How will be world in 2109…I keep wondering now a days. Perhaps lots of science fictions I have been watching recently. But still aren’t we sitting in completely different world from what it was in 1909? Had anybody imagined then that one person sitting in Doha can see and talk to another in Bombay as in early days they used to do in a living room? ‘Space’ have already ceased to matter. And I am waiting for the days when man conquers over ‘time’. I am sure it will happen in my lifetime though.
Question is will these achievements be good for human being considering many scientific milestones have proven curse for mankind (goes without saying how we live in a fear of nuclear war environment). I was reading recently Godfather famed picture editor Walter Murch’s ‘In a Blink of an Eye’ and he shared the same fear. His argument was that after film medium became digital many things became easier and faster to accomplish as far as cinema is concerned. But haven’t we stopped making classical movies? When was the last time when we made movies even closer to Godfather.
Mostly speed makes us ignore many things. It makes us more mechanical. In the old days of linear editing film editor used to go through the rushes several times to get a perfect shot. And many times which in beginning was considered not good shot used to turn up as classic take eventually. Now we do not require to visit NG shots at all. In fact cinematographer shooting in HD deletes NG before even it comes to editor's table. We have started relying on ‘considered good shot’. What is the result? We have been making movies much faster than ever before. But main goal is missing... We are missing good movies in theatre. Another example just to simplify things – Like I want to go home from office. Earlier it used to take two hours when I was using public transport. But now with good infrastructure and new car I can drive faster. But I am missing my friends who used to travel with me in public transport…humor, laughter, gossips which used to make me fresh before reaching home. Now I am reaching home faster but tired from office. I am not the same person anymore who used to come home fresh and then entertain the family. What I mean to say that technology has made human life very easier but it also has made him lonely. And do not forget ‘man is a social animal’.
I do not want to sound like ‘fear monger’. But what we need to do is find a solution. Solution is definitely not that we should stop making scientific progress or even embracing technological advantages. Solution is that we should never cease being human. Lots of things machine can do for us but still we should not completely rely on it as it is mechanical and only human mind can think logically. There is no harm in editing a film in digital environment but we should not stop revisiting NG takes time and again just because machine says so. Human being’s state of mind keep changing and a shot which was called NG in certain mood and requirement can become the most acclaimed shot at later stage of editing. Here I would like to give example of my good friend and famous bollywood editor Anand Subaya. When he made first cut of ‘Don’ (Sharukh Khan one), there was hardly anywhere he had included that dialogue ‘don ko pakadna muskil hi nahi namumkin hai’. But in later stage he made this a theme dialogue of movie and eventually almost everyone coming out of theatre after watching this movie was saying this dialogue. In the same way, there is no harm in watching movie on home theatre but for true cinematic experience we got to go to theatre. Only in theatre we can get six or six hundred strange people sitting in a dark room and emanating same vibes…and most importantly without a remote control. Without getting into man and machine debate what I want to say is that let machine do its mechanical thing but for logical stuff we must rely on ourselves…the humans.
By the way it will be nice to meet up again in 2109 and discuss once again about it.
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