Hi Everyone, Welcome to my webspace. My name is Ramesh Coodalore Leelasankar. Isn’t that too long a name? Yes. Long enough for me to request date of birth verification, instead of the last name on all identify verification phone calls! Let’s make it simple with ‘CL’, that’s how my childhood friends would call me and be used to it, I prefer it that way.
From childhood, films have always been the primary source of entertainment, inspiration, happiness and in short, everything. My all-time favorite destination is the cinema theater. All my festival celebrations have also been in cinema theaters with all those hardcore movie fans, not with my family. Along with my friends, I have even watched 3 to 4 films on a single day, from early morning to midnight. I am one of that serious movie watching persons’, who literally enters into the screen and not only suspends the disbelief, but also everything around. Even outside the cinema theater, the only topic that I talk a lot about or connect people with is films.
I am definitely not an expert on films. But I am extremely happy to share all that I am learning, in my journey from a hardcore movie-buff to a passionate filmmaker. Starting with the courses that I have taken, the tools that I have used, the short films that I have made, the stories that I have published, the struggles, the successes, and everything.
MY STORY
All through my life, I have always had the thirst for creative tasks and have tried to quench it with the daily tasks, both in personal life and at work. The cultural activities at work, have always brought the creative best out of me. The skids/stage-plays that I directed in those cultural activities accidentally hyped me up to learn to film making and direction skills.
What next? I ended up applying for a ‘Film direction and screenplay’ weekend course at Blue Ocean Film & Television Academy, Chennai, India. Five days of intense work life and now, 2 days of intense film making life made my family worry about my physical health. Oh boy! For me, it was the most precious time of my life. Every minute was memorable, productive, and treasurable. I received coaching from the best of the best mentors.
First short film – Ka dull. From directing skids/stage-plays to directing a short film, the transition was not that easy as it seems to be. I was such an ignorant filmmaker that I did not know multiple shots/shot divisions are required to compile a single scene. Hmm. An interesting starting point for a film director, right? Fast forward now, the short film has reached 250,000 views in my YouTube channel. To clarify my own ability as a filmmaker, this reach definitely gave me confidence.
For a novice short filmmaker, the film-making classes in BOFTA initially gave me an alienated feeling in the initial weeks. When international films were screened and discussed, when all my classmates participated in those discussions, I felt kind of left out. All that I knew was the films in my regional language, Tamil and little bit of other Indian language movies. I can easily count the other international films that I have watched till then. All is well when it ends well. The world of film knowledge started to open the doors for me now
ABILITY VS PASSION
As part of my filmmaking course, next came in the “short stories” challenge. We had to write 7 short stories in 7 days on 7 different topics, not exceeding three pages. For my family, these “film making tasks” have now started to eat up the weekdays as well. For me, “wow” what an experience that was? Wrote and rewrote the stories till the last minute of submission. But the surprising factor was the recognition that my story received even before submission! When I delegated the transcription work of those stories, I was surprised to hear that the transcriptionist felt a close connection with all of those stories, not because of the actual story, but the way in which I narrated them. 3 of those short stories officially got selected and published in the film institute’s yearly magazine.
Only then, I realized my life was not only about films. It was also Books!! I now recollect what happened the day before my 10th grade math exam. My father bought the 2nd part of “Pirivom Santhipom” (Sujatha sir’s novel) home and my elder brother teased me by finishing that 300 page book in one night and kept talking all about that to me. What else could happen now? I kept my math book aside and picked up the novel. Read it the night before and the morning of the exam to complete it. But the surprising story was I scored 100% on my Math exam that day. I now realize that the score has some connection to how heart-warming I felt that day.
Coming back to the short story challenge, I was pursuing the filmmaking course just to follow what my heart wants. But not only my family, But i also had my share of doubts about my writing/filmmaking ability. But the short story challenge changed all our beliefs. Apart from the transcriptionist, I got appreciated from all the Judges of that short story challenge. One among them, is my MENTOR, renowned director Mahendran. He appreciated my writing ability and even took the time to speak to my family about my capability to write convincingly in both languages, English and Tamil. Whatever I have achieved till now, or will achieve in the future, I owe everything to him. He reassured my writing ability to ME and everyone in my family. FAMILY?? Yes. Crucial point for creators struggling between HOME and PASSION. Convincing your family, is half winning.
WHY I WANT TO HELP PEOPLE
The future is uncertain. I am not sure what surprises god has for me in the store. But I am making sure that the thirst for to film making, keeps me persistent and consistent with writing. With the writing journey, I do not want to miss out on all that I have learned, experienced and things that has made me successful. I would like to share, discuss, and collaborate with like-minded creators to make this journey successful for everyone.
THE GOAL OF THIS WEBSPACE
I have seen a lot of my fellow creators got stuck with something at some point. Laziness to write, consistent upgrading of skill, failure to reach prospective leaders, struggling to build a team, etc., The goal of this webspace is to keep everyone consistently motivated towards their dream and do not let the world lock your instinct.
Once again, thanks so much for visiting my web space short to feature films. Feel free to take your time, look around, and get to know more about this web space and me. If you ever need a hand or have any questions, feel free to leave them below and I will be more than happy to help you out.
All the best – CL
