Promotion
Sniffling my way through my second handkerchief because of the cold, which has been shifting my mind patterns through out the day. Today was the last day of news at school and it definitely feels great.
I have been trying to push promotion of the movie a bit and getting some heartning response - UNLIMITED has done the story and will be coming out in this month's issue. I will put up the article when i get my hands on it. Scoop might do a review of the movie and so would Rip It Up..and will be meeting the editor of JETMAG on monday, plus maybe more publicity from other newspapers and magazines. It is just a little bit un-nerving carrying out the promotion drive on my own but there is always a first time for everything. I will also design some pamphlets so that we can hand them out a week or so before the screening to generate more publicity for the screening.
Also need to get my head down and get some crucial paperwork done - including music rights for the movie.
Anyway need to stop thinking...need to break the circle.
Amit
Touching the Void
'Touching the Void' was indeed fantastic film making and story telling. It just blew me away by its intensity and courage. And the fact that it recaptures actual events is just mind blowing.
Yesterday was a productive day - watched "Ghost In the Shell: Stand Alone Complex" - the first 4 episodes anyway and was thrilled but not -it advances the world which has been created in 'GIS' but there is some element missing from the TV series - maybe it is the music or something or maybe the story structure of each episode {the director is different and the TV series was run by a committee?? }...Nothing can top off the original movie; atleast till i get to see the sequel -which I don't know when I will get to see.
Got out Patlabor 1 & 2 since both of them have been directed by Mamoru Oshii. Will be watching them before the long weekend ends. Also spent a better part of 6 hours - which went on till 3.00 AM today morning in conceptualizing and editing the trailer for 'Memories'...It is done and have uploaded it to the movie site.
You can access the trailer directly by click
HERE. It is dark and brooding and I think it is much closer to the movie in terms of mood and atmosphere.
Anyway - am off for now. Need to get something to eat as I am starving.
Bye,
Amit
Festival
Just back from talking to the organizer's of
Asia Film Festival and 'Memories of Tomorrow' has been officially selected to screen at the festival, which will be held at Academy Cinemas in May. I am thrilled and it is the first festival that the movie has been selected into. Just need to get small things sorted out with the festival organizers and then I can write more details.
Other than that - it has been a relaxing day - a really long weekend. Just finished watching 'Anchorman' and it is funny...one of the few movies where Will Ferrell is absolutely brilliant and funny. Next on my list to watch is 'Touching the Void' - i heard it is heartbreaking and I am just gearing myself up to watch it.
The task for the weekend is clearly set out : redesign some posters and also try and design a DVD jacket for print...both these will take a good 2 days if i get in the flow. Also have a small editing job to do tomorrow -which I am looking forward to.
Will write an update after I watch the other movie.
Amit
Article
Sitting with excruciating back pain - started suddenly today morning, must be the way I slept or something... combine it with the day light savings messing up with my body clock - it is an extreme effort keeping the normalcy of appearance. Feels like the thread has been cut and I am falling into an abyss - not knowing which pain to suffer the most.
School is going normal with the news studio shows, got off normal time today because there was no editing for Pulse field items.. Sent off the DVD and press material to Sydney Film Festival for consideration - keeping fingers crossed for that...Extremely thankful to Gerben because South Seas covered the entry fee - which, believe me, is a blessing, especially when you are putting the movie into major film festivals which does cost.
The article which Michelle interviewed me for appeared in North Shore Times and I have updated the
press page and you can also click
HERE to view the scanned image. I do feel really lucky that we are getting support from the press...something which is so essentially for getting the movie noticed.
Also get the papers from Immigration - now have to start off the paperwork process and put in my residency application once all of the paperwork is sorted. Paperwork means a big sigh..
Anyway - off for now...need to find peace within the pain.
Amit
Foundation and Earth
Just finished reading 'Foundation and Earth' - yeah - I did manage to get my hands on a copy of that {Went and bought it from Borders bookstore on Queen Street}...It has been 8 days since I had started reading the 'Foundation' series and I have just finished reading parts 2{Foundation and Emire},3{Second Foundation},4{Foundation's Edge},5{Foundation and Earth} in that time frame.... And the biggest surprise I got today was that there is a 7th and final concluding part to the series - 'Forward to Foundation'- which Asimov completed days before his death in 1992. Next on my list is 'Prelude to Foundation' -since thats the book which I don't have to spend any money to procure {I will buy 'Foundation' and 'Forward to Foundation' sometime soon}. It has almost been an obsession devouring the universe that Asimov had created in the series - a universe which is full of possibilities, and full of mysteries. I loved 'Foundation and Empire' and 'Second Foundation' the most till now because they were part of the original trilogy and the writing style/ story telling techniques had an urgency about them, which the later parts seem to have missed. The later parts are more expansive and more leisurely in their style - but both combined together do create a different universe..
I think i really did enjoy a long weekend and I think I do feel refreshed to kick start my week. Looking forward to things.
UPDATE: 6.30 PM
Still at school...another long day of edit sessions -both news and pulse.
Only notable update: Immigration has approved 'Expression on Interest' and have invited me to apply for residency - the process should take another 4-5 months...but am excited because thats one step closer.
Redesign
Phew.....spent the whole day doing 3 things: reading 'Foundation's Edge'; redesigning the movie website and sleeping.
Just uploaded the new 'Memories of Tomorrow' section and it feels good...it is really simple but i hope it brings some elegance to the movie section -which I felt was just make shift till now. You can check out the
NEW REDESIGNED MOVIE SECTION. Took a long day's work but I think it was worth it.
Nearly finished with 'Foundation's Edge' - too bad that I can't get my hands on 'Foundation and Earth' straight after this... Will have to make do with 'Prelude to Foundation'..
Well besides that there is nothing much else to write at the moment...
Feels good to be alive.
Amit
Events and Non-Events
It has been both an eventful and an un-eventful day. A day off work and it feels good just relaxing, especially with the super extra workload I have had in the past 2 weeks.
Started reading 'Foundation's Edge' - the follow up to the original Foundation trilogy - and it so happens it is not a trilogy anymore - there are 3 more books in the 'Foundation' universe: Prelude to Foundation, Foundation's Edge, Foundation and Earth. Asimov's universe is really unique and fascinating. And the themes running across the foundation series is really unique and cool.
The indiannewslink event coverage has been called off at the last moment. It feels good because I had this feeling that it was gonna turn into one of those problem projects, on which you start banging your head against anything you can lay your hands on. So it does mean I do get a relaxed and long weekend.
Luke SP got the job at Sky, so I am really excited about that...It will be good for him to move back to Auckland. So now that leaves another 1 editor from last year who needs to get a job.
I cleaned up my room, so now I can walk again..the room had gotten cluttered and it was becoming hard to walk in the room without stepping on something. It is an endless cycle - repeats once every month I guess. ;-)
Got the agreement papers from the american distributor, who would like to become Producer's representative for 'Memories' in order to sell the movie worldwide. I will be reviewing the papers and rethinking the strategies and see what happens from there. But it is a really exciting feeling that things are really close at this stage.
Just started work on re-designing the movie section - downloading software, so I can start doing the more intricate changes..got excited as I got the random image rotation on a page to start working. Got out a couple of movies -which I am gonna watch over the next 2 days..and will write more about that once I watch them.
It has turned out to quite a long update for a non eventful day.
Ciao,
Amit
5:00 a.m.
Thats what the time is right now - for the past week and a half, i suddenly seem to be getting up at 5.00 a.m. - looks like my body clock has re-adjusted itself on it's own. Does it feel weird - yeah...because work doesn't start till 8.30 a.m.
Busy days at school again and submitted the movie to a few more film festivals. Finished 'Foundation and Empire' and started off on 'Second Foundation'...I think I will be taking a day off tomorrow, to re-assess and reorganize my things...
Will write an update in the evening after the screening.
"9.45 PM UPDATE"Finished reading 'Second Foundation' and absolutely loved it...Fantastic piece of science fiction. I am absolutely blown away by the universe that Issac Asimov has created in it.
The screening went well and the reactions seemed mostly positive..Lance came over for the screening session which was really cool. The international students blew me away by presenting a nice bottle of wine - I was really lost for words.
Tomorrow is also my day off from school and I am thrilled about that.. Nothing else to write at this point.
Ground Zero
The past few days have been busy as usual and time really does merge together. Yesterday Michelle from North Shore Times came and interviewed me - the article should be in the newspapers within the next couple of weeks. Have sent over a couple of DVD's to leading newspaper publications and internet based newspapers, so that they can review it and give us the ups and the lows of the movie. Have also started putting DVD's for film festivals and have submitted to around 5 festivals now and will keep a constant track of the good festivals to put the movie into.
This week is studio shows at school and the first day went really well - the new workflow worked out really nice and i made some minor adjustments in post, which now saves me about an hour and half's time...Will be screening 'Memories of Tomorrow' for the students this coming thursday evening.
Just about finished 'Foundation and Empire' and the next book on my list is 'Second Foundation'- the third part of the Foundation trilogy. This weekend will be busy with the coverage of the event for Indian Newslink and next week will be more editing for the 'Architecture' project as well as the event which we shoot this saturday... So it is busy times ahead...
Anyway - will post soon if anything major turns up or happens within the next couple of days.
Cheers,
Amit
Foundation and Empire
Started reading the second part of the 'Foundation' trilogy by Issac Asimov and it is mind blowing...absolutely loving it.. Also feels good to start reading again, after a long time -i think i stopped reading books when i started writing the movie and doing this movie...so it has almost been a year since i had last read any book.
I went to a leading bookshop to try and get the first part of the trilogy but it was a shocker that they did not have any books written by Issac Asimov...how dumb can that be - all the sci-fi section was filled up with commercial crap...I still can't believe it.
Today was the only day I had free, since yesterday was spent in the editing suites. It is another long week ahead. Had the screening today evening and the response has again been really positive - the DVD player did get stuck once at a particular point -which was kind of nerve wracking...but things got back to normal and everyone seemed to enjoy the movie.
Anyway - will crash now...eyes can't seem to stay open.
Partings
Days fly past...i am feeling a little bit tired and taking half a day did not seem to do much good. I do need to take a step away from the whole scheme of things for a day or two but can't seem to find the time where i can do that.
Benji is leaving for US tomorrow afternoon..this came as a bit of shock and surprise but he has had a major setback in the family and it is kind of imperative for him to return home. Yesterday evening, went and had drinks and snacks with Benji, Gareth and Lance at the Belgian Beer Cafe in downtown area. Man, the belgians know how to make good beer. I am not really a drinker but the belgian beers just flow through you just like that. It is a weird feeling when one of your close friends just leaves like that.
I did drop into Triangle to fix the avid, with which they were having some problems with. Today, I managed to master both the masked and unmasked version of the movie onto tape. It is definitely an exciting feeling.
Got interviewed by Rebecca from a magazine called UNLIMITED, and it was cool that they are doing a story on us - more so because it is an exciting business magazine. She also interviewed all the lead cast and Lance and Benji and Kathryn Rawlings. I also dropped into North Shore Times to invite them for the screening. So hopefully someone will be there to give us some more coverage.
Anyway - got another long day tomorrow. I am off to bed for now.
Amit
DVD's
Phew...what a couple of days...Since I had messed up some of the credits and had rebuilt them - i went through the process of re-encoding the mpg file... Adobe encore picked up the file change and made the necessary changes but it also messed up the menu routing system.. So for the past 2 days I have been trouble shooting the DVD menus to make them do what i want them to do...i am lucky since all i was looking at was reconfiguring the menus which Benji had already created earlier but it took 2 whole days to finally get it right. It was such an exhilirating feeling when you finally get it right - more so because it was frustrating trying to get it right.
Now have begun writing DVD's for the cast and crew..I also sent off some more DVD's to friends and family back home and more to international websites.. Getting some more response from more media companies - mostly print.
I don't know if I mentioned it or not but my expression of interest for NZ residency has been selected from the pool and now there are preliminary checks which they are doing..so keeping fingers crossed that they invite me to apply for the residency.
Also will be having another screening of the movie this sunday and will have more industry people coming in, including people from the press...So I am excited... The word of mouth on the movie is good and more people are getting interested in the movie...Phew....
anyway - am off for now...just wanted to end this post on a note of thanks to everyone who have supported us through the movie.
Ciao,
Amit
Rewrites
Just re-mastering the DVD because there were a couple of small glitches which I wanted to fix - like forgetting to write someone's credit :D and also the encode would have problems coming out from black...took the whole of today to re-do it but it was worth it as i added music to the menus -which makes the DVD look cool...
The screening went really well...the response was great - the cast and crew liked the film, so i think we have done our jobs...it is great to see the team pleased - it is just a huge relief.
Here is an article which has appeared in a Singapore based film magazine and this is a web version of that. To read it click
HERE. It is kind of long, so you will need some time to read it.
Will be having another screening next Sunday...this time it will be for industry people, so it will definitely be more nerve wracking than this one... anyway...off for now...
amit
Screenings and stuff
An hour and half away from screening and I am just waiting eagerly and there is that bit about nervous tension on how people will find the movie. Watched the movie along with Greg and Tim, yesterday night on the home DVD player and they seemed to think that it was alright - which i think was a complement...heeheee....i think the ending definitely makes the maximum impact.
Came in to school today morning and watched the whole movie again on the big screen to make sure that everything was alright and it was fine. I have also sent out DVD copies to various international movie review websites, so that they can review our movie - just have to keep fingers crossed that we don't get nailed by each of them ;-)... The american distributor we were talking to is keen to pick up the movie and sell it in america...so now we are one step closer towards that..
I went to Hoyts after watching the movie because I did not feel like going home and also wanted to watch 'Constantine'...Jarrod, one of the art department team members on the film, was on duty and he was kind to get my ticket refunded and make it a complimentary viewing. I loved the movie - it was a tad long but overall it had a nice mood and rhythm to it and loved the cinematography and camera angles - very angular and symetric.
Will probably write an update to this later in the evening -after the screening is done.
Till then,
Ciao,
Amit
Beginnings and Ends
This is such a surreal moment to write about. Today was the last day of the movie - we have officially completed the movie 'Memories of Tomorrow' - 1 year 2 months from the date of the beginning of the idea to make this indie flick {I had started writing the script on 1st Jan,2004}.... I can't thank the countless people who helped in making this project happen and gave us so much support and encouragement. This is living the dream. Benji made a simple but fantastic DVD design and also laid off a copy to DVCAM {though interlaced version looks kind of weird in terms of motion}...
We did final checks today morning and both of us are happy with the final result. There are things that can be tweaked and made better but then one has to look at realities of film making - limited/no budgets and time constraints... The best thing was that we did stick to our target dates and met the deadlines we imposed on ourselves.
It has been a tiring day because besides all this happening was the edit sessions going on at school - which are always tiring for some reason because you are spending so much energy just monitoring progress on edits. Later in the evening, Amarbir came over and screened his movie, '1 nite' - an indie flick which he made last year. Amarbir is also a south seas graduate and did the course in 2000. He was also the first person I met after coming to NZ and it was his recommendations which had cemented the fact that I did want to do South Seas...it is such a small world. It was great catching up with him after a long time.
My mind is still numb from the lack of sleep and also the momentous occasion of today. I think I will write off some DVD's to send to press and to distributors before falling off to bed. Till later.
Amit
Panasonic Seminar and screening
Has been a long long day but very fruitful and a fantastic experience. Went to attend a seminar conducted by Panasonic on the SDX900 along with Lance, on the progressive technology in the panasonic digital cameras..the session was presided by Michael Caporale - who is an indie fim maker, DOP as well as consultant to Panasonic in USA. It was a fantastic lecture and learnt heaps more about the technology as well as about some technical aspects of filming with higher end cameras. Gabriel from Panasonic gave me a book on advanced tweaks and settings on DVX100a and I have passed on the book to Lance, since he is the camera person and he would benefit from it the most. Saw some footage from varicam and it looks fantastic...I am tempted to shoot the next movie on the HD varicam, if I can get my hands on one. Overall it was fantastic of Rick to invite us over for the seminar as well as for the screening later on.
The seminar ended in the afternoon but we had a screening later on in the evening, so Lance and I went and saw 'Meet the Fockers' - it was funny and flowed along quite nicely. And after the movie was the screening by Panasonic of footage from different progressive cameras which they had. As part of DVX100a they showed a couple of scenes from 'Memories of Tomorrow' and the reception to it was fantastic...it held up so well on the big screen and looked beautiful. The evening was also significant because I got to meet and talk to Katsuyuki Taguchi, the man behind the HD varicam technology. It was an honour as well as pleasure talking to him and it just boggles my mind that I did get to meet the man who is responsible for the technology which helped us make our film... Also bumped into quite a few people whom I hadn't seen in a while - one of them being Steve - the DOP of Michael Heath's doumentary on Edith Colliers, which I had started editing in 2003 while studying at South Seas but had to leave because of joining south seas as a full time employee.
Lance has done an astounding and outstanding job on the movie and no matter how much I would try and express it, I can't...that he made the movie come alive with his beautiful camera work. We came back at around 9.30 PM - went to school along with Benji {who has been working almost non-stop for the past 2 days completing off the movie} to watch the completed cut of the movie - feels much better and looks much better and sounds much better - some more small tweaks are needed to finish off the movie and I think Benji will get onto it the first thing tomorrow morning. It does feel lucky to be a director who has got a fantastic and dedicated editor, who is really onto it and can see exactly what you are seeing {and more}.
I am now eagerly looking forward to the screening..The only fear is that we might run out of seating capacity in the lecture theatre - keeping fingers crossed for that.
Anyway - it is 12.25 and I guess I got to go back to bed....
Ciao
Amit
