Cinema and Technology – Happened Happening Happens

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Prakash Belawadi is multi-faceted famed in Indian theater, film, activists, and journalists. Belawadi has participated in numerous seminars, TEDx conferences, and festivals in India and overseas. Mr. Belawadi is a mentor of the BISFF (Bengaluru International Kurzfilm Festival).  As theater in his bloodline, Mr. Belwadi is an encyclopedia of Theatre and moving media.

Mr. Belawadi’s extensively researched finding in his three-point talk, one being the Duration of Cinema second Why and To Whom filmmakers have to do Cinema, and thirdly Should Cinema have Language and other Barriers, says how we witness the three eras of the Indian film technologically from celluloid, digital to OTT, can be a significant source book to new researchers. Opinions interaction sessions should be arranged for persons who are associated with reels.

Getting back to his first findings Mr. Belawadi's accurate answer tells us it’s the Market Logic that Determines the Duration of the Cinema, rather than the will of the filmmaker, having commercial aspects like Budget, shows per day,  interval, advertisement attached to it and forget not to mention till date Indian mainstream entertainment are Theaters, Parijatha, Yakshagana, Taala Madale, Doddata which casts overnight compared to cinema as a flip stream. His technical explanation of the 16/9 pixel aspect ratio is less understandable to non-technological.

 

Mr. Belawadi declares that this pandemic has remodeled the audience who of-late watches 9 hours of web series on OTT platform continuously were less tolerant of 3-hour cinema, making eyebrows rise. He coined Web series are also Cinemas but with the different label ‘Series’. Mr. Belawadi feels Technology is equivocal and Technical Giants have become bigger countries than bigger countries, remembers decade back he warned the collapse of celluloid got true in two years. He doubts whether the filmmaker gets the same screen for his next show as many films are in the array and OTT with many clauses. Catches a sniff of how technology will destroy the practiced Cinema Market post-pandemic with no-care attitude for critics where quantity will become quality.

 

Going thru Mr. Belawadi’s Second show Why and to Whom filmmaker has to do Cinema, previously in the olden days' Cinemas were made for the audience, now with changing ideologies being made to make money. He worries the win-back rate will be less than 1% post-pandemic compared to 6% pre-pandemic. Mr. Belawadi urges that traditionalists need to welcome OTT as it will become a new norm in the future and the audience's trust in local Cinemas might shift to universal if OTT is made free. He thinks making a film for OTT poses a big threat whether to have a censor or not as the audience has many choices between with or without on OTT Platform.  

Mr. Belwadi's third justification point on Barriers to Cinema has fine reasoning, to leave footprints in the sand of Time, that filmmakers should craft Cinema freeing it from all the fences like language, budget and look Cinema as an Art. Predicting the future Mr. Belwadi says Technology could wipe out theaters and multiplexes and those who adopt changes will survive.  

Rapid retirement – Technology makes it happen.