowly pans down towards the ground, where we see few vehicles approaching towards a well-lit building. A hording hangs to the right and the vehicles approach from the left with blazing sirens.
Comments: A classic visual story telling. Running for under five seconds, the opening frame registered numerous information. The siren vehicles indicate high ranked personals traveling inside. The hoarding stamps administrative (political) nature of the building. The night along with the sirens projects the urgency of a meeting that it is not a planned one, but a reunion to handle a critical situation or to discuss about an alarming incident.
Opening Scene Sequences - Briefing
Frames x.x
Duration 2m55s
Location: Interior (Meeting Room)
Time: Night under Bright Lights
Highlight: Narrator & The Projector
A lady official briefs about the case file of Kabali while standing and addressing a panel of twelve people watching the projector screen on which the details of Kabali flashes. The images & visuals swiftly move from interiors to exteriors under various locations and time to introduce five different characters and their quarrel with Kabali and Malaysian Police. Few of their illegal activities are covered.
Comments: Two introductions are made at the same time under three minutes. One, the Real and the other the Reel. During the time taken by the narrator to introduce the main characters, the director introduces the team behind making of the film Kabali. The briefing is visualised in such a way to make the audience to become directly involved inside the frame. The constant contrast in location, time and lighting enhances the narration and makes it interesting rather than seem like a chat session between individuals. Certain frames are loaded with a crowd of sub-characters filling up the scene, thus removing the emptiness and permitting the viewers to follow the moving images creating a voluntary interaction between the visuals and the viewers. There is movement in every frame indicating that the visuals are inside a motion picture. The visual cuts are made in such a way to resemble the flipping of a physical case file. Number thirteen is used verbally and the same number of people are present inside the meeting room.
'Saya Yang Menurut Perintah' is read when the Official is signing the release document. The phrase is the closing of a Malaysian official letter, the formality and politesse in use for a long time under different regimes altering its meaning every time. The signature is done on behalf of 'Dalam Kementerian Negeri', the Ministry of Home Affairs (security) of Malaysia. The sealed authorisation has been already obtained from 'Jabatan Penjara Malaysia', the Malaysian Prison Department.
The official documents indicates that to release a prisoner, two authorisations are needed, one from the Prison department and the other by the home affairs.
Woman Empowerment: A lady official addresses high officials and ministers over a high profile case of the country, pointing to the position of woman in the social (and security) activities and their ranking in the pyramid of the society.
Director's touch:
1/ The signature and the name matches => AZHARUDDIN
2/ Release of Kabali signed by the Prime Official <=> Producer of the Film flashes on the screen.
3/ 13 attempts on Kabali, Name Santosh Narayanan flashes <=> indicating Kabali as the 13th (signed) film for Santosh Narayanan.
4/ Direct Eye Contact: The Prime Chief stops the briefing by directly throwing his hand at the audience (around 3m52).
5/ Each character introduced, corresponds with the activity they did and the activities they are involved with at present (Ref. Section 2.2 - Characters).
6/ Real names versus Visuals: The flashing names have a mysterious resemblance to the visuals, associating their role with the visual.
7/ Respective objects (product placement, notably Bosch, Branded Cars & Hoardings, bottle of water turned to an angle to hide the brand name, Malaysian Police accessories, pins, HP Laptop/Dell Monitors blurred, etc.) are placed, zoomed or blurred to create the needed ambience (Ref. Section 2.7 - Objects).
8/ During the briefing, camera angles/movements are swiftly modified to enlarge the experience and seek the attention of the listening group - the audience (Ref. Section 2.9 - Camera).
Last edited by mappi; 18th October 2016 at 05:44 PM.
Reason: Jabalam to Jabatan
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