Oh Shit...

Wow. I definitely let one of those heavy handed sighs out this morning. I was hunting for info on imdb and suddenly, across the banner, I see the headline: Robert Altman dead at 81. I don't think I've ever taken death that seriously. I imagine my friends and family dying all the time and what it would be like and its pretty okay, I roll with it. And of all people I had never ever in my life imagined that someone I don't even know, haven't even met, someone like Robert Altman would make me think twice about death. When people die, you hear and say: Bla bla bla will be sorely missed. Well, this time it's for real. I do think I will miss him. I just read a script he was going to direct, and it was such a given. Yeah, Altman will make this. And for anyone who saw the Oscars this year and his speech about him having a 30 year old woman's heart and what not... seriously. Oh shit.


Feel like watching: short cuts, nashville, mccabe+mrs.miller tonight.

I think that's a good way of arriving at a list of directors you genuinely like. Think about if you will be sad if they were to die tomorrow.

THINKOscar

I read Biskind's book about Indy film in the 90s, the whole Miramax Oscars thing and up until a few years ago, it used to be true. The Oscars crazyiness and the gimmicks, I thought, were dying down and the Weinstein monkeys had truly backed off. Its more like every single organization got their own monkeys out and so its all level. But its still staggering.

The last couple of days at THINKfilm, I've just been watching these guys do their campaigning for Ryan Gosling's turn in Half Nelson and boy, its a lot of work. Just yesterday they sent out about what seemed like 300 packages to every major critics circle in the country so they could get him and the film nominated in the Critics honors and raise word about him. The Prez hand signed a zillion letters to members of the Academy about the performance. Apparently Benicio del Toro and Walter Salles loved the film and so hosted a screening of the film and these guys were sending postcards out. Screener DVDs go out to every single Academy member and there's an entire agency that takes the contract for just that. I know because 100s of mail comes back to our office from people who have moved and didn't provide a forwarding address. So the database keeps updating itself every year and bajillions of DVDs keep going out.

Ryan isn't Jamie Foxx either. I'm sure every single person out there now knows about his grandmother. Boy, he milked that! Gosling isn't awards crazy... I can almost hear every film student go: Nicceeee! But thats not what helps a distributor out. The Oscar will let more copies of Half Nelson be sold and more movies of that type be made. Gosling will also be able to hand pick his projects, whatever bla bla bla. Its not entirely about ego.

Hum Aapke Hain Kaun..!

The funniest things choose to lodge themselves in your memory. I have this DISTINCT memory from 1994 when I was in school still and this film called "Hum Aapke Hain Kaun..!" came out in theatres. The buzz for the film was high and I really wanted to see it. It was typical Bollywood masala fare with Madhuri Dixit, one of the hottest actors at the time. The director had already made a super hit film, this was his second with the reputed production house and multi-starrers hadn't caught on at the time.

Anyway, so we used to have a help, Radha, in the house and like all Indians she was a total movie buff. Everyone in India wanted to see this film, its a cinema crazy nation. SO, I was in school and it ended at 3/30pm. I had convinced mom to let me see this film again for the fourth time. (Trust me, it wasn't easy, she isn't as sympathetic to cine-crazies) And this time Radha was going to come see it as well and obviously she was excited. So Radha met me in the car after school, and she packed my lunch and we drove like crazy to the cinema hall, tickets were purchased and we slid into position right in time as the 4pm show began. BOOM, out came the lunch box, home made food and the title song rolled. That random moment has just LODGED itself into my memory and everytime I think of it, I can instantly transform myself to it. I remember everything, the smells, the feeling, the EXUBERANT happiness.

Final tapes came from the lab today.... editing is finally going to finishing places.

CLAP!

There is a reason things are done the way they are. That slate thing we take so many liberties with on a short film, yeah, it can take on so much importance on a feature film, its astounding. I wish I had slated every piece of film that I shot. I wish I had correctly slated every piece of film I shot. I wish I had camera logs and sound logs for EVERYTHING and paper trails for every single roll of camera film and so on and so forth. El Mariachi is pretty cool but its a completely unnecessary hassle to take on in editing. Management becomes just so much tougher when you don't have everything. Let me know if you need me to elaborate.


Speakers: Omkara: O Saathi Re
Must see: Vishal Bhardwaj's take on the Bard's Othello; completely remastered to Northern India, refitted with Bollywood stars, sexy music, a fantastic screenplay and tour-de-force performances. MUST SEE. You could check some out on YouTube and Netflix it...

Hrrrrmph

Editing systems. Whoever made these needs to listen up. Okay, so any of you who've edited before, specifically printed a sequence on to a DV tape before might know what I'm talking about. Why is that everytime you have to print a sequence on to a dV tape, you have to start over like its your first time on Final Cut Pro? I mean, it never works the first time. You tweak this setting and you slam your head on that setting and it takes you at least 10 times of printing the sequence wrong: sometimes without sound, sometimes with 1/2 the image, sometimes only the leader, sometimes just a still frame of the last thing you recorded, god knows, the machine seems to make up problems and possibilities as it goes along. How else do I fuck this guy up.

BOOM, when its done your chest swells up with pride and you're like yeah, shit YEAH, I did it. I mean you might have made the movie itself on the Swiss Alps and in the Sahara Desert with your balls falling off and shrinking and god knows what, but the best part about the whole process is you being able to perform this simple function which should have happened at the touch of a button.

SO, anyway, after much pain, you figure it out and I swear you remember everything you do because you know you will need to do this again and you don't want to go through that entire process of trial and error EVER again. And sure enough, you have to do it again just TWO days later and the bugger won't work. I mean, you haven't even opened final cut since the last time you did this so none of the settings could have possibly changed. And none of the problems are from the previous 999 times you couldn't Print to Tape. I've seen people like Kevin Michael in Park who must have spent 1/2 his time at Park fixing these Print to Tape problems get completely flustered because of this irritating thing. All you wanna do is scream to the heavens and curse, curse, curse...

I've given up. Yup, its come to that. I've given up. I never expect that to work. I just don't. I would rather get my gums tattooed than go through that hell again. I swear I love Macs but on days like this, you begin to question everything.


Watched: John and Jane, Toll Free at the Margaret Mead Film and Video Festival in NYC.
Fantastic film. I mean, I don't thik I really understood the power of images and the power of a documentary until I saw this film. Its about 6 call center employees in India and its masterfully shot by this Indian cinematographer Mohanan (who also did this much ritzier, flashier film DON) and MASTERFULLY edited by the director Ashim Ahluwalia. I met this guy at the Berlinale earlier this year and he was such a nice guy (part of the reason I understimated his film, if you can believe that). Its just great. If you can ever see it, you should. HBO Documentary Films is distributing in the US, but I don't think its going theatrical. There's no official site, this is the best I could find. Wake up HBO!

Also: Was pleasantly surprised to see Jared Bumgarner (my DP) in a magazine called M.E. ME is a fantastic magazine, they do these very specific issues (4 every year) on a particular artist and they chose to focus their Autumn issue on a film called Half Nelson. Jared was a PA on this film and I am now helping it get an Academy Award at THINKfilm, NYC. Great little film. Its the kind of film that makes you hate the makers for making it. Assholes.

Canvas...

I've been thinking more and more about the style or the canvas or the fabric of the film. I could just say The Royal Tenenbaums or Pulp Fiction or Magnolia and The West Wing end this sentence. Now there are two things that come through in these films: the first is the identity/aesthetics/style of the director. Almost every character in The Royal... speaks the same way and the shots, the pacing, the timing is the same. This isn't what I want. I want that other thing: the fabric, the stage that the film sits on. I think about that. All characters speaking the same language isn't realistic for me, also why waste the chance to try on so many suits and voices by having them all be extensions of you? But the canvas... that's interesting.

Whatever...

So, I saw Babel a week ago, and I'm still processing it. Well, it needs to be seen. That's without a doubt. Because its easier, let me say that technically, it's top notch. The cinematoographer and composer, especially, have done very very strong work. The acting is uniformly good. If there is a star in this show, its the editor. Fantastic, controlled, and very very fine. The film is an excellent example of this idea I love about ensemble films: cut so often and so much that the only guide the audience looks to is the director. This is true for Babel; instead of getting attached to any one character, we look to the entire story for the message and Inarritu becomes our guide. I also loved the fact that 5 minutes of screentime have been saved by simply naming the film appropriately. The foundation of the message is in the assumption that the audience knows what the title means.

And now we come to it: I saw it in NYC, at the Times Square movie theatre complex. The place is massive: some five storeys and 25 screens, I mean its HUGE. I walk into the theatre and its mostly full by the time I walk in. Me and about 4 more people are going up and down the stairs looking for a place to sit. Finally I find this empty chair but its loaded with coats and handbags and what not. The woman sitting next to it makes eye contact with me for a brief second and I tried to ask her if the seat was empty and she turned away. Finally, I took the plunge and went down the aisle giving many people the butt-in-the-face treatment and some the crotch-in-the-face. I get there, I politely ask her and she huffs at me, starts removing her stuff and mumbling under her breath. No big deal, I can understand why loosing your extra seat would be a cause for complaint. I kinda hated her at this point but whatever, moving on. Moving On??? WHERE TO? This was an excellent trailer of things to come. Good thing I didn't have a dagger on me coz I definitely would have stabbed her by the end of the film. This woman was a late twenties brat type with a long leather jacket and too much make up and the blonde friend in tow. They just giggled through the whole film, making smart comments and pop-references. SO entirely inappropriate during an emotional and sensitive flick like Babel.

The strength of the film also lay in its power of shutting up ho-wussies like these two women. There were two definite moments when the suspense was so THICK in the cinema hall, any director would have been proud. People were actually sweating... The film features a deaf and mute Japanese character and it was painful to see how insensitive the audience was being towards this character. There was a beautiful (although longer than necessary) montage where we actually try to sink our heads into the head of this girl, try to feel what she must feel being herself and the audience was actually laughing out loud during these moments. There were many a thing the character did when she was surrounded by her friends that also got the audience laughing. It made me very happy to see that the film's message was being lived out. This American audience could not understand that they were laughing at behavior. That's all. American kids do tons of stuff that's "cool" and code for hanging out. Japan has its own code. These are behaviors, not ideas, not thoughts, not arguments, just behavior. Its a different language, its a different grammar. Any audience that is incapable of understanding that shouldn't be watching Babel. I couldn't help thinking what Inarritu would have thought had he been in the audience.

The film talked to us and we talked back to it. It wasn't a life changing experience or anything though: I did think it was trying to live up to a grander idea.... and you could tell that the budget had gotten bigger, even though the ideas were very similar. I love films that don't let me decide what I think of them. Case in point: John Cameron Mitchell's SHORTBUS. Now playing....

The promise of the beginning...

When you are editing a film, reading books and thinking up ideas, the valley looks so green. Im writing this because I want to remember this feeling: the beautiful, crisp, fresh, snappy feeling of fresh grass... the promise of the beginning. When you put your pen down on paper for the first time, that shit is exciting. Its a beautiful feeling because the possibilities are endless. You can conjure up fun characters, talk about things that intrigue you, think up camera moves and new settings and locations. New lighting, new innovative editing techniques, costume directions, color combinations, just anything you want - anything at all.


Also: I was reading an issue of Creative Screenwriting and was very inspired (and angry-at-self) to read that Soderberg finished editing The Good Shepherd 3 days after he finished shooting it. That's what I wanted to do but I thought I was being too ambitious. Idiot! Can be done, should have done it. Shit like this pisses me off a LOT. And PS: the film has one of those awesome trailers that makes you go spend $10 at the movies. And you can bet he cut it himself. Asshole. In fact, he probably processed the film in his bathtub while he took his morning shit. Check it out here.

The Thing with Editing...

So, here's the thing with editing. When its good, its real good and when its bad, it just plain flat sucks. People will ask you all the time: so, how's it going? Now, I don't mean the coffee-drinking-everyday-type people that dont give a shit, Im talking about people who know or were involved with the film and actually want to know how "it's" going. And so, here's the thing...

Initially, I would just flat out lie. Its going well or Fantastic or Its coming along or Yeah, solid progress. Actually, it was more like: I fucking dont know what to do with it right now. There are hiccups, it took me almost a damn month to get started! This tape's missing or that's gone or this thing is not back from the lab, plus you're tired from shooting and you wanna kinda go for a swim coz there isn't any real deadline and then the nights are fun because you hate yourself for going swimming... but none of this actually answers that question, so the thing is....

The thing with editing is when the going is good its REAL good and when its not good, its bad. How bad? Well, you frankly dont know who the fuck is ever going to watch this damn film. You can see the mistakes just all over the place, all for the world to see. The acting doesn't work, the directing sucks, no music could possibly fit in there, you don't know if the cameraman had contracted a cataract or he plain flat refused to use his eyes to frame the shot and so on and so on... When its good, its real good. How good? Well, its 4:24am and as I was editing a scene, I got SO EXCITED about the frame in front of me that I started hopping on one foot.. major adrenaline rushed through my body and I picked up the phone to call my DP, to just share how awesome this one frame looks... or yesterday, when I was looking around for people to hug and tell about my great great great breakthrough with reordering this climax.

So, that's the thing with editing. I'll try to be more honest from now.
You: So, how's it going?
Suds: Well, you know, its like anything else. Good and bad moments, but I'm hoping to pull through.

Which hand would you pick?

When I was casting for this film, I was faced with a scenario. I made my decision then but I keep coming back to it. Tossing it out into the open now.
Imagine you wrote a script, lets say LOST IN TRANSLATION and you knew that Bill Murray would be SO PERFECT in the part. So you approached Bill Murray and he said, hmm, okay, fine he would do it but he doesn't have the kind of time you are looking for.
You: what do you mean Mr. Murray?
BM: Well, you need like 15 days of work from me and I understand that you've compromised already and placed all my scenes together and given me the first priority on scheduling and everything but, I can only make it for 1/4 the time and I cant work after 5p so all your night shoots, I dont know about those.
You (post recovery from devastation): Well, let me get back to you.

So you go to your AD and you work out a schedule that reduces BM's time from 15 days to 9 and it almost meets up with every single requirement BM wants. Including the night shoots, you've put black-wrap and dark cloth to create night light everywhere and everything. You look at the schedule and you pass it on to BM and after much consideration BM is IN the movie.

Woo hoo.

Except now you look at the schedule again and you know what your brain is telling you. You're cutting corners, there is that one shot you might have to let go if its approaching 5p and Bill has to leave and there is that one scene you might not get to cover to the fullest extent. And forget about re-shoots. If something fucks up, thats that.

Then you look at the alternative. You have a back-up actor who gave a pretty good audition. The plus: They are giving you a 100% of their time and a 100% of their commitment. You dont know if they have the talent that BM has, I mean, BM is BM. But they are giving you 100% time and commitment. What would you do? Which one would you sign up?

OH, PS, for this case study, disregard the fact that BM will also get your picture sold and the back-up will not. Also disregard the monumental difference in salary. Just pretend that both BM and the back-up cost the same and that both BM and back-up have no market potential coz the film is intended for an audience in Mars.

What would you do???

OTT + SUS = Nothing

There are two styles of acting. OTT or Over the top and SUS or Super-Under-Stated. Personally, Im a SUS and a good example of OTT = most Bollywood stars. Now I know that OTT has acquired a bad rap and is tend to looked down on but I disagree. I think they both have their uses and, specifically in the case of OTT, if consistently applied, can sway the audience away to a VERY strong emotional climax.

The problem arises when you mix and match. If you cast someone who is OTT with someone who is SUS, you have a scene that flounders. As an editor, you have to pull one back and push forward the other or one actor ends up looking bad. The composer also has to decide to either make one actor look bad or balance out his/her score to make them both look good because there are different ways of editing, composing for, sound-mixing for and so on for the OTT scene and the SUS scene.

I am facing one such scene in this film and its killing me right now. So back to that scene, lets figure this one out. More punch ins, more Close Ups for the SUS and more cut aways, less CUs for the OTT. Hopefully the scene will still have some impact. God knows. Lets see....

Re: the Paul Lee climax.

Welcome

Phew! Finally, I moved. Feels good... I had been pestering people to help me update the blog because Im not a coder (lesson to self: please don't rely on anyone, be self sufficient.) I don't know a thing about actually coding websites SO: here we are, back to the cookie-cutter blogger routine. Thank you for visiting, bookmark us and write in your comments to suds atttt fourlinefilms dottt com.