One of the most important elements of your film is Sound. Yes! We aren't in the silent era anymore. And remember, even in the silent era we had the "thuds" and "bangs". Charlie Chaplin!
Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti...
Sound design of a film is like Sound Of Music it needs to follow the notes. You can make or break a film with sound.
There, I was fascinated by my own idea of a film on the gone-by era of Indian television. I almost felt it was the best script ever written. I was so much in love with it. I never bothered to explain it. I simply assumed , the viewer will , because I did.
Never over-estimate the viewer of your film. Sometimes it's utmost important to spoon feed.
Purana Sona was an amazing script but the take away from it for me was...
If you are working with multiple sounds, be very clear which sound should overplay the other. Or which should be underplayed.
A good script, a well shot film, can be completely ruined by a bad sound design.
Though Purana Sona remains my favourite and an entire generation of my time shall love to watch it for nostalgia sake but I so much wish it was better in its sound design.
I did learn very good lighting techniques though, during the making of it.
Like the shot when "Pumpkin" is doing Pranayam and he receives a call from his friend. It was shot at night and the feel had to be of early morning. Best way to learn lighting is to challenge yourself with such situations.
Here it was a coincidence. We were shooting over a period of one night and next morning.
Though artificial light source is utmost essential to shoot indoors but I still prefer the natural light. Mixing the two can be an option but lots of trial and error will be required.
When you are working with Non-Actors it can be an advantage to use two friends as friends. The natural chemistry helps the scenes.
In contrast to Rigmarole: where certain amount of unfamiliarity was required, so I didn't want my two actors to meet before the shoot. In Purana Sona we had an overnight shoot so it worked for the camaraderie in the film.
If you love the by-gone era of Indian television industry. If you grew up watching The Lucy Show, Nukkad, Rajani, Yeh jo hai Zindagi, Hum Log... Then I am sure you would love to watch Purana Sona.