Monday, August 9, 2010

Client Brief

Client- Documentary Director

* The video should not be cut into perfect scenes.
* Shot like, by an amateur.
* Audio dominant
* Metaphorical clippings.
* Sub titles in English.
* Try not to show any character's face than the Halakki women, or the actual people from Honnavar.
* Built around a girl's life. Showing the different phases of her life.
* The end focus should be brought to the melancholy of their songs.
* Try and keep everything non-manipulative, like the sounds, expressions, people, costumes etc.
* The subtitles for the songs need not be the full word to word translation but the gist of the whole song.
* Less than 6 minutes.
* How different songs can narrate a person's life story.
* Any professional camera or recording won't be provided.

Project

My focus for the project was the Music and Dance culture in Honnavar. I want to bring out the rich culture of music in a form of a short film. I want to string different songs for different occasion together. So that one song leads to another making the viewer able to connect it into a single story. The film would not have any characters but it will be symbolically connected to the song. The songs will narrate the story of the movie. It is going to be on how there are different life phases in a girls life.  At the end I wish to bring across a particular aspect of their music, which is, there is a peculiar melancholy in most of their songs. It may be a happy song but still the tune remains melancholic. This is a small effort to bring across the message of how people of Honnavar have strung their life around these songs, how they have made even their daily problem into something they sing about ( and how their are melodies which are hard to understand).

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Trip To Honnavar

The four day trip to Honnavar was an unforgettable experience.The small place Honnavar is surrounded with many small islands. Each island having different tribes and cultures. it is situated in the west coast of Karnataka.
It has a very diverse and rich culture.

1st Day

 We started our day with the typical food and specialties like "kotte rotti" (idlis prepared in the jack fruit leaf).We saw the local artist Hanumi (from the gomakkul community) working on her paintings called "shedi kale" which is done by special brushes made out of betelnut's shell. They colors used are made naturally with laterite stones etc.

We visited "Mavinkurve" one of the islands, where we learnt the art of making grass mats and also tried making it ourselves.We tried many herbal local drinks.(There are more than 60 herbal drinks made there)

2nd Day

We visited another island called "Salvador mane". We observed that here there was a lot of influence of christanity.
The main occupation of most of the people here is making choir.
The decay the coconut husk in the soil under water for min 9months. after that it is dug out, peel apart, and beaten with a wooden tool to fiber. Further it was made in to a rope.













We again visited Mavinkurve where we went to a different part of it this time. We came across many shops still using the old heavy locks, we met few more people. We came across a lady who sang for us, told us about different songs they sing in different occasions, different attire, sarees, jewellery etc.

In the evening we met women from Halakki tribe, Sukri and Nugli. These women have still kept their culture of wearing many strings around their neck, wearing the typical styled saree etc.
We saw them dancing, singing, and had a chat with them about their different culture, attire, occasions etc.

3rd Day

We went to visit the Honnavar Halakki tribe. We could see many differences between the Ankola Halakki tribe and the Honnava Halakki tribe. In the way they dress their general attitude etc.


4th Day


We had got all the materials and information we wanted, we finished of with whatever we needed more. And at the end we relaxed at the beach!

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Question & Answers

1.       The money earning exercise; what are its outcomes?
The money earning exercise made us understand that how to get most by investing the least. It made us think more about how can we bringa product so differently so that it is bought.


2.       What other similar exercises can be created?
Working under someone or working with them to try and understand their working better.


3.       What kind of research tool is role play?
Role play lets us keep ourselves in other’s shoes. You can understand the actual situation, working, relation with the tools etc. of a worker.


4.       What are its advantages over plain interviews.
Interviews only give you quantitative data. Through role play you get a qualitative research and can understand many simple things and problem one can miss out in an interview.


5.       What is ergonomics?
It is the relation of person with its working tool. It includes the way the tools are used, kept, how much strength one uses while working, what are the body actions happening while working etc.


6.       How is it a research tool?
It lets you know how a person manipulates its tool’s setting according to its comfort. What all alterations can be done for a better working.


7.       What kind of user understanding does ergonomics provide?
It lets you know better about the area of work, how and what exact setting can be done for the most comfort and efficient work.


8.       What is a scenario or persona, what are the advantages of creating them?
A scenario is when you write a screenplay around a person, using its maximum information from real life. While creating different scenarios you actually think of the different situation that person can get in to, different problems one can face, and what solution he might take while in that problem. All the action set is from the point of view of the person we are writing about. The plot is written using the actual possible people around him. Or if someone imaginary is created, it is created with extreme detail.


9.       What are the advantages of a matrix as a research tool?
It lets you know about all the criteria u think while buying or creating a product.


10.   How can it also work as a design tool?
It lets you know about all the criteria u think while buying or creating a product. Which further helps you design a better product, with everything you need.

11.   Give two examples of second level understandings from Marasandra village based on your own reflective judgement.
The setting of the village is in a specific manner. At one side there are small shacks. Then small pakka houses. And the other side there are bigger concrete houses. The potters live in one area and the others working in shops and factories in the other.


12.   Give two examples of design interventions that you can do based on this  2 weeks of research.
1) After an in depth research we can come up with a book giving information or can work on a movie which brings out important information about the subject.
2) after a detailed research we can try and design a better setting or product for those people.