Sukalpa Dhar, Kolkata: The word camera comes from the Latin word camera obscura, which means dark chamber.
It is the Latin name of the original device for projecting an image of an external object onto a flat surface. The modern photographic camera evolved from the camera obscura.
The functioning of the camera is very similar to the functioning of the human eye. It captures images that contain emotions and narrate some kind of stories.
It freezes a time in a frame and stores it. Several continuous images together combine to form a film or movie.
George Eastman pioneered the use of photographic film. In 1975, Kodak engineer Steve Sasson created the first-ever digital camera. It was built using parts of kits and leftovers around the Kodak factory.
The camera was about the size of a breadbox and it took 23 seconds to capture a single image. It took 0.01-megapixel images shot only in black and white that were saved to a cassette tape.
Fuji Fujix DS-1P was first unveiled at the 1988 Photokina trade show in Cologne, Germany.
Fujix DS-1P is considered the first true digital camera. It used to record images in a 2MB SRAM memory card that held 5 to a maximum of 10 photographs. The cameras which are used by the Bollywood film directors most of the time are the classic Arri Alexa, Canon Cinema EOS, Panavision Genesis, Sony CineAlta, Blackmagic Design.
A camera is not your friend. A camera is like an all-seeing God. An eye that always watches and understands an actor’s current and actual emotion while acting and reveals even if you don’t want to reveal it.
It sees every minute thing that is in front of it. It will show if you are uncomfortable. Your personality will show much more clearly on camera than any person could see just sitting opposite to you. These are the basics that one has to keep in mind while acting or posing before a camera. An actor has to inculcate some skills before acting in front of a camera.
Often a real heartfelt emotion expressed by the actor may appear to be overacting. That is where one’s skill and craft comes into play. It happens for performers at times when they feel that what they have learnt till now is not working or helping him or them in the current roles while facing the camera.
No kind of formula works in front of a camera. So actors have to unlearn a lot of things as well. They have to relearn and work on new things and reinvent the same craft that he or she has been practising for so many years. Martin Scorsese, the famous American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor, said “Cinema is a matter of what’s in the frame and what’s out.” It depends on the one who is holding the camera what he or she wants to show or doesn’t want to show.
One has to be very careful while handling a camera because it has got extra sense and ability. It can very easily bring out what the actor or actress is feeling if one becomes slightly unconscious about his or her behaviour.
One should be very careful while one is in front of a camera. If one is stressed it will clearly show. If one is being tensed or sad or happy or excited the camera will show up each and everything and it will be apparent to the viewers too.
There is nothing like a big screen or small screen because a screen is a screen.
A good actor or actress can stand out on both big screen as well as small screen. It may be an OTT platform or multiplex it doesn’t matter. Earlier there were cinema halls now there are multiplexes as well as television as well as other platforms such as smartphones where we can watch films.
But the most important thing is the camera and the lens in it. It is like the big boss who keeps a continuous eye on one’s movement, behaviours, expressions, and body language. It doesn’t matter on which platform the film is screened.
There are many television actors and actresses who have come up to become leading film stars in Bollywood in subsequent times. Some of the most famous names among them are Shah Rukh Khan, Vidya Balan, Irrfan Khan, Ranganathan Madhavan. For instance, Shah Rukh Khan’s (popularly known as Baadshah of Bollywood, King of Bollywood, and King Khan) first starring role was in the television serial ‘Dil Dariya’, which began shooting in 1988, but production delays led to the Raj Kumar Kapoor directed 1989 series ‘Fauji’ becoming his television debut instead.
Subsequently, Shah Rukh Khan acted in many television serials in Doordarshan and started receiving film offers and had his first film released with the romantic drama ‘Deewana’ (1992) where he played a supporting role. Shah Rukh Khan subsequently played villainous roles in the 1993 thrillers ‘Baazigar’ and ‘Darr’ both became box office hits and that established his career in Bollywood. It was in 1995, ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’ (DDLJ), Shah Rukh Khan cemented his image as a romantic hero.
This shows lens size and screen sizes don’t matter what matters are the camera and how you play with it.
Photo | Representative Image
