ARCHIVAL FILMS : Why we need to remember

Memory is not just a sentimental trip, it is a tool. It is Cultural Storytelling that helps us Learn, Evolve and Thrive.

Hard statistics and raw data has seldom sprung groups of people into action. Human beings remember data and information through the memory of the feeling associated with it.

It is important to remember not just for individual creators and artists like us but also for organisations and communities.

Every event and experience contributes to our memory bank, that guides us to maturity. Its not just a repository of knowledge but provide deep insights that lead to wisdom. While there is a universality about the learning from collective experiences as a community, every individuals journey is unique . The moments and challenges that each us face are wholly unique. They are unique not only in the actual events but also in the unique response that each of us have to those situations.

Since the responses vary tremendously, the takeaways also are individual and unique.

Organisations and businesses need to remember.

In order to create a culture within an organisation, it is important to have a cohesive sense of values and systems. Memory and documentation can be sifted through to Learn, Evolve and be able to Thrive.

In times like these it is important to be agile as an organisation and the agility depends on how well aligned everyone is to a shared sense of purpose. Organisations need to go beyond the statistical documents and business growth conversations to build that strong sense of purpose.

The ability to alter and change with ease is another an aspect of being agile.

Stories are the most impactful way to trigger change and inculcate culture. As they engage and involve people emotionally.

Why are Stories important for organisations?

Stories are important — To Learn

We fall and we learn.
We experience and we learn.
We learn from the interactions in our community.

The concept of learning is like building blocks. We pile the learnings up. As we grow taller and wider we also need to grow deeper. Memory is the resource for learning that over time. Even though the specific time might be long past, the feeling and meaning we derive is what we imbibe as learning.

That is why children learn when they DO rather than when they are told. This is why “experiential learning” has become the go to concept at all education levels.

Organisations are a collective of people. The learning from the past experiences is not just for those in leadership roles. It is also for each individual within the framework of the organisation that creates the “culture of learning”.

Challenges we face, individually and as a collective, trigger learning. The memory of the strength and the actions that helped us deal with those challenges, is what makes us better.

Leaders need to remind their teams of these takeaways to create synchronous learning that leads to a cohesive workflow and culture.

Stories are important — To Evolve

Learning alone without action is futile.

It can be a relatively small act or a quantum leap. The scale and volume of the action isn’t important. The action triggered by the learning and wisdom gained leads to evolution.

The action can be in any form —

• It can be the act of knowledge sharing.
• it can be in the form of dissertations triggering conversations that create awareness of that learning
• it can be a imbuing of the knowledge into wisdom
• it can lead to steps to be taken to lead towards that shared vision.

These actions are the first steps to evolution and if need be pivoting of a business. They are informed by the memory of the organisation creating a bridge between the past and the future through actions done in the Now.

Stories are important — To Thrive

Surviving in the current world is a challenge in itself. When March 2020 arrived I don’t think anyone thought beyond the urgent need to find ways to survive through the next few months. It’s been a local to global challenge all around — at every possible imaginable level. From the individuals to businesses and organisations — survival has been key.

Those of us who survive it, will need the memory and learning to be able to evolve and soon enough thrive again.

The actions that bore fruit as well as those that didn’t need to be remembered and distilled to systems that inform business decisions.

Film is a medium for storytelling.

It not only shares the information and engages the audience, it also offers that trigger for conversations to start. Better and deeper conversations are the foundation of a cohesive team culture.

Stories trigger emotion which we respond to far deeper than data.

In an organisation, it is important to present the shared purpose through impactful and engaging stories. Often these are done through maintaining archives and presenting them within the organisation through exhibits and HR driven communication. But when urgent action and united effort needs to be activated these methods and tools seldom deliver results.

A short film that imbibes the authentic voice, and communicates the vision of the organisation with archival material to support it helps reach out deeper. This film needs to be less of an edit of talking heads and more of an emotive presentation of the information to instil pride and belonging.

Animation and Motion Graphics is an indispensable tool to interface with archival material. We have been using this medium to help organisations contextualise stories from the past to the present and visualise the future.

Here are a few examples :

Jack Daniel’s has a whole series

A mixed media Film for a Heritage brand that highlighted the importance of building their archive

https://theswitchstudio.com/portfolio-items/story-of-a-heritage-brand/

how it was created

Crafting an Archival Brand Film

The super powerful Nike Ad and all that it signified.

Nike's new ad has a powerful message about unity in this moment

This has been a challenging time — and many of us have had a chance to relook at our needs, actions and dreams to find a way pivot ourselves, our businesses and our species. The pivot needs a concerted effort for change to be able to emerge into an energetic and hopeful New Normal.

ARCHIVAL FILMS : Why we need to remember was originally published in Switch Studio on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

5 tips to get started with a collaborative orchestra.

This was tested out during the two week Colab Fellowship by Jaaga and Islington Mill UK — supported by British Council and Goethe Institute India

Bach Bash

All my work — analog as well as digital, physical and virtual have included sound design. For live performances the main conversation has been over the music and for the films I create — music is the parallel story that adds another dimension to the narrative. I mostly collaborate on the music with composers, sound designers and engineers. And the tools used have been analogue, acoustic as well as digital — But none generative.

Low Tech Beautiful Sound

Here is an example of a film shot on film with music by Sandeep Pillai. A super composition created inspite of a terribly low quality PA microphone without any sound proofed studio or software — sitting in our noisy computer lab at the institute. The process of creation was quick but not easy. The ideation was clear but not constrained.

Utsav : The circle of Garba

Collaborate with AI

This was my first exposure to create a particular style of music using AI and ML. Right now it seems to be a fun game to play together — but the possibilities are endless — within the constraints of Bach symphonies.

There is a Bach in You

Coucou helps create Bach-like music and exports it in midi form — which in turn can be taken in layers and octaves — elsewhere to orchestrate.

I find tools such as these start with a playful canvas which is very engaging and eases you into it. As we try out the different bells and whistles — the possibilities of a projected narrative emerges. Then the need to control and guide that narrative into something with our vision in it emerges.

Here are a Five tips to get started on playing with it.

1. PLAY with it

You can click on any of these links — and play with the parameters and hit Fill In — — Even “Reset” it and build something of your own.

Oona # 1 Oona # 2
Notes : keep space for the Collab-o-robots to jam and ‘ fill in’

Oona #3 Oona #4
Robots Revolted!!!
with no space to work or jam they just stood around — arms folded — shaking their heads disapprovingly. — -

Oona #0
Pay attention to the keys!

Oona #have fun

2 . Invite Robots to join

Coucou midi exports the music in 4 layers of harmony. It has a constraint that it can only create 8 bars at a time. So I decided to use the constraints to guide my palette to create. I saved my original input which was quite staccato as I wanted the robots to fill in the chorales

hear it here →

coucou 🐦

3. Hear what they added in

4. Orchestrate the music with Garage Band

Since Coucou can only work with 8 bars at a time — I did two variants and I got two midi files each contributing 4 layers to my orchestra —

Though I work with Audition and Pro Tools — I took it to Garage Band as it is comes free with Macs — wanting to explore what it offers.
I don’t believe in the hierarchy of a tool — its the apt and creative use is what matters

Instead of going into coucou multiple times to extract a longer piece to work with. I decided that it would be great to work with only one set of my input and machine output as my raw material and create the music with just that. The plan is to introduce each and then intertwine them to see if we can really create a piece together.

4 layers of my ORIGINAL INPUT + 4 layers of 🐦 MACHINE OUTPUT
= Bach Bash

5. Take a Bow

If you have created something through this method do share — would love to create an Audio reacted music video for it for fun!

Human and Machine Play Bach together! was originally published in Switch Studio on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

written in March of 2020
when Mumbai went into lockdown.

It has been a year since I had written this. And then … I sat on it — I didn’t put it out… I felt I didn’t know enough to be able to write about this. And then recently while working on my short film I realised that I am a refugee in my own country.

THAT is a story for another time.

Here is what I felt and thought about the mass migration of our species to the digital realm further enforced by the pandemic.

Mass migration refers to large groups of people migrating from one geographical area to another.

We can safely assume that the digital world is now a real place for human interactions, livelihood, maybe even relationships.

When the pandemic hit and the world went into lockdown — Every single adult needed to scramble to the safety of the internet and had to devise ways to stay afloat. Everyone had to find ways to pivot and make possible the means of their livelihood.

There have been many points of view of the impact of technology and the digitisation of our planet — just search in Medium itself — the number of articles on the topic is massive.

In the mad rush to get there we trampled all the dissonance.

It has further homogenised those who are logged in — furthering the dominant monoculture of the world.

We don’t yet REALLY know the impact of this huge exodus from the analog to this digital world. It will emerge only after a cycle — how long is that cycle we don’t yet know — even Now — close to a year from then.

The migration to the digital worlds have been happening for a while now. This article is not about the pitfalls of these virtual worlds instead it is a conversation to recognise this interface as one of the many mediums of human communication and contact. But to see the world only through pixels is again a monotone that excludes the vibrancy of real life and how we truly experience it.

Let’s not kid ourselves — we know that many of our children and our peers already live in a reality that is affected by a screen led medium of interaction.

Here are some relevant articles I found on Medium which were written way before the pandemic hit.

The below written in 2019

A Modern Migration

This one from 2017

What is “Smart” in Our New Digital World?

This one about universities in 2018

Why Universities Will Be Disrupted in a Digital World

A beautiful film by Yukai Du released in 2015

This migration is going to cost us dearly.

There will be a few who will hold out.

A few who will lead multiple parallel lives.

A few who might even fight it with activism.

Most will be refugees — in a new world, where we are both the coloniser as well as the victims while living in a country that is ruled by us.

Yet I have hope in the human spirit that there is something that binds us in a tight embrace that cannot be replaced with beautiful words, videos and sounds.

The Greatest of Migration for our species was originally published in Switch Studio on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

A signature for a film company

How we went from a ‘feeling’ to a Production Logo

Brief

Mutant Films is new age film company which moves between fringe and mainstream content. It is a film company that takes immense pride and stands by what it creates. The founders of this company work on projects that resonate deeply with who they are and every project is personal — embodied by the fact that the wordmark is one of the founders —Shivani’s handwriting.

At the discovery stage of the project, a key insight that was gained was that while there is a deep and thoughtful aspect to the company, Mutant is also playful — where entertainment is key.

We kept these discoveries in mind while building a brief to create the theatrical logo reveal that can stay relevant and evolve as the ‘Mutants’ grow.

Context

The Mutant Production logo will primarily be seen on theatrical releases, screens and posters. The meaning of the logo comes from the way the word mark is formed in motion.

PHASE 1: CONCEPT

Our initial thoughts to brain storm :

Mutant arises from being different from the normal spheres.
The abnormal, that has emerged stronger, faster, better.
The beautiful stranger, the mysterious outsider, the unpredictable one.
The one with more life running through it than the conditioned, controlled and jaded population.

Concepts such as these are best described through abstraction.
Abstraction in thought, design and visualisation.

The Motion Mark will be seen over and over again — the more layers of meaning that it encompasses the more interest it will garner.

We approach this piece of motion design from a point of view of “Art” and “Abstraction”

Initial Visual Concept directions

1. Mutation

This direction stems from the word “Mutant” itself and creates a sense of evolution. The stringy forms of the typeface are used in abstraction to communicate the idea and emotion of DNA mutation, organism, struggle, birth, change and beauty.
While the thought of mutation typically veers into a psy-fi or hyper real rendition, we visualise this to be much more tactile in its look and feel. using multiple production techniques seamlessly together.

2. Lets play with Typography

The founders were open to discussion a rework of the Branding and Word Mark for Mutant. That opened up the possibilities for thinking beyond
what we had. If we had a very simple typographic form then this direction would work very well.

metamorphosis and mutation using type.

This direction was inspired by a piece done by Non Format : http://non-format.com/command-x

Finally since we did not embark into a rework it was decided against.

3. Art Interpretation

Art has a way of making us look at the world in new ways. It has a way of being unapologetic and free while being a critic to human behaviour and civilisations. This direction could be calm or hyper depending on the mood we want to create.

This was a wide open canvas to work with — We would look at a few different formations using this lens. The outcome would be a set of formations and moods which could be used for genre specific films.

PHASE 2: DISTILLATION & ACTION

We had a discussion and then distilled and realigned the direction to embody what Shivani and Seher really feel about their company.

• The personal identity is very important
• They love simplicity and minimalism.
• The possibility of having multiple moods for the various kinds of films that they are already producing and will produce over time.

We formulated some guidelines to narrow down the directions :

• Lets’ look at mutation free from the negative connotations
• The Logo will ALWAYS be alive and never static when on screen
• the formation will be organic in style
• we wont have a ‘jingle’ or signature ‘music’

Here are some of the words that inspired the final formation and sound

• Playful
• Organic
• Morphing
• Alive

PHASE 3: CREATION

We embarked upon the creation with this open brief and here is what it is ❤️

Our brief for the sound was a series of sound effects which basically meant something like tearing, morphing , not very comfortable to juxtapose with the “fireflies” like visuals

Credits :

Client & Film Company : Shivani Saran & Seher Aly Latif Mutant
Concept & Animation : Upasana Switch
Sound Design : Baylon Fonseca

Creation of a signature for a film company was originally published in Switch Studio on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

A brand film for a 100 year old company

The Bharat Floorings Group (BFT) is the leader in quality cement floorings — a reputation held for over 90 years. In 1922 Bharat pioneered the cement tiles industry in India as part of the Swadeshi movement as a contribution to India’s economic independence by producing tiles of international quality to replace imports.

Over the decades Bharat has laid some of the best-known floors in India’s landmark buildings: from palaces of Maharajas and Raj Bhavans to prominent residences, hotels, hospitals, clubs, offices, factories, co-operative housing societies, educational and religious institutions, airports, railways etc.

BFT needed to create a film that would tell their story & the impact that the brand has had in the architectural and design landscape in India. While the company was well known in terms of their current projects and products — the extent of the brands impact & its heritage was lesser known.

The challenge in making the film was two fold :
a. Condensing a 100 year old history and timeline in 2 minute film
b. Creating a visual language for the film that becomes unique & identifiable with the brand.

The Story of Bharat : The BFT Brand Film

The Story
We narrowed the story down to three key points that needed to be communicated

1. the Heritage & History
2. the handmade tile making process
3. the diversity of design and presence.

By weaving a narrative that ran through these three aspects — we created a storyline that could bring out the impact that BFT as a brand has had over the years. Through interviews with the senior management & the family as well as deep dive into their archival material — we put together specific historical events that were landmark moments for the company and needed to be talked about.

The Visual Style
BFT tiles are iconic in their look and feel that stands apart distinctively from other tile brands.

It became an obvious choice for us to build on the distinctive design of the BFT tiles themselves to create the visual style for the film.

While charting the information spanning close to a century, we also had access to several rare archival material from the family — including pictures of the original tile factory & photographs of the founding members.

Blending the tile patterns and the archival material together allowed us to create a unique visual style that went beyond the film.
The tile patterns and designs — as masked patterns — brought the archival images to life and also allowed us to create an additional layer of animation.

Initial Look Tests
The initial look tests blended photography & live shoots and allowed us to start experimenting with the tile patterns and characters within the story.

The Storyboard
The storyboard was developed to create a conversation between the various stakeholders about the various moments depicted in the film, the pace of the narrative and how we would be able to seamlessly transition between the three key aspects of the story.

The Animatic
The animatic brought in the story, timing pace and treatment of the film together. It allowed us as a team along with BFT to start seeing an early indication of what the film would feel like and what it would communicate to the audience.

The Opening Sequence
The opening sequence was built on the BFT tagline — “Every floor tells a story”. We shot the sequence in the studio and then blended illustration and animated elements to the sequence. The opening sequence also introduced the BFT tile design as an iconic floor — and set the tone for the film.

The Process
The process was the tricky part of the film. A large part of the process that BFT uses to make its tiles is proprietary information & thus couldn’t be shot. We simulated the process and managed to find a way to depict the tile making process without revealing any trade secrets.

The BFT Floor Walk
The iconic properties that house BFT flooring needed an iconic showcase. To depict the impact that BFT has had over the years — the BFT walk became an important section for the film.

A Social Media friendly film
A key factor in the design of the film very early on was that the primary source of distribution for the film would on social media channels. The film was intentionally designed with key moments in stories and frames that could be used independently as shorts.

The Impact
A key factor in the design of the film very early on was that the primary source of distribution for the film would on social media channels. The film was intentionally designed with key moments in stories and frames that could be used independently as shorts.

Crafting an Archival Brand Film was originally published in Switch Studio on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

I wrote this to remind me of what I learnt after hearing him in the decade defining We Are One Global Film Festival “In Conversation” beautifully moderated by Kim Morgan, in the Marrakech Film Festival in 2018 which got Premiered on 30 May 2020 Live on Youtube. This talk was available for 7 days after release :

About ART and CREATION

“All art is a Paradox.
Like ice cream — drawn to something that doesn’t exist in nature… the paradox of fat and sweet”

Always feel pressurised to try to find a balance between the opposites. I feel the world finds multiplicity just too complicated to be the hero. But it’s in that complication that unique experiences and perspectives are born. The true essence of that experience lies in the coexistence of the two worlds.

Art is in identifying the paradox and communicating it through story with beauty and grace.

The essence of art is to make peace with the imperfect — in us, in the world…There is a tyranny in our lives about perfection and success… it makes everyone unhappy. Imperfection is liberating! … We should love each other for how fucked up we are — not about how good we are.

How many have been shunned before they could present themselves. The fear of imperfection stops me from getting started. Strangely though it was not a concern in my mind at all, when I was pregnant with my child. There was not even a fleeting thought about its perfection or the lack of it. Just pure miracle of a life coming into the world. Maybe I could approach my creative work I with less burden now?

Ah! Perfection! My Nemesis! The one who kills the baby just as it is conceived.

About the Syntax of Film

Staging…is a dance between the actor and the camera.

There are melodic elements in film which are movement and rhythmic which is editing. So the Percussion is the editing and the Melody is the Camera and the actor.

It’s the dance of the measurable and the infinite. The framework and the painting within. The structure and the flow. The Duality and everything in between coming together to create an experience that is deeper almost spiritual.

About the Act of Seeing and Perception

The eyes are the most intimate part of the human body. …It is the most naked part of the human body…. And film is made of eyes….

In our own craft, all we have to offer to an audience, is our own gaze — we look at the world unlike anybody else…. The Roshomon of it all — we can all witness the same act and we will witness a completely different act depending on whom you do….

The act of seeing, is such an intimate and powerful act, that thats all you can offer — your eyes — to the audience….this is what i have to offer…thats why we are here — to provoke that empathy if we can.

Why would anyone want to see the world through my eyes?

This reminds me of my all time favourite story told to me by my Grandma when I was about six or seven years old. The parable of the Five Blind Men and the Elephant Read a version of it here

This story has been instrumental to the worldview I have. The fact that there are times when one cannot comprehend the wholistic picture and needs to be open to other points of view — and it is beautiful to have different points of view thats what makes us unique and creates our individual world view.

Creating films is the process of sharing that world view.

About Stories

We are spiritual creatures we would be fools to negate that sign of our existence….
...We are made of stories.
We are the only animals that is made up of stories.
What we tell ourselves we are everyday is what we become.
When we tell the world what the world can be — the world also changes

This not only impacting the way I look at the work I am currently trying to create but also the conversation I have with myself everyday. It has not been a kind conversation — I am my harshest critic and have been struggling to emerge from that abuse (but thats for another article)

This gives me confidence to proceed in the creation of that I had frozen through harsh self analysis.

About Fairy Tales

We tend to say, as a culture that Fairytales are for kids. ….this could not be further from the truth… it is a direct link from ourselves and our subconscious

Fairytales speak of a much deeper powerful reality.

The earliest choice for any religion in the world was parable, because the parable makes everything we read about acceptable — palatable.

Still mulling over this — about fairytales and myths and legends and abstractions.

About Nation states

Most everything that we agree upon is False….. Every distinction that separates us is false…. If you see from space — there is no lines between Italy, France, Switzerland, … its just a crusty piece of earth floating in the ocean — but we agree on that line. These are stupid things we tell each other…

We Are One — I guess that says it all.

About his genre of films

All my movies are strange — I go and find things that shouldn’t exist and make them…..

I guess it’s absolutely ok to be strange.

About career

What is career to a reader is a biography to the maker. And failure is such a crucial component to the artistic endeavour. Failure is the fuel and success is the breaks. You need to crave failure and learn from it — it hurts as hell! … Cherish Failure

A career is a crash crash in slow motion. You are looking from the outside…. pftthdk!! did someone die?!
Baam! — 3 years I hit my head.
2 years more — I hit the driving wheel
1 year and a half — the airbag deploys and I don’t die. Miraculously after three or four movies. And you are outside looking at this —and say he did this and he did that —excuse me but in between there were 4 fucking horrible years!

In Instagram everyone has a great fucking life! …
Let me tell you the long instagram about my life — maybe in your moments of pain it will give you a little solace...

Always Remember this.
Chunk at it — little bit at a time and believe that it is making a dent.

About colour

Red is the most voracious colour in the spectrum — it eats everything — it eats all the details — the only this that is harder than red is white.

I rarely use a whole lot of red in my work — both red and white are always slivers. Often their closest cousin rather than directly head on. But this piece I am working on has a whole lot of red parts burning through my mind — will update on this when it gets visual.

About wardrobe

Wardrobe is a dialogue between you and the world.

Through this lockdown — It has been the dialogue also with myself. The act of getting dressed to meet someone — namely myself creates a beautiful sense of purpose and normalcy. Mind and matter are intertwined and help protect each other.

About Gender

We need to bring both to the table — the best we can do and the worst we can do and then we can have dinner.

In Indian Classical dance, the concept of the Ardhanariswara talks about the formation of the whole. Wikipedia does a terrible job of trying to explain the concept here . It’s never a battle of the sexes, its all part of the whole cosmic function spiritually and symbiotically.

For me it is not two halves at all. It is symbolic of the cosmic balance the sense of balance in chaos where love happens, life happens — and it is magic!

And Finally

Hitchcock said “In order to be universal you need to be specific”
JUST DO WHAT YOU WANT TO DO — some will come and some wont. Fuck it!

We are all made of Stories was originally published in Switch Studio on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.