XLRI shoots the full picture

From The Telegraph

Power point presentations make way for the full picture.

Students of XLRI’s social entrepreneurship course are making short five to seven-minute films to share their learning “on the field”.

The latest celluloid offering is Ek Koshish, a short film made on primary education in the state by four final-year students — Rajiv Sengupta, Prashant Singh, Kumar Ankit and Diwakar Kaushik.

This trend started from the batch of 2010. Different groups under the social entrepreneurship course have already made four short films, on topics like women contract workers, street hawkers, platform urchins and state primary schools.

Students felt filming observations was a better way to document what they had observed, rather than just presenting papers and slides.

“Filmmaking is a creative way to capture what we learn during our rural exposure. Though the report and presentation are a must, filmmaking enriches the learning experience. We can be more expressive,” said Diwakar, involved in the making of Ek Koshish.

Social entrepreneurship professor Madhukar Shukla welcomed the initiative.

“Students can capture nuances and emotions through films which is not possible in a detailed study report. Visuals have a different impact altogether. The field visit is a part of the course, where students learn about rural life and their problems. Students can also keep the films for their records,” said Shukla.

XLRI also plans to make filmmaking compulsory as a documenting tool but nothing has been made final.

“Shooting a film can be a unique experience, but there’s more to that. Last time, when a group of students interviewed and filmed women contract workers and screened it for us, we got to know their problems from a personal angle. It triggers the motivation for change,” said Shukla.

The course, an elective one to promote social ventures among students, is a two-term one of six months’ duration in the second year for business management and personnel management and industrial relations. So far, four social ventures after course completion have rolled out —Parichay, Dream4others, Samanvay and Green Leaf Energy.