This is the full recording of When a Product Designer Moves to Bollywood, the workshop we hosted on 2 December 2023 with Arastu Zakia. Arastu opens by defining filmmaking as anything that needs to be done to get a film made. He then lays out the broad product design process as he remembers it (need, research, ideation, implementation and measurement, in a continuous circle) and uses each step to explain how a film gets made.
Under need, he asks why a film is being made at all, and describes the two reasons he sees most often in Bombay: a proven formula such as a sequel, and someone in a position of power wanting it made. Under research, he argues that a writer's own life experience, and the eye to turn it into a story, counts for more than research done from the outside. Ideation gets the most time: form (film, series or short film, and whether a story is plot-led or led by its characters and world), treatment (how the same idea can be made as an art film or as one anyone can enjoy) and leverage (what you can realistically get made at your stage).
The second half is a working glossary: logline, synopsis, outline, treatment, screenplay format and the shooting draft, then acts, sequences, scenes, shots and takes, and the roles of the producer and the director. In the final chapter, Arastu assigns crew roles to the participants and the group sets out to make a one-scene film.
Our guest
Arastu Zakia
Ex-Product Designer & Startup Entrepreneur from Ahmedabad, who moved to Bombay to pursue filmmaking.
Host
Jatin Leuva
Co-founder and CEO, Tcules
Event: 2 December 2023. Read about the event: When a Product Designer Moves to Bollywood
In Arastu's words
On why he frames filmmaking as a product design process:
“My hypothesis is that the process of making things is largely common across all domains.” (3:33)
On need, the first step:
“If you have a strong why, several hows will come to you, but if you don't have a why, no amount of hows will ever, ever sustain.” (4:21)
On research:
“Your life's greatest research is life experience.” (13:44)
On leverage, and why it matters more in Bollywood than elsewhere:
“The money you make there is at the level of the Ambanis, but the disorganisation is at the level of a street vendor.” (33:12)
On the logline:
“The logline for a filmmaker is the North Star of a film.” (38:54)
On the outline, a numbered list of every scene in the film:
“Actually, this is a very lean prototyping version of making a film.” (40:47)
Chapters
- 0:13 Introduction
- 0:37 What is filmmaking?
- 2:32 Filmmaking through the product design process
- 4:00 First step: need
- 13:22 Second step: research
- 20:23 Third step: ideation
- 20:58 3.1: Form
- 26:50 3.2: Treatment
- 32:56 3.3: Leverage
- 38:00 Filmmaking terminology
- 56:04 Let's make a film
The film made at the workshop
At the end of the session, the participants made a short film, Life of a Designer. Watch it on YouTube: https://youtu.be/xKT8eGb7VuI