2012 has already been stressful. Losing face in front of clients leading to losing business partners. I was about ready to do the solo thingy again, before an old friend Rudry Ripon, my old production manager decided to give me a call. Shortly thereafter, I met my new clients, along with six new projects.
The first one was a television commercial for local agency powerhouse Bitopi. Have heard a lot about them, never worked with them. Ripon had started working with a new production house Burnt Sienna, who acquired all these projects. So I agreed to do the commercial, not knowing much about the production itself, a first, but it paid off soon. The only thing I knew was that it was about Nestle's new powdered orange drink and Tang's competitor, "Nesfruta".
Working with Nicole (my CineAlta) and having the newly sired JERICOs beside me, I finally started the shoot at the old Coca Cola factory that has been converted to sound stages. My gaffer and I decided to go with an old-in-the-US-but-new-trend-in-Dhaka system of hanging metal pipes on top and then hanging lights from them. The director, renowned maker Mr Raju, wanted a golden sunset tone indoors, so all tungstens. After the shoot I got congratulated by the head of branding from Bitopi about the lighting. A first again, I might add, while I toot my own horn. The Bitopi peeps were really cool and they all seemed happy, well with the cinematography at least and hopefully the final product, even though I'm not editing the footage....a first, again. Sadly, my RedRock Micro M2E died right after the shoot, which sucks. Looks like more face time for Marisa (the 7D) now.....still, its the end of a legacy.
One thing though, the Burnt Sienna peeps were awesome. Rarely was I ever at so much ease while shooting. Props to JERICO Fayaz who assisted me like a champ both days. My new focus puller was great as well and instantly told me he looked forward to working with me more in the future. So I guess with breaking old partnerships only creates new (better) ones. Hopefully this time these guys won't come back to bite me in the ass.
Here are the last raw screen caps from the (now dead) system.....sniff sniff
Now on to finish the other 5 projects, one of which is in Pabna, a place known for its mental institution....mama I'm coming home.....huehuehuehue
Its that time of the year again, where I pretend I'm a good guy and bring out the philanthrope in me. I asked my good friend Abe, if I could do a documentary as a pro bono, for his charitable group the Big Bangs Foundation in Dhaka. Sadly, due to other stuff, Abe and his friends weren't able to squeeze in time for that to happen.
As most things happen, I got a wall post on FB, from Shahana Siddiqui, sister to an old friend Ashfaque, part time journalist (although her segments are better than the regular journalists themselves) and full time mom and social worker.....oh, and possibly the most liberal person I know of (she is recently being followed by the government for anti-government bashings showing up on her FB statuses.....I kid you not) asking me for my number. Shortly afterwards, I found out that her friend Ivy H. Russell had made a website dedicated to the women of Dhaka. The website www.maya.com.bd, had information useful to women of all ages, from all walks of life and even help for those to wanted to be anonymous and discuss maternal issues and even domestic/workplace and societal abuse. Needless to say, while I was in such a giving mood, I decided to make the 8 min presentation (having never done one before) for BRAC, the local NGO we love so much. it would serve as a pitch, so BRAC would give Maya the funds necessary to take such an initiative forward.
What followed was a 2 min video, where we would show women, sitting away from each other meet each other, via a "big sister", who would guide them along, until they became self sustainable themselves. It was a 3 hour shoot, with myself directing/dp-ing the 2 mins. No actors, just the people of Maya, including Mrs Russell and the great Shahana Siddiqui herself. The shots were all Fincher-esqe, trying to deal with hopelessness, despair and tragedy, soon blooming to hope and prosperity. I used a dolly, a steadicam and a jib. Marisa (my 7D) and the Frayed Kit, as usual, god I'm love with her......again. No lights, just the ambient stuff from the lounge in Spitfire (local restaurant) where I changed the bulbs to something more brighter (for some reason good restaurants here are very dimly lit).
The later part was an interview segment of Mrs Russell and some powerpoint like slides, where I was trying my best to mess with Motion 3. Bickey Russell, her husband, made it easy for me, since he had a clear idea of what the presentations should look like. I even did some of the music, with a Gladiator like jingle that comes with Logic Pro and then a remixed version of Michael Mann's movie The Last of the Mohicans, mixing it with the orchestral accents from The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest (I know, I'm such a brilliant thief) to get that "we shall overcome" theme.
Here's the video, watch it, learn from it, support it.....please:
Recently some of you have emailed me about why one name keeps popping up on almost every post I've ever made. Those who have worked with me know that I bring his name up every time I talk about a great tracking shot, a gruesome story, a dark (pun intended) way of lighting, snappy edits or even a way of using more takes than usual.
Ever since I thought of pursuing a career in film/TV and re-watched "Fight Club", I was almost dumbfounded. When I first watched it when I was a kid, about 16, it was a cool movie. The ending was great, the premise/plot was cool and hey, I wanted that Brad Pitt eight pack and beat the crap out of anyone. When I watched it again, with all the knowledge of the George Lucas School of Cinematic Arts instilled in me, it was so much more than that. I think I've watched that movie at least once every month after that. Why? Because for me its the perfect movie. What is the perfect movie? The movie that offers everything and is not ashamed to hide anything. The social commentary is off the charts. Released in 1999, the political notion of Project Mayhem still resonates today, with the global economy crumbling and privatization and corporation out to take out the smaller dogs. Wanna fix this? Take out all the big shots and start again, from the rubble. I think I've moulded my life from what Tyler Durden says throughout the movie. One great piece of dialogue I'll never forget:
"I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off. "
People ask me why I named my company Damage Inc. (apart from the fact that I'm a Metallica nut), but the idea is Tyler Durden's. The Dhaka media scene is so messed up, you gotta start damaging the big guns with all the aces and then rebuild the "scene" from the ground up. New faces, new dogmas, new material.
Now lets talk about the movie itself from a cinematic viewpoint. The cinematography and editing was brilliant (that opening sequence was hella awesome), Ed Norton became my favorite actor, the music was great and who knew Meat Loaf could act? I'm no Roger Ebert, so I can't explain how great the film is, so if you haven't seen it, please do so. I think its film making at its best.
Fight Club was only the beginning. There are other almost equally great films: Se7en, Zodiac, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (which was a far superior film than Slumdog), The Social Network (far better than the King's Speech) and recently, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I don't even know how many times I've seen these movies. Each time, they only seem to get better. Most of the shots, edits, color grades, stories I do have these movies written all over them. I made a camera rig just to take some of those shots and even named it after him. Rob Zombie once said, "Every guitar riff in metal is based off a Black Sabbath riff". I can easily say, "Every shot I've ever taken is based off a David Fincher scene."
I've had the pleasure of meeting the man himself and it was the best 20 minutes of my entire life. We talked the entire time about nothing but his philosophy of cinema. Why he made the move to digital and RED, why he thrived in making dark and dismal thrillers and how he said FU to the big shots of Hollywood and made his own "my way or the highway" attitude. Inspirational.
He's also introduced us to so many new things we would have never been aware of. The new kid playing Spiderman, Jesse Eisenberg being a household name and before her OSCAR nomination for the portrayal of the US version of Lisbeth Salander, when did you hear of Rooney Mara? Using NiN man Trent Reznor for brilliant scores and making him win an OSCAR in a category reigned mostly by classical musicians, sheer genius. There is so much more I can babble about him. Most people are convinced I'm in love with him. I may indeed be. If someone says they don't care much of his films, I usually never even talk with them, let alone work with them. All I can say is that without David Fincher, I would never be who I am today.
The last few weeks have been hectic to say the least. I had to take care of some ads that were prior commitments from November. I had to run to at least 20 meetings with some old and new clients in order to finalize the work orders for keeping Feb and March busy. Then there was the process of realizing that I had to stop working with someone I'd worked with for a long time. I think I realized it when another friend told me the real scenario, that this person not caring enough, suffering from indecisions and just doing whatever they wanted just made my company look bad and when high profile clients are involved, that's not a good thing. Finally, there was the starting of the JERICO Initiative, my own little project where I'm going to hire 6 kids to come and get apprenticeships and a film education and get paid for it.
Amidst this craziness, Bengal Creative Media (BCM) hired me as a DP to shoot a short film called "Stain". The movie was about corruption around the city, believe me there is a lot, targeting the drivers licensing bureau. The director turned out to be a fellow Los Angelino Emily Manthei. BCM is a company that has one of those special places close to my heart (aww.....) cause unlike most other production companies, these guys are doing great things with a shoe string budget and with a zero tolerance policy. I took a pay cut myself as well to help em out.
Stain was shot on the 7D again, which makes me sad for my CineAlta, which hasn't been used much since the Frayed Kit arrived. We shot on some of the tightest spaces I'd ever been in, which ended up being the licensing bureau. 5 actors crammed into a room not any bigger than half the size of a normal bedroom. I didn't get the luxury of a focus puller or my regular gaffer/grip. Emily also wanted a lot of handheld POV shots throughout the movie, as well as a lot of Fincher style motion. After the 3rd day, when she did find out that focus was an issue and perhaps too much for an MK to handle, I was given my regular focus puller, who ended up dropping my 100mm Zeiss on the ground.....twice. He became the 2nd person that I had to sever ties with that week.
The shoot ended up being good for the most part. Emily and I really didn't like the main actor though. She was amazed how people don't do screen tests here and just go on "recommendations". The side actors were far better. I guess I did a decent job too, since she asked me to DP her demo short film for her feature film Transnationals, a movie about adopted children the world over. She shot the first 2 parts stateside, but they were set in South Korea and Japan. The third part was here in Dhaka, where a young girl comes back to visit her orphanage, where she was adopted from before her new parents took her back to the US. Shooting began in Banani, DOHS, by a small school near a field. My friend Abe decided to come and help me as an AC, making him the first honorary JERICO. It was the day after the Giants Superbowl win and since both of are Giants fans, the morning started off a lil slow. Halfway thought the shoot, the local "authorities" decided to stop the shoot since the army did not like the idea of a white person shooting anything there. This is so like peeps over at that side of town....bitches. Anyway, I ended up scouting a slum near BCM's building where we finished the shoot. The slum actually ended up being a better more realistic place. Unlike Stain, the girl who acted in this short ( British expat) was really good and her facial expressions were actually dead on.
Here's the stuff...
Well now its time to go finish some TVCs, hire some JERICOs and start my pro bono for this year. I'll keep y'all posted.
First of all Happy New Year. As I sit and type this blog, I'm reminiscing the great year that was 2011. Sure, it had its lows, but overall 2011 ended up being one of those years that will be bookmarked for sure.
Lets recap. The year started off my moi getting my first ever gig as a director of a television commercial, something I never look forward to. Then there were documentaries, more commercials, a music video and while on vacation, a reality TV show and a short film (outside of a place I'd call home, with zero scouting). Apart from a few mishaps here and there, mostly successful projects. It reunited me with my LA brothers Lance Hobbie and Shane Glick, finally got to an SC tailgate, had a 20 min conversion with the man himself, David Fincher (where I couldn't put 2 words together without stuttering like a 6 year old Rob Pattinson fan) and of course found a directing "force to be reckoned with" in Sara Baumann. 2011 ended with news of making not one, but 2 feature films in the year ahead.
Which brings me to these 2 movies. In December I went with old friend and director Jahirul Hasan Badhon to Kurigram, a district north of Bangladesh. We went to shoot the documentary part of the feature film, which will be shot in the pattern of Band of Brothers, so real life interviews of Bangladeshi Freedom Fighters followed by live action dramatized events. The 7D with a Rode Video Mic and Zeiss primes (the now famous "Frayed" kit and slowly becoming my favorite piece of hardware) came along. Kurigram was ummm.....cold. On top of that, I tried the local "delicacies" and got extremely sick. Amidst all of this, we shot over 8 hours of footage in three days, met some real life Bangladeshi heroes and heroines and sadly also got a taste of how people who fought for the freedom of my nation are pretty much lost and forgotten (by their own people I might add) among the hoopla.
Here are some screen caps.
The other movie I'm gonna be working on is kinda about 3 stories in one kinda deal ala Amores Peros. Not a remake, not a copy, but 3 different couples brought together by a tragic event. I really can't go into details about this movie, since the copyright issues haven't been solved as the script is being finalized, but believe me, it sounds great. Really stoked about this one, as is anyone who listens to the idea/story. I volunteered to direct one of the segments myself. Hopefully I can get JH Badhon and Sara Baumann to do the other two.
Moving on to 2012. Apparently, the year we will all vanquish according to those Mayans. What a tragedy that'll be, since 2012 is the year I'm most looking forward to, as a camera gear ethusi....umm...screw it.....addict. If you love digital filmmaking, you're jumping up and down with joyful exuberance. New cameras from RED (new sensors for the EPIC and finally the Scarlet), ARRI (who else's celluloid heart will the ALEXA conquer), Sony (finally 4K CineAltas) and even Canon (C300 people??). If you're a celluloid lover, you're counting down the days till you're gonna have to make the shift eventually, with your film transfer machines, film processing labs getting shelved right next to the Moviola in the local film museum. I'm not the first one to say it, but here it goes again, 2011 was the year celluloid found out it was dying, terminally and 2012 will see digital starting to pull on the plug that controls its life support. The 2 best films of 2012 were shot digitally. Hugo was amazing and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was breathtaking. I had a discussion with Lance once about how everything would eventually become digital, where he vehemently opposed my views. Now, like his guru Scorsese, his motto is "who needs film?". I would personally like to congratulate Jim Jannard and the RED team. Had it not been for them, we would still be selling our houses to own a 1080/24p shoulder mount cam that shoots 422 8bit. Downsize, downsize, downsize and we now have a nuclear reactor in the palm of our hands like the EPIC. 444, 16bit, 5K, 120fps at under $50k. Bam!
Now will come the age of words like aliasing, moire, bit depth and of course my least favorite, ingesting, flying though the air. Unlike choosing film stock (bye bye Kodak and Fuji), DPs will be choosing sensors (by choosing different cams), LUTs and dailies, which will now be hourlies. Good times. The only people who are safe are the Lens guys. All the new cams come with a PL mount option, so cine glass will still have its charm. Zeiss and Cooke are still the big hitters, but new lenses from Leica (the Summix C) and Canon (Cine EOS) will give us more variety. Fujinon and Angieneux are cranking out great zooms.
So here's to a great 2012. A good friend suggested this title...."Film is dead, but cinema is ever so alive". Thanks to everyone who has read my stupid blog. I hope I given you some insight to the world of cinema and television as I live through it.
Here's the new 2012 Damage Inc. Productions showreel.
It was a fine late summer day in Dhaka. Sara Baumann decided she was going back home for Thanksgiving. I decided I was going to buy a RED when I was gong back to LA during that same time. As most film ideas happen, the director just had a random thought: "Why don't we shoot a short film in Traverse City?".
"Sure", I said, thinking it was just her wanting to shoot like a music video or like a touristy thing.
What transpired shortly after was a 20 page short film, which was originally going to be shot on my new RED Epic. Thus "The Frayed Ends" was born.
Everything fell apart shortly after. No real producers and finally no real RED, cause the buyer of my old camera backed out at the last possible minute. Yeah, life sucked back then.
We finally decided to shoot with DSLRs and try our best to come up with something that would show the awesomeness that is Traverse City.
After the entire Yogi show in LA, I was mentally and physically exhausted, knowing fully that I had more late nights ahead, shooting this short film. I flew up to Michigan. What happened after was truly one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had.
The entire community of Suttons Bay/Traverse City sort of rallied around one of their own, Sara Baumann, to get this project rolled out. A big shout-out goes to Mr Scott Tompkins, a school teacher who teaches media/TV production to high school kids. He got a group of kids together, who were all crying out for some practical experiences in the field. They all shared a common thing: a love for making films. These kids were awesome. They weren't payed anything. They didn't have any proper experience. They worked their asses off. They never threw hissy fits. They never even thought twice about anything that was told to them. Dhaka, Hollywood are you reading??
Everyone in TC/SB welcomed the film. We shot in the winery and the owner gave us access to everything, even his 1970s Ford Truck. We shot in a Lighthouse and the caretakers let us do whatever we wanted. THIS NEVER HAPPENS!! Usually its people being "okay" with shooting and then once the shoot is done, you're greeted with frowns and pissed off peeps looking to score money. Like I said....amazing.
Another awesome experience was getting to meet the Baumanns. Mr Warren Baumann aka "The Mayor" makes the best food, ever. Sorry mom, he wins that battle. I usually don't eat when it comes to shooting, apart from the usual caffeinated beverages, but holy cow was his food amazing. At one point I ate a quarter of a big aluminum pan of chicken pot pie and then licked it too.....spotless.
Ms Baumann and I drove up and down Michigan as well, going to Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids for casting and of course hitting up Zingerman's Deli while I was there. So I think I got more Michigan than I hoped for.
Sidetracking before the filming itself, while we were location scouting, Sara's sis in law, Jetty Rae (aka Britney Stewart) decided she wanted us to film a cover of Pumped Up Kicks. Her husband Jason, a really cool guy, came up with the concept of a sped of slow motion of the video, ala Coldplay's Yellow. One shot, one scene. The video was done in 3 hours....thats shooting, editing and color grading. Here's a look:
The shooting itself was good. I had recently purchased a Steadicam Merlin. Its a thing of beauty. Awesome shots, everytime, well most of the time. I brought my Zeiss primes as well and put them on the 7D. Brilliant images. I'm gonna start not recommending Canon glass to people, as the Zeiss glass is so much more cinematic, better contrast, better sharpness. But then again, they are about 5000 dollars more. Some of the shots don't even look as if they were shot with a DSLR, might I dare say, CineAlta-ish.
We shot for 5 days straight. The weather was ridonculous. I shot a segment among sleet that hit me square on the face. Oh yeah, that was with a steadicam too. Next time, I'm getting an operator while I'm cozying up with the rest of the crew. Yeah, like thats gonna happen. I only had one light kit. 4 Lowe Totes and 2 small fresnels. The dolly was made by the Mayor, but it worked fine. No jibs. But its when you have absolutely nothing, that the best stuff comes out from you. This being a prime example. My camera crew were awesome. Micah, Jeff and Curtis. They were carved of wood once they passed MK's school of hard knock DP-ing and they never bitched about it either. The art dept. was kick ass, the costume designer was straight (yeah, you heard me) and the make up was freakin awesome. All for free, unless you count smiles, hugs and Mr Baumann's cooking, which is payment enough in my book.
All in all, a great shoot with great people in a great place. I wish most of the "film communities" I've been in are more like Sutton's Bay/Traverse City. It would make my life much easier. With guys like Mr Tompkins and all those involved helping the young kids out there, I'm sure its gonna go places. Maybe I can even help setup (shameless plugin from the movie) the Jericho Swanson School for Kids Who Wanna Make Good Films and Do Other Cinematic Things Also. Food for thought. Oh and if anyone from Sutton's Bay is actually reading this....you guys need more coffee shops (aka Starbucks) to get us film folk out there.
Here are some snaps:
The Merlin kickin ass
Its cold, see how everyone leaves the DP to freeze
Marisa, my beautiful
Cam crew....FIGHT ON!
Wrap! The Director is happy she doesn't have to argue with me about epic wides
Grilling the kids
Yeah, I'm Steadicam approved
When it came to cutting people, it was my job.....thanks Sara
So I finally boarded a plane and left Dhaka, from what seems ages ago to visit LA after almost forever. I was looking for some RnR, some good food and finally some surf. I was greeted by an (almost) wired Lance Hobbie. After the initial chit chat, I found out that Lancelot was shooting a reality TV show about yoga divas living in Venice Beach (aka yoga world central).
Since Lance was so jazzed about the show and it really seemed like an awesome concept, I volunteered myself to shoot part of the remaining stuff and "oversee" the editing part. If I had only knew......
Official quote: Yogis are craaaaazzzzyyy.
I'd heard some of the most ridiculous things ever while I was shooting. Most of them made it to the "sizzle" reel. When I first heard "sizzle" reel, I thought it was a porno thing, but later found out it was only an extended promo, supposed to "sizzle" the viewer to watch some more, or some shit like that. So LA.
Little did I know that I was going to have to give up almost everything I had come to LA for. Late nights, loads of caffeine (no nicotine though, which I started again btw, due to a moment of sheer stupidity and anger, only to regret quitting it in the first place) and finally hours upon hours of looking through crappy footage taken by the DP used before me and arguing with Lance over what needs to go where. The final result, with some help from the awesome Shane, turned out to be actually something a lot of people in Hollywood are "sizzled" with.
I got to meet Rainbeau Mars, a former Adidas yoga model and a larger than life character. Rainbeau is quite simply.....awesome. She said I had the light of Budda in my eye, which I think is a good thing. She also loved my shots, which is always a good thing. Also got the opportunity to show the stuff to Lon Rosen, who is the VP of Magic Johnson Enterprises and the manager of Alex Rodriguez, amongst others. What a man...(oh yeah he loved it too)
Overall, this being my first stint into reality TV land, I was really happy for Lance, who finally had a great thing going. With peeps like Rainbeau and Lon backing up the show, watch for it when it gets picked up soon.
