Random Talk - A Look into the Small Screen

My Mom and I started watching The Crown, A Netflix original Series, about a week back and it will be an understatement if I say that I was blown away by the cinematography and the visuals. Right from the first episode it was apparent that a lot of work went into what was, in essence, a TV Series and this got me thinking if India has something akin to some of the TV series which are produced abroad.

If you are even a little bit familiar with what plays on Indian channels as series/serials, then I am sure that you know where this post is going. I really want to go on a rant about how bad everything is in the Indian entertainment industry. I really do. But I have a feeling it will be recycled material, so what I thought I would do, is I will compare some of the techniques foreign TV series and even filmmakers adopt that make a lot of them seem that much more refined. I will be limiting myself to the small screen for the sake of consistency, but I am sure that a few of these examples can be correlated to the big screen too.

The Structure

Let’s begin with the obvious, the number of episodes. Usually foreign TV series stick to a basic pattern. You have a pilot season with approximately 12 episodes, and if enough people watch the series, future seasons are planned, but with usually 24 episodes per season, instead of a dozen.

Let us contrast this with Indian serials. I have known serials with over 1000 episodes. In contrast, some of the really popular TV series have around 300 odd episodes abroad, and even that can be cut short if the series isn’t drawing in enough viewers. Admittedly, there are Pros and Cons of doing things either way, and since I am feeling lenient, let us look at some of the pros of doing things the Indian small screen way.

        The pros of the Indian Way

You get to keep the show going for as long as you want, which is typically as long as it generates revenue. Secondly it means that you don’t have to worry about things like critical acclaim and reviews, because they aren’t going to matter unless they drastically reduce the viewership. Thirdly… well I am reaching a bit here, and you can stop me if you like, but, once they have obtained a viewer base they can be sure they don’t lose it because, well the story never ends until the viewers leave.

       The cons of the Indian Way

Now let us take a look at some cons. Stories are going to be usually bad, and mediocre at best. Don’t get me wrong, but let us be honest and admit that Indian serials don’t really have a really good story, even though the actors in Hindi serials are good looking. Secondly, Melodrama always prefaces Drama. What I mean by that, is usually, every serial focuses on a creating a problem and solving a problem but not through proper methods, simply using melodramatic elements, like the emotions of family, and faith in gods, and things like that. This means that they aren’t focused on the story, more so on emotions which make sure the audience tune in, in spite of the story being utter bull. I will be addressing this more in a future point in the post, so keep your arguments and unleash them on me at the end rather than now.

A story is only as good as its ending. Now, there are exceptions to this rule, because an ending does not always ruin an amazing story, but when the story isn’t great, you need a decent ending that ties everything together properly. Here is where the structure of Indian serials takes a hit, when the viewership goes down; they have to scramble to finish the serial one way or the other so that the studio does not lose money. This means, stupid things like the villain killing themselves as they scream revenge because some of their nefarious plans were stopped by technology that never existed and backstabbing allies who chose that exact moment to show any sign of being on the side of the protagonists. Basically, what I am trying to say is, when you give a sloppily written story which has been dragged on for over  a million episodes just two episodes to end, you end up screwing over your entire audience with a really rushed and nonsensical ending. Surprise!

Now that we have covered Indian serials let’s look at some of the pros and cons of foreign serials.

      The pros of the Foreign Way

Getting to the pros, we can rest assured that we will get a good story, and more importantly we will get a complete story.  Irrespective of whether people tune in or not, unless the numbers are drastically low, you can rest assured that a storyline will be complete if it is begun. This also means that seeing the reception and viewership of one season, the production value of the second season may also increase, thus leading to a better show overall. This also means that studios can experiment with the shows they choose to air. A tighter episode count and a seasonal structure, allow writers to focus on a coherent story which spans a season, and nothing seems rushed or unplanned. This also means that each episode can have an individual story with an overarching plot connecting the whole season, like Castle or even Sherlock for example.

      The cons of the Foreign Way

This doesn’t mean that this system doesn’t have cons. For one, even here it is the viewership that dictates the runtime of the series, and not the critical reception. Sure they are more lenient, because of the many awards that series can win, but this rule still applies. It doesn’t matter if the Critics praise the show to heaven and back; it needs to have a solid viewer base for it to keep airing. This also means that if a director or writer has a vision for a series beyond a single season and chooses to create a cliffhanger type ending for the first season, the studio won’t hesitate to cancel the second season, if the numbers aren’t high/. If you really need examples, take any series created by Joss Whedon. That guy s a genius and literally none of his series last that long, despite being critically acclaimed.

The Production

Let us move on a bit from the structure of the series and focus on the people on and off screen. I am not a mind reader, and I do not claim to know anything about the mindset and emotions of the people in the small screen industry, so all of what is coming next is just my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt. Indian serials seem to be a popular starting point for performers, directors and producers to make it to the big-time job of making films. They seem to almost believe that the small screen is not as powerful as the big one. In some ways it may not be, but inn others I would argue it is even bigger then cinema.

The mindset of the people working in the small screen abroad seems to be one of providing proper entertainment and mind-blowing material, as opposed to a glorified stepping stone to the big leagues. It is almost as if series are on a league of their own, thus making them that much more prolific. Actors, directors and producers seem to be taking them more seriously as they contribute a lot to their credibility. It is almost as if they are intent on one upping their big screen counterparts, and this has created an amazing situation where they try to outdo each other and the resultant is the great works of entertainment which we look at every day.

TV series like Game of Thrones and Westworld, and even Netflix series boast such amazing talent both on and off screen. Film directors and academy award winning actors are cast in TV series and online series. Producers are willing to take risks with their budget and create new content instead n falling back on what works. Literally every Indian serial today sticks to a certain formula, be it one of family, or one of college students or supernatural horror-ish series. This inability to not break the norm is what is making Indian serials seem bad. But hey, then again, this section is all my opinion, so feel free to share yours.

The Cinematography – Directing Focus

Before I move on to a really important part of this post, I want to discuss cinematography for the small screen. I am not a cinematographer, just a guy who knows to appreciate good visuals. One of the things that I want to discuss here is directing focus. I am sure any budding filmmaker will be able to tell you how to frame subjects in a scene. Usually the subject is placed in the middle of the screen as that is where a viewer generally focuses his eyes on. This is, for the most part, a very functional way of filming something. It gets the job done.

But here is what a brilliant cinematographer will do. He will make you focus on places which is not the middle of the screen through subtle clues and when the scene cuts to a different angle or shot, draw your focus someplace else without the experience being jarring. A simple example is showing a subject moving from the left of the frame to the right of the frame, and as the scene cuts something important happens on the right of the frame, and our focus is there even if something unimportant is happening in the middle or the left of the screen. I know that I just gave a really vague example, but f you really want to notice pulling focus, just play a chase scene from a movie like Mad Max Fury Road and just observe where your vision is concentrated on the screen.

The Cinematography – Framing shots

An extension of pulling focus is the use of Wide angle and close-up shots. In a wide angle shot, your focus is drawn to the subject. In a close up shot, it is only the subject that fills the screen nothing else. I have seen his used to incredible effect in so many foreign TV series, and yet with the amount of money that Indian serials make, except for a few serials, you can never see such nuance and care put in the direction and cinematography.

The Cinematography – Color Grading

Another aspect that I want to talk about is Color grading. I am sure a lot of photographers and filmmakers will be able to explain it better than me and I request them to do so in the comments, but here is simple overview. Color grading is basically the pallet of colors which are most noticeable on screen.  Usually digitally shot film has fat colors as it contains a lot of information. It is up to the editor, the cinematographer and director to choose which colors to enhance thus bringing about a stylish look to the final product. Certain directors have a really distinct color pallet, like say Zack Snyder, who chooses to go the over saturated look, or Christopher Nola, who goes for a sleeker and flatter look.

Basically what I am trying to say is that, irrespective of whether movies are shot on film or digitally, color grading ads that much more flavor to the images that we see on screen. Color grading is the Instagram filter equivalent of cinema, and we all know how much it helps us look good.

The Demographic

Finally I want to discuss the most polarizing difference between TV series here in India and stuff made abroad. The demographic. I am sure this is a generalization but, the demographic that Producers aim for here are stay at home mothers and grandparents and, in a way that is probably the most profitable thing that they can do. A direct contrary to this is foreign production companies which chose to make mostly series that can be watched by a generally wide demographic. We have everything ranging from kids shows to superheroes and drunken investigators and murdering psychopaths on screen. Throw in a bit of drama and a slice of old actors and you have a show that covers even the older demographic.

Here is where I believe the flaw in Indian production houses lie, their plan isn’t future proof. The people who watch superhero shows on the TV today and hate traditional Indian serials will one day grow up to be the same demographic that Indian serials are aimed towards and that is going to backfire. I will tell you from experience that it is very difficult to accept stuff that is mediocre and bad after watching a lot of good stuff on a fairly normal basis. I am not trying to say that these type of serials won’t be watched, it is just that they will be watched by too small a demographic for them to be profitable which will result in further budget cuts and which will further reduce the production value which ends with even worse shows; thus leaving serials in a self destructive cycle of decreased production value and lower returns.

In Conclusion

My point is not that there is no hope for Indian serials. In fact one of the best examples of a really incredible serial from India is Mahabharata. The production value and the visual effects and the budget surely reflect that there are producers willing to do stuff like that. And the money that it made is also testament to the fact that there is an audience for serials like those. I just wish that there would be more like them in the future. I do want to see incredible content made by our own amazing creators, but I feel like that that won’t happen because of the obsession that the industry seems to have with endless serials with convoluted family drama.

So, in the end I just want to say this, and I have said this before, don’t settle for mediocrity when you know for a fact that greater things can be done. But I guess one person with a blog has no way of changing that. Until next time…

Sayonara!!