The title of this article may seem irrelevant to you! What is the connection of cooking, music & making films? Artistically, there is a connection between films & music. The music is used in the films to enhance the impact of it. But , no! That's not the purpose of putting these two arts together in this article. The context is very different. That is, 'you can learn the art of balancing, mixing, experimenting, communicating, etc. in filmmaking from the art of cooking & music'!! Also, if it is hard for you to remember the basic stuff & sense, necessary for making films, you may memorize it with the help of cooking & music! Let me explain how..
Make delicious food, make delicious film!:
First of all, we will see how cooking & making films is so much relevant. Most of us know how to cook a good food. We just need all the ingredients & a good sense of cooking. The good sense of cooking is pretty much important here. The same thing is applied to the films. If you have all the equipments, gears, budget, etc. but don't have a good sense of filmmaking, you'll end up making a mediocre video, not 'a film'!
Also, you need to know what exactly you are going to make! This includes the name, taste, quantity, etc. of the food. When you start making the food, you must first do the 'pre-cooking' work so gently & carefully. Because if it is not done well, it will definitely affect your food. Same thing is applied to pre-production & mainly to the script of the film. You need to analyze the requirement & quantity of spices, oil & other important ingredients to enhance or experiment with the taste of the food. It's not necessary, that you must serve the traditional food that is served from ages. You may choose a different path & make new & delicious food. Don't be afraid of experimenting! Remember, 'If our ancestors had resisted the experimenting & embracing the change, we would be eating raw meat.'
So, we must experiment. Try to mix some odd foods together & make a different, but tasty food! Experiment with the quantity of ingredients used & make a tasty food! Making the tasty food is important here! Because, experimenting & mixing odd things together is easy, but creating a never before & delicious food out of it is challenging! Similar things are applied to making films, in the respective manner.
Here, the most important thing of all is, the salt! You may mix, add, remove any of the ingredients, but if there is no salt in food, then it will not taste good. In films, the salt is the the content or the conclusion drawn from the film. If your film have all the experimental elements but it lacks in content, then you have made a tasteless food! A film rich in content, will have a long lasting impact on the audiences & also the clear understanding of your story. So, the salt is the most important element!
A good food is not always, the use of tremendous amount of spices & other expensive elements, it may be a simple, less spicy dish! In this case, the basic ingredients & most importantly the sense of cooking is so effective that, one can not stop himself from tasting the food! Also, here you can save your time & money spent in the use of spices. In this type of dish, your focus is totally on the salt & other basic ingredients used to enhance the taste of the food! In films, the spices are the expensive equipments, large sets, etc. & the salt is the story & content of your film. So, next time- if you want to enhance your sense of filmmaking, make a delicious food!!
Music-Moods-Themes-Films:
Yeah! They are so much identical, they are so much indulging, they are so much about feeling & experiencing! Everyone likes a good music and loves the words & instruments playing together in a gentle & collaborative way!
In music, there are the words bound together in an appropriate & defining music. Every instrument & composition explains, enhances the mood & meaning of the word written and vice versa. In films the lyrics is the script written & the composition is the treatment given by the director.
We always listen to the different genres of music such as jazz, rock, blues, etc. There is the lyrics suitable for the particular genre. But, how about the Indian classical for instance, blended beautifully in the western jazz? Or what if wants to play an Indian instrument tabla in the rock music? Sounds tremendous, right? Same thing is about films. Remember Django unchained? You have seen many films on cowboys, you have seen many films on slavery. But, Tarantino offers you a story of a slave in the cowboys' era! That is Django Unchained!
We know, how the best composers combine two unfamiliar instruments in a completely different genre! They take a lyrics & compose and marinate it with different instruments! A music is about listening to the music, a film is about watching the images & sounds! What if the songs you are listening are so full of words that there is a very little or no space for the instruments playing? You will feel irritated! Same thing happens, when your film is so much talky & there is no space for showing!
Also, the instruments help the mood of the words to travel from one point to other & remove the jumps & jerks. Similarly, the use of pictures & sounds, camera work, editing, etc. in films, help the mood to travel & develop its path and involve the audiences. The music teaches us, that the composition and/or instrumentation must be relevant to the lyrics and/or mood we are creating! In films the directorial treatment must be relevant to the script & content of the film.
In short (though it has been a much long article!), cooking & music can teach us so many things we need to know about filmmaking!
Cheers!!!
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