New Year resolutions 2010

1. Drink more wine(Red)
2. Drink less beer(Will be tough, will try)
3. Direct a feature film(Adamant)
4. Watch more independent films
5. Learn to play Squash, reduce Badminton
6. Travel to North East India
7.  Be braver, keep my spine straight, and write 2 more original scripts without worrying about trends.(Possible)
8.  Sleep less, Play more.
9. Simple life, few wants, honest living( Will try)
10. Take part in a Duathlon event

What are the other flimsundass'ers planning?

PINCH - a short film

PINCH from Sandeep Mohan on Vimeo.

Overall cost of this film: Rs.100/-( Since we were on vacation:)

Chalte Chalte

This is an attempt to capture fantasies and loneliness of the trans-gender individual. As a trans-gender, one grows up with the hard fact that you may never have a life partner. So often, they identify with the 'tragedy queen' of Indian cinema.

Yeh duniya gol hai?

Yeh duniya gol hai - a study tour from Sandeep Mohan on Vimeo.

05

04

Crazy talk...

Thought I will just type in "Mad Hoshi" and see whether that qualifies as a blog too.
Me going Mad about Madhoshi. Should I pronounce it Madosi, Madroshi, Madrasi Madhooshee. Man these accents are mad, really. More about my "Mad Hoshi" soon. Want to use this blog to talk about the experience of the recording sessions on the Salsa and Bachata song in Kottayam, Kerala.

As a sample, I just feel like writing some stuff(Not part of my film, but my attempt at being a lyricist!)
"Mein pehna tha Lungi,
Tab aayi ek Nangi ladki,
Usne bola "May I dance with you Sandy",
Meine bola, baby me no Salsa with Nangi Pangi ladkis..."

to be continued since my friend has come in and I am off from this cyber cafe!!!

03

We shall Overcome - 01, 02

The one-scene question

Act 1 Scene 1. Day/Street

Chatura: Who has the camera these days?
Ashu: Why d'you want to know?
Chatura: Just like that. I might want to shoot something...
Ashu: What?
Chatura: I don't know yet. I'm just asking who has the camera.
Ashu: Don't start getting possessive about it.
Chatura: Eh? I'm 1/6th part-owner...
Ashu: So what?!
Chatura: Well, Anu and you live in Andheri east. The camera goes from you to Vikroli and comes back. It goes to Goregaon and then comes back... So I'm just asking...
Ashu: It's NOT good to ask. Anyone would get the idea that you're being possessive about it!

So that was the end of it. Just for my general knowledge - no offense, nothing personal, not being grabby or anything, but who has the camera please?!

RAIN
by Don Paterson

I love all films that start with rain:
rain, braiding a windowpane
or darkening a hung-out dress
or streaming down her upturned face;

one long thundering downpour
right through the empty script and score
before the act, before the blame,
before the lens pulls through the frame

to where the woman sits alone
beside a silent telephone
or the dress lies ruined on the grass
or the girl walks off the overpass,

and all things flow out from that source
along their fatal watercourse.
However bad or overlong
such a film can do no wrong,

so when his native twang shows through
or when the boom dips into view
or when her speech starts to betray
its adaptation from the play,

I think to when we opened cold
on a rain-dark gutter, running gold
with the neon of a drugstore sign,
and I’d read into its blazing line:

forget the ink, the milk, the blood—
all was washed clean with the flood
we rose up from the falling waters
the fallen rain’s own sons and daughters

and none of this, none of this matters.

Living in Shadow

I was getting introduced to a colleague at work.

Q. So what do you do?

Strangely after two years of being here, I’ve never been asked this question by another person from the film industry. I searched for words.

A. I’m an AD.
Q. Which films?
A. Aamir, DevD....

Before I could complete my prized list, Rakesh Ji, who was also on the table and already knew me, broke in “Ye Anurag ji ki behen hain.” There you go. With this critical information about my genes, this person magically knew whatever there was to know about me. He started dancing with joy, shook my hands and even hugged me like I was his long lost friend that he had always been looking for. I was amused enough to spend another 15 mins with him, where he got to know me better by asking questions about my brother’s intoxication and toilet habits.

Yes, I have that effect on a lot of people. Infact some people get charmed even before they’ve said their first hello to me.

Along with the adulation come huge expectations. “Oh you have the same blood in you. You’ve got to be a natural writer!” The truth is that I’ve never written anything. Not even a diary. And now I’m even more scared to write.

This is not always the case though. People also hate me in the first meeting. One such angry young man once told me “What do you know about difficulty? Your dear bhaiya pays for the petrol in your car and your sushi dinner bills. Tomorrow he’ll produce your film as a birthday gift. Whereas deserving and talented people like us have been struggling for years to land our first film .” Struggling for years? He’s 23 years old!

It’s not all bad though. Love or hate is not the only reaction I derive. There are people, who behave normal with me. All friends do. I have friends of two types.
A. Friends who are with me due to their interest in both me and my brother.
B. Friends who are with me due to their interest in me only.

A type friends are usually okay, but at times when they try to use me to get endorsement from my brother; I don’t let them, often at the cost of losing the friend. B type are sweethearts and the ones whom I actually want to introduce to my brother and family. Problem is they don’t want it. So much so that if I was getting married to a B type, and he found out that my brother was a guest at the wedding, he would probably run away from the mandap. That’s the kind of influence my brother’s celebrity status, has on my friendships too.

My phone activity is proportional to the ups and downs in my brother’s life. When his film is a hit, my phone gets flooded with calls from his supposed friends, asking for his new new number. Although I have become adept at tackling such calls with ridiculous but successful excuses (like I don’t have the new no., or the no. is the same but he broke his phone or I’m out of country), it’s not a comfortable feeling to know that I can lie well. At other times there are always calls from struggling actors looking to be casted in his next film, or from people looking for gossip. I mostly avoid such calls but my sms bills go up. So do my grocery bills when relatives visit from out of town to get a picture with his hero friends, or to see his film shoot, and I accommodate & entertain them for days at my humble abode.

It’s been over two years for me in the film industry. Somehow people around me always manage to find out about my relation, no matter how much I try to hide it. And so somehow I always manage to get attention. I’ve experienced a variety of feelings over this undue respect or dismissal I get being a celebrity’s sister. I’ve been irritated, disgusted, amused, happy and detached. However, now I’ve accepted it as a part of life and don’t get bothered by it anymore. So now when someone becomes very cautious of criticizing my brother’s film in front of me, its fine. On the contrary, now I don’t mind humbly accepting some fringe benefits that come my way, like a special chai on the set, or a film preview invite.

Now that my second brother is soon to make his debut as a big film director, I will soon become a double celebrity sister. I hope to slip smoothly into this new upcoming role.

Sthir Chitra - Anubhuti's short film in the making - stills by Sandip

the Moviemakers!

and here it is....compression quality may not be all that good. If you want to see it bigger sized, click on the 'the Moviemakers' link below the video. Haven't figured out how to get that right on vimeo. But anyway - taraaaaa..

the Moviemakers from Ashutosh Pathak on Vimeo.

unmaking the Moviemakers

So, me and Sandeep went to Goa to fetch a pail and water, and came back with a film. Will be uploading that one right after this. Here are some experiences, and ideas.


About the Camera - SonyDCRSR47E

• Its a DV camera, not HD by a long shot.
• It takes stills, but at 640x480, which is uselesss really, unless you need a reference.
• It's LCD panel is too reflective outdoors. You can only see your face, and not the controls. Don't know a way around it...maybe wear an umbrella on your head.
• You CAN operate it without the LCD open also - there is a setting in there somewhere. Of course, then you cannot see what you are shooting. But its handy when you want to shoot stuff secretly. It may also be handy to screw in the tripod base plate at the bottom when you are doing this - it gives you a good idea about how tilted your camera is.
• Audio quality is surprisingly good.
• We have a wide lens - use it. The standard lens does not have enough width and can get tricky in tight rooms.
• There is a 'saturation' difference between the LCD and what you see on the comp. What looks beautiful on the LCD may not end up being that finally. Just keep that in mind, and stop pretending like you have a film camera. he heh.
• Although it has manual exposure setting, they are not really sensitive. I mean...just live with it. We are poor peoples.
• The zoom - always better to zoom out than to zoom in. Your shot won't lose focus then.

All that sounds bad, but i think its still a decent and hardy camera, and good to have fun with. Just not the type on which you shoot your portfolio film.


WhatDoYouCallThis style film-making
here's what me and sandeep went by while trying this out....

• Shoot what ever interests you (the cameraman)
• Hand over the camera to the other guy rapidly enough. That way you get less conscious and the frame has some energy always.
• Best to do this with actors who can think, or with Writers who can act.
• Have a vague plotline perhaps, and some semblance of character - attitudes at least. Then see where it goes.

Thats it...you can see the results in the next post. I found it surprising that holding the camera ourselves actaully didnt matter much in the edit. It becomes a form of its own, and the jumpiness stops bothering (me at least). Didn't really know where i was headed with the plot of this one, as should be evident in the cut. But on some levels, i am happy with this little experiment.
On another level, i find i'm still a little stupid with handling enacted scenes. Long way to go...


So, here's another idea...
Gather a cast of inventive actors. Not too many.
Use as many small cameras you feel comfortable with. You use one, give the actors some.
Make a general plot...4 friends go to an outhouse over the weekend, but meet an alien there etc.
Make sure the plot has travelling involved. This method may not be the best for static indoor scenes.
Give each actor a character briefing, and a trajectory and key plot points. You needn't inform all the actors about the other actors' brief.
Get together and shoot this thing.

I bet my beard it'll come out good :)

Happy Diwali!!

Hi this is a short film we on Diwali night. Happy Diwali to you all!!

happy-diwali from prodipto ray on Vimeo.

the echo grows louder

Hey flimsundass gang,
Where are you all? Can we start sharing "film-making" experiences please, however sundassy? Ashu and Sandeep, you've used our camera a lot. And had a problem with it. Could share that.
Okay, I'll start. I've shot some stuff for a short docu I'm planning to make. Probably call it 'Under the Skin'. It's about how this hairdresser Smita gets a tatoo. Basically, how "personal" it is, both for her and for the tatoo artist, Savio. Since I've been logging the footage, I'll tell you a bit about it.
I interviewed Smita about what getting the tatoo means to her. Decent interview, but she speaks very softly, so lots of it, I found, is not going to be usable in the edit. The mistake I made was, although I went close so that the camera mike might pick up her voice, she had some music playing already at her place. Of course I should have asked her to turn it off, but she was jittery and I wanted her to be comfortable...
I got a good interview of Savio, the tatoo artist. Also, shots of his workspace and home. Then Smita's workspace and home. Nice mood, I feel. Lots of what I've shot is mid-shot and CU. The home shots are also tight because, well, you know mumbai houses - all passage and low ceilings! But appropriate to the idea of "personal" and "under the skin".
I need good music, because both listen to rock a lot. So i think, that for the soundtrack. I also want to get shots of Savio swimming. He swims regularly... plus I get to see him in his trunks!!!
Wish me luck on the edit. if anyone has any suggestions, please post... Artists - Podu and Ashu - any ideas on transitions between shots? I don't know anything beyond dissolve and fade in fade out, and jump cuts. Can't figure whether to play with this or stick to simple cuts.
May the Force be with You (and whoever has the camera, give it back to me soon).

My first short

Watch this and tell me what you think, please!

Alive and Kicking - Contemporary Puppeteers Speak from Chatura Rao on Vimeo.

oye it's so quiet in here

I can hear my echo in this room. Koi kuch bolo:)

music video