Renaissance is one curiously weird word. Apart from symbolizing the liberalization of literature from the tight clutches of the Church into the free hands of the masses, it also has one more unique property. It is popularized by the course of events that are described by it. Renaissance marked the liberalization of literature after which only people started using this word more and more and hence it can be seen as a self-popularized word.
We all know renaissance happened in the medieval age but there is a renaissance happening today also. In fact renaissance happens in every era. Generally the trend is after the advent of a new technology it will remain in the hands of elite for few years and slowly transition into the hands of the masses.
After print media the major innovation is the screen media and the television (or broadcast media). Cinema had impacted our life the way no other media can do so. But Cinema production remained exclusive to the very few because of the high production costs involved in making a movie. This is unlike Church imposed medieval pre-renaissance restrictions on literature.
A scene from Raja Harishchandra – the first Indian Movie
So for more than half of the century Cinema remained in the hands of the few. They had decided what to make and the masses had followed what had been made. This worked well for earlier times but lately concerns were raised upon whether those few can actually represent the expectations of the masses. Nevertheless it is a tedious task which had been showing in the increasing number of not so well doing films each year. Nearly 1000 films are produced each year by the Indian cinema but we can assuredly say there are only a handful of films that makes an impact on us. Besides the movie outreach is just to 45 million compared to the 1.2 Billion populations in India.
So how to take this dream media to masses? Here comes the renaissance to revive its present day role. The advent of electronic era provided high technology recording devices like HQ Mobile cameras, DSLRs into the hands of the masses. While a common man can record videos on his own anytime, broadcasting this to the world is made much easier by the internet video platforms like youtube, dailymotion, etc. The result is one of the major discoveries of all time – “Short movies”.
No one would have believed a decade ago that a bunch of adolescents can come up with a compelling movie yet this is what happening now days.
The increasing awareness for shorts and their ability to convey a message or entertain in a matter of 15 – 30 mins makes the film viewing much easier than a regular movie where a person has to go to the movie hall some 30 mins before, get his seat, watch the movie for 2 to 3 hours and come back. Besides commuting in city traffics could take hours to reach back. Success of reality shows like Nalaya Iyakkunar has also increased the awareness of short films. Short movies are the T20’s of the cine industry.
As an extension of this trend, crowd funding has also started to pour in for short movies. For those who aren’t aware, crowd funding is a developing area in finance where projects are funded by masses. This can be compared to stock market as many will join hands by investing in a particular movie project and the expectation of the masses will determine which movie project to invest upon.
From the select few movie production is slowly moving into the hands of the masses. Today anyone can take a movie with minimal handled devices. Also the move towards crowd funding will be a major turn around and will stabilize the movie industry for a longer term.
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