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Well I’m back with the concluding part of the HD saga.

Just as a point of interest I spoke to the DP of Film A today and she told me that they shot 12 pages on the final day. I almost coughed up my acai smoothie when I heard that.  That’s like Roger Corman speed.

So anyways the night before the first day of shoot of Film B I found myself at the neighborhood laundromat trying to get my work jeans clean from the mud and paint it had been subjected to. What was really freaking me out was my prized ASC cap was also caked with paint as the interior of the plane we were shooting in was filthy. I was also hungry as hell it had been a long shooting day where I along with Oleg had run around with the Shakycam all day and that bitch gets heavy quick especially in fierce sun and uneven terrain.

But lo and behold some White Hindus from the bordering Hare Krishna temple walk in and offer some leftover food from the free dinner they had just had. The showed me the packed boxes and I almost pounced on the one which had almost a kg of halwa in it complete with almonds and raisins. With a beatific smile on my face I thanked them profusely and began wolfing down the halwa with my bare hands. It wasn’t as good as the kada prasad from the gurudwaras back home but I was in no mood to nitpick.

Why is this important ? Well coz while eating two very imp thoughts struck me. One was that the paint stains on my cap was like medals of valor and I should wear it proudly. The second one was that since Film B was an Indian themed one we had to break a coconut for the Mahurat shot. I hadn’t thought bout breaking coconuts in years though I’m a big believer in the practice. With so much that can and does go wrong during a shoot it makes soooo much sense to have a higher power on your side. I texted the director but since she was a second generation Indian and unfamiliar to the workings of the Bollywood movie gods she thought I was joking.oe

Not finding a willing audience I rushed to the nearby Trader Joe’s, bought a coconut, broke it and ate it along with some frozen vanilla yogurt for desert that night, happy in the knowledge that the Gods had been satisfied.

The next morning it was bitterly cold as I waited outside my building for my ride to pick me up. I soo hate not having a car yet coz both work and social life suffer immensely but inshallah I will have one soon enough. The guy who was gonna pick me up and drop me everyday, was the 1st AC and he is one of the coolest and funniest guys I have met in a while.

Our discussion en route consisted of how tough it is to do a proper adaptation of Dune coz of the thematic complexity and length of the novel. After almost 30 years of the release none of us can digest that David Lynch cast Sting as Feyd Rautha. The miniseries was better but against suffered from a limited budget and not getting top actors.

Aww crap I forgot to give details bout Film B. Well film B was a USC thesis film to be shot on a Sony F900 with a normal ENG zoom. I had met the director within a couple of weeks of landing in LA and had warned her of the difficulty she was gonna have of getting good Indian actors in LA of the age range she wanted. And difficult it was coz despite scouring all possibilities which included posting flyers in Artesia she couldn’t find a suitable protagonist of the age she wanted. In the end she casted a Persian-American actor who is tremendously gifted and has had some very high profile roles to his name while still in his teens. I love it when I see the global village at play.

We reached the location and I met the director. First thing I told her that I broke the coconut and things would be relatively cool. Then I went over to the G&E truck and met the rest of the gang. I was surprised nay shocked that NYFA gave better gear to its students than mighty USC. They had to augment what they got from school with some rentals from Birns and Sawyer. I was also kinda surprised by the lack of tracks and a dolly till I learnt that the director wanted to shoot tableaux.

I love tableaux as much as I love movement. What I don’t like like is mis-matched not thought out hybrid of the two. One has to be consistent with whatever style one picks unless varying techniques are employed for stylistic purposes. But to be honest if the story and performances are good then technique becomes almost invisible in most cases. However I still totally believe with all my heart the dictum “Light is an invisible actor you control on the set”. Try shooting a tender love scene under flat generic lighting and the result looks like mass produced porn.  The “Emmanuelle” series had superb lighting which made it erotica and not porn.

Back to the equipment then. Plain vanilla F900 with waveform. Standard Tungsten kit, HMI’s, Fays and the fucking awesome Dedolights. I love Dedos so much it’s not funny. Would love to have them on every shoot coz of their versatility but the rental is a bit steep so not everyone can afford them. Oh yeah I think I forgot to mention mirror boards. Had them on the last shoot as well. Absolute must when shooting day exteriors for fill to remove the ugly shadows caused by the overhead sun.

Met the DP and the rest of the gang and then had what was a first in my career. We had a “Safety Meeting” which was basically the AD telling us to keep personal safety paramount over trying to save equipment. If it’s too dangerous not to do it or figure a way to do it safely. I wish every day of shooting ever has a safety meeting. It takes a couple of mins and if it results in stopping somebody from getting hurt or killed then it’s worth it’s weight it’s gold. Accidents will always happen but the risk should be minimized as much as possible. After all it’s only a movie. It makes sense for everyone to keep the set as safe as possible.

We wrapped the first location pretty quick and had a company move to the next one which was a disused library in the USC campus. Lunch was burritos which made me a happy camper indeed and we wrapped 2 hrs ahead of schedule that day.

The next day was a tough one coz it was day exteriors with a lot of axis changing and moving the motherfucking 12×12 silk around to block off the sun. Because the Director and DP knew exactly what they wanted and the lines of communication were clear the G&E team moved like a well oiled machine with changeover times between setups reduced to just 5-10 mins which was fantastic taking into account the restrictive space and the small crew. What also helped that we were shooting in a high key low contrast style which is defacto for comedies and romantic comedies. Try doing a chiaroscuro lit comedy and you will have the audience running for the exit. Don’t think I’ve ever seen one myself. Day 2 went smoothly enough with lasagne for lunch. The scenes we shot were pretty funny.

When I took a shower that night I gave a gasp when I looked at my reflection in the mirror. The 10 days of shooting had tanned the exposed parts of my body about 10 shades darker but the unexposed parts like my torso was still its original color. I burst out laughing coz it looked so much like blackface. Speaking of blackface you gotta see the trailer for “Tropic Thunder”. My boy Robert Downey Jr brings down the house. Can’t wait to see the film.

Day 3 was interiors inside a sushi joint. Went very smoothly and we were out by 3 I think. The next couple of days were all nighters in a Indian Restaurant near my house, The first night was killer but the second night was much easier coz our body cycles had adjusted by then. The Indian food of the place however was a disgrace. It never ceases to pain me how hard it is to find decent Indian food in restaurants in LA. Except for one place which was fucking expensive and awesome none of the desi khana I’ve had is something I’d serve to my worst enemy.

So finally we wrapped the film in the wee hours of the morning with the last scene of the film so hilarious that we had trouble keeping a straight face while shooting it.  I had tons of fun on both shoots, learnt a lot of stuff, played with some new gear and made a lot of friends with whom I’ll def be working in the future again. I particularly enjoyed the conversations during downtime which ran the gamut of topics imaginable. The great thing about working with people who have studied film and its history seriously is that in most cases they are very tolerant and open to new ideas and opinions. I also got rid of a long festering prejudice of mine. Only a few more to go now but I’m sure I’ll pick up some new ones along the way.

That concludes the tale and explains my need to unwind and get drunk as a skunk while tubthumping in Venice Beach. Do I regret missing IFFLA ? Not really thanks to Michael Mann and his 11th commandment.