Our school has just celebrated a landmark of its existence. A host of activities were conducted to commemorate the great event and all of them were executed with an aplomb and great efficiency, true to the school's tradition.
Alas, one activity amongst it did not fall into place in the manner it was envisaged to be. It was the documentary that was to project the school, in all its grandeur, to attract more and more students in the years to come. The surprising part was that the making of the documentary was entrusted to a youngster, who's cut his teeth in the celluloid world and is also an alumnus, himself!
The end product has been generally pooh poohed as a distasteful effort that highlights on the negative aspects of a boarding school - like kids taking on bad habits like smoking and the effects of corporal punishment, to name just a couple! Rightfully, the school authorities and the old boys' association have taken umbrage to the unfair depiction and feel that the documentary would, at best, fetch negative publicity and keep prospective students away from joining.
I must admit that I didn't quite grasp the first few minutes of the footage thanks to a lack of clarity of the sound track probably, enhanced by the bad acoustics of the hall that we're in!
I happened to be at the meeting, held today, to find a way ahead. At a particular juncture, I was flabbergasted to hear the director say that he was quite satisfied with his efforts and any attempt at altering the movie would be tantamount to infringing upon his creative freedom. I would like to believe that it was a statement made by the youngster to save his skin to tide over the unpleasant situation because he wasn't able to justify as to how a negatively themed documentary could give a positive publicity to the school.
Anyways, steps have been chalked out to retrieve the situation at the earliest!
Alas, one activity amongst it did not fall into place in the manner it was envisaged to be. It was the documentary that was to project the school, in all its grandeur, to attract more and more students in the years to come. The surprising part was that the making of the documentary was entrusted to a youngster, who's cut his teeth in the celluloid world and is also an alumnus, himself!
The end product has been generally pooh poohed as a distasteful effort that highlights on the negative aspects of a boarding school - like kids taking on bad habits like smoking and the effects of corporal punishment, to name just a couple! Rightfully, the school authorities and the old boys' association have taken umbrage to the unfair depiction and feel that the documentary would, at best, fetch negative publicity and keep prospective students away from joining.
I must admit that I didn't quite grasp the first few minutes of the footage thanks to a lack of clarity of the sound track probably, enhanced by the bad acoustics of the hall that we're in!
I happened to be at the meeting, held today, to find a way ahead. At a particular juncture, I was flabbergasted to hear the director say that he was quite satisfied with his efforts and any attempt at altering the movie would be tantamount to infringing upon his creative freedom. I would like to believe that it was a statement made by the youngster to save his skin to tide over the unpleasant situation because he wasn't able to justify as to how a negatively themed documentary could give a positive publicity to the school.
Anyways, steps have been chalked out to retrieve the situation at the earliest!
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