For one of my last short films "Ghoda 22" i did not storyboard. Every scene was shot according to performance and with respect to space. However this time it was a complicated story. (Not as complicated as Ghoda 22) but in its own space it was hard to communicate this content. So i boarded every shot. Storyboard is just the beginning of the visual. However in this short film because of time and location restriction i had to stick to it. This will make the film less organic since the film is not derived at the set but on a drawing board. A drawing board and shooting location are entirely different mediums. However this time I had to stick to this process. It was money versus time
The film is taking shape and is 70 percent of what is expected. .
Will update more on pre-production in the blog
When prof. Sudesh Balan spoke to me about making a video for
a conference, I never thought that this was going to be one of the toughest
projects that I would have to handle. The project brief was “ Themes like incredible India can be there initially. Aspects of Mumbai city, transportation system scenario followed by IIT Bombay can be included. A fitting conclusion needs to be there. “.
The powai skyline which never fails to impress
Inside the airport i had my camera switched on
You could see the settlements behind the airport
When the plane moved like a drunk dragon in the monsoon i take a silent oath never to fly again
As i landed back I knew i would fly again
Onlooker amidst traffic
Smoking in trains prohibited - Ajith
The powerpoint presentation was really helpful.
I spoke initially to prof. Vedagiri of iit-bombay (a veteran in the area of transportation )who
wanted me to have a meeting. I went ahead and booked my ticket or as I would say I
asked my friend and partner (Rakhil Akkali) to book a bus ticket for me. I made
a script and got a first draft of the voice over written by me and edited by
Kiron Rajendran. (friend, writer).
However things didn’t go as expected. Syama (wife –friend- designer)
asked me if I wanted to go and spent 10 days in Mumbai on an unconfirmed
project . I decided not to do the project. Given there are difficulty of the 14
day dead line and the heavy downpour in Mumbai. My editor Rakesh was also busy
with his screening at Ocenama film festival so inevitably he could not find
time. Rakesh attended the meeting with professors of IIT on my behalf. I was present on Skype. Sam
Santosh (sound designer –photographer- friend) was key to getting this meeting
arranged.
The project was soon commissioned and me and Ajith (writer –
photographer – friend) reached Mumbai. Meanwhile I had called Akhil Sasidharan
(cinematographer) and asked him if he could supply me with a set of visuals.
From here things went flipside
The camera rental people at Accord (from where I have rented
throughout my life) said they could not give me the equipment since I didn’t
have a Mumbai residential proof.
The heavy rains would not give us a chance to get out and
shoot.
We were almost drenched and equipment got heavily soaked in
rain.
Me and Ajit almost survived a storm in the sea between
Mumbai and Uran.
There was no power when we were shooting interviews
Sound recorder didn’t work at the right moment and Sam
handled it nicely.
I got sea-sick
Rakesh got busy with his work and couldn’tgive a crisp first draft.
Prof. Vedagiri and
prof. Rao could not understand our intend and we got strong feedback.
Akhil's visuals didn’t come out as expected.
IIT transport department couldn’tget us permission to shoot. Even permission
to shoot in campus was not received.
My visuals came out of focus most of the time.
Ajit was having troubles with his virtual friends and fans
and couldn’t contribute creatively as much as I expected.
Tripods were heavy. Very Very Heavy
Music had to be rushed
Client could not understand difference between first draft –
line up – etc
I was asked to take an aerial video of iit from you-tube video
and insert it in the video by prof. Vedagiri. i asked the owner for permission he never responded. IIT said it is their right. We stole it.
Sound had to be rushed.
Jishnu’s camera gave strobes in visuals
Payment got a little delayed.
The video came out better than expected. These were pointers to the video quality and
how it became good.
Rakesh did a decent job in cutting out the
right things
I bought stock footage and used them
Ajmal my music director did an exceptional job
in giving a high quality music in just 24 hours
Sam had mixed the sound on the go and got a good
mix
Akhils visuals looked better when color
corrected.
Neelima Haridas and her voice was just one hell
of a life saver.
I had fast internet so did Rakesh and we
coordinated
We delivered on time even though we were two
hours late. (which is kind of Ok)
The file we delivered was taken 5 hours before the professor’s boarded flight to Hong Kong for the WCTR conference.
What I learnt?
No project is easy as it sounds.
If you need clean visuals of a city in the monsoon
it is impossible.
Drones don’t fly in the rain.
Your vision should be your team’s vision and if
in any case they don’t match you should talk to them.
Clients
may not be able to imagine as much as you do so do not try hard to make them imagine.
Music makes a lot of difference.
Always –always have back up options
A special thanks to Sam Santosh who help me pull it off.
Warm thanks to prof, Vedagiri to give control to us by the end so that we could freeze on the edit and do
the video on time. A great salute to Ajmal for being the superman he is and
thanks to Jishnu for the catch up visuals. Rakesh did the job of the title
graphics artist-editor-even cinematographer at times.
It was kind of an impossible task to pull such a project
in ten days in the monsoon but we did a healthy job.
Would I do such a project in a a short time again?
YES … and I will do better. We will do better.
The World Conference on Transport Research has been held every three years since 1977. The 14th World Conference will be held 10-15 July 2016 in Shanghai, China at Tongji University, which will host the Conference at its main campus. The WCTRS Young Researchers’ Conference will take place on 10 July 2016.
The aims of the conference are to offer a unique opportunity to bring together experts in all aspects of transport research, from all parts of the world and to stimulate the exchange of ideas in the broad field of transport research.
Prof Vedagiri sir and the HOD did their best to pay money on time. It was a big pleasure working for them especially the trust given to my team for successful completion.
The video is for WCTR 2019 conference to be held in IIT mumbai
Direction
Krishand
Edit
Rakesh Cherumadam/Neelavelicham
DOP
Akhil Sasidharan
Krishand
Rakesh Cherumadam
Jishnu T
Sound Mixing and Sync recording
Sam Santosh
Music Drection
Ajmal hasabaullah
Singer
Sarath Baby
Associate Director
Ajith Kesavan Haridas
Camera Rentals
Accord Equipments
Travel Management
Koteswar Rao
Concept
prof- vedagiri
Prof Rao
Krishand
Rakesh C
Feedback
prof Tom
prof Rao
prof Sudesh
Aeriel Footage Courtsey
iitb Civil
Sidharth Maurya (used under direction of iitb civil department)
Permissions
Veda Sankar
Hari Patekar
Stock footage courtsey
Pond5
Shutterstock
As a part of the video I had to interview the director of IITB. After the interview he asked me what I was doing. I told him that I am an independent filmmaker. He asked me if i am working in a company. I rephrased again that i am a freelancer. "How can someone survive as a freelancer ?. How can you survive " he spoke with a laughter that had surprise and tease. When the director of IIT has such an outlook no wonder most students leave the country to earn money. :-) (just an afterthought)
Let me admit this on, I am people shooter. That means I shoot people. I shoot people and their relation with a landscape. I do not shoot landscape. (well sometime i do) but for me the story of a place is incomplete without someone in it.
students with artwork in craft class
So this is the part where i am shooting a school, it's infrastructure-architecture and people. The school owner-manager-friend Arjun Sivakumar is a man with a vision on education. The vision he has envisaged is a by product of the thought process of Dr. Nirmala (principal) coupled with his outlook as a traveler entrepreneur and artist. ShantiniketanCBSE school peyad is one of its kind in the state of Kerala.
When I was asked to take some pictures of the school for its website I was more than happy.
We rented Kino Flo 400 Lighting Kit which were never used except for one or two instances.
The biggest energy was meeting the students and shooting with them. The hallways corridors took me back to my school days in Arya Cenral school.
We shot an entire day.
This is the third school I have shot.
nb: pics are color corrected and is a property of Shantiniketan school
the shantiniketan school
when phenopthalene show its true color
arjun sivakumar
this one was not clicked by me
fish eye.Love the clouds
focal lengths
clouds
school days for ever
Shot on Canon 6D with Nikon 50mm 1.4 (CP) and a russian fish eye lens (name I cant rememenber since I shot it last august)
Unni Mohan (friend designer visionary) call me up and wonder
what I am doing. I am relaxed on a balcony in Pondicherry skeptical about the
feature film I am making. He wonders if I am free to shoot a promo teaser for a
scale model of the ‘Varanasi naav’.
A scale model floating with the floating lamps of varanasi
will be a good visual I suggest him. This can be shot in Kochin. A few days of
talks and discussions and I go to meet Unni and his Boss Jeevan .
Samudra is a pioneer in boat making industry in the south.
Unni took me into the hull of a fishing boat as big as a bus or twice. I have
fever. I take a train from trivandrum and get down at Cherthala and go to
Samudra office in Kochi. Jeevan explains his requirement and I have my
storyboard ready which is approved. I made it in the train on my way to Kochi.
The last time they ever made a video was some 15 years back
or so with Rajiv Ravi as the filmmaker.
Now I need to be careful.
Boarding the Varanasi train from Mumbai I had a lot of
expectations. An assistant was supposed to join me in Varanasi. He didn’t.
The best part of the project was waiting for the morning and
evening light. I would wake up at 5.30amand wait for the light and made a light
intensity chart. This is usually prepared by me since I use daylight in most
videos. The chart is accompanied by
photographs and two days observation. Rains usually change this plan. I have a
back up led light and a big mirrors to reflect sun. The sun was faithful and didn’t trash my
footages.
Technically, The video was shot on Canon Full frame Dslr
with an old cineprime Nikon 50mm lens and also a wide angle 35mm Helios lens. Both lenses are older than
me. This would give a painting like look and also a clumsy careless retro look.
(the color fade out look with low contrast I wanted for the place).
Design Objective--The final visualized video should give
feel of Varanasi and should introduce the souvenir boat. It should also introduce samudra.
Packaging- he most important contribution to the whole
package was done by Ajmal Hasbulla the music director who took the visuals to a
whole new level.
Sound design was done by Sam Santosh.
Met Rishab Dwivedi in Varanasi ( friend painter artist human )
The advertisment paid some of my bills and there is bliss too.
Samudra Shipyard cochin famous in the ship building sector in south india is working with the Sankat Mochan Foundation at Varanasi. As a tribute to the Hon`ble Prime Minister's Clean Ganga Drive, Samudra Shipyard have decided to contribute a portion of sales proceeds to the Swatch Ganga Abhiyaan.
direction camera edit
Krishand
Music Direction
Ajmal Hasbulla
Sound Design and Mixing
Sam Santosh
Vocals
Sarath Baby
Associate Editor
Girish Atuvalaipil
Production Controller
Rakhil Akkali
Colorist
Hari Prime Associate Cinematographer Shyamin Gireesh Associate Editor Rakesh Cherumadam
