Making my First Film

My mother called me up on Saturday asking me to enquire about a proposal.I suggested "Why don't we try an alliance with Bijunu , my collegemate".Consequently , I called up Bijunu and discussed further on this - The sidetrack to this converation presented the opportunity to make my first film in a single day at an expenditure of 1500 Rs.
As the office work itself was drilling a full twelve hours of office time from me everyday of the week , I was not very sure if the drill at the film camp would be a relieving one or an aggravating one.I decided to give it a shot seeing the great possibility of a refreshing experience.
As decided , I woke up at 7 and was dressing up when Bijunu's call came.We decided to meet at Fern Hill on Sarjapur road.As He did not turn up , I called him up.He was having tea at a nearby malayali hotel.I followed his directions , had puttu and chaya , meanwhile , bijunu got a couple of phone calls and we rushed to the film camp site.A very mellowed guy to deal with , I was surprised to find out how difficult it was to keep pace with Bijunu as I followed him in my car.Finally , I reached the spot at around 830.
The expectation that was set on me included a few things - the main Instructor Mr Sanjay Nambiar is irritable and get angry unpredictably , He has kicked people out , It would be a lot of hardwork and would be a tiring experience.
Bijunu introduced me to Sanjay.There were four other students who were already seated and were watching some of the earlier films made in similar one day workshops.It is all about quick twists - one where two people spoke about terrorism and leaves a bomb bag , another of two people standing near a lamppost , one chasing the other away with gestures and taking a lost and found 500 Rs note hidden under his chappal. Simple films with simple twists.
After few such films , we were off to Lal Bagh with notepads and pens.Six of us were divided into two teams - ( Thousif , Deepak and myself were one team while JayaPrakash and two others formed the other team).Meanwhile , to my surprise , Bijunu was actually a partner to this film camp initiative.Bijunu had mentored the second team's shoot.
The first task was to come up with a viable story.Thousif brought in a concept of a Hijda who would lift his Saree in a traffic signal.Unable to see any content in this proposal , I felt disappointed.To add to this , Thousif started describing a sequence exactly the "Virgin Mobile" ad.Now , it was Deepak's turn who brought in a story about a deranged boy who mistakes any sleeping man to be his dead parents killed by terrorists.As soon as Deepak was done , Thousif started off once more.Deepak intervened and asked me to give my idea.I had come in with no homework to see how a movie gets made out of nothing with a day's application.I said "I do not have anything prepared.Let us try adapting Saki's short story".I put forth the story "Man with the red handkerchief" , the story of a thug who confronts the very doctor who is driving to save his son.
Sanjay Nambiar joined us and listened to each of our stories.Sanjay did a very practical feasibility analysis for filming each of our stories.For the Hijda story , saree , lipstick , wig etc would be needed and Thousif who had his own cloth factory had every means of getting the required props.For my story , the concern was the difficulty in arranging a hospital setup , given that the hospital was a necessary ingredient in the story buildup.I felt convinced that contentwise , this was most appealing and wanted to work out the possibility of implementing this.However , more and more ideas were flowing in from Thousif and Deepak and we were still at the outer level of deciding on a story.Finally , the Hijda story got selected by Sanjay Nambiar.
As I realised later , the imminent humour in a Hijda story is what all of us were banking on though I was not clear on this till we were visualising the scenes.
At around 11 , we had decided on the story , each of us felt hungry , grabbed snacks and assessed our progress.All of us felt that we had done a good job so far , we exchanged a lot of ideas and selected one of these.Thousif set out on arranging the props for the movie by making calls to his people.Next task was to write a treatment for the movie.
The "treatment" , according to Sanjay is a sales document.This is what a producer would look into to decide whether to invest his money on the movie or not.If somebody presents a fifty page printout , the producer would throw it out.Hence , the guideline for writing a treatment is to use crisp,descriptive sentences that would convey as much in as little.Sanjay wrote and revised making the sentences crispier , clearer.He was careful about putting in the emotions in the sentences.It is not a bland descriptions of the actions.It is a master's vision of his character's emotions and actions.Sentences like "He brushed sweat from his forehead and turned around" is replaced by "Feeling relieved , he brushed .. ".Loads of content in minimal space.
The next activity is Script writing.Here , the treatment is elaborated , dialogues are written.The way the dialogues and actions are intermixed in the right order need to form the instruction manual for the director.Forming the dialogues was done by each of us assuming various roles and deciding the appropriate gestures , dialogues.Sanjay referred to this as "Feeling what the character is going through ".
Sanjay explained a few basics of composition describing Long Shot , Americal Long shot , Medium Shot , Medium close up , close up and extreme closeup.
After script is done , story boarding is done.Here , from the scenes that are formed in the script , the shots are formulated.
Having decided that there would be no camera movement , zooming etc while shooting , the shot were formulated.I had visualised the scenes in my mind and was under the impression that the shots would be shot in the same sequence.Sanjay retorted to this and told me that this would come in during editing , while a shot is being taken from a particular camera angle , the entire content is shot.Intersplicing would happen later in the edit room.There are a few points to note here , if a character is exiting from the right in an earlier scene , he needs to come in from the left in the next scene. An interesting extension of this principle was as we edited in a scene from left to right after a scene where the character is moving away from the scene in the right third of the screen.
Another very important concept is the rule of the thirds where in the screen needs to be divided into a three by three square and the characters sharing the screenspace appropriately.
The drunken shot that we had shot had Deepak(left) , Me (Centre) and Thousif(Right) in the start of the screen , then our movements change so that I move to right , Deepak to Centre and Thousif to right.
Story boarding is a design on how the director wants to actualise the scenes that he has visualised in his script from a camera perspective.There are no rules to this.This is an artist's ingenuity.With very key insights from Sanjay , we got the story boarding done.To be honest , Sanjay did the story boarding for us due to lack of time and we got a chance to closely watch this at best.Leaving one scene for later , we decided to quickly get into shooting before the lights go off.The flurry of activity ate up our time and our lunch.
With a few doors of my mind opened , I went with Bijunu to the studio to fetch the tripod-handicams that were our shooting instruments.Thousif joined us so that he could shave and get ready.This is when I learned that Bijunu is actually clearly on the other side of this workshop teaching us novices!
Now for the shooting experiences , as I rushed in for the day today , I had not forgotten the blunder pouch.With a cracky Sanjay and a squeeze of time , forgetting the script notebook at the studio brought in some danger to the good student image that I had built in till now.The book was called for , luckily before things went out of hand , Bijunu arrived after the return trip with the book.
The first shot was the soorynamaskaram shot , here the key point learnt is that the position of the camera , the movements of the actors need to be marked and repeated accurately.After sufficient rehearsal , I pressed record , called out action , shooting , called out cut , stop record. Take multiple takes if required.Multiple takes helped us choose the right edits in the edit room.
As Thousif looked striking in a Saree , dressed a Hijda , crowds pulled up and had to be managed out of the camera at times.Also , Thousif was an amateur actor and had acted as a Hijda previously and hence shooting him was easy.As the camera needs to be kept still , the cameraman's job is kind of easy.Calling cut at the right point is all he needs to be careful apart from holding the angle.
The drunken scene was the most complex of all and had not been storyboarded.Matching of gestures across scenes that are to be merged is crucial and would foil a lot of hardwork.There was one instance where Thousif held his hand up in one scene and did not in a related scene meaning that merging these would not be possible.Another fact that there is no escaping the camera If you have done it , it shows , If you have not done it , it shows , If you have overdone it , it shows.We had one long shot capturing the entire drama , then we had closeups of scenes that would look interesting.Edit room is a creative room where in very smart and accurate decision making goes into choosing the right sections of the shots , audio and video separated out if required.
Film making is strategic as well as tactical.If you got your strategy wrong , no point getting your tactics right.Thie single minded focus of Sanjay who was bent on getting the film done the same day saw us postponing an intermediate scene after the critical climax scene though there was some difficulty in that Thousif needs to remove makeup and act as a man.As lights quickly disappeared , the intermediate scene was cut out from the movie.
Editing was done using Apple.I am hoping that there would be support in the apple that I am getting shortly."XXX pooling(forgot the term)" exercise was carried out where in we decided which take(s) need to be used for edit and which are the ones that are not worth it.Some of these decisions were revisited as we pulled in some of the rejected scenes due to some edit possibilities."Dissolve" is a mechanism where in multiple scenes are merged to stand for lapse of time.She goes into the bush in first scene , He comes out from the bush in the next scene.One mistake I made was that I moved the camera position as Thousif stepped out to change his clothes.We reshot the first scene again and kept the camera unmoved.For a dissolve , to happen , five seconds are required for the first scene at the end and five seconds at the start of the next scene.This means that the actor would need to wait behind the bush for extra five seconds after the first scene and before the second scene.I think prior experience saw Thousif not making many mistakes for someone who had so much time in front of the camera.
There is lot of presence of mind to be exercised all through the film making process.To a novice, Sanjay's brilliance and precision saw the movie through from a few shots.I though we did a good job of it and we had actually made a movie.I do not take any credit for the movie as there is no contention on how big a contribution Sanjay had made to the movie.At best , we had just understood some of his decisions.Hope to see me make my own film soon..

Achchachchante nooraam pirannal

Innale achchachchante nooram pirannalakhoshamayirunnu . aduththa kudumbakkare vilichchu kondulla paripadi aayriunnu.noottanbathu paerundayirunnu .. Ella sajjeekaranangalum sankaadanavum kudumbakkaru thanne .. achchante ammavante makanaya abuvettanayirunnu pandhal shariyakkiyathu .. Kuneemmale Shanthaechchiyude nethruththvaththil sadhya orungi .. Aduththulla veedukalile aechimarokke koodiyanu bakshanam thayyarakkiyathu ..Njaanayirunnu photographer cum videographer , puthiya thalamurayil college kumaranmarum high schoolukarum chernnayirunnu vilambal douthyam ..
Presentsum onnum konduvararuthennu paranjathinu sheshavum palarum mundu , shawl enningane oro sammanangalumayi vannu .. Njan oru shawl , oru reading glass , oru double mundu , oru shirttinte thuni muthalayavayumayanu eththiyathu .. Double mundu pirannaline maaththramudhdheshichchittullathayirunnu .. Reading glass raaththri thalavachakangal vaayikkan maaththrame upkarichchullo .. Achchachchanum vendiyirunnilla enna reethiyilayirunnu ..
Ingane oru veliya nimishaththil iththrayum thirakkum bahalaththinidakkum valare samachchiththathayode aayirunnu Achchachchan .. Orupaadu paere thirichchariyanum avarude vivarangal kriththyamayi anweshikkanum achchachchan asadharana midukku kaanichchu .. Valare Bidhdhishaliyaaya vyakthiyanu achchachchan ..
ennaththeyum pole kauthukamulavaakkunna puranakathakal innum achchachchan paranju thannnu .. Kamsante katha , kollakkaran valmiki maharshshi aaya katha .. xxx Bharaniyude katha - 16 varshsham ujjvalanayi jeevikkunna oru makane venamo atho 100 varsham kazhivillathe jeevikkunna makane venamo ennathine 16 vayassulla midukkan mathiyennu paranja achchanammamar prasthuthadivasam vishamikkukayum , kaaranamarayukayal makanodu parayukayum cheyyunnu .. Makan shivalingaththe murukki pidikkunnu .. KaalaneRinja kurukkayaru shivalangaththil koode aayi veezhunnu .. sivan kupithanakunnu ennum angane maranaththil ninnu rakshappedunna makane pinneedu bharaniyil adachchidukayum mattum cheyyunnu .. puraanangalile rasakaramaya kaalpanikathakalum Achchachchante shailiyil chernnappol vilayaeriya kurachchu nimishangal koode eedukalilekku chernnu ..

Raavile pathinonnara aayappozhekkum ottu mikkavarum ellavarum eththiyirunnu .. Ini Nitheshum Divyaede achchanum koode eththan baakkiyundayirunnullo .. Avar koode eththiyal cake murikkalum kaaryangalum avaam ennayirunnu .. Athinu kanakkakki 100 ennezhuthiyum chuttuchathuraththilumayi 100 mezhukithirikal thalennu thanne orukki vechchirunu ..
Niteshum Achchanum eththiyathode mezhukuthirikal kaththichchu Achchachchane muriyil ninnu kolayilekku kondu vannu .. Njaan documentary makeraayi maari .. Achchachchante varavum mattum chithreekarichchu ..Chuttum pandhalittathu kondu nattuachcha samayaththum alppam iruttundayirunnu .. Ithu mezhukuthiri velichchathinu maattu kootti .. Achchante nirdheshaprakaaram achchachchan ellavarodum namaskaram paranju .. Cakinte mele kaththichchu vechchirunna mezhukuthiri oothi keduththukayum kaththikondu cake murikkukayum cheythu ..bakshana kaaryangalil atheeva shradhdha pularththunna achchachchan cake thinnan visammathichchu :) pinneedu nirbandhangalkku vazhangi oru kashnam thinnu .. ( Chevi kurachchu pathukke aayirunna achchachchanu ammayude shabhdhamayirunnu manasilavuka .. athinal ottu mikkavarum ammayude shabdhamayirunnu munnil ! ) Athinu shesham Achchanum Aappanum oro kashnam vaayil vechchu koduththu ..Pinneedu perakuttikalude oozhamayirunnu .. angane oru kashnam enikkum !
Kurachchu naeram nilkkendi vannathu kondu Achchachchanu ksheenam thonni .. Achchachchane thirike muriyil kondu kidaththi .. Pinneedu oonu kalamayi .. Anpathu paerooninirunnu .. Documentaryil aadhya nira njaan ulppeduththi .. Thalasseryil ninneeththiya Achchanu samsarikkan aalillathe varunna avasarangalil njaan chennu endhenkilumokke anveshikkum .. Palarum palakathakalum kai marunna velayanallo inganeyulla oththucheralukal .. Aappante oru suhriththu vaiki vannathu moolam aappan oonu kazhichchathu avasanamayirunnu .. randara aayi bakshanam kazhikkan .. Yogabyasaththe murayaakki maattiya Aappante ilayile choru kandu njaan albuthappettu .. Bakshanakkaryaththil Aappanum Yogayum thammil thettumennu aappanum sammathichchu thannu .. Oonu kazhichchathinu shesham mattu thirakkukalullavar madangi .. ekadesham moonnara aayappozhekkum ottu mikkavarum aalkkar thirichchu poyirunnu .. pinneedu kaserakalum meshakalum kayatti ayakkanum pandhalazhikkuvanum mattum njaanum kai chernnu ..
Ithelam kazhinjoru chaya koode kazhinjappol mani aarinaduththayi .. thirichchu thalasseryilekkirangan samayamayirikkunnu .. divyakku vaendi chorum karikalum pothinju kondu chennu .. Angane sambhavabahulamayi Achchachchante nooraam pirannal kondadukayai .. Aniyara pravarththanam oru uththama udaharanam thanne aayirunnu .. Aarum aareyum niyandhrikkathe oththorumayode manoharamaya samanvayaththode oru nalla divasaththinu vazhiyorukkukayayirunnu .. shubham