Itch from Scratch
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George k antoney (Bombay, India)
Email : geoantoney [at] yahoo [dot] com
Itch from Scratch
PFC has successfully completed its first ambitious venture of may be many more that is to come. We have had discussions through the five days of the festival and I realized that I needed more from the film makers and that is when I thought may be they need the same from me. A detailed, step by step path into the creation of a “zero budget film”
ITCH is one such “zero budget film” (more or less, we had to pay for the hand cuffs ).
It all started with OZ announcing this festival and yes my eyes lit up and I was frothing when I saw the awards “internships with directors” my god … this is my chance … I got to do it … but “one minute” !!! … My first movie was meant to be 20 minutes and it ended up being 52 minutes (made that in my final year B tech ) … how am I gonna make a 60 seconds movie !!!
And that very day I casually mentioned about PFCONE to my mom.
Days passed and I was busy with my job as engineer doing shifts in a petrochemical plant (though there was not much to do there). PFCONE was always on the back of my mind, and I was quite sure of the kinda movie I wanted to make
Dint want the movie to be preachy
No AIDS … no child abuse … no sympathy… no melodrama…no blind ppl
Then what shud it be “play with your characters… george., characters!!!”
Yeah fine but character development in ONE MINUTE .. gone mad or what!!!
Well that’s the CHALLENGE .. DO IT!!
One evening as I was sitting with my mom watchin TV during tea time, I again casually asked her if she had ne idea?
And she replied “well there is this thought, but I don’t know if u wud like it .. it has a police and a thief” and I thought to myself “there it is .. ur characters.. now do something”
And she described the story that she had … roughly …
The story initially shaped to be
“Police and thief, thief escapes to finally get caught in this ITCH caused by some worm or something and finally he has to surrender.”
Then got lost in my own thoughts
Well sounds good but the spice isn’t there
What more do I want?
Well I want something else… hmm not sure … well lets raise the bar.
WTF .. its just one minute dammit.
Well challenge george challenge … this story wudnt want me want to watch it again.
What should I do?
Well I think I shud introduce a twist.
TWIST?!?!?
Yeah .. tats it I needed a twist .. a perfect three act structure in one minute ..
“INTRO OF CHARACTERS – PLOT – TWIST – CLIMAX” voila!! all in one minute .. man this would either be a “winner” or a “theory of relativity”
ok now wats the twist gonna be …
what if the thief starts chasing the police man, .. well, why wud he do that ??? cause he needs some one to ITCH his back as he is handcuffed and there is no one else there .. why wud the police man run away from the thief??
hmm .. good question .. it can be nething… fear of getting infected by the ITCH, or just the fear of the thought “why is he chasing me?? ,, my god something is wrong”
ok fair enough!!
Now I went to mom and asked her view on “the twist” that I added to her story, she felt that it would confuse the viewer and spoil the film !!! well I dint think so … this story looks good like this … if I cant make it in one minute . I will make it in 2 minutes and show it somewhere else (yeah yeah u guessed it ryt,…. Tats the film maker in me talking) well then the thought of the internship came to my mind “my god .. dammit george .. u better get it into one minute”
I knew this movie needed no dialogues and it needed a lot of on the spot innovations and improvisations.. cause I wasn’t even sure with whom or where I wud be shootin it !! ZERO BUDGET u see !!!
So I did a story boarding on my white board splitting the scenes with time frame of say 3-4 seconds .. and an approx shot division also based on the time frame !!! as I completed …I yelled to myself .. THIS IS NOT A ONE MINUTE FILM !!!
Well the editor in me said .. no worries george … we will do the CHAPLIN trick .. “fast frames ”.. (b t w CHAPLIN is one of my passive gurus.. or rather I am one of his passive students)
SHOOTING
Since I was working in shifts I get Sunday offs only once in a month, and I planned the shoot on the same day .. initially there were 2 police characters to be played by Kedar Bhagwat and Rahul Anil Rathi,… Rahul couldnt make it that day.
So the shootin was planned and I went with my 2 actors (also my college time mates) “Kedar Bhagwat” police and “K H prabhu” thief in search of the ryt location for ITCH .. on the same day of shoot!!! Well we did find it in panvel.. the same location where I shot the climax of my second movie “eclipse” … looked perfect for this !!!
Initially I thot I wud make it in B n W or put it in some tint … but when I saw the first frame shot, realized the composition was good .. dual tone … a dull green in the back ground, cloudy skies and the actors had grayish tone in their costumes!!! Wow … looks good !!
But in those fields, I just hoped we had a tripod!! Hand held wasn’t helping much even with the help of a “pauper’s steady camera stand” ( u can find it in google.. easy to make) .. my friend Vikrant enlightened me on this “paupers steady cam” I made it and it was quite helpful in smooth surfaces!! ZERO BUDGET MEANS lot of research on the internet .. Wikipedia and google will help.
We completed the shoot in 2 – 3 hrs … the next few nights I spent editing it on the slowest PC on earth (mine) with a decent “ulead video studio editor”. Thank god I dint need ne BGM for this movie .. I usually ask “CURT COBAIN” “ARR” “BRYAN ADAMS” to do my music … but this time ZERO BUDGET u see and PFC rules restricted me from using them
EDITING
Well PFCONE taught me to kill my creation for the betterment of the full product!! I managed to edit it to 1 minute and 4 seconds .. I just cudnt cut 4 seconds .. and that’s wen I posted in one of the PFC posts .. “if a flexibility of 3 – 4 seconds would be allowed??”
That was strongly denied by OM!!! .. and rightly so !!
Well my dear editor in me .. do something now … well there went the Chaplin trick again and a few cuts of 0.15 secs and still it was 2 seconds longer .. my god what to do now???
And tats when I cut the first scene put it as a still and put the title over it !! it’s a still image so it wudnt be considered in one minute .. wah george u are brilliant !!! but later found that there were cleverer souls than me .. who had half the story in credits !!!
RESULT
I might not have won the internship but ITCH got what it deserved “appreciation” and I am happy!! I know that I have got my ball rolling … and I am njoyin my time under the sun !!
SINCERE THANKS TO
RAHUL ANIL RATHI (my creative partner for life, dont get it wrong!! )
PRATHAMESH (technical consultant, reviewer, analyst, executive producer “big names hun that too for a ZERO BUDGET FILM” )
KEDAR BHAGWAT (talented guy, this guy can shine as an actor)
K H PRABHU a k a PRABHU ANNA ( this guy can do nething .. u just name it , confidence personified)
and ya all the above are single including me
And ya MY MOM a k a AMMA (the best) … nope, she is not !!
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itch was very well made george.. you have my vote as a winner.. wish you’d won. great job =D>
hey striker .. thanks a lot man !!!
to all the machans .. dabba, mainak, D pac, Striker etc etc
add for “chennai super stars ” ICL !!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7UwZBOKuzM
@ george
didn’t know u were the maker of itch. simple and well done.
@ george
i like ur mom. stay in her good graces and get more ideas from her.
George.
I had no idea you made ITCH.
ITCH & DOLLY were definitely the best 2 films in the fest. Itch was the most enjoyable.
Good work macha!
Now i’ll definitely gonna do all my best to help you get into a good film school.
Keep shooting man.
You rock man!
heres something for your ITCH!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twQlpFrm5iM
2 things:
1] You still single after ITCH?
2] Amma ka naam? Give her proper credit man.
Amma ka naam is there … “Mary Antony” .. see the end credits !!!
thank u
Mainak, dabba & kavita
awesome george….itch stood out of the 124 film we had to see in one go…..was such a clutter breaker…a breather….great effort man….loved it
@ VASAN BALA
thanks a lot Annae
Which camera did you use?? good film..the scene where the cop is chasing the thief..and both characters running across an already static frame with panoramic view behind..good stuff.
used a PANA digicamcorder
the most valuable thing i bought with my salary!!
that static frame dint remain static for long … and the jerk looks more pronounced in the fast frames !!!
how ever nice to know that u njoyed it !!!
I had immediately connected with your film..see my reviews..I still believe yours was among the best!!
Internship milega..rukne ka!!..patient hone ka!!
good work..as vasan mentioned..it did actually standout in the melee.i can quite understand how it is like to be working and then making films..i can quite relate to u..again u made ur first film in ur final year Btech programme..i have been trying to make one fr the past four years along with my long standing creative partner..lol.
cheers
The thief looked like a trained actor..he was hilarious..i was watchin it in my office muted ..damn..i found if funny even then..it was pictorially self explanatory..did i miss out on anything with sound??
George… Itch definitely stood out and deserved to be the winner. Anyways, would you like to work with me on my low budget film I am planning next year?
achaaaYO kalakeettA for a first endeavor…
@ indraneel
Indraneel, i am one of those guys who used to eagerly wait for ur ratings on each day of the fest !! i had even thanked u and few others on day five for being the “right” kinda viewers !!! and more over i was happy that u liked “ITCH”.
@saurav
“The thief looked like a trained actor..he was hilarious.” this is the best compliment K H Prabhu cud ever get … this movie was probably his first major role .. he did a small role for my previous movie and was appreciated for that also !! will ask him to see these posts !!
and ya i dint use ne BGM , just had the natural sounds of the grass and few birds and then ofcourse the running !! and ya u myt have missed the thief shoutin out a famous hindi bad word but it was so well done that no one .. even the censor board guys wudnt have noticed it!!!
@ gajendra sir,
a promotion from ZERO budget to LOW budget!! wow … things are rolling .. i wud love to sir ,
please mail me !!
D pac etta
thang uuu
and ya i heard of hail storms in australia .. ice comin down as tennis balls … ne problem ???
hope u were not in sydney !!!
@Sourav
The thief looked like a trained actor..he was hilarious……
hi Sourav …this is thief(K.H.Prabhu)….thanks for ur compliments…..ITCH made really great…..
Thanks George… We will discuss this separately. I’ll soon shoot you an e-mail.
“Dint want the movie to be preachy
No AIDS
@ Holden Caulfield
thank u buddy
b t w i am not against those movies that had such sensitive topics, nor do i mean to degrade them .. its just that i dint want to shoot something on that unless i wud be able to think of something that is really unique and different from what i have seen so far.
george
Some more fun times for you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wd9fu9zJfE&feature=related
Dub Pistols.
love this version.
Can you guess which movie had this song?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2BK7Y1ODVM
One of my fav videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3ClCwcCvdQ
Check out this band UNKLE too. They are tight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSsMGNwYDdg
MAINAK
loved that “unkle” !!!
and ya i was wonderin why .. that merry making song that u gave me !!!
i thot i dint like it that much .. but i am hummin it all the time !!! WTF … i mean i dont get it .. its soo catchy or wat to say !! sure song for a party !!!
@ mainak, george
restless by UNKLE is a killer song.
George
One day I will get Dabba drunk & dance to Merrymaking song all night.
I have done that to 15 people last weekend
I know George that song is very very catchy. Try it in your car.
@ mainak
gimme more !!!
and i am just wonderin … earlier there used to be a guy named “Dazed and confused” i dont see him tat often here now ?? under cover???
@ Mainak
here is some Coundry Hip hop !!! njoy … u being grand daddies of internet ,… not sure if u have listened to them earlier … neway they have been arnd for couple of years !!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHG6FJTcJR8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cwmnxI-dLQ
lemme know ur dig on them !!!
@ K.H. Prabhu
man you were funny..good stuff..keep it up..hope to see more of you..take care
George
Found another cool song last night….
http://hypem.com/track/448044
Merry Christmas Mainak Dabba Dpac n all !!!