Join a workshop that will make you a filmmaker through your smartphone

A shot from a film shot in Varanasi by Rahul Datta on his phone

"One often does not realise that the tools and means to achieve one's dreams are already with them. How else can one explain that there are so many people who want to make films and yet, so few are using the smartphone that they carry at all times," says Rahul Datta, founder of the Starving Artist Films, who will conduct a workshop on making films with smartphones at the Dr Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum this week.

A shot from a film shot in Varanasi by Rahul Datta on his phone

Datta sees much potential in the smartphone beyond its basic functions and that is what he intends to impart at the workshop. "We are as good as the tools we have and most importantly, how we use them, filmmaking on the phone is a skill set, that allows you turn your phone into a powerful tool for communication and expressing your ideas. The participants should expect a deeper understanding of art, technology, the human condition and how communication through films is what's going to shape us in the future," he says.

A close shot of underwater insects

The phone as a tool is not very different from tools designed for making films, according to him. He considers it a more practical way for communication and story telling.

Rahul Datta

"Filmmaking on the phone started as a personal project, where I was trying to work around the very basic editing features and limitations of the phone, I was trying to create exciting visuals and stories just like I do with my expensive cameras and lenses in the studio. In the end, I realised that filmmaking on the phone (or in a studio) is not dependent on the limitation of software or hardware but your imagination," he explains. Given the number of smartphones around, he hopes that phone films will bring out several more interesting stories.

ON August 28, 11am 2 pm
AT Dr Bhau Daji Lad Mumbai City Museum, Byculla (E).
CALL 23731234