WH
More developments on the 'freedom project' front. I acted in my first scene for the project last night and it felt good. Simon was directing and he was on one of the cameras while Benji was on the other. I don't have to worry if we got the coverage and everything we need to make the scene work in post production because Simon will have to deal with it..wohoooo.... A special thanks to Brian Le Gros who was generous to us with use of his property and making things possible even though we are a 'no budget' independent film.
We are shooting the next scene for the project next week and I am excited about that as well. Benji is dropping out of the project after next week's scene but people have been generous with their offers of help and the project has to go on one way or the other. Also we are close to recasting the part opposite me and just awaiting confirmation that it is all go from the actress.
I did a small acting freebie for TVNZ7 idents and those will start airing this week on TVNZ7. I also managed to cull down my list of movies to watch at the NZ International Film Festival to 5 and finally went and bought the tickets.
Signing off,
Amit
Labels: Acting, Freedom Project
Tweet
I bit the bullet again and opened a 'Twitter' account, so if you want you can find me there under the username @unkreative.
Watched the Borneo episode of 'Intrepid Journey's' last night and I really want to go there next year. 2010 can't come soon enough and by the way 2009 is screaming past it feels like it's just around the corner.
Gearing up to shoot a scene this week and another one next week for 'freedom project' if stars align themselves. Fingers crossed for that. Wish I had money to pay people to commit times to it and also to lock down locations but that's the nature of independent film making I guess - on a wing and a prayer.
Amit
Labels: Freedom Project, Travel
Freedom Update
Several developments on the 'freedom' project front. First up - Simon Ward is now on board as co-director on the project. It will ease up the workload on me as I can't direct the scenes I am in anyway. Secondly, I bit the bullet and bought one radio wireless mic to solve my worries about extra crewing and audio problems. Simon bought one as well, so between the two of us we've got the audio side covered. Third up is that we are gearing up to shoot the next scene - hopefully this week. We were supposed to shoot it tomorrow but the location was unavailable. And lastly I had to take the hard decision to re-cast one of the parts because of various reasons but it is all part of the process.
That's me for now.
Labels: Freedom Project
Hiding
Time for introspection and quiet, so I can think things through in terms of where I am headed. To help me in the process I bought 3 Volumes of '
Rediscovering Intrepid Journeys' TV Series and
Michael Palin's New Europe from Dymocks on Queen Street which had a closing down sale of 40% off.
A
Labels: TV Series
Sprocket Projection School
It has been a very long week with crazy long hours and I also had the Cinema Projection course over the weekend which made sure I was caught up in the daily grind. The highlight of the weekend for me has been the 2 day beginner's course in Cinema Projection run by Sprocket Projection School - launched by Gina Dellabarca {who also runs Academy Cinemas}. The person who took the course was Phil Greig, who has worked with Peter Jackson and also worked across cinemas all across the country. He was a great teacher/knowledge sharer and was really passionate about projection and technology and workflows/processes and he was able to share all that in a language that everybody was able to understand and comprehend.
After the workshop I know the history of film projection and what a filmprojector is made of and how it works and as a bonus I can 'make up' and 'break up' film and I can thread a projector. Most of all I now have a better appreciation of the film making process and also understand the magic and complexities of working with film and can also see why film will eventually be used only for major blockbusters while everything shifts towards the digital realm. It will take time - maybe another 10-15 years {if not earlier} before the technology is wide-spread and delivers the cost benefits that will force all cinema theaters to eventually switch over to digital.
It is a definitely a good course and worth going through even if you don't intend on becoming a projectionist. I think they are thinking of running it again in August or something - if interested then drop in a mail to Gina at gina[at]academycinemas.co.nz
That's me for now.
Amit
Labels: Film Projection
Who are you?
'Who are you?' - that's a question one needs to ask oneself from time to time and I am asking that question right now. Not that I am getting any answers. A couple of words came to mind but they are not so pleasing or easy to digest. I don't know why I go through this process every now and again.
Amit
Labels: Random
Terminator -the end
I think they should bury 'The Terminator' franchise, especially after Terminator Salvation. It was a complete misfire with Christian Bale being the weakest link in the movie.
Here is an article which kind of tries to figure out what went wrong with the movie?
A
Labels: Movies
The Hangover
Just back from a media screening of '
The Hangover' and it is a brilliant, funny, fun movie. Never laughed so much in a movie in recent times {i mean in the movies that are supposed to be comedies}.
While walking to the car I saw a asian couple learning how to dance in a closed asian food court with an older lady supervising their steps. They were dancing to Celine Dione's track 'My Heart Will Go On'. It was surreal to say the least. I wanted to take a photo but that would have been very intrusive.
Amit
Labels: Movies, Random
VO2 Max
New round of fitness test is through and it is mixed results. My weight's gone down by 1 KG to 67.2 but my body fat %age has gone up by .5% - which is not too bad I guess. Resting heart rate is still at 65bpm. Blood pressure has improved to almost theoretical/text book levels - 124/72 . While my
VO2 Max has increased to 48.8 - which is a definite plus. What it all means is that my cardio fitness as well as overall fitness is definitely increasing but I need to keep increasing the intensity of training in order to keep on track with my goal.
I saw this fascinating documentary called '
Unknown White Male' and it is a riveting watch. Check it out if you get a chance.
Amit
Labels: Fitness, Movies
Slow freedom
Well autumn just passed by without a sign - just cold winds and rain and now is the onset of winter. Note to self - try and plan your next holiday in May/June. :-)
'Freedom Project' is going a little slower than I anticipated but I have taken overall stock of the situation and it is looking good mostly. There are some awesome stories that are coming out and I am hopefully that they will flow together when the edit is done. Even though it is experimental in the way we are doing it - it still has to work as a dramatic narrative for the audience to invest their time in it. Managed to score a location which I was having trouble finding and the workshops are coming along nicely, so I can't really complaint. :-)
Here is an excerpt from the scene with Matt McD and Lorraine - which we basically developed using acting workshops. The scene is still in final stages of development so can't share the full scene right now.
Adam: Wohh..Woh..Woh…Stop..stop..stop..stop…
Tricia: What? I was just joking.
Adam: Yeah.. Look..please, please tell me that this is not the sort of thing you’re gonna bring up tomorrow. You just launched into a racist, fatist, sizest rant
Tricia: I didn’t say anything racist
Adam: Yeah whatever it was…you just…you just…I can’t remember your words now
Tricia: That’s crazy
Adam: Because that’s gonna be disaster tomorrow. This guy comes to see us and we sit down and we go 'we bought the best cot because cot deaths are caused by fat people, rolling over, drinking too much…'Tricia: It was just a joke.
Adam: You know what your jokes are like..You know..
Tricia: Funny…You love my jokes
Adam: Stop..stop..No..No..
Tricia: You laugh at my jokes..you love them
Adam: Yeah I laugh at your jokes but I’m married to you
Tricia: because you laugh at my jokes
Adam: That’s hard tack but yeah I married you because you are so funny. But there aren’t many people who find you funny. Well, we’ve only met 6 of them.Later,
Amit
Labels: Freedom Project
