Guest teacher Farrah Khan conducted her first session on the topic “The Importance of Song Picturisation in Indian Cinema”. Farrah has worked on over 60 feature films and recently choreographed for Shakira for the MTV Music Video Awards. Farah began by detailing the preproduction process that go into song picturisations including script analysis, character development and storyboarding. The students viewed and analysed a number of songs to which Farrah provided guidance on production technique and working with a variety of actors.

Farah emphasised the importance of working successfully with producers in terms of shooting constraints, budgets and time limitations. Her own production style is to use highly structured shoots, with every shot planned out on paper first. The dance steps are the base layer for any song, once these are correct the remaining aspects such as costumes, sets etc can be layered on top to complete the finished product.

“In designing a song picturisation, you need to really understand the characters involved to integrate the the song and the dance styles into the story. What is their background? What dance techniques are realistic for the character?” she said, adding “Any choreography must respect the lyrics, the design has to complement and enhance them, not distract. The picturisation should transcend languages – the actions and design should be communicating the same content as the lyrics at all times”

“A song picturisation can convey an enormous amount of 'story', which is why directors often use them at pivotal plot points, as they can communicate the emotions, thoughts and actions of the characters far more succinctly than they would otherwise be able to”.

While the whole shoot should be preplanned, you still need to be flexible when it comes to the varying dance skills of actors. She explained many of the techniques, including camera angles, depth of field and emphasis on expressions that directors can utilise so that the lead actors are not overshadowed by the professional dancers.

Farrah finished by sharing her own creative influences, in terms of films, filmmakers and regional dance styles and urged students to search their country and world for their own influences. She explained that if you are looking to develop a career in the field, you need to standout by being able to look at common themes in a fresh manner and avoid cliché.