CHANGING TRENDS IN CINEMA A Bollywood and Hollywood Perspective

15th April, 2013

Submitted To:
Dr. Shahila Zafar SSL VIT University

Submitted By:
Piyush Vilas Chaudhari 12BBT0119

ABSTRACT
Cinema in India is like brushing your teeth, you cant escape it anyway. Shahrukh Khans humorous statement, in its own way, yells the already established fact that Indians are Movie frenzy. Movie making has evolved, and evolved tremendously over years. From Guru Dutts Pyaasa (1957) to Shahrukh Khans Swades (2004), Indian Cinema has somehow managed to sustain the quality it began with. Talking about the world, World Cinema too has come a long way from its old Al Pacino days to the recent Argo. The most positive development seems the fact that audience have matured when it comes to movie viewing. The report analyses the development in Cinema on the basis of two parameters- Content and Technology. Data Collection was mostly done from search engines and Wikipedia. The views of audiences of different age groups were recorded through a questionnaire. The findings mostly depicted the changing audience, which gives preference to Story and Performance and not to the big names involved or Critical reviews. The findings also suggest that although the audience dont consider Indian cinema on par with Hollywood where the movie content is considered, technologically, we are almost equal to them. The possible reasons for these findings are the recent advances in Indian cinema with movies like Ra. One and Robot, which has taken Indian cinema on the globe. And yes, though we still have a long way to go, it is good to see that we have started taking Cinema seriously and this attitude will help us to evolve more and better in coming time.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction
Aim Scope Background of Study

2. Change in the story and Portrayal of Characters:

A Hollywood Perspective A Bollywood Perspective 3. Change in Movie Making with development of Technology

4. Data Analysis 5. Conclusions 6. References

INTRODUCTION

Aim:
The purpose of this report is to study the changing trends in the Cinema over a period of time (from 1950s till date) with reference to the change in story and portrayal of characters and also with the Technology used.

Scope:
The project includes detailed description of the trends that have developed over the time period in Cinema, whether its the portrayal of Characters or the storyline or the Technology used. It also contains a detailed analysis of the Survey conducted among people of different age groups about their views on the above trends.

Background of the study:

As Martin Scorsese puts in his own words, Cinema is a matter of what's in the frame and what's out. Cinema is so familiar and so prevalent in our lives that we are often lulled into Passive viewing or into Simple entertainment. As a result, certain aspects of a film are often "invisible." We become too negligible towards things other than entertainment that we do not see the technical beauty of the work like Camera work, editing, and sound. Nor do we realize the production struggles that accompany every film which includes the script's many rewrites, the drama of getting the project financed, the casting challenges, and so on. Films reflect the cultures and nations in which they were produced. Hollywood films, one might argue, reflect certain things about our nation's culture: our love of distraction, our attraction to adrenaline and testosterone, our need for good to triumph over evil, and our belief that things work out in the end. Different cultures and nations have different values and hence they produce different sorts of films. Sometimes they dont seem to impress us. We might watch a French film, for example, and wonder why it's funny. Or we might watch a Russian film and wonder why the director never calls for a close up. These observations are in fact excellent starting places. Film is an incredibly complex medium. Just take a look at the credits at the end of any film. Each of the people listed there has contributed something essential to the film's production - from lighting, to sound, to wardrobe, to editing, to special effects.

CHANGE IN STORY AND PORTRAYAL OF CHARACTERS A HOLLYWOOD PERSPECTIVE

Hollywood Cinema is always known to be visionary. The story and portrayal of characters show clearly reflects a visionary trend that becomes the path for the society to follow. The cult thriller, Psycho (1960), directed by Alfred Hitchcock, was a trendsetter for every movie of the genre after it. As Fiz-X Entertainment quotes it, It defined the genre and has since become an unforgettable horror classic. It shocked people with its chocolate blood and still scares the living daylights out of many today. The murder of Janet Leigh's character in the shower is the film's pivotal scene and one of the best-known in all of cinema. Jaws (1975) was one of the first films to really become a blockbuster in Hollywood history. The content of the movie may not look convincing as of today, back then, it infused terror in the mind of people to such an extent that they were even scared to go to swimming. That's the effect of a good movie that's so ahead of its time it becomes real to everyone who watches it. Hollywood movies, in terms of story and character portrayl, havent changed much since then. Although the technology has a big role to play in generating awe for Hollywood movies, the script and strong performances are also inevitable parts of its success. Still a debatable movie, for the fact that it was a flop if numbers are to be believed, Office Time (1999) earned a place for itself in cinema history by being comically ahead of its time. The character portrayal has changed, to a large extent. Movies such as The Italian Job (2003) and The Dark Knight (2008) has sparked a trend where instead of storyline deciding who is the hero, the performance decides who actually gets the applause of the audience. Post-classical cinema is the changing methods of storytelling of the New Hollywood producers. The characterization is done completely different, storylines may feature unsettling "twist endings", main characters may behave in a morally ambiguous fashion, and the lines between the antagonist and protagonist may be blurred.

CHANGE IN STORY AND PORTRAYAL OF CHARACTERS A BOLLYWOOD PERSPECTIVE

We actually started our Cinema journey from the year 1913. But it is far interesting to look back and remember how our country first started to appreciate the unique possibility of finding a new art and commerce in the simplicity of moving pictures. This traces is roots to an event in 1896, when one of Lumiere brothers films, Marvel of the Century was exhibited in Mumbai. Their work infused more curiosity not only in our country India but around the globe. The Post Independence period , from the late 1940s to the 1960s is regarded as the "Golden Age" of Hindi cinema. Some of the most beautiful and critically acclaimed classics of all times were made that were recognized nationally as well as internationally. Examples include the Guru Dutt films Pyaasa (1957) and Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959) and the Raj Kapoor films Awaara (1951) and Shree 420 (1955). These films expressed social themes mainly dealing with working-class urban life in India; Awaara presented the city as two sides of the same coin: a nightmare and a dream, while Pyaasa critiqued the unreality of city life. Some of the most epic movies of Indian cinema were made at that time, which includes Mehboob Khan's Mother India (1957), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and K. Asif's Mughal-e-Azam (1960). Madhumati (1958), directed by Bimal Roy and written by Ritwik Ghatak, popularised the theme of reincarnation in Western popular culture. It also became a trendsetter for other movies like Karz, Om Shanti Om, etc. The first path-breaking step in the portrayal of character was taken by Yash Chopra with his 1975 hit, Deewar. Amitabh Bacchan, with his grey character of Vijay, won the accolades of the Audience. Yash Chopra didnt stopped here and went on to make Darr(1993), the story of an obsessed lover (Shahrukh Khan) and the lengths to which he goes to get the girl (Juhi Chawla) who is already happily engaged to someone else. Shahrukh Khan also acted in movies Baazigar and Anjaam, where he played the same anti-hero roles but still got both the critical acclaim as well as public acceptance. In Khan's entry in Encyclopdia Britannica's "Encyclopedia of Hindi Cinema" it was stated that "he defied the image of the conventional hero in both these films and created his own version of the revisionist hero." He can be actually stated as the original trendsetter with regard to character portrayal. He is still reinventing himself with movies like Don(2006) and Don 2(2011). Songs and Dance numbers are an essential part of any Bollywood movie. Music and Dance is beautifully woven into script. A film's success depends largely on the quality

of such musical numbers. This is the reason why a film's music is often released before the movie and helps increase the audience. Bollywood plots have tended to be melodramatic. Formulatic elements such as starcrossed lovers and angry parents, love triangles, family ties, sacrifice, corrupt politicians, kidnappers, conniving villains, courtesans with hearts of gold, long-lost relatives and siblings separated by fate, dramatic reversals of fortune, and convenient coincidences are frequently employed to make the movie more interesting. (Source: Filmfare) Its not that we only make masala movies. We do have another category of Cinema with more artistic aims and more sophisticated stories, both inside and outside the Bollywood tradition. Known as Parallel Cinmea, they often lost out at the box office to masala movies due to less mass appeal. However, the conventions are changing. A large Indian diaspora in English-speaking countries, and increased Western influence at home, have nudged Bollywood films closer to Hollywood models. Film critic Lata Khubchandani writes, "our earliest films...had liberal doses of intimacy and sensuality in them. Strangely, it was after Independence the censor board came into being and so did all the strictures." (Source: Google News). Stories now tend to feature urbanites dating and dancing in clubs rather than centring on prearranged marriages. Though these changes can widely be seen in contemporary Bollywood, traditional conservative ways of Indian culture continue to exist in India outside the industry and an element of resistance by some to western-based influences.

CHANGE IN TECHNOLOGY A HOLLYWOOD PERSPECTIVE

The development of motion picture complexity has been driven by a continuing technological evolution, ignited and manipulated by human initiative and inventiveness. It is through graphic effects, sounds and visual recordings that all individuals see how we have evolved to present day digital technology. As the film history has progressed, filmmaking technology has also progressed, from cameras, to sound recording, to editing. But then, more advanced technology doen not make it superior in each application. Technology is a tool that just helps to broaden the horizon of conventional cinema. The movies like The Dark Knight won accolades for the use of IMAX cameras for shooting the scenes. The highest grossing movie of all time, Avataar, have to give the credits of its huge success to Director James Cameron and his effective use of Filmaking technology. There's no denying that we have been slow learners when it comes to adapting techniques in Indian films. But seeing the present scenario, it seems we have accepted the contribution of technology, and have started giving technology the due it deserves in the present cinematic scenario. The debate is not about using technology in making of a film. The only thing that we should realize is, no matter what amount of emotions and other normal ingredients the films have, but very core of the movie would be the technology itself. A lot of credit must be given to Robot, Rajnikant's classic that, in more ways than one, could be termed as the first to use technology effectively as well as to give it a pivotal role in the movie. What Robot did can be seen in multiple ways. Though the movie starred Rajnikant himself, it cant be denied that the audience, at the same time, was stunned by the portrayal of technology, which shared limelight with the superstar himself. Close on the heels of the success of Robot came Ra-One. Shah Rukh Khan's mega movie displayed the story of a video game. It was indeed a brave attempt, irrespective of public response, which, of course, is a subject of a different debate. Ra. One did the same thing as Robot, twirl everything around the technology, a topic which was was not attempted by Bollywood earlier. West, though, comes with a history of over three decades. Movies like Tron and War Games touched upon the similar subject as Ra. One did. What these films also showcased was their poaching a contemporary subject. The moment Ra. One choosed to showcase a subject that has mass acceptance and understanding, it hit the Bulls eye, as millions of youngsters hooked on to games of

all sorts. Contemporary subjects and set-ups would definitely be easily accepted by the audience and filmmakers venturing into this zone must keep this in mind. The main issue in these things can be the amount of impact technology put on the audiences. No one can deny the fact that technology was the most necessary component of the movie, still Robot is and will always be regarded as Rajnikants classic and the positive reactions for the film were largely due to his presence. With a share of new and experimental films being made in recent times, its high time that the producers start looking for more experimental movies with technology at their core. This can get an instant connect with the new-generation audience, who are mature enough to take new subjects, but see the idea of mixing it with Superstars an absurd idea.

METHODOLOGY

1. Collection of References from various Journals and Research papers. 2. Preparation of Questionnaire. 3. Bringing the Questionnaire in Public Domain by the means of Online Survey Sheet. 4. Collection of data from the survey responses. 5. Analysis of the data on the basis of certain criterias like Age Group, Gender, Movie genre, etc. 6. Relating the Movie trends to some of the trendsetter films in Cinema history. 7. Discussions on the trends. 8. Conclusions and Recommendations.

DATA COLLECTION
The Data was collected from various research papers and articles from various film archives. The views of audiences were recorded through a questionnaire:

https://docs.google.com/a/vit.ac.in/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFNnUXdXTHJJ MnQ1dmtQbXpkejBZX0E6MQ

The main contributors in the survey were students of VIT University, Vellore. The responses of various other professionals were also received and were analysed. Responses were also received from NRIs and they also compared Bollywood and Hollywood trends with enthusiasm.

Questionnaire
The questionnaire is basically prepared to analyse the present trends in Global Movies * Required Gender : *

Male Female

What is your age group??

15 and Under 16-25 26-35 36-45 45+

Which is your favourite Hollywood Movie? (Old) Which is your favourite Bollywood Movie? (Old) Which is your favourite Hollywood Movie? (Recent) Which is your favourite Bollywood Movie? (Recent)

Which is your favourite genre of Movies?

Action Adventure Comedy Drama Horror Musicals Sci-Fi Romance

How do you rate a movie?

On the basis of the Team involved (Actors, Directors, Technicians, etc.) Story Performance Success at Box-Office Critic Reviews

What are the differences you find in the movies that were made earlier and movies that are made today? You need to answer this question based on "Characters and Story" and based on "Use of technology".

Do you feel Indian Movies are on par with their Hollywood counterparts? Again, you need to answer this question based on "Characters and Story" and based on "Use of technology".

Name Occupation City

: : :

DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

Under 15 16-25 26-35 36-45 45+

Fig.1: Comparision of people ofage different age groups Fig. Chart showing various groups in the survey

The above pie chart shows the number of people who were a part of the survey categorized on the basis of their age groups. Age Group Under 15 16-25 26-35 36-45 45+ Responses 2 47 4 6 4

Male Female

Fig.2 : Gender comparision

The above chart analyses the gender of people who filled the questionnaire. The statistics say that out of the total, 77% are males while rest are females.

Action Adventure Comedy Drama Horror Musicals Sci-Fi Romance

Fig.3: Comparision of various genre according to preference

The pie chart shown above depicts the preference of genre among the audience. The data analysis shows that Comedy, Drama and Action are the favorite genres of the audience while the Horror and Musicals are the least preferable. The inference that can be drawn for the chart is that our Audience still prefers a movie that gives them entertainment in lieu of their money. We still have a long way to go, and we are yet to accept and implement the trends. Science-Fictions movies, which have become a craze worldwide, are yet to impress our audience.

Genre Action Adventure Comedy Drama Horror Musicals Sci-Fi Romance

Percentage 46.875 28.125 56.25 37.5 23.4375 25 29.6875 37.5

Team Involved Story Performance Success at Box Office Critics Review

Fig.4: Comparision of Movie Viewing trends among audience

The above figure brings out a positive result from the respective findings. Almost 75% of Audience rates a movie on the basis of its story and performance of the characters. While Team involved, Critics Reviews and Success at Box Office doesnt seem to affect their preference. This indicates a change in mindset of audience as they are no longer deceived by the big names or the critics review while watching a movie. They judge a movie purely based on the content and the character portrayal. Perspective Team Involved Story Performance Success at Box Office Critics Review Percentage 15.625 67.1875 53.125 10.9375 18.75

The descriptive questions though, present a totally different picture when compared to the objective data. Movies like The Dark Knight, Darr and Ra. One comes out as the preference of the general audience. The most probable reason of this trend seems to be the change in mindset of audience regarding the characters. Audience no longer enjoys seeing a too-good-to-be-true character playing the lead role. They now want a more realistic character that they can associate themselves with. If audience praises Shahrukh Khan more than Sunny Deol in Darr, or The Joker unknowingly becomes the hero of The Dark Knight instead of Batman, it only depicts how movie viewing has evolved over years. As Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan talks about Ra.One, Villians are always the most important factor of a successful movie. Thats why Sholay is Gabbar Singhs movie and the hero of Mr. India is Mogambo. Considering all these things, I decided to name my movie after the lead villain.

When Heath Ledger saw Batman Begins, he started working to make the character more similar to the tone of the movie: Heath Ledger described his Joker as a "psychopathic, mass murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy." In the film, the Joker has a desire to upset social order in Gotham City through crime, and comes to define himself by his conflict with Batman. As a part of preparation for the role, Ledger lived alone in a hotel room for a month, formulating the character's posture, voice, and personality, and recorded the thoughts and feelings of his character in a diary. "There's a bit of everything in him. There's nothing that consistent," Ledger said, and added, "There are a few more surprises to him." The Dark Knight was a path-breaking movie both in terms of character portrayal as well as technology used. For its release in IMAX theaters, Christopher Nolan, the director of the trilogy, shot four major sequences in that format, including the Joker's opening bank robbery and the car chase midway through the film, which saw IMAX cameras to be used for shooting a feature film for the first time. For fifteen years Nolan had wanted to shoot in the IMAX format, and he also used it for "quiet scenes which pictorially we thought would be interesting.

Picture1: Director Christopher Nolan (far left) and actor Heath Ledger (in make-up) filming a scene in The Dark Knight with an IMAX camera.

Yes No

Fig.5: Are Indian Movies on par with Hollywood in terms of content?

The above pie chart reflects the verdict of general audience on whether Indian movies can compete Hollywood movies in terms of movie content. Only 34% of the people feel we are ready to take on Hollywood in terms of story and character portrayal. The major audience doesnt feel so. The possible reason may again be the possible inclination of Indian filmmakers towards Masala movies, and still the youth, which is the major contributor to this survey, doesnt feel our movies are up to that mark. But taking the bigger picture in mind, movies like Swades, Kahaani, Lagaan, My Name is Khan, etc. have put India on the globe, and has won accolades. Maybe a few more years, and we will definitely match Hollywood in terms of movie content.

Yes No

Fig.6: Are Indian Movies on par with Hollywood in terms of technology?

The above comparison brings out a big positive from Indian cinema. 52% of general public feels the technology which we use for movie making is definitely in line with the technology used in Hollywood movies. Bu this view might have built up in recent years with the release of movies like Ra.One and Robot.

Ra.One was an idea incepted by Anubhav Sinha. Filming began in March 2010 in India and UK. The post-production involved 3-D conversion and the application of visual effects, the latter being recognised as a technological breakthrough among Indian films. With a total estimated budget of around 125 crore (US$22.75 million), Ra.One was one of the most expensive Indian films at the time of release.

Picture2 and 3: Important scenes of Ra. One, where technology was employed more than conventional shooting to make the scenes look realistic

The Bond movies have made people interested in technology, but together with the showcasing of actual and feasible gadgets, there is a mixture of fantasy technology. The "active camouflage" that makes a car invisible in Die Another Day (2002); the magnetic field producing Rolex wristwatch in Live and Let Die (1973); and the sound tampering electronic device implanted in the neck in Diamonds are Forever (1971) are hardly realistic. But most of the devices in Bond movies are quite authentic even these unrealistic weapons are theoretically possible. The Bond movies have evolved to become more and more realistic with time. It actually brought the sense of style in the hero of a movie. All the progress through time in information, say intricate animations and technological advancements are the eye- opener" which awakens visions to the future and widens our perspectives. The new Era of Information Technology is our link to preserving the past, keeping track of the present and looking forward to the future.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

As celebrated author Mr. V.S. Naipaul says, The first 50 years of the cinema were absolutely great years. Original minds were at work establishing the ways to tell a story. And what is happening now is a copying, a pastiche-ing of what was done by great men. The advent in technology has increased the apprehension in the minds of many intellectuals that the fast faced developments may make a big compromise with the quality of Cinema A growing number of people will be able to capture visual images more easily; images may be created through software graphics on the computer without any actual shooting. Such processes may have an easy access to cinema, still it may not portray the real performance and human element that we experience even today when we see classics. Cinema reflects culture and there is no harm in adapting technology, but not at the cost of losing your originality. Jackie Chan speaks up for whole of the world. This will be a big blow to the prestige of Cinema. There may be huge spurt in the number of movies produced, but story and content are paying the cost. There is no debate: Cinema is definitely in trouble. Although the returns have increased in recent years, losses have mounted as well. The story and content have degraded, to a large extent, and it seems there is nothing for a person who has a interest in quality cinema. But theres always another side. If we look the positive angle, Bollywood has made great strides in all technical areas of Filmmaking. For example, comparing two of Aamir Khans cricket based films, Awwal Number (1990) and Lagaan (2001), shows great improvements made by Cinema in editing, cinematography and other production values. Movies like Argo (2012), The Lincoln (2012) and in India, My Name is Khan (2010) and Swades (2004) have shown that World Cinema is still good enough to come up classics in terms of Story and Performance. Technology has brought revolutionary changes to movie making. Says Hugh Jackman, Although Nolan has shot all the scenes of The Dark Knight beautifully, we can definitely make out the scenes that are shot with IMAX cameras. They are so divine. Back Home, Movies like Ra. One and Don 2, and quite possibly Dhoom 3 give us a hope making our presence felt on globe in terms of technological advances. The only thing the Cinema needs right now is investment in some quality work. Entertainment is definitely the key to success but we should not forget the key definition of Cinema: It is the window through which we can see the society. More emphasis is needed on parallel cinema and its progress. Bollywood Directors like Anurag Kashyap, Vishal Bharadwaj and Tigmnashu Dhulia are the best people to handle the mantle of parallel cinema in todays India.

Perhaps Bollywood, after many missteps and taking blows from outside world, may finally be ready to start influencing the rest of the world in a big way. We definitely have a long way to go, but the good thing is, we have started taking our steps forward. It does not matter whether it will take 15-20 or more years for us to influence World Cinema, but the notable thing is, we already have that vision.

REFERENCES
Arti, R. (2003, January 2003. 'The Hindi film industry is not united'. Rediff, December 14, 2003 http:/www.rediff.com/movies/2003/jan/30ghai.htm Bollywood cash registers lose their ring [Letter to the editor] (2003, April 15)- The Economic Times http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid= 43401544 Cash boost for Bollywood. (2001, July 25)- BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1456962.stm YaleGlobal Online Magazine Web http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/about/essay.jsp Pearson, B. (2002, August 25) Hollywood speaks to India's middle class- Variety http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=upsell_article&articleID=VR11178 71802&cs=1 Prasad, R. (1999, November 22) Indian films show how the West can be won over- Business Asia http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m0BJT/22_7/58079840/p1/article.jhtml http://www.indiancinema100.in http://www.wikipedia.com http://www.google.com http://www.bing.com