Open Hearts
I saw another fantastic movie - the 2nd in 2 days - I am feeling lucky. The movie is a danish movie called '
Open Hearts' by Susanne Bier. It is brilliant and the focus is so strongly on the performances and the nuances that it is hard to take your eyes away from the screen. It rips and builds the human heart piece by piece. Fascinating watch and a real punch in the gut.
Amit
Labels: Movies
66 & Out !!!
Pan's Labyrinth was an awesome experience and I am surprised that it did not win anymore oscars (it won 3 for art direction,cinematography and make-up). There were 3 movies in 2006 from the leading mexican directors -
Guillermo del Toro ("Pan's");
Alejandro González Iñárritu ("Babel") &
Alfonso Cuarón ("Children of Men") which made their mark on cinema and now having seen all the 3 I would say that Babel is definitely the weakest of the lot and also the only pretentious & contrived one. On the other hand there are 2 awesome cinematic experiences - both completely different from each other; 'Children' being unbelievably realistic in a future world while 'Pan' being unbelievably realistic in a past filled with the present and the fantasy. All the 3 movies have despair and darkness at their core but it is only 'Children' and 'Pan' which give a sense of hope. 'Pan's' was definitely one of the most complete movie experiences I have had in a while and I am still relishing it.
Richard (Thompson) kindly agreed to host the cast screening of the rough cut at his place since I don't have a TV or a DVD player at home. And it was a good screening - noted some more things down which I need to tweak but the general feeling was that the movie works and has you hooked for most of it's running length. Now will try and have a couple of screenings this week with people who have no idea what the project is about and have their reaction - that definitely will be the true test.
My current cellphone is giving me heart aches as it dies on me every time the phone rings or every time it feels like it. It has served me well for 3 years but I think it is time for a change.
Till later,
Amit
Labels: Five, Movies
29 Hours Later
Well - the project is up and running again - thanks to Benji's persistence and thinking outside the box. Instead of the original 10 hours that I had estimated - the recovery has taken 29 hours odd. The thing I am thrilled about is that the project is safe and I think I will still hit the deadline for tomorrow's cast screening and also mail off the festival screener.
As to how Benji saved the project - it has a lot to do with how Windows and Mac reads different file systems and working around it. The main thing that came out of this incident is that NTFS system is a bit too secure for it's own good and doesn't exactly bode well for editing projects where the work flow involves sharing the media and working on the project on different systems.
Anyway - back to work - encoding the mpeg file, so I can then use it for authoring a DVD.
Adios,
Amit
Labels: Five, Post Production
Hard Drive
So we have hit the first technical snag in post for 'FIVE'. The main partition of the external hard drive has become corrupted and so we can't access the movie at all. The 1TB drive is divided into 2 partitions - Media One and Media Two: Media One has the entire movie and is about 330GB full while Media Two has behind the scenes footage from the movie and is only 50GB full. We can not access Media One - Windows doesn't read it and same within Avid.
Benji came up with a possible way to recover the data and we are currently in the process of trying to recover it. Benji's machine has got both Windows and MAC loaded onto it and Mac can see Media One drive and all it's data. The easiest thing would be to copy the data direct onto Media Two drive but since the external drive is NTFS file format - Mac can not write to it. So now we are copying the files to Benji's FAT32 drive and once that is done - we will boot into Windows and transfer the files across. The only other hiccup is that we have 330GB of data while Benji's hard drive has only 100GB free - that means 3 rounds of doing the same process again - with each lot taking about 3 and half hours odd from start to finish. And once the data is transferred we also have to format the bad partition and get the drive back to it's original state.
At the end of 10 hours odd - will get to know if we have recovered the project or not. That is when I should be encoding the movie and making a DVD to send out for selection process to a film festival plus the cast screening of the rough cut on Saturday. I think now it will be down to the wire and will be a mini-miracle hitting those time lines.
Keeping fingers and toes crossed.
Amit
Labels: Five, Post Production
Director!!!
I just finished reading '
Blockbuster: How Hollywood learned to stop worrying and love the summer' - a book by Tom Shone. It is eloquently written and a really easy read. I finished the book in a day - start to end. It is a fascinating look at behind the scenes of the decision making involved in making blockbusters. It is a good read even if you are an outsider to the industry.
I also thought it would be a good idea to mention the reactions I get when I tell people that I am a film director. They range from a sarcastic 'Oh yeah!' to the cynical 'Really?' to the enthusiastic 'Good on you.' But one thing that changes with all those reactions is that they become curious and excited when I tell them that I am currently editing my second movie - it is almost if they suddenly see why it is not such a bad idea to have a dream and follow the dream. The feeling of satisfaction when you see someone's spirit get reignited is indescribable (in a good way). People need to dream more...Without dreams there is no reality.
Here are some pics I took at the Birkenhead Ferry Terminal (stone's throw from where I live) yesterday afternoon.
Cafe at Birkenhead Ferry Terminal
Black, White and Blue
Innocence preserved - 2 girls feeding fish under the ferry terminalKeep dreaming,
Amit
Labels: Random
Rage against the Machines
What a turbulent week it has been - many things happening at the same time to the point where I was angry with myself for allowing myself to let one thing impact on another.
Last weekend was relaxing and a complete 180 to what this week has been. Mary and me canceled the trip to White Island at the last minute as the weather forecast said gale force winds and it was highly unlikely that the tour would have gone ahead plus it was bad weather on Friday as well - so driving down to Whakatane would have been one massive mission. So instead we made an impromptu program and went up north - not too north though. It was a lazy weekend exploring some wonderful countryside and the gorgeous beaches that NZ has to offer, eating lovely food and simply lazing about. It is much easier to just show the photos and show the beauty that the trip turned out to be.
The meeting put me in a frame of mind where I couldn't really work on editing 'Five' - which was the plan as I got 2 days off in a row from my work at TVNZ. Thank God for the acting class in the evening, which snapped me out of it. Tuesday was spent trimming the cut further with 'Five' and it is now down to 74 minutes minus the end credits - so the final duration will probably be around the 78 minute mark. Wednesday was my first solo shift in a new work area at TVNZ and it was exciting - so now I will be jumping between different areas, which is a great way to work.
Over the past couple of days I have spent about 2 hours a day working on the first rough colour grade on FIVE - so that when we submit it for consideration for the Auckland International Film Festival - it is not as rough and visually jarring. Benji has started doing the first audio clean-up pass, so that the audio levels are consistent and don't take away from viewing the rough cut. The deadline for getting the DVD screener in for the selection process is this coming Friday (I managed to get a few extra days for the project) and it will be long work days till that point. Once the screener goes in - we need to keep chugging away on sound and possibly start arranging for some ADR sessions before one of the talents leaves the country for her OE (Overseas Experience). Ilke Gers - a friend of one of the talents has come on board to design the poster for the movie and I am looking forward to how that's going to shape up - I am definitely excited about it. So yeah - there is a whole lot of 'Five' on my mind plus there is my usual freelance work occupying the rest of my time. Besides 'Five' - there is atleast one solid project on the horizon (no - I am not talking about 'Nowhere') and details about that will follow once work on that project kick starts.
It is that time of the year where one has to file their tax returns and this time around there is a new person (with the same accounting firm) handling the Unkreative Artists and my accounts. It was amusing trying to explain to them why we are spending so much money on making a movie but not seeing any income straight away. I told him that I am still working on the movie and that income from the movie won't accrue anytime soon since I have to finish editing it and sell it and then hopefully see some returns before the end of the next financial year - the voice on the other end said 'Oh!' as if they understood what I was saying but it was definitely more preplexed than before it asked the question. Keeping fingers crossed that we make some money on the movie this time. If we don't then the next movie will be truly 'zero budget'.
That's it from me for now.
Till later
Amit
[BTW - I just laid a complaint to the police because there was this car which followed me for 2 nights in a row now- it is too much of a coincidence, especially when this has happened when I return from my night shift at TVNZ at different points in time. It is a bit bizarre so thought I would mention it - nothing to worry about yet. It must be my vivid clarity of instincts but will get to know for sure if it happens again. How is that for topping off a crazy week? The car registration no. is WC 3149 incase you are wondering.]
Labels: Five, Holiday, New Zealand, Nowhere to Love
Sunshine
I finally finished the website for 'FIVE' {for now} and it is up and running. You can check it out
HERE.
I just got back from watching -
SUNSHINE. It was a really interesting movie once it got through the exposition in the beginning. It is a good movie but not a great one. The visuals and effects are stunning to say the least and the story moves along quickly. There are some story points which don't make a whole lot of sense and it seems too convenient for some events to happen but still as a sci-fi it achieves what it sets out to do. I don't know how they well it will do theatrically since it doesn't aim to be a pure thriller or horror [as 'Event Horizon' or 'Aliens']
Another interesting movie I watched a yesterday was a danish movie called '
Brothers' and it was really good. It knows what it is and hits the right spots. The acting is definitely top notch and it is heartbreaking seeing the breakdowns. It is a must watch movie if you are into drama.
The long weekend is ahead and the weather is getting really chilly. So to counter that here are some lovely pics from the easter break gone by.
A view through the Spider's web - great day for fishing
Water and Sun
Bastion Point - more info about it HERE
A relaxing day in AucklandTill later,
Amit
Labels: Five, Movies
Asterix & Obelix
I saw the french version of '
Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra' and it was an enjoyable watch. It has lots of funny moments and tonally it adheres to the comics while the execution takes lots of liberties to the full advantage of the movie.
I also managed to watch '
Infernal Affairs 3' and it was so flawed that I started thinking that the only reason that the film makers made this was to earn some money out of it. It is definitely the weakest movie of the trilogy and wasn't really needed as the main story wraps up well in Part 1 & Part 2. Now thinking about it - it is good that they killed the 'bad' cop in 'The Departed' - leaves less room to create endless sequels which don't go anywhere.
Anyway - nothing much to update except that I am slowly chugging away at 'Five' whenever I can. And then there is this whole heap of things I still have to do like the website design and also sending across pics to the designer, so she can create a poster for the movie [almost a month overdue from my end because selecting the pics is going to be a time consuming affair].......hmm....I might just be making excuses for not doing the stuff or maybe not.....
Amit
Labels: Movies
300
I finally visited a dentist after 15 years this Monday and it was a pleasant experience for a change. My last experience was a bit of a nightmare - which put me off dentists for a while. The dentist I visited was easy going and constantly communicated what he was doing which made the whole process easy plus he was also very gentle while cleaning the teeth. I would happily recommend him to anyone who is afraid of visiting a dentist.
Wednesday evening was farewell drinks with the gumtree gang as Mark and Ellen were returning to Germany. It was great catching up with everyone since I had cut down on my socializing a lot since work on 'Five' started. It was also a bit sad seeing friends part ways but I guess that is life.
Mark and Ellen
Barbara and Julia 
Elizabeth and Ellen
Julia teaching Mark and Ellen ways to get attention
Ian and Mark in discussion
Hmmm....What shall I have?Watched '
300' last night and it was an entertaining watch. Technically brilliant but what let's it down is the adherence to the graphic novel to the word. The voice-over kills any cinematic moments and emotional build ups as things are dictated to you. Overall it was still a really good watch but it didn't leave me the satisfying feeling at the end.
It is a national shutdown again with a very long holiday weekend but I am working right through it - which isn't bad as I am taking the weekend off the next weekend, when the rest of Auckland will be back in Auckland :-)
Also here is the opening scene from 'Five' - it is work in progress (sound;color correction;tiles) but atleast it will give you a feel for the movie.
Anyway - time to go to work.
Till later,
Amit
Labels: Five, Party, Random
Pickups
Another few days disappeared down in time and it had been a productive weekend. We did the remaining pickup scenes for 'Five'. Saturday evening was guerrilla style - we shot at Andy's place with house lights and a table lamp + a side lamp providing for our lighting. And for a car pickup Benji came up with the idea of using the fluros on his emergency light to provide some uniform lighting to the scene. We gaffer taped the emergency light to the roof and it worked great.
Benji shooting the scene with Tahi and AndySunday has been awesome. We got all we needed for the pickups and it was a great experience. Bethells Sand dunes have a great energy about them and it is simply a beautiful place. The challenge for Sunday was to shoot the remaining 2 short scenes in the afternoon/evening - in such a way that it looks like night - basically shoot 'day for night' without any money or any lights. Again some creative thinking and research from Benji got us through the challenge and I liked what I saw being shot. A special mention goes out to Tahi - who spent close to an hour or so in the water - being 'drowned' - so much so that a little fish came to her wanting to befriend her - serious!!!
Benji instructing Tahi and Richard the way to run to avoid sun spots
The spooky pine trees (not so spooky here)
Tahi floating
The place where we shot the 'drowning'
A beautiful sunset
Richard, Tahi and Benji wait for me
The trio give up on me and walk into the sunsetSo photography on 'Five' is finally complete - no we need one more shot that we need to get tomorrow evening but it is just one shot. Now it is back to editing the movie. The website has run into some interesting problems with operating uniformly with different browsers - more specifically - it has problems functioning normally in Internet Explorer, so have to try and figure out a way to make it work.
On the other hand - I decided to try and cook some dosas for breakfast this morning - just the ready made powdered packet one since making the base from scratch is a bit more time consuming. After the first two dosas went haywire it almost felt like it was going to be like the 'kebabs' day but tried it a third time on Mary's insistence and it worked. The dosas were kind of small initially but they got better as they went. The good thing was they tasted like how they should and the sambar was good as well.
A couple of days ago - I saw this magical image but just couldn't stop to photograph it as I was driving in peak hour traffic into the city to get to work. It was the day after the massive rains that lashed Auckland and as I was getting onto the motorway the dark clouds were clearing up and you could see the silver lining in the clouds as the sun was revealing itself. As I drove round the bend - the image I saw was stunning: crystal clear blue water and into the distance was Auckland city covered in clouds with only the top of the tallest building visible. It felt like a vision from the future - a city set in the clouds. As I drove into the city the visual was even more amazing with the sun starting to reflect off the shiny windows of the sky scrapers as the cloud was starting to move away from the city. I wish I could have stopped somehow to take those photos but oh well!!! There is always a next time....
Anyway - a bit tired after the shoot, so I will go to bed.
Till later,
Amit
Labels: Filming, Five, Random
Cafe at Birkenhead Ferry Terminal
Black, White and Blue
Innocence preserved - 2 girls feeding fish under the ferry terminal
The road trip
The 'crowded' path to the beach
Road to the Seas
Anchored boats at Leigh
The hideaway
PERFECT
Everyone is a traveler
Ready to fly
What do you mean this is the end of the beach?
A room with a view
The rain coming in
Everyone enjoying a Sunday lunch
The journey continues
A view through the Spider's web - great day for fishing
Water and Sun
A relaxing day in Auckland
Mark and Ellen
Barbara and Julia 
Elizabeth and Ellen
Julia teaching Mark and Ellen ways to get attention
Ian and Mark in discussion
Hmmm....What shall I have?
Benji shooting the scene with Tahi and Andy
Benji instructing Tahi and Richard the way to run to avoid sun spots
The spooky pine trees (not so spooky here)
Tahi floating
The place where we shot the 'drowning'
A beautiful sunset
Richard, Tahi and Benji wait for me
The trio give up on me and walk into the sunset
