I have always loved photographing people. I am the guy who reaches the airport early just to sit and look at people.
Recently though, I wanted to “see: more. For the past few years I have been trying to discover and photograph things and places without the “human interest”.
You will see more of these in the coming days and weeks.
David Mamet. Image: materclass.com
David Mamet was the Executive Producer on a show called The Unit. The show was based around the lives of the highly trained members of a top-secret military division.
The following is a memo that he wrote to the writing staff.
Yes, it is written in all-caps but lays down pretty good guidelines for what makes good TV.
The “bluesuited penguins” probably refers to the network executives.
Here goes…
"TO THE WRITERS OF THE UNIT
GREETINGS.
AS WE LEARN HOW TO WRITE THIS SHOW, A RECURRING PROBLEM BECOMES CLEAR.
THE PROBLEM IS THIS: TO DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN DRAMA AND NON-DRAMA. LET ME BREAK-IT-DOWN-NOW.
EVERYONE IN CREATION IS SCREAMING AT US TO MAKE THE SHOW CLEAR. WE ARE TASKED WITH, IT SEEMS, CRAMMING A SHITLOAD OF INFORMATION INTO A LITTLE BIT OF TIME.
OUR FRIENDS. THE PENGUINS, THINK THAT WE, THEREFORE, ARE EMPLOYED TO COMMUNICATE INFORMATION -- AND, SO, AT TIMES, IT SEEMS TO US.
BUT NOTE:THE AUDIENCE WILL NOT TUNE IN TO WATCH INFORMATION. YOU WOULDN'T, I WOULDN'T. NO ONE WOULD OR WILL. THE AUDIENCE WILL ONLY TUNE IN AND STAY TUNED TO WATCH DRAMA.
QUESTION:WHAT IS DRAMA? DRAMA, AGAIN, IS THE QUEST OF THE HERO TO OVERCOME THOSE THINGS WHICH PREVENT HIM FROM ACHIEVING A SPECIFIC, ACUTE GOAL.
SO: WE, THE WRITERS, MUST ASK OURSELVES OF EVERY SCENE THESE THREE QUESTIONS.
1) WHO WANTS WHAT?
2) WHAT HAPPENS IF HER DON'T GET IT?
3) WHY NOW?
THE ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS ARE LITMUS PAPER. APPLY THEM, AND THEIR ANSWER WILL TELL YOU IF THE SCENE IS DRAMATIC OR NOT.
IF THE SCENE IS NOT DRAMATICALLY WRITTEN, IT WILL NOT BE DRAMATICALLY ACTED.
THERE IS NO MAGIC FAIRY DUST WHICH WILL MAKE A BORING, USELESS, REDUNDANT, OR MERELY INFORMATIVE SCENE AFTER IT LEAVES YOUR TYPEWRITER. YOU THE WRITERS, ARE IN CHARGE OF MAKING SURE EVERY SCENE IS DRAMATIC.
THIS MEANS ALL THE "LITTLE" EXPOSITIONAL SCENES OF TWO PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT A THIRD. THIS BUSHWAH (AND WE ALL TEND TO WRITE IT ON THE FIRST DRAFT) IS LESS THAN USELESS, SHOULD IT FINALLY, GOD FORBID, GET FILMED.
IF THE SCENE BORES YOU WHEN YOU READ IT, REST ASSURED IT WILL BORE THE ACTORS, AND WILL, THEN, BORE THE AUDIENCE, AND WE'RE ALL GOING TO BE BACK IN THE BREADLINE.
SOMEONE HAS TO MAKE THE SCENE DRAMATIC. IT IS NOT THE ACTORS JOB (THE ACTORS JOB IS TO BE TRUTHFUL). IT IS NOT THE DIRECTORS JOB. HIS OR HER JOB IS TO FILM IT STRAIGHTFORWARDLY AND REMIND THE ACTORS TO TALK FAST. IT IS YOUR JOB.
EVERY SCENE MUST BE DRAMATIC. THAT MEANS: THE MAIN CHARACTER MUST HAVE A SIMPLE, STRAIGHTFORWARD, PRESSING NEED WHICH IMPELS HIM OR HER TO SHOW UP IN THE SCENE.
THIS NEED IS WHY THEY CAME. IT IS WHAT THE SCENE IS ABOUT. THEIR ATTEMPT TO GET THIS NEED MET WILL LEAD, AT THE END OF THE SCENE,TO FAILURE - THIS IS HOW THE SCENE IS OVER. IT, THIS FAILURE, WILL, THEN, OF NECESSITY, PROPEL US INTO THE NEXT SCENE.
ALL THESE ATTEMPTS, TAKEN TOGETHER, WILL, OVER THE COURSE OF THE EPISODE, CONSTITUTE THE PLOT.
ANY SCENE, THUS, WHICH DOES NOT BOTH ADVANCE THE PLOT, AND STANDALONE (THAT IS, DRAMATICALLY, BY ITSELF, ON ITS OWN MERITS) IS EITHER SUPERFLUOUS, OR INCORRECTLY WRITTEN.
YES BUT YES BUT YES BUT, YOU SAY: WHAT ABOUT THE NECESSITY OF WRITING IN ALL THAT "INFORMATION?"
AND I RESPOND "FIGURE IT OUT" ANY DICKHEAD WITH A BLUESUIT CAN BE (AND IS) TAUGHT TO SAY "MAKE IT CLEARER", AND "I WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT HIM".
WHEN YOU'VE MADE IT SO CLEAR THAT EVEN THIS BLUESUITED PENGUIN IS HAPPY, BOTH YOU AND HE OR SHE WILL BE OUT OF A JOB.
THE JOB OF THE DRAMATIST IS TO MAKE THE AUDIENCE WONDER WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. NOT TO EXPLAIN TO THEM WHAT JUST HAPPENED, OR TO*SUGGEST* TO THEM WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.
ANY DICKHEAD, AS ABOVE, CAN WRITE, "BUT, JIM, IF WE DON'T ASSASSINATE THE PRIME MINISTER IN THE NEXT SCENE, ALL EUROPE WILL BE ENGULFED IN FLAME"
WE ARE NOT GETTING PAID TO REALIZE THAT THE AUDIENCE NEEDS THIS INFORMATION TO UNDERSTAND THE NEXT SCENE, BUT TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO WRITE THE SCENE BEFORE US SUCH THAT THE AUDIENCE WILL BE INTERESTED IN WHAT HAPPENS NEXT.
YES BUT, YES BUT YES BUT YOU REITERATE.
AND I RESPOND FIGURE IT OUT.
HOW DOES ONE STRIKE THE BALANCE BETWEEN WITHHOLDING AND VOUCHSAFING INFORMATION? THAT IS THE ESSENTIAL TASK OF THE DRAMATIST. AND THE ABILITY TO DO THAT IS WHAT SEPARATES YOU FROM THE LESSER SPECIES IN THEIR BLUE SUITS.
FIGURE IT OUT.
START, EVERY TIME, WITH THIS INVIOLABLE RULE: THE SCENE MUST BE DRAMATIC. it must start because the hero HAS A PROBLEM, AND IT MUST CULMINATE WITH THE HERO FINDING HIM OR HERSELF EITHER THWARTED OR EDUCATED THAT ANOTHER WAY EXISTS.
LOOK AT YOUR LOG LINES. ANY LOGLINE READING "BOB AND SUE DISCUSS..." IS NOT DESCRIBING A DRAMATIC SCENE.
PLEASE NOTE THAT OUR OUTLINES ARE, GENERALLY, SPECTACULAR. THE DRAMA FLOWS OUT BETWEEN THE OUTLINE AND THE FIRST DRAFT.
THINK LIKE A FILMMAKER RATHER THAN A FUNCTIONARY, BECAUSE, IN TRUTH, YOU ARE MAKING THE FILM. WHAT YOU WRITE, THEY WILL SHOOT.
HERE ARE THE DANGER SIGNALS. ANY TIME TWO CHARACTERS ARE TALKING ABOUT A THIRD, THE SCENE IS A CROCK OF SHIT.
ANY TIME ANY CHARACTER IS SAYING TO ANOTHER "AS YOU KNOW", THAT IS, TELLING ANOTHER CHARACTER WHAT YOU, THE WRITER, NEED THE AUDIENCE TO KNOW, THE SCENE IS A CROCK OF SHIT.
DO NOT WRITE A CROCK OF SHIT. WRITE A RIPPING THREE, FOUR, SEVEN MINUTE SCENE WHICH MOVES THE STORY ALONG, AND YOU CAN, VERY SOON, BUY A HOUSE IN BEL AIR AND HIRE SOMEONE TO LIVE THERE FOR YOU.
REMEMBER YOU ARE WRITING FOR A VISUAL MEDIUM. MOST TELEVISION WRITING, OURS INCLUDED, SOUNDS LIKE RADIO. THE CAMERA CAN DO THE EXPLAINING FOR YOU. LET IT. WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERS DOING -*LITERALLY*. WHAT ARE THEY HANDLING, WHAT ARE THEY READING. WHAT ARE THEY WATCHING ON TELEVISION, WHAT ARE THEY SEEING.
IF YOU PRETEND THE CHARACTERS CANT SPEAK, AND WRITE A SILENT MOVIE, YOU WILL BE WRITING GREAT DRAMA.
IF YOU DEPRIVE YOURSELF OF THE CRUTCH OF NARRATION, EXPOSITION,INDEED, OF SPEECH. YOU WILL BE FORGED TO WORK IN A NEW MEDIUM - TELLING THE STORY IN PICTURES (ALSO KNOWN AS SCREENWRITING)
THIS IS A NEW SKILL. NO ONE DOES IT NATURALLY. YOU CAN TRAIN YOURSELVES TO DO IT, BUT YOU NEED TO START.
I CLOSE WITH THE ONE THOUGHT: LOOK AT THE SCENE AND ASK YOURSELF "IS IT DRAMATIC? IS IT ESSENTIAL? DOES IT ADVANCE THE PLOT?
ANSWER TRUTHFULLY.
IF THE ANSWER IS "NO" WRITE IT AGAIN OR THROW IT OUT. IF YOU'VE GOT ANY QUESTIONS, CALL ME UP.
LOVE, DAVE MAMET
SANTA MONICA 19 OCTO 05
(IT IS NOT YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO KNOW THE ANSWERS, BUT IT IS YOUR, AND MY, RESPONSIBILITY TO KNOW AND TO ASK THE RIGHT Questions OVER AND OVER. UNTIL IT BECOMES SECOND NATURE. I BELIEVE THEY ARE LISTED ABOVE.)"
As a child, I remember, I would take rose petals from the flower bed in school, lie down on the Merry-Go-Round and rub it between my fingers for hours on end - feeling the texture and smelling them while the sunlight played hide and seek with my face, peeping through the leaves of the trees above as the Merry- Go-Round went round and round endlessly. The smell would linger between my fingertips for hours after that. Each time I would smell my fingertips, I would be taken back to my world where the warmth of the sun caressed my face and the breeze ran it's fingers through my hair and I would suddenly feel that everything would be alright.
Even if it was a life threatening problem like my mother shouting at me for not having done my homework!
As a child, you marvel, you get fascinated, you are curious and you daydream. You daydream about things in your immediate realm like riding your father's bike or using all the money in your mother's purse to eat all the ice cream you want but you also dream about impossible things. Things like getting your hands on the Communicator which Captain Kirk flips open so stylishly and says,"Beam me up, Scotty!" or actually becoming Captain Kirk and commanding your own spaceship or even Ingrid Bergman falling in love with you!
Your heart is pure, it is innocent and it truly believes that anything is possible. You discover new music, you discover new voices, you discover new sensations and you discover love. Each new sensation that you experience just seems to fill your heart.
Do you even remember what you were like at 16?
During my pre-board exam parent teacher meeting three of my teachers told my father, "He will do well... but he could do better if he did not daydream so much." Once outside, my father asked me, "What do you dream about?" I said, "I don't know!"
And then life happens.
Slowly but surely the noose of practicality and reality starts getting tighter around your neck and subtly, very gently, without you even knowing it it gets tighter and tighter. Everyone around you tries to define what you should expect, hope to achieve and how to conduct yourself. You either conform or you are branded a rebel.And then there is the fear. The fear of being laughed at.
When I was in Class VI and a new teacher had joined our school. On her first day with us, she asked each student to state their name and what they wanted to be when they grew up. My turn came and after proudly stating my name, I said, "I want to be a director when I grow up." I will perhaps never forget the laughter that followed. It was completely unexpected and my eyes welled up with tears as I looked around at the familiar faces of my classmates and friends, all of them laughing at me.
Two things could have happened that day. An 11 year old could have decided that it was indeed a stupid thing that he had dreamt of and become a conformist or continued to dream as he did earlier. I am glad I took the second path but I promised myself never to be caught unaware like this, ever again. That is why, 5 years later when my father asked me, "What do you dream about?" I said, "I don't know!"
I have figured out that there is no need to wear your dreams on your sleeve for everyone to see but don't let them die. Be 16 inside. Most of us give up too soon. I know it is tough because the noose of practicality is forever looming, forever threatening to choke the 16 year old that you were once. Hold on to what you always dreamt of becoming, hold on to what you always wanted to do and most importantly, hold on to the kind of love you always wanted.
From time to time I wonder if that 16 year old in me is still alive and it is one of my greatest fears that one day I will wake up and not find him there.
A few weeks back, after many, many years, someone gave me rose. As I smelt it, I felt the familiar warmth of the sun caressing my face and the breeze running it's fingers through my hair... and I knew that everything would be alright.
There are many ways of creating stories and characters. Sometimes you are lucky enough and someone comes along with a story and characters that you empathise with and you make it your own. Why empathy? I feel feel that in order to tell a story well or for other people to identify with it - there should be a level of understanding and connect with the characters.
Keeping this in mind, each time I create something new, I try to give something unique to each of the characters from my own life and I strongly feel that the closer it is - the more real the character becomes. Not just me but a lot of people do it or should do it if they don't. Therefore each journey of creation becomes a journey within oneself to try and pry out something that is deep and hidden inside. This journey can actually leave you crushed or ecstatic - depending on what you discover. Deliberately reliving your joys and pains over and over again can be quite an experience and every time you do it - you discover something new about yourself. I read somewhere that the moment you don't have anything to draw from inside your "well", your journey as an artist comes to an end and I think that most artists are insecure of dipping a bucket inside and find it coming up empty.
The solution (if I may call it that) is to embrace all that comes your way. Enjoy all the experiences that life shells out - joy, pain and most of all - falling in love. I really do think that we don't fall in love often enough.
Arjun falling in love was a very special sequence spread over four mini sequences and I wanted it to be special - as falling in love should be! To show a contrast between the Arjun that we saw in the series, all hardened and ravaged by his past and the Arjun that was - lovestruck and blinded by Roshni was a challenge. We managed to shoot only two of the mini-sequences that have been strung together in a loose edit below.
By now, quite a few of you are trying to draw a possible connect between my life and Arjun's but I will leave it up to your imagination. After all, I have to see that some bits remain in my "well" for my autobiography!!!
Take a look at Arjun falling in love and let me know whether you think we would have managed to pull this off. The sequence too - like a lot of love stories - is incomplete!
This post is meant for people who watch Arjun - so if you don't watch this show, you might as well stop reading now. But before you go let me tell you - you are missing out on a great show! For those of you who have been wondering about my silence on various social media fronts - I have been slightly unwell. I hope the problems will get sorted out in the coming week.
So, the main characters of Arjun had got finalised and I wanted to see how they looked together and so did the channel. I also wanted to see how the new camera that we were planning to use would perform in the dark. So we set up a look test on the set of Humse Hai Liife,which has now been modified to be the ETF office. The corridor was lit up in a dark, contrasty fashion to try and emulate the lighting in a warehouse or something. Contrary to what the plate says, the camera was manned by Tribhuvan Babu. What you see below is a result of that sequence.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nck0OX48C7E
Now it was time to handle one of the two most tricky scenes of the first episode - Riya's earring (which later became a hair clip) to get caught in Arjun's shirt in the middle of a serious discussion about the kidnapper. I had spent sleepless nights over this scene. It required extremely fine balance in the execution because just being an inch overboard would have made the discussion frivolous and the characters seem petty to be distracted by the earring! The scene also sets the chemistry between the two characters - the first time Riya would try to stand up to Arjun and he would shoot her down rudely. I do not remember how many times I had played the scene in my head as this was one of the two scenes that I was really, really worried about. The other scene which gave sleepless nights was where Riya and Arjun meet first, get into fist-fight and she ends up tightly locked in his arms - but that is another story! I had deliberately chosen this scene to be apart of the look test because I wanted the chance to rehearse and shoot it properly before we hit the floor and I am glad I did! What I remember most from shooting this scene is how many questions Shaleen and Sana asked me that day and at this point I can admit that I did not have a lot of answers ready but providing an answer to them also answered a lot of questions that I had myself. Rathore had not been cast - so I decided to use one of the crew to stand-in with his back to camera. At this point, I was more worried about the content rather than blocking.
When I finished shooting the scene, it was huge load off my shoulders. Both the actors had got the essence of the scene right and it had turned out better than I had expected. I knew that shooting this scene during actual production would be a cakewalk for all of us.
It was now time to head outdoors and as the sun was setting, I quickly decided to write an improvised scene which would show the difference between Riya and Arjun's characters. I had an inkling that we would be doing some form of honour killing in the coming episodes and as time was short and the sun was setting fast, I chose to write a few lines that would get over in just one shot. In the actual series, the killing is done by the mother and Riya goes and confronts the killer herself - but this is how I had imagined the end to be.
- Gorky M