Tough Week

This past week was basically a hell week at work- just a ton of hours during which I managed to get a horrible head cold. I probably had a slight fever sometime between Wed-Fri but the worst was that I had to pick up lines of VO for the show and I was so stuffed up I sound horrible.

For a little more info of what I am working on at work- I am finishing an episode of Exteme Destinations for the Travel Channel. I am working on the episode about workplaces- some very cool digs indeed. It made me think about the tiny offices I sometimes work in and realize there are some really cool places to work. The producer is awesome and the show turned out really good as well. We have three more fix days this next week and the show should be done. In the edit world, shows and edits can over for days and days at a time. My first job in NY was actually only supposed to be a two week gig- it wound up being a six or seven week edit.

Brain dead

The script and writing are coming along well, but tonight, I am completely brain dead. At the last minute, I was offerred and accepted an edit job finishing a show. What that really means is that I was signing on to the last week of a television show where all the final touches, changes, and adjustments must be made. Generally, there are a lot of changes, which is standard, but as a fresh editor who has never seen the show or the material, it is a difficult task to catch up and fix segments that you have never seen.

It is just part of the territory- I went into it knowing the week could be like this. Hopefully the worst is over and I can get some writing in tomorrow night.

Shoe Spec Commercial

The weekend was not as productive as I would have liked, but I did begin to shoot some b-roll for one of the shoe commercials. It wasn't much, but there was decent light in my daughter's room this morning so I arranged all of her shoes on the dresser and shot b-roll- pans, close-ups - the usual stuff... as for how the commercial will actually go it is anyone's guess- whatever idea I have in mind will most likely never reach the silver screen. Instead, it will depend more on the day I choose to shoot and just what particular mood my daughter might be in- I plan on being inspired by my daughter's actions and I will adjust on the fly.

Script Update

Script is coming along slowly but surely. The blog process did really help me out- simply by forcing me to organize the story linearly when I wanted to explain to people the idea. As it turns out, I was not so far off the mark- most of the scenes were in the correct order. The problem, it turns out, was that I was jotting down/ noting/ writing scenes as they came into my head, irrelevant of order. I knew that these moments were good and deserved to be considered for the film, but by doing so, the sheer number of ideas and notes somewhat overwhelmed me and I felt a little lost as to where the beginning, middle, and end was.

My job from here is to start from the beginning and make another pass at the whole script and refine scenes that have already been written and then add new ones to help the story make sense.
It will be the third or fourth pass in what will probably wind up being a 20-25 pass script, maybe even more.

Another commercial idea

I may have mentioned that Aniya really likes to wear her bike helmet as an article of clothing. Tonight, she found her helmet tucked away in the closet and wore it around the house for the next hour - running up and down the hall and bouncing around like a 2 year old should, and it got me thinking.

Wouldn't a great commercial for a bike helmet be for all the uses one can get out of the helmet not even on the bike?? She uses it for horse back riding, riding in her stroller, it protects her when she runs into the wall (for fun), and just looks pretty cute on her! The end page tag for the commercial could be "Giro. Protecting you one kid at a time"

That slogan I am sure is used by a very large and recognizable company, but for me, that tag will work fine. I am trying to produce and edit and have almost 10 commercials to my credit. All of the commercials will be on youtube and all the free video websites I can put them on to generate any type of buzz and exposure. I have to keep the dream alive.

Spec Commercial Idea Revised

After watching a bunch of commercials online at various sites, I have decided that my toddler shoe commercial is not bad at all. It does need tweaking, but my idea, once it is modified and thoroughly developed, will be just as good if not better than many of the commercials that are out there. I am not saying I am brilliant, but the actual process of making commercials in the professional world usually takes creativity out of the equation. That is the topic for another blog post down the line.

I have actually come up with 2 very simple shoe commercials since last night. The first is to start with the close ups on many different types of shoes- boots, princess shoes, sandals, thongs, etc. A little girl watches intently as her mother holds up a pair and asks the girl if these are the shoes she wants. The little girl screams and cries hysterically, shoe after shoe, until the winning pair is selected. Close ups on the winning pair of shoes as they are put on the girl's feet. She smiles and runs past the camera.

This commercial is a real life drama that my wife and I experience almost every day now. It is the latest phase in Aniya's development, and I do love it. Aniya lately is into her shoes, but she does not want your help to put the shoes on, or sometimes even choose them. The problem is that she is still a little too young to put the shoes on herself, so the result is a lot of frustration and a lot of crying. As a result, the sponsor for this particular commercial really depends on the day I finally shoot it.

The second commercial I think should be a spec for Converse. We recently bought a pair of pink, slip on, Converse All-Star shoes for Aniya that are really cute. To modify my idea from last night, the commercial could start with Aniya fully dressed, standing listlessy in the middle of the room, with a generic pair of shoes on. The pink pair of Converse shoes are grabbed off a shelf and her mom replaces her shoes. Instantly, Aniya is more energetic- running, laughing, and having a great time. Converse.

Hopefully, the imagery for this second spec commerical will help sell the brand. These ideas might be mediocre, they might be bad, but if I want to try and be a commercial director I need to make as many spec commercials as possible. Slowly, I will figure out which ones are the strongest and put those to the top of my reel.

Spec Commercial Idea

I've talked a lot about spec commericals and after 6 or 7 years, I still don't have a single one. Time for things to change- the dream is still alive and there is no better time than to start now. I have the next two weeks off from work and am hoping to shoot and edit at least two different spec commercials. The good news is that both commercials revolve around my little Aniya. In fact, I should probably make 5-6 spec commercials for kids products-

The idea for the first commercial is simple- a little girl plays quietly with some toys on the ground. She puts on a pair of shoes and the shoes inspire her to run around and have tons of fun.
The tagline for the commercial could be "Brand name- inspiring creativity."

Reading the description myself the commercial sounds pretty boring, but I think some quick montage editing and a remarkable visual difference between shoes off and on will help. At least I finally wrote it down- hopefully I come back to it tomorrow or the next day and the idea gets a lot clearer and better.

I don't have my second idea at the moment. As I said before, the easiest thing is to do is use one of Aniya's many toys, books, and clothing and make commercials around them. There is always a need for directors for children's products, right?

"NOOOOOOO"

This is Aniya a week or two ago at the local playground. There once was a time when we had to hold Aniya's hand and follow her every move at the playground, essentially helping her to do everything. But now, she likes to do everything herself. If you get too close on the stairs at home or at the playground outside, she commands you either "Noooo" or "Gooooo". Sometimes she'll back track and tell you to "Stay"- but I think we are entering that stage people call the Terrible Twos.

The road from here

In a nutshell, my last post describes the basic storyline of my feature film script. The job from here is to reorder my existing scenes according to my outline and then begin to fill in the blanks. Any scene that does not really propel my narrative forward needs to be put at the very end as alternate scenes. I will still run into plenty of problems, but for now, I can go to bed with the temporary feeling of a great accomplishment.

The script

So the blog has already helped. I mentioned that I had too many scenes and on index cards and was having trouble ordering them and figuring out the overall structure of the film. I probably should have known this all along, but art and creation sometime has no reason.

HAPPY SAUCE News

It's has been a good day for HAPPY SAUCE. Although it went 0 for about 20 or 25 in the film festival circuit, I received an email from IMDB stating that in an effort to support emerging film makers, IMDB will give HAPPY SAUCE it's own film title page! This is great news as my current IMDB page only lists my edit work and none of my director work is listed. You have to start somewhere, and slowly build from there. I will post the link to the film and my new IMDB page as soon as the link and page are operational.

HAPPY SAUCE will also soon be distributed! Around the middle of last year, a short film distribution company called OUAT MEDIA contacted me to include HAPPY SAUCE in their catalog. It has taken me too long to get all the required materials together, but I am now ready and plan on sending the completed contracts back to OUAT either tomorrow or the next day.
I am not getting any upfront compensation from OUAT but it's time I faced the facts. I tried valiantly but got rejected from every festival I submitted the film to. I obviously did not make an outstanding film, but I also did not make a bad film. HAPPY SAUCE should have gotten into at least one film festival. In my opinion, anything that OUAT can offer will be an added and welcome bonus.

I plan on writing a rather lengthy and angry entry about the current state of film festivals. Stay posted.

Aniya Karin Sen

We took this picture this past Sunday. My mother-in-law was in town and had bought Aniya
the sunglasses the day earlier. We were on our way to the nearby horse stables for a pony ride, and instead of using one of their helmets, Aniya prefers to wear her bike helmet. And once she puts it on, she really does not like to take it off.

My script is about....

I mentioned that I will be a more active blogger because I am writing a script and I really need an outlet to play with ideas via the blog... It is definitely true, and I am writing about being an Indian living in America..

There are a lot of films made precisely about this subject- like American Desi, The Namesake, Mississippi Masala but let's be realistic. There are unique films but in general, all films fit into one of however many stories that exist in the world. According to some teachers, that number may be as low as 10 and for other teachers the number may be several hundred. My job as an artist is to use my own personal experiences to retell one of these stories so that it is unique and compelling to the audience.

So the film is about an Indian man married to an American woman and their struggles to resolve many of their cultural differences. The film will definitely be a comedy- but not a slapsticky comedy where the jokes and gags are over the top. By making a film about Indians and Americans not understanding one another I run the risk of making the comedy too extreme, but it is my job to keep it under control.

Aniya Update

Aniya is now 21 months old. She is small for her age- as she has grown, her Dr. visits are more seldom and the gauge for how she is has also changed. In the natural progression of raising a child, the different steps at first how long and how many pounds she was. Then there are many other little steps- rolling over, crawling, walking and finally talking. We are officially at the talking stage, and have been there for many months now.

The first word out of her mouth was "GA" for our dog Gabru. That was at least six months ago, probably longer. Today, she has a repertoire of at least 50-60 words and she is adding new words, expressions, and actions daily. My favorite word, however, is "Daddy". For me, it is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me- when my daughter sees me come home from work, her eyes light up in excitement, her mouth curls and even sometimes her arms open up in anticipation. And then she shrieks "Daaadddeeee" and comes running to give me a hug.

I really hope she never grows out of this phase.

I am really back this time

I know I have said it before, but this time I assure it is true, I am back and plan to blog many many times each week.

The truth is, I have been trying to write a script, and it really is not working. My last experience blogging was wonderful because I was able to work out many of the kinks and thoughts I had about the script while blogging.

So what is the film one might ask? Finally, I will be returning to my roots, to the subjects of one of my first films- and to a subject about which I should have been making films about all along- being an Indian in America.

Unlike my last film, Happy Sauce, however, I am writing a feature film. And since it is a feature film that I think is going to be really wonderful and generate a lot of buzz and interest about me and my talents, I can't give everythign away by writing about it on this blog. I can, however, write something, and I really need to write. Just get it out of my head- stream of consciousness, whatever, it doesnt really matter- writing on the blog is great cause I finally have an outlet for all my crazy thoughts and hopefully the only ones that remain are the ones that make the script.