As the lethal virus has taken the world into a new normal mode, students of the Ranchi based Jharkhand Film and Theatre Academy (JFTA) too have switched over to a virtual platform to continue their learning process and showcase their talent. Since the lockdown was imposed in March, the artists of JFTA have made over 50 short films using mobile phones, which are being released on the academy’s YouTube channel- JFTA- school of acting.
To keep the audience hooked, the films are of duration of 5 to 15 minutes each. A short film of JFTA juniors which primarily comprises school children is released every Wednesday while one from the seniors is posted every Thursday.
“Initially I would give the students a theme to work on and they would each shoot a monologue on it. When they grasped the nuances of camera placement, lighting and sound, I started giving them a script to work on. I got this idea from Modiji when he said ‘Aapda ko avsar mein badal dena chahiye’ and wanted to ensure that my students do not get out of touch with the art form in the present circumstances,” said the Founder of the academy Rajeev Sinha
The first and one of the most popular short film ‘Thank You Corona’ is based on the story of a boy who due to the outbreak of the virus returns home after a span of four years. The film received around 1800 views in the first week itself. Other popular films include ‘Babli ka Bawal’, ‘Gaon ka naam Corona’ ‘Gangaram kawara reh gaya’ and ‘Chor Machaye Shor’. The movie ‘62/14’ is slated to release on September 10. The students have also made three musical mashups based on popular Bollywood songs.
The film ‘Social distancing ki hoye’ has beem adjudged as the best comedy film while ‘Gaon ka naam Corona’ and ‘Helpline ka bawal’ won the second and the fourth prizes respectively at the All India Artistic Association, Shimla.
‘Gaon ka naam Corona’ also won the special mention award at the FOFA Award by FTC Talent where 1500 short film were screened from across 18 countries. The film has also won the first prize in the Corona category at Filmonia, Jamshedpur.
“When the students started sharing their monologues, I also taught them the techniques of making a short film on mobile phones which included the basis about the placement of the character, lighting, video and audio quality. The lockdown has taught me that acting can be taught online as well. The students too have not just learned the art of acting and performing but also cinematography in the process,” added Sinha who apart from the script writing and direction also does the video editing for the films.