Mentors & You

Dear Students

You are now in the 15th week of your UG courses at RSACE. Hope you are ready with your scripts for shooting your Project film for the 1st semester.

Needless to say, you must have worked very hard on your script. Once again just to remind you  what the great film maker Alfred Hitchcock had said: To make a great film you need 3 things.. the script, the script & the script.

You now have your Mentors. They will provide professional networks, counseling, advice, an extra voice telling you that you are smart enough , capable enough to cross your various stages of your UG program. They will be able to bring out the best in you provided you keep holding their Hands. In life you will realize that there is a purpose for every one you meet. Some may test you, some will try to use you and some will teach you. But the most important are the ones that bring out the best in you. Those are the ones worth keeping around. 

 They will work on your Strengths and Weaknesses.                                                                                               

Job profile of a Mentor

  A 12-year-old boy decided to study judo despite the fact that he had lost his left arm in a devastating car accident. 

The boy began lessons with an old Japanese judo master. The boy was doing well, so he couldn't understand why, after three months of training the master had taught him only one move. "Master" the boy finally said, "Shouldn't I be learning more moves?" "This is the only move you know, but this is the only move you'll ever need to know," the Master replied. Not quite understanding, but believing in his mentor, the boy kept training.                                                                                                                 

Master

Several months later, the Master took the boy to his first tournament. Surprising himself, the boy easily won his first two matches. The third match proved to be more difficult, but after some time, his opponent became impatient and charged; the boy deftly used his one move to win the match. Still amazed by his success, the boy was now in the finals. This time, his opponent was bigger, stronger, and more experienced. For a while, the boy appeared to be over matched. Concerned that the boy might get hurt, the referee called a time-out. He was about to stop the match when the Master intervened.                                             

A positive self image is the best preparation for Success.

"No," the Master insisted, "Let him continue." Soon after the match resumed, his opponent made a critical mistake: he dropped his guard. Instantly, the boy used his move to pin him. The boy had won the match and the tournament. 

He was the champion. On the way home, the boy and Master reviewed every move in each and every match. Then the boy summoned the courage to ask what was really on his mind. "Master, how did I win the tournament with only one move?" "You won for two reasons," the Master answered. "First, you've almost mastered one of  the most difficult throws in all of judo. And second, the only known defense for that move is for your opponent to grab your left arm." The boy's biggest weakness had become his biggest strength.

"Sometimes we feel that we have certain weaknesses and we blame god, the circumstances and our self for it but we never know that our weakness can become our strength one day. Each one of you is special and important, so never think you have any weakness, never think of pride or pain, just live your life to its fullest and extract the best out of it!"

If You Don't…..
If you don't go after what you want, you'll never have it.
If you don't ask, the answer is always no.
If you don't step forward, you're always in the same place.
If you don't have a dream, you'll never succeed.
If you don't stretch, you'll never have it.

Keep an eye on this space.

Welcome Back !!!

Dear Students,
Welcome back!

Hope you enjoyed your Diwali holidays with you family & friends. Last week was  the 13th week when you took a break from your studies. It was a well deserved break. You have been studying very hard. But then, this is the time of your life when you should push your self to your limits. "Challenges are what makes life interesting, overcoming them what makes life meaningful" said the famous author Joshua .J. Marine .

HAPPY DIWALI TO ALL RSACE STUDENTS

 Tomorrow you are going to be in the business of story telling via moving images. Film making is not a child's play. To create good cinema you need to have a good story to tell. So look for stories which can create impact, which can bring about a social change for the good of humanity. I remember the story of the elderly carpenter who wanted to retire when he was at the peak of his profession..

He told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the log house building business and live a more leisurely life with his wife enjoying his extended family. He would miss the paycheck, but he needed to retire.

The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more log cabin as a personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end his career. When the carpenter finished his work and the builder came to inspect the house, the contractor handed the front-door key to the carpenter.

Build your house wisely

"This is your cabin, your home" he said, "my gift to you." What a shock! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently. Now he had to live in the home he had built none too well.

So it is with us friends. We build our lives in a distracted way, reacting rather than acting, willing to put up less than the best. At important points we do not give the job our best effort. Then with a shock we look at the situation we have created and find that we are now living in the house we have built. If we had realized that we would have done it differently.

Think of yourself as the carpenter. Think about your house. Each day you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall. Build wisely. It is the only life you will ever build. Even if you live it for only one day more, that day deserves to be lived graciously and with dignity.

The plaque on the wall says, "Life is a do-it-yourself project."

The Plaque on the wall.

Do write your comments on the Blog itself as it is interactive..

......and the Hands On training continues.

It’s a privilege to study in a Film School. In fact a film academy is not every one's cup of tea. There are no short cuts & no easy way out. The undergraduate students of RSACE have understood this fact and therefore they are giving their best during their practical lessons in film making. Incidentally RSACE is one such cinema & entertainment academy which gives emphasis on Hands on Training. 75% of lesson plans at RSACE are non theoretical.

Film making : the ultimate team sport.

To be honest, film making is a very complex form. Right from acting, lighting, screenwriting, storytelling, music, editing - all these things have to come together. No doubt technology continues to bring us wondrous advances in film making to improve how we view movies. At the end of the day film making is a miracle of collaboration. Team work and motivation is the mantra that  divides between a successful and not so successful film maker. 

Contrast : what makes photography interesting

The biggest challenge for a film maker is to choose his/her team very wisely & carefully, because everybody may not be on the same page with you in your creative process. Individual commitment to a team effort is name of the game. For RSACE students the word TEAM stands for -Together Everyone Achieves More. 

A photographer:  shoots people for a living.

A successful film maker is the one who is clear in his mind that film making is a very pragmatic form of Art. It's about constantly finding ways & means, how to solve problems within the limited resources, budgetary restrictions, constraints of time and large groups of partners, collaborators to satisfy. 

Orientation Program & Freshers Party

The Orientation Program of RSACE students began with a bang. Each & every student had a story to tell . How they got admission, how they prepared for their admission test, how they convinced their parents to take up cinema  & entertainment as their career option and so on & so forth.  Now that they are at RSACE I would also like to tell one story to the students, hope it will motivate them.

The Pencil maker with the Pencil

The Pencil Maker took the pencil aside, just before putting him into the box. "There are 5 things you need to know," he told the pencil, "Before I send you out into the world. Always remember them and never forget, and you will become the best pencil you can be."

"One: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in Someone's hand."

"Two: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, but you'll need it to become a better pencil."

"Three: You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make."

"Four: The most important part of you will always be what's inside."

"And Five: On every surface you are used on, you must leave your mark. No matter what the condition, you must continue to write." The pencil understood and promised to

remember, and went into the box with purpose in its heart.

Freshers at the Orientation Program at RSACE

Come September and how can you not have the Freshers Party at RSACE. With so much of Rains in Mumbai, some how the party could not take off . But enough was enough and on 29th September 2017 the first batch of the RSACE students had their cake and they had a chance to eat it too.
The Music & Dance added to the glamour quotient of the event.

You can learn something new everyday, if you listen

Once the party was over the serious learning of the art & craft of cinema was back in business. Shri Gyan Sahay the ace Cinematographer took lessons and familiarise the students with basic types of lights, their characteristics & their relation to colour temperature.

The dream merchants with cinematographer Gyan Sahay at RSACE

 Film viewing is the most important part of any Cinema Academy. At RSACE it is ensured that the students watch regularly the best of Indian & Foreign Cinema. In the picture below the students are learning the nuances of Film Art from the Master to improve their understanding of Cinema.

Master Class at NFDC  with the mentor Ramesh Sippy

     

" At RSACE it is our endeavour to equip students with the skills required to create content that keeps pace with new-age media. Having said that, while the mediums have changed the ethos of cinema & entertainment remains unchanged and at its very core, cinema is all about stories" --Ramesh Sippy

Listening is the art  of learning at RSACE

                 'The Initials of the academy read, RSACE.
                 There is already an ACE in this academy and I am sure             
                  Ramesh Sippy  will live up to it." --Amitabh Bachchan

Thank you Mr Amitabh Bachchan for those kind words. On behalf of RSACE we wish you a very happy 75th Birthday .
 We take this opportunity to bring out the 1st Post of RSACE JOURNAL on the occasion of your Birthday.
May you continue to inspire us with your enthusiasm ,vigour and zeal.