Decoding a film from its posters

The saying goes “Never judge a book by its cover”, but today’s design philosophy works the other way. A cover page must convince people to buy the book. The same philosophy is valid for films as well. A film’s promotional posters and ads intend to communicate exactly what they want the target audience to know without revealing much of the story. Lets decode an upcoming film “Finding Fanny” from its promotional poster.

What does the overall look and feel communicate? 

• Stamps & handwritten feel suggests that characters might be expressing themselves through old-school writing of letters. 
• The choice of costumes suggests presence of Indian-catholic culture. 
• This also suggests a Portuguese-Goan feel. 
• Overall, it gives a very ‘classic’ feel. 
• It is an urban story that is set away from urban location.

Let’s do some character decoding:

• Arjun Kapoor seems like jobless guy with a serious personality. He is definitely not a ‘bubbly’, ‘chocolaty’ hero. He maybe jobless but definitely has his own bit of dignity. He surely does not look like a ‘chhichhora’/ a jerk. 

• Deepika Padukone seems like a sweet and innocent girl, who seems a bit vulnerable. Nothing different than any average Bollywood girl role. Atleast this poster doesnot seem to portray any unique, distinct personality. 

• Dimple Kapadia seems like a strong opinionated woman who is not scared to be a bit naughty at times. Although she is a strong woman, her character is not very intense.

• Nasseruddin Shah is an old man in search of love. Day seems like a very nice man, a bit of day-dreamer.

• Pankaj Kapoor on the other hand is bit courageous. He is not afraid of taking actions that land him in awkward situations. His role seems to be bit comic. 

Overall, the film seems to revolve around expressing love. Expressing love is not restricted to youngsters only and this seems to be communicated in this film. It is not a very intense film, but ‘the same old fun & light-hearted’ film in my opinion.

*Please Note that the 'Finding Fanny' film posters are sole copyright of the makers of the movie and have only be used for explanation purpose. 

Saswat Mahapatra

Assistant Professor

www.dgmcms.org.in 

Saswat is a design alumnus from Glasgow School of Art, UK. He is a British Council Fellow and comes with a diverse professional experience in the field of television production, animation, game design and illustration/graphic design. He has worked with brands like Walt Disney India, BBC Scotland, Channel 4 London, Cartoon Network India, Cambridge University Press UK and few others. His projects have been funded by British Council, Art & Humanities Research Council UK, Science & Innovation Network UK (British High Commission) and Scottish Institute for Enterprises. He has been involved in collaboration with Falmouth University UK and IIT Bombay.

Characteristics of an Innovative educator

Reflective – As an educator, it is important to reflect on what is working and what is not.  Even though it can be a little uncomfortable, we have to admit when a great lesson was really a flop.  We must constantly examine our processes and our concepts to make sure they are what is best for the students we teach. For example, we need to change tactics when we find that a particular task, however important, is not being done well by the students, and find a new way of doing it.

Learners- An innovative educator is always learning, reading, listening.  Every student, staff member, professional development opportunity is viewed as an opportunity to get better and be better in the classroom and in the education community at large.  They create local and global professional learning communities.  They take responsibility and initiative for their learning. For example, we need to learn to be on social media creatively and use IT enabled services and technology for media education.

Creative- When I say creative I don’t mean in the sense of artistic even though some innovative educators fall in this category.  I mean creative in their thinking and approach.  An innovative educator is very uncomfortable with doing business as usual, especially when it yields no result.  So they go to work brainstorming ways to make things better.  They may change up a lesson to make it more engaging or increase student motivation.  They may adopt a more unconventional approach to handling challenging students so as to develop a stronger rapport.

Connected- It’s hard to be classified as innovative when you are disconnected from your students and trends in the profession.  How can you know what your students need and what will be the best approach to use with them if you are not connected to them personally?  Innovative educators close the gap between the traditional images of teachers so he can determine what is best for each student.  In addition, because they are life-long learners, they are abreast of changes occurring in their field and how to best apply these new changes to their instruction. Every one of us must be 24X7 connected and have a multi dimensional virtual personality.

Collaborative- Education is one industry where sharing is necessary and vital to true innovation in the classroom.  When teachers work together to solve problems and share successes, our students perform much better in the classroom.  An innovative educator is always exploring topics with other educators, sharing what they know with others.  They are members of Professional Learning Communities where they learn and share with others.  They know that none of us is as smart as all of us. We must learn to collaborate among ourselves and with the industry friends to bring in value, content, assignments, projects, exposure, internships and jobs for our learners.

Inquisitive- How can I improve?  What did I do wrong?  When is the best time for this approach?  How should I adapt this for my struggling readers?  What can I do to extend this lesson for my gifted students?  What if I did it this way?  Innovative educators are always asking questions.  After all, it’s not about having all the answers; it’s about asking the right questions. We must change cases, examples etc in our sessions each year and add new facts and figures too.

Principled- Innovative educators live life according to strong values. They want to make a difference.  They believe that being an educator is a great way to make their mark in the world and they don’t take it for granted.  They believe in being a role model to the students they serve and look for opportunities to show they care by their actions not just with words.  They also care enough to make tough decisions even when it’s not popular and accepted.  They stand up for their beliefs. We must aim for productivity and not popularity and a uniformity in basic principles for all stakeholders.

Prof. Ujjwal K Chowdhury

Dean

www.dgmcms.org.in

Prof. Ujjwal K Choudray is presently the Dean of DGMC (Deviprasad Goenka Management College of Media Studies, Mumbai). He is a Senior Education & Media Consultant, Delhi, Kolkata & Kathmandu; President, Advisory Board, Whistling Woods School of Communication, Mumbai; Former Director, Symbiosis Institute of Media & Communication & Dean, SIU, Pune; Former Media Adviser, Textiles Ministry, GOI; The Nippon Foundation; and WHO, India.