A Pre-Production Week

It has been a busy week. Rushing about and talking with a lot of potential partners on my latest film venture. Unlike Jay and Kay Save the World, I want to expand the scope of this new film. I do not know exactly what will happen, but I am looking for external sources of funding. More importantly, I am putting together a complete plan from these initial stages right through to the distribution technique. That is the big thing, distribution. But the plan is coming together, slowly...

Photos from the Set

Taking a look at La Producer's Blog and the first picture, it is interesting to see what the crew often witnesses while a shoot is going on.



I am trying to show Kuldip (who plays Kay) how to dance. One of the aspects of being a director is to firstly, think on the spot and secondly, improvise. I am not a choreographer, but I do have a vision in my mind of how I want the dance to look. I love the expressions on the actors' faces. And yes, that piece of footage has been captured 'on film' and will be in the out takes...

Another photo I like from Olivia's blog post is this one:



This is what a film set looks like in between takes and captures perfectly the energy that the crew had while shooting 'Jay and Kay Save the World'. The milling around, the set ups for the next shot. There are a lot of people who do not appear on camera, but who are essential to the smooth running of the film. This is why I like this shot, it shows a little bit of the work that goes into the filming...

Final Words on the Final Day of Shooting

This is pretty much where everything ends. As a director, the entire shoot of 'Jay and Kay Save thew World' winds up today, and come hell or high water, whatever is shot today is ready to be chopped tomorrow.

The final day on set can be emotional, it can be a lot of hard work, but mostly, until the final few minutes, everyone knuckles down and gets ready for the hard work that is ahead. The final day is always a slave drive of a day, as no one wants to come back for re-shoots. It is an all or nothing day, and one that I am looking forward too as a director...

Mid way through Production...

Today marks the midway point of the production process. One more day of shooting and that is that, there is no more second chances, so it has got to be good next week. And so today is spent looking at 'the rushes', to see what has been shot so far, to get a rough edit done and so to take a look at what has to be done next week. After all, despite the many takes, a film only needs one to make it...

The beginnings of a great dance...

A tongue in cheek look at what we got upto over the weekend.

(Trying so hard not to give away the story...)

View the milky fun here!

Shooting...

More filming yesterday. Only a few hours, but in sickness and in health I plug on. I want to finish this short quickly, before I get onto the real meat of CWP in February. I need the rest, but sometimes, when you got an itch, you just got to scratch!

El Director gets animating

Just testing out the different animation speeds for the upcoming CWP Short film (to be shot in Feb).

Real geek time, but the stop motion part can be shot either 1 frame or 3 frames for a single 'exposure' (a bit of a false word as this is digital, but who's counting). It makes stop motion easier than having to physically go to the 'still camera settings', but it is still tedious. Most of my Feb will be spent wth milk bottles in the great ourdoors...

Oh well, the challenge is there...

Filming this Christmas

While many of us will be spending the holidays on holiday, I will be working like a dog, on two fronts. Firstly, I will be tearing round London's streets at obscene times of the night to put cash in my wallet. Secondly, I will be spending my days creating, what I hope is to be, a visual masterpiece.

My films up until now have been simplistic affairs. Filmed on the cheap with poor sound, no sense of cinematography and shot quickly. Essentially they have been glorified home videos. But they have got me very far, considering the ways which they were made (poorly), and the experience of film making that I possessed (none).

Starting with ideas and scripts a few years ago, it is strange to see the journey so far. The fear of switching on a camera and editing on a computer has been replaced by cocky manhandling of my precious equipment and an internet presence that would make most spammers proud.

As a person who has never been to film school, I have been clueless about films. My education in film came from the PCC, my inertia towards cinema from my own mad writings (hey, how else do you think I can blog almost everyday) and my decision to plunge into film making from my own lack of foresight. Admittedly, now I see the credit crunch unfolding, I 'may' have made the right decision in not chasing after the money. Then again...

The real eye opener to making films came at Cannes this year, when I attended the Short Film Corner. This was where I was able to meet other film makers, see what was being made and see how the 'movers and shakers' in the industry were doing things. On a more fundamental level, I actually saw why producers and distributors did business the way they did. That was really important. I got to see what people were not doing as well. Finally, I also saw what was being produced by other film makers in my position.

Skip forward six months and it is Christmas. I plan to shoot two short film by March '09 and to have everything wrapped up by May. A tall order. Each time I have started on a new project, I have advanced somewhat. Now this next step is crucial, although it is so basic to the concept of film. Firstly, to make my films actually cinematic. Secondly, to make then sound nice.

Let me tackle the sound first of all. I have got a decent mic, finally. And yes, it does work really well, but I am not going to bother with sound until February, when I make a follow-on to the adventures of Jay and Kay.

For the moment, I am tackling the problems with visuals and finding solutions to them. Creating great lighting, pulling the focus point just right, knowing how to frame the subject, camera movements, etc. Initial results are promising, but there is still a lot of work to do. This first short film should be wrapped up by the beginning of the New Year, and I should have a rough cut by the end of January. And this short film, 'The Railway Tracks' is of a very different vein to the Paint. Darker, more twisted and with some funky camera angles to boot.

It is a scary moment for me, as I have to live upto the small steps forward that I have achieved so far. As with many things in the world of film, everything rests on what I can and cannot achieve. And I do not know whether the outcome will be successful or not. Only time will tell...

CWP Documentary 2: Jay

Jay is the dynamo of CWP the Movie. It is his story and his characterisations that are probably closest to mine in all of the stories I have written so far. For me, Jay is a key character in The Paint not just in what he does, but how he does it.



Watch Documentary by clicking here!

The Casting...

When I first wrote the feature script for Caution Wet Paint I did not have a clue who I would cast. For me, the importance was the chemistry between Jay and Kay, That chemistry, the bouncing off each other was essential to maintain the humour of the script. The straight laced Jay, the whacky Kay, these were two factors that would be essential to the tellng of the story.

So to further explain yesterday's documentary (view by clicking the link), the casting of Ari and Kuldip was by no means secured. I did not know them at all when I wrote the first draft for Caution Wet Paint. But when I was editing An East End Tale I saw the scene with Kuldip (who played Chandran) and Ari (who played Tony) together. They cracked me up, which was their intention. I showed the scene to Nick while we were cutting music for the film and I remember telling him that those two should be in a comedy together.

The rest, as they say, is history...

CWP Documentary 1

A little less comedy and a little more seriousness for now. Here is a short little documentary on how I started CWP, what the first Webisode The Bus Stop" was all about and why I actually cast Ari and Kuldip as the two lead characters.



Watch Documentary by clicking here.

Captaon Goldtop returns to insult you all!

You imbeciles! Yes, you know who you are. Do you know who Captain Goldtop, tyrant, genius and all round milk bottle.

Now, this weekend, I will be making some veedeeoos for this silly thing known as Caution Wet Paint. Obviously, this is the brainchild of some sick, twiated individual, but the pay is good and the economy of Plov is not that good after the hedonism of one chilli obsessed individual.

So, this will be the chance to exercise my iron will on a group of individuals who know nothing but idiocy. Yes, I will kill them all...hahahahahaha!