The film is due on Friday (August 15th) which is 2 days away, so there isn't a lot of time to write.
Just to say - if you'd like to see, production stills by the wonderful Paroma Basu are online at:
http://www.catsiye.com/supraman-stills/
More soon!
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Here we go again!
(To those who followed the Rwanda Short Film that is - to everyone else, hi!)
Greetings from Bangalore, India, where Debs and Mark (Blaney, Footprint Films) currently are - soon to be joined by Kate (Reid, cinematographer) and - we hope - Bernie (Gardner, composer) early next week, as the UK contingent of a UK/Indian collaborative effort to make a short film for the final of the Doorpost competition (www.thedoorpost.com)
For those who don't know, the Doorpost is an open international competition which invited 5 minute shorts to be submitted, from which 15 were chosen to receive funding to produce a new film for the final round - for which the new brief is '8-15 minutes and on the theme of hope'. We submitted 'Aime' - which was made in a day by Debs & Ayuub and a Rwandan crew of 5! (Then edited in a day by Miikka (Leskinen - editor here and on 'We Are All Rwandans'), and scored in 90 mins by Bernie!?) We were dead chuffed to reach the final with it, and the 15 finalist film-makers were all gathered in Nashville for a weekend mid-June for the last round briefing - (the final will also take place in Nashville mid-September). There are some pretty heavy duty prizes for the top 3 films, so the pressure is definitely on ;-) Obviously it would be great to do well for doing well's sake, but we would be lying if we said that it wouldn't be helpful to win!
The story we have (and the reason we are in India!) is about a young boy who lives in a poor community with his blind mother. The mother is close to giving up hope and sending him away to an orphanage, so the boy 'creates' a school with the help of the street sellers & other characters from the community, so that the mum can visit and be convinced that they still have a hope. The script has been put together rather wonderfully from this brief by Ruth Fowler, a college friend of Debs, whose book 'No Man's Land' is just being released. We hope it will be a fun film, full of humour and humanity. You'll have to judge for yourself!
India (well, Bangalore at least) has changed so much since I (Debs) was last here, that it's hard not to be a little disorientated. Driving through the incredibly heavy traffic of the Bangalore streets - lined with skyscrapers and shiny markets and huge malls (alongside the flat blue plastic of slum communities), I keep thinking we must be in Hong Kong or Singapore rather than India.
But here we are in India - land of the incredibly polite, of crazy driving, extremes of rich and poor, beautifully colourful, rich historically, changing almost unrecognisably and so quickly... - to make a little film! In 2 weeks! The film scene here is unbelievably massive - according to reports there are between 70-90 films being shot in Bangalore alone currently, and it's Big Business. Film stars who used to earn $5 million a picture 5 years ago, now reportedly can claim 20+ times that - more than Brad Pitt, as people say. It's astonishing how much money is floating around in certain circles as the economy surges - the only fear being whether it can sustain itself, or whether it will burst its own veins. Anyway - it certainly means that independent film-making is a somewhat different scene than we are used to: trying to get deals on kit is hard work (and scarily not yet confirmed for our dates), and there are a lot of expectations for crew etc. So we have our work cut out!
Prior to coming we had been introduced to several key characters by my sister's in-laws, the Pauls - wonderfully generous people, who are hosting us while we are here, and live in the south of the city on the site of a training and development company they run. It's more like an extended family than a company - a lovely 'open house' environment, with friends and colleagues in and out of each others places. We are staying in the flat my sister and her husband lived in when they were first married, and it's so nice to be able to picture them there!
Swaroop and Shez (connected to us via the Pauls) have been key contacts as we have started to put the picture together. Shez was at school with us all at Hebron (in Tamil Nadu), though I haven't seen her since she was much younger! (Well, since we both were, but she more than me!) She has been a wonderful dynamo - experienced as an AD in Mumbai, but living back in Bangalore now, and a great asset already. Swaroop is an indie film-maker, recently finishing his first digital feature in Hong Kong ("Hong Kong Dreaming"). He is working with us as line producer, and is completely invaluable.
So far it's just been Debs and Mark, but Kate the DOP joins us tomorrow. Sadly Jackie (the other half of Footprint) had other commitments during the shoot period, so she's providing invaluable support from the UK. It will be great to have Kate as we work out the specifics of what equipment we can or can't do with or do without!!
We are aiming to shoot starting middle of next week (ie, 29th or 30th July) and finishing early the week after - with 4 or 5 shooting days in total. Casting starts today (Weds 23rd July) and we are still (as mentioned above) trying to firm up the rental of the equipment we need - which is slightly stressful! A great crew is coming together though - and as long as the rain doesn't wash us out next week, we still should be in with a shot!
Anyway - as ever, your thoughts, prayers and well-wishes would be hugely appreciated - they become palpable in the tough spots when we're feeling far away (or a bit stuck!) - it's lovely to know we're connected and supported in spirit!
Will keep you posted best we can - and photos as soon as we have them. For Hebronites or those who know, Paroma (Basu) is coming down next week to do the stills photography, so will be Sweet to see her!
Meanwhile - if anyone knows any equipment leads, or up-and-coming acting talent, or anything else that might be useful in the Bangalore area, we'd love to hear from you :-)
Much love,
Debs, Mark, Jackie, Kate, Miikka, Bernie, Swaroop, Shez + + +
PS - just because it's funny and a bit cooler than it should be, check this out!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klteYv1Uv9A
Greetings from Bangalore, India, where Debs and Mark (Blaney, Footprint Films) currently are - soon to be joined by Kate (Reid, cinematographer) and - we hope - Bernie (Gardner, composer) early next week, as the UK contingent of a UK/Indian collaborative effort to make a short film for the final of the Doorpost competition (www.thedoorpost.com)
For those who don't know, the Doorpost is an open international competition which invited 5 minute shorts to be submitted, from which 15 were chosen to receive funding to produce a new film for the final round - for which the new brief is '8-15 minutes and on the theme of hope'. We submitted 'Aime' - which was made in a day by Debs & Ayuub and a Rwandan crew of 5! (Then edited in a day by Miikka (Leskinen - editor here and on 'We Are All Rwandans'), and scored in 90 mins by Bernie!?) We were dead chuffed to reach the final with it, and the 15 finalist film-makers were all gathered in Nashville for a weekend mid-June for the last round briefing - (the final will also take place in Nashville mid-September). There are some pretty heavy duty prizes for the top 3 films, so the pressure is definitely on ;-) Obviously it would be great to do well for doing well's sake, but we would be lying if we said that it wouldn't be helpful to win!
The story we have (and the reason we are in India!) is about a young boy who lives in a poor community with his blind mother. The mother is close to giving up hope and sending him away to an orphanage, so the boy 'creates' a school with the help of the street sellers & other characters from the community, so that the mum can visit and be convinced that they still have a hope. The script has been put together rather wonderfully from this brief by Ruth Fowler, a college friend of Debs, whose book 'No Man's Land' is just being released. We hope it will be a fun film, full of humour and humanity. You'll have to judge for yourself!
India (well, Bangalore at least) has changed so much since I (Debs) was last here, that it's hard not to be a little disorientated. Driving through the incredibly heavy traffic of the Bangalore streets - lined with skyscrapers and shiny markets and huge malls (alongside the flat blue plastic of slum communities), I keep thinking we must be in Hong Kong or Singapore rather than India.
But here we are in India - land of the incredibly polite, of crazy driving, extremes of rich and poor, beautifully colourful, rich historically, changing almost unrecognisably and so quickly... - to make a little film! In 2 weeks! The film scene here is unbelievably massive - according to reports there are between 70-90 films being shot in Bangalore alone currently, and it's Big Business. Film stars who used to earn $5 million a picture 5 years ago, now reportedly can claim 20+ times that - more than Brad Pitt, as people say. It's astonishing how much money is floating around in certain circles as the economy surges - the only fear being whether it can sustain itself, or whether it will burst its own veins. Anyway - it certainly means that independent film-making is a somewhat different scene than we are used to: trying to get deals on kit is hard work (and scarily not yet confirmed for our dates), and there are a lot of expectations for crew etc. So we have our work cut out!
Prior to coming we had been introduced to several key characters by my sister's in-laws, the Pauls - wonderfully generous people, who are hosting us while we are here, and live in the south of the city on the site of a training and development company they run. It's more like an extended family than a company - a lovely 'open house' environment, with friends and colleagues in and out of each others places. We are staying in the flat my sister and her husband lived in when they were first married, and it's so nice to be able to picture them there!
Swaroop and Shez (connected to us via the Pauls) have been key contacts as we have started to put the picture together. Shez was at school with us all at Hebron (in Tamil Nadu), though I haven't seen her since she was much younger! (Well, since we both were, but she more than me!) She has been a wonderful dynamo - experienced as an AD in Mumbai, but living back in Bangalore now, and a great asset already. Swaroop is an indie film-maker, recently finishing his first digital feature in Hong Kong ("Hong Kong Dreaming"). He is working with us as line producer, and is completely invaluable.
So far it's just been Debs and Mark, but Kate the DOP joins us tomorrow. Sadly Jackie (the other half of Footprint) had other commitments during the shoot period, so she's providing invaluable support from the UK. It will be great to have Kate as we work out the specifics of what equipment we can or can't do with or do without!!
We are aiming to shoot starting middle of next week (ie, 29th or 30th July) and finishing early the week after - with 4 or 5 shooting days in total. Casting starts today (Weds 23rd July) and we are still (as mentioned above) trying to firm up the rental of the equipment we need - which is slightly stressful! A great crew is coming together though - and as long as the rain doesn't wash us out next week, we still should be in with a shot!
Anyway - as ever, your thoughts, prayers and well-wishes would be hugely appreciated - they become palpable in the tough spots when we're feeling far away (or a bit stuck!) - it's lovely to know we're connected and supported in spirit!
Will keep you posted best we can - and photos as soon as we have them. For Hebronites or those who know, Paroma (Basu) is coming down next week to do the stills photography, so will be Sweet to see her!
Meanwhile - if anyone knows any equipment leads, or up-and-coming acting talent, or anything else that might be useful in the Bangalore area, we'd love to hear from you :-)
Much love,
Debs, Mark, Jackie, Kate, Miikka, Bernie, Swaroop, Shez + + +
PS - just because it's funny and a bit cooler than it should be, check this out!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klteYv1Uv9A
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