Musings of an Idiot

Farewell Queenstown, Hello Alexandra

The early morning starts are always a killer and I definitely was sad leaving Queenstown. Lance and me walked to the bus stop and somewhere inbetween I lost the bus tickets. They were sitting in my back pocket, so they must have fallen off when I shifted the weight of the bags around, so I ran back about 50 meters from the bus stop and sure enough they were lying on the footpath.


The bus journey was good and bad at the same time. Good because the central otago scenery was stunning and the landscapes are a marvel; bad because I couldn't take very many photographs as the bus was swaying from side to side through the entire journey. I did manage to get a couple of them.



The trip was pretty uneventful and as we got down from the bus we realized that we did not know where the backpackers was in relation to where we were. Lance asked a couple of guys but they didn't seem to know the location either and just then a lady yelled from about 10 feet away, telling us where it was. We were pretty amazed - first because the backpackers was just around the corner and second because the lady who gave us the directions had pretty amazing hearing capabilities.

Since we had about 4 hours before the wedding, Lance thought that it was a good idea to check out the church and then also check out the place where the reception was taking place as he was going to film it. On the way to the church Lance pointed to a guy sitting in a local cafe and said 'That's Frank Bunce', since I didn't know who that was I asked him 'Who is Frank Bunce?'and because the air was so quiet and the group at the cafe was sitting next to the footpath - my words would obviously have traveled through to them. Lance was shaking his head in disbelief at me that I would say such a thing like that. After we got a little distance away from the cafe he told me that Frank Bunce was a famous All Black - back in the day. I am ignorant about NZ Rugby and rugby legends, so I told Lance that it didn't really mean anything to me.

The church was easy to find and after a quick look we decided to walk to the reception area based on a street map on the public board. After walking for about 30 minutes odd it felt like we were going nowhere and the heat in Alexandra was searing. Lance was teasing me about wearing an icebreaker in such hot weather - the double catch was that if I removed my ice breaker and tied it around my shoulders he would start calling me 'preppy boy' - a term he gave to me in Queenstown when he saw me tie my ice breaker around my shoulder. So the long and short of it was that the heat was really getting to me. Then Lance had the brilliant idea to ask a couple of locals about how far the place really was and the guys told us that it was a good 6 KM walk. On hearing that we promptly started walking back to the backpackers. But as we were walking back Lance realized that the guy sitting at the cafe was not Frank but it was another All Black legend called Chuck. On hearing this I cracked up laughing as the joke was on him - that he didn't recognize the person properly and based on my initial question 'Who is Frank Bunce?', Chuck would probably be thinking a couple of choice things about Lance's recognition skills.

Alexandra is a small town and even though it is very quite I can't imagine ever being able to live there for a long time - more so because it reminded me of Rohtak - the small town where I studied my business degrees. I mean it is way more beautiful than Rohtak but the vibe was kind of similar. We didn't really explore the town that much more as it was really hot and considering that it had already been a long day and we still had the wedding and the reception to attend - taking a small nap before the wedding proved to be an excellent idea.

We got to the wedding early and the church itself was a beauty - it had a nice cozy feel to it. The wedding was nice as well and Rachel looked stunning in her bridal gown. I don't have any photographs of the actual ceremony itself but I will post some pics up once Lance comes back to Auckland from his current camera job.




After the wedding the big challenge was to get a ride to the reception and by turn of events we got a ride with Peter - the preacher who conducted the marriage ceremony and Marilyn - his wife. Peter is a really funny guy and add Scottish accent to it and it is fascinating listening to him. Anyway the reception was great and the guest had to find their way to the center of the maze and once you got there you had refreshments and stuff. Lance got some amazing stuff of people trying to get to the location. After enjoying the lovely weather, the actual reception ceremony began and I am still surprised at how short the wedding ceremonies over here usually are and how the receptions are longer affairs unlike India where both the ceremonies are pretty long drawn affairs - more so in South Indian than in North India.






The food was great, the festivities were roaring and we finished the night by catching a lift back with Peter and Marilyn back to the backpackers at almost 1.30 or 2.00 in the morning. In a way it is good that I decided to attend the wedding otherwise I would not only have missed a good occasion but would probably procrastinated for another couple of years before visiting South Island.

That's the lot for now - stay tuned for Dunedin.
Amit

Labels: Adventure, Alexandra, New Zealand, Queenstown, Travel, Wedding

posted by Amit @ 6:16 AM 0 Comments

Goodbye 2006

Before coming to bidding farewell to 2006 I would like to quickly highlight something important.
Wikipedia - the online encyclopedia is doing a fund raising in order to keep the site going. It is a fantastic resource and I think it a worthwhile cause to share the knowledge base - after all knowledge is power. Do donate whatever amount you feel like (big or small) to it to support the cause. You would have lots of questions about what and why - you can check out the FAQ section on it HERE. In order to donate you can go to their page here.

Yesterday was a lovely day as I attended Tania and Andrew's wedding. It was a different experience - more so because it was the first western wedding that I have attended. The whole event (including the reception) lasted about 8 hours - which is a big change when compared to any kind of indian weddings which are long drawn and elaborate affairs. Overall it was a fantastic experience and it is always good to be part of a family event - in this case the Wordsworth family.

Editing wise I have edited another 10 minutes in the 1 day I had since the last update, so the assembly now stands at 58.5 minutes. Yesterday and today are my days off editing and I get back to it from tomorrow. I hit the first rough patch in assembling on Friday as one of the scenes wouldn't cut together at all because of lighting and exposure problems on location. That was one of the last scenes we shot in the evening on one of the Saturdays of filming and we kept filming even though we were loosing light pretty fast. It has now come to bite me in the bum during edit. We will re-shoot the scene when we go back to shoot the pickups and the climax of the second act. It is not a biggie as it is only a small scene. But overall the movie is shaping up really nicely.

Since this is going to be the last post for 2006 I think I will get a little bit introspective of the year that has gone by. The year started off great with trip back home and catching up with family and friends in India before coming back to NZ. Work wise - it has been a tough year overall with all the struggles of trying to get 'Nowhere to Love' into production and ultimately postponing it till we got the script in a better shape and find proper funding for it. Add to that a rough year at South Seas where there were more downs than ups - especially the later part of the year, which made the overall year that much more tougher. And I unfortunately also missed my sister's wedding earlier this month. But the year had also had many positives where I managed to rally together a team to get 'Five' off the ground and into production in a really short time span. This more than made up for everything else. I also moved into a new flat which has been fantastic and proved to be a good move. I formed some great new friends and probably did more socializing than 2004 and 2005 put together.I paid off my student loan. I got my full NZ driving license and I have applied for NZ citizenship after finding that I was eligible to apply for it now - making the cut off date by 5 days (otherwise I would have had to wait for another 2 years). And finally being lucky enough to get the support from a lot of people in one way or another. So it has been by all means been an eventful year.

Now I head into 2007 with my second movie to be released sometime during the year. And without the security of a pay check arriving into my bank account every week as I will be freelancing instead of being in a job. It is definitely an exciting time to look forward to. A bit frightening at times but exciting and challenging nonetheless. Here is to another year lived to the fullest and to the future.


Wish anyone reading this a very happy new year and all the best wishes for another exciting year.

Adios,
Amit

Labels: Filming, Five, Future, Introspection, Post Production, Wedding

posted by Amit @ 3:30 PM 0 Comments

Three Burials and a Wedding

It has been a busy few days - it almost feels like eons since I posted.

First I would like to say 'Congrats' to my sis - Veni, who got married on the 15th of December. There are no other words to express my joy - it is always hard finding a life partner and it is great that she found hers. All the best for the life ahead sis.

My neck/back is feeling a lot better. Another 2 physio appointments to go and I think it will get me back on track. Saturday went into cleaning up my room - which had become a complete mess again. It took me longer than normal as I did not want to strain my neck or back.

I did watch 'The Three Burials of Melqauiades Estrada' on Saturday and it was an awesome movie. One word for describing it would be - 'poetic'. It is beautiful and lyrical and gentle. It transports you into another world and it is a highly recommended watch.

I have started assembling 'Five' on Sunday and spent about 5 hours before I had to stop because of my back. Editing is so much fun - I had almost forgotten how good it felt in front of an edit suite playing with the footage.

On Sunday evening - I went to a Christmas dinner at Barbara's flat. Each of their flat members could invite 2 friends and everyone had take a cooked dish along with a 2 Dollar gift. I cooked some 'Tofu Curry' and I wasn't particularly happy with it - mainly because tofu doesn't have any taste and to me that is boring. Next time I will use paneer {Indian cottage cheese} and I think it will taste heaps better. It was a nice dinner - got to try different types of dishes and also got to meet some more wonderful people. It was a pleasant evening.

Monday was a bit tiring as I did about 10 different jobs through the day ranging from sorting out stuff at TVNZ with my ID to a job interview in another department at TVNZ to picking up my new printer - to name a few. I later went and watched 'Jindabyne' with Julia and Barbara. It turned out to be a terrible movie - it was beautifully shot but the story and the pacing were completely out and it just felt like an overdrawn soap opera. It was annoying as hell trying to sit through the movie and the movie felt like an exercise in trying to showcase the scenery and trying to portray some of the Australian indigenous cultural issues - it succeeds at showing off the scenery but everything else about the movie was bland. Maybe the movie works for australian audiences but it definitely did not do it for me. I felt shattered by the end of the day and today was no different.

Got another big day tomorrow where we will be shooting some green screen stuff for the movie - which means that I will be picking up and dropping off the camera and the green screen for the shoot. Also have a script workshop session later in the evening with the cast of 'Five'. Auckland Regional Council came back to me after I put in request for additional shoot dates in Jan and have generously agreed to grant us permission under our existing cover - which is fantastic as I don't have to sweat about the location now.

Anyway I think I will go to bed for now.
Till later,
Amit

Labels: Festival, Filming, Five, Movies, Physio, Post Production, TVNZ, Wedding

posted by Amit @ 9:41 PM 0 Comments

Photo Gallery

The photo gallery for 'Five' is up and running. You can check it out HERE.

I sometimes get the feeling that I am really detached from this illusion of reality and the feeling has been really strong over the past few days. My version of reality sucks at this point and if you add to it the vivid nightmares I have been having over the past few nights - it isn't exactly a great place to be in.

I spoke to my family in India as everyone is together for my sister's (first cousin) wedding and I am the only one missing from the entire family. I don't know if I should cry or just shut off emotionally - I feel completely alienated at this point in time and I have no one but myself to blame.

I had pitched myself for a 1st A.D. job on a medium budget HD feature to be shot in January but I don't think I have got that job - the reasons I have heard through grapevine is they are not sure if the crew will understand my English or not. What the fuck kind of a reasoning is that?! Anyway things happen for a reason - so I should thank my stars and concentrate on editing 'Five'.

Greencine.com has picked up the internet rights for 'Memories of Tomorrow' which will distributed as VOD {Video on Demand} through their website. It is really exciting as it is another venue for distribution for our first movie. I will post a link once things are up and running from their end - it might take a month or so.

I will take leave for now.
Till later,
Amit

Labels: Five, Introspection, Memories of Tomorrow, Wedding

posted by Amit @ 11:08 PM 0 Comments

Dhoom

First of all - today is a special day because Veni {my first cousin} is getting engaged today and I am thrilled for her. I am glad for her that she has found someone she wants to spends the rest of her life with. The engagement is in Hyderabad - so our whole family would be there.

I finally got around to watching a hit bollywood movie titled 'Dhoom'. When I was in India a few months back I was recommended by atleast 4 people to watch this movie - I didn't and yesterday I found the movie at the local video store, so I promptly got it out to see what the big deal was about.

The movie was a tad different from rest of the bollywood films but just - the difference being that the run time was only about 2 hours and that too with a few song/dance sequences - so the film makers did not add any extra baggage to the movie. The editing was something new to the indian audiences I suppose but it was really not in actual terms - jump cuts without rhyme and reason and sudden stylization of a simple scene. There are big story lapses and continuity problems but that obviously didn't matter when the movie played to audiences. The plot was a bastardization of 'Torque' {yeah the movie which was 'Fast and Furious on bikes} with typical bollywood elements thrown in. So yeah, overall view of the movie - a good experiement but nothing much different from any other bollywood movie with its action sequences 'inspired' by various hollywood movies. The main song of the movie is really catchy and I did a search and found the music video HERE & HERE (with karoake features)
- you should definitely have a listen.

I also watched 'November' - a movie which was shot on a DVX100 (but with film lenses attached to it). The movie has some fantastic cinematography {it won an award for the same at Sundance} and that's all I can give it credit for- the movie felt really long and slow despite the fact that the actual movie {minus the end credits} was only 70 minutes. It has some fantastic atmosphere and visuals which generate some interest but most of the opportunities are lost because of the plot itself. Overall - watch it if you are in the mood for a slow burn movie.

Richard and me had a brief chat with Jordan {the script writer} to see how the progress was on the fifth draft of 'Nowhere' and it is exciting to see it finally shaping into something fabulous. The script is on the right track and just validates the confidence I have in this project. Also had a chat with Pandora, who has returned to London from Cannes and the response from the meetings at Cannes seems to have been really positive. So now have to wait for the fifth draft to come through before we fire it off to potential international distributors.

Anyway I better get up from the bed and do something useful - maybe go and get myself some lunch.

Till later,
Amit

Labels: Movies, Nowhere to Love, Wedding

posted by Amit @ 11:12 AM 0 Comments