Tamil Short Film 'Full Stop' - Lessons from Production

These are a few lessons we learned after we finished shooting our latest Tamil short film, 'Full Stop'. You can watch it HERE. The idea for this film came about a year ago, when we repeatedly saw unconscious alcoholics in the middle of the road, completely oblivious to the reality around them. So we thought what would happen if we did something about it. So there...we made this film for fun, to tickle our production bug. A few things we thought might be worth sharing, especially if you want to know more about the filmmaking process. Anyways...

1. Always be in touch with filmmaking, especially production. Makes you grounded to the reality of the chaotic beast that is. The last shoot we had was about 5 months ago and shooting after that gap was like a wake-up call, a reality check. We scrambled a bit to a delayed start and then got on track. So keep scripting and shooting.
2. While working with new actors, always block-rehearse(Characters’ movement and positioning in relation to each other with dialogues) before getting them in front of the camera. If your actors are new, this is very important. Otherwise, you are likely to spend more time on this during the shoot.
3. Create Storyboards…highly recommended. Unless you are extremely confident and trained in conceiving and executing shots, create storyboards.
4. Create a Shot List. That is, what shots you need in a particular scene. Say if the Lead Character touches something, you write that down and say whether it's a Close-up shot or a medium shot or a long shot. And if you can match it with the Storyboards, great, do it.
5. Stick to your Shot List. If you must improvise with extra shots, do so minimally and don’t go overboard just because you are shooting digital and have resources at your disposal. If you want extra safety shots, include that in your Shot List.
6. Find and work with people who are passionate, sincere and with a collaborative mindset. Especially those who believe in the vision of the project. While most obvious, this is something you should always be aware of.

Our New Short Film 'Full Stop'

Wooohooo folks…a bit of an announcement… we just wrapped up our new short film called ‘Full Stop’ which we shot last month. This time, Accessible Horizon Films in association with Yatra Multimedia will be launching the co-production in a public event in Pondicherry/Auroville. Not only that, our new film will be part of a larger Open-Air Film presentation(including the screening of 2 other short films) slash cultural(dance) event organized by Yatra Arts Foundation. More details on that later. But for now, here’s the first look Poster of ‘Full Stop’.
Context of the film: In Tamil Slang, a ‘Full’(Oru Fullu) means ‘a Full bottle of liquor’.
Having said that, Full Stop is sort of a comic caper quickie (or whatever) set in the exclusive world of Alcoholics in Tamil Nadu. So what happens when a ‘Full’, an unidentified Alcoholic and 4 mysterious women come together? Damn it Yo! You connect the dots!!!
Or just come to the show directly and bring your film-lover friends too. It’s a free event. And folks in and around Pondicherry, do get down there. The film is also a PSA made in the larger public interest of…well, you watch it.

Penned & Orchestrated by Raghu
Players – Yatra Srinivassan, Lakshmipriya Chandramouli, Earthling, Nandhini, Stella and Oshiva
Story by Earthling, Created by Ramesh Mourthy
Cinematography by Mohandass, Assistant Camera by Rajaram and Prakash Dhanagopalan
Art by Mithran and Bharath
Production Support by Yatra Team.

Venue: Yatra Arts Foundation, Near NuCreation Sports Ground/Swimming pool, Kuilapaalayam, Auroville. Call us for directions.
Date: Sunday, June 29th, 2014
Time: 7:00 p.m.

New Promo for New Year for 'Ayynoorum Ayynthum(500 & 5) Tamil Indie Film

Dear folks
This is the 500th Post in our blog and this is also an occasion to share something about 'Ayynoorum Ayynthum (500 & 5)' our Independent Tamil feature film in the dawn of a new year.
A very Happy New Year from all of us at Accessible Horizon Films!
While 2013 has been very eventful, 2014 looks even more promising and we hope it's the same for you.
Also, we are writing to share with you a crazy, exciting new Promo Video for our 'Ayynoorum Ayynthum (500 & 5)'. It's sort of an excuse to reveal the biggest challenge for Independent filmmakers in India 'How do we take our film to the audience?'.
Which incidentally is our LIFE during most of 2013!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OCfCpjXjlA
So do watch it, enjoy and share!
Thanks a lot

Towards progressive Independent Tamil Cinema?

Yesterday, attended a significant event on 'Independent Filmmaking' in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. It was a seminar organized by the Cinema Club of Coimbatore initiated by our friend and director Kamala Kannan ('Madhubaanakadai' - Liquor Shop). The key focus of the event was on the Alternative way or the Independent way of making, producing and distributing films in India, more specifically, revolving around Tamil Cinema. Naveen, the director of the recently released 'Moodar Koodam' shared his experiences and challenges of his film's Independent mode of production. When he talked about his film, it was as if he was talking about our film “500 & 5 - Ayynoorum Ayynthum's” production, same struggles, same goof-ups, same everything, it was kind of surreal. And Nalan Kumarasamy, the director of the Tamil hit film 'Soodhu Kavvum' spoke about his experiences of writing(mainly) and directing his films. And finally, the thing that we at Accessible Horizon Films could relate to the most, was Kamala Kannan's ideas on the challenges and resolution(hopefully) of alternatively distributing an Independent film. What we can basically take away from this event are some very interesting alternative thoughts on the future of Tamil and Indian Independent Cinema, which I will write about shortly. And the most startling thing about this was, there were more 200 filmmakers with different levels of experience who attended the event. For a while now, we, at Accessible Horizon Film Collective, have been discussing similar issues with some radically creative people (both filmmakers and various artists) on the future of Indie(Independent) Filmmaking in India. So, hopefully, this is all a step in the right direction. The very fact that there are things like these happening is a sign of more progressive cinema coming up AND reaching the audience. (Above is a production still from 'Ayynoorum Ayynthum)

'Metroxical New York' wins Cinema Paradiso Award

Helloooo hellooo Peeps, exciting news! Our documentary film 'Metroxical New York' has won the 'CINEMA PARADISO AWARD' for great Cinematography, interesting Concept and being a truly International film at the Auroville Film Festival 2013. It has won in the category 'Films made by Aurovilians, residents of Bio-region and Guests of Auroville' and has been chosen among 53 other films in the category. More than the award itself, we had a lot of people in the audience say some really nice things about it. The reason we feel high is that it connected with people at some level, the same way we connected with the project when we created it. Thanks universe, we owe you more exciting work!

Metroxical New York at Auroville Film Festival 2013

Folks, our recent Documentary Film 'Metroxical New York' - A poetic narrative about the underground subway music in New York City and how it forms the basis for a futuristic collective society - directed by Koushalya and created by Accessible Horizon Films is now screening at the Auroville Film Festival. Everyone's welcome and friends in Pondicherry, do make it! It screens on September 19th, 2013 at 7:30 p.m at the Outdoor Venue to be announced by the Auroville Film Festival. Please see their website for details - http://aurovillefilmfestival.org/

An Artist's Rite of Passage

This has been said before and will be said again by many. But of course, I won't stop myself from saying it. Every artist that has gone against the grain, at many points in their lives, must cross certain difficult and excruciating phases, in order to move on to better and brighter things. When you think about it philosophically, it seems like just another epiphany, where we can go 'wow here's a truth of life'. But to actually undergo those phases and especially during those periods, is something inexplicable that can make you numb. Sometimes, the pleasure of doing something you really love against all odds comes with the extreme pain of it not realizing its original intention. Though there are bigger, better, brighter things coming along the way, sometimes you feel like you are in a vaccum. I think we are at such a crossroads, right now.

DIY DSLR gear

The best thing about the Do-It-Yourself process is you can keep discovering newer and newer ways of doing your own thing; in this case, building your own gear. Before we started our independent film 500 & 5, we fabricated quite a few accessories(with Youtube and DIY forums), one of them being a DSLR rig. But anyways, here's one more - http://diyphotography.net/diy-dslr-pvc-shoulder-rigSome of the other stuff we made were the track dolly, the table top dolly, the fig-rig or the wheel-cam rig, a camera mount and the steadicam. Hopefully soon, we will be updating stuff on how we made them.

Getting your movie ready for DCP

Getting your movie ready for DCP

Congrats you have come this far in making your movie and you are only few more steps away from watching them on big screens. 

A. Video

B. Audio

A. Video

For DCP, the movie needs to be of resolution 2048 x 858 for scope and 1998 x 1080 for flat. Assuming you have your video's resolution as 1920 x 1080, you need to modify its size to one of the above formats. Real Image in Chennai accepts only DPX Log files. I used After Effects to do this conversion and it was real simple.

If you have not conformed your video to 24 fps then read this article to convert your movie from 23.976 fps to 24 fps. 

Software Required

Adobe After Effects 

Steps

1. Create a Composition with the following settings. Hopefully you have already converted your movie from 23.976 to 24p.
   
   
   

   
   

2. 2. Import the movie clip to the timeline and obviously the width of the movie and the comp is different so you need to modify the clip's width as show in the image below.Transform → Fit to Comp Width

3. When you add this to Render Queue modify the Output Settings

And under the Color Management → Cineon Settings enable the “Logarithmic Conversion” and remember to choose an output directory with enough space on your disk and then render.

Note: Now after the DPX log files are created you can try and import the DPX log sequence into your After Effects timeline. Don't get panic when you see the images are washed out. The Log files are washed out and if you want to see the true color apply the "Cineon Effects" and you will see the true color.

B. Audio

Now that the video conversion is over, audio is lot simpler but it requires couple of softwares to get the work done. Refer to this article for other ways to convert.

Using Logic Pro

1. Create a logic project and set the Frame Rate under Synchronization tab to 24 fps. Import the movie that you converted from 23.976 fps to 24p whose audio will be in 48048 Hz. 

2. Open the movie

      File - Open Movie

3. Export Audio from Video

      File - Import Audio from Movie

4. Bounce

       File - Bounce 

      

Now you are all set and your movie (both audio and video) is ready for DCP. 

Save Indian Independent Cinema!

Folks, as many of you may already know of this or have heard about this, we still wanted to share this across to you in the hope of supporting Alternative, Independent Cinema in India. Recently we have seen a spate of parallel and alternative and experimental cinematic content oozing into the mainstream Indian film consciousness and we only hope it gets bigger and better. This has to be brought into the mainstream school of thought and we have to encourage people to support content that is typically created with minimal resources and under extreme circumstances. The article and the petition in itself has valid points towards helping Independent artists, performers, filmmakers, technicians et al, and what you can do to propagate it. So if you can take the time off to sign this petition, you may become a part of the change that you've always wanted to be.
Here's the link: https://www.change.org/en-IN/petitions/save-indie-cinema
Pic courtesy: Change.org

Hey '500 & 5'...whaz cookin'?

Guess this is one of the longest gaps in our blog this year, though a pretty intended one. Earlier, I had never believed in 'tunnel-visions' like when being engrossed in something that consumes you in your entirety. You know, the point when you start believing that you've figured everything about it until a huge wall stands in front of you, blocking you and daring you to go through it. Though you've encountered many like these and have virtually bulldozed your way around through sheer grit and work alone, there are a few stages where no amount of bulldozing or grit or bloody, sweaty work can get you through...except...yes, except a little detachment from it. 
A little time away from the madness of it all (the tunnel-vision), can help in getting some clarity as to where we are headed. Because that little time-out can show you perspectives you've never ever have imagined - the view from outside the tunnel, from the mountain above it and from way above the clouds that hover above the mountains - which I guess can show you possibilities and do the trick of razing down that wall and getting through it unscathed.
So I guess that's what happened after all with 500 & 5. Right after the special private preview show in Chennai a while ago, it felt like being inside a tunnel with little perspective. So we decided on this random detachment from all things 'work' and decided to hover above the mountains, almost too literally. And just got back from a wild and totally unpredictable ride around some of the most elusive and distant lands of India. 
This above pic was taken during a trek(with the Canon 7D) - by far the most difficult and can I say dangerous - in our lexicon of treks. But one thing is certain, if you ever think someone needs a lesson in humility, you should take them on an unplanned and reckless travel around the vastness and humongous-ness of the mountains that touch the clouds. Now that we are back, I ain't saying we now got all the answers as to what the next step would be, but the head feels clear and thinking afresh, my friend, opens up possibilities.

Enter the Censors - 500 & 5 scores a clean 'A'

Bells, Whistles and Applause!!!!! Folks...we got some 'A'mazing news...or should we say 'A'wesome news, or should it be 'A'stounding news. Alright, alright, alright too much drum-roll not needed for this...since we've never gotten 'A' grades in high school or college or where-ever...we figured we'd score an 'A' at least in...well...our film. Yes, my sweet, dear, lovely people...'500 & 5' just returned from the Censor Board for Film Certification this week and we've been awarded an 'A' certificate. Yes, not U/A, but a loud, unadulterated, clean 'A' without any cuts.

Our dear examining committee members from the CBFC were too nice a people. We had a nice long chat for almost an hour as to the justifications of what Indian society deems censorable or uncensorable. Obviously, we expounded on the necessity of certain scenes(like smoking, drinking, drug abuse, kissing etc - really basic stuff, hellloooo) and the significance of an open-thought-based society. The board members agreed to everything we said but eventually (and apparently) according to them, in Indian society, we can DO certain things but NOT talk(or make movies) about it openly on grounds of the usage of our most flaunted(but under-utilized) constitutional right - freedom of speech and expression - without the content being labeled 'Adult'. Seriously, who really isn't an Adult these days. I can probably write volumes on this but...please remind us later as to what the topic of our discussion/justification was, after you see the movie.

The board members said some surprisingly flattering things about '500 & 5' and that though our style of expression deserved a creative merit, it would not be understood the way it is supposed to be, by the society at large, and that was why it had to be for a restricted audience. Don't know if I concur on that, but in my opinion, in our current zeitgeist, our prevailing collective consciousness is by far the most intelligent it's ever been. So without any pretense of knowing what the audience or people in our society want, we want to just create and let it out in whatever way it can be possible. A mere 'label' or 'certificate' is not gonna change anything. So...anyways, since we don't really care about what certificate we get(it never really was an issue other than the fact that we are NOT tax-exempt), at no point do we(as creators) want to hold back because filmmaking, according to us, is first a purgatory and deeply personal Art form and then...everything else. The board actually did not want us to cut because they felt it would dilute the intensity of the expression.

Anywho peeps, here we are...crossing the next milestone of a 'seemingly' long journey. But wait, we have a moment for...Wooo-hooo! Can we hear you say it?....Thank you. And Actors and contributors and friends of '500 & 5'! You can now proudly and emphatically say that you are part of a larger grown-up, Adult movement that's happening in society and blah, blah...ok ok, again too much build-up not required. Sooo...Howzatttttt???!!!

(For all things '500 & 5' in our blog so far, please go to the '500 & 5' tag on your right, or click HERE)

5 things you didn’t know about the Pre-production of ‘500 & 5’

Well, it all has to be in 5's right? So...here they are...

1. The thematic core of ‘500 & 5’ was conceived one frustrated evening, in December 2010. Obviously, this frustration was a result of long, tiring periods of our ideological/philosophical ramblings about all things under the sun, especially creating a film independently and that too about money.
2. Initially, since we planned on this being a low-budget, independent film/s(it still is), we figured we’d hardly cast 5 to 10 people to illustrate the story. But eventually, it turned out to be a 90-member casting coup.
3. The entire script(actually 5 scripts with a total of about 90 pages) from ‘FADE IN’ to ‘FADE TO BLACK’ was completed in 15 days (my personal best in terms of speed, coz usually I take months of research, writing and rewriting). The script was finalized and greenlit on 11^th February, 2011. Of course, the incubation process took a little longer and constant tweaking was done to the finished script till the shooting stage.

4. By early February 2011, we had started fabricating/designing and mechanically creating various equipments ourselves because we couldn’t afford to rent out from high-end production houses. With help from Youtube tutorials, local blacksmiths, carpenters and mechanical workshop technicians, Dass, Ramesh and Toot-machi over-saw and managed this entire mechanical process. We literally created Steadicams, Wheel-cam rigs, Track dolly and table-top dolly from scratch for real cheap but of awesome quality. For example, we made our Steadicam for a mere 5000 Rupees when the ‘Rental cost’ of a professional Steadicam is 10,000 Rupees per day in Chennai.

5. 500 & 5 is actually a crowd-funded film thereby reaffirming that this is a truly democratically-made film. The funding for this film was put together in exactly 9 phone calls. Though right now we can’t discuss in detail about it, we’ll share more later.

Pictures: 1. Dass testing the Camera-rig we made. 2. Our first shooting schedule in Bangalore for Adi(Me, Dass, Ramesh & Shankar). 3. Dopehouse scene with Dass holding the wheelcam rig that we created. (In it, me, Pradeep and King Sek.)

Jenny's Poem - 500 & 5 Tamil Film Song

Ganamaanadho Mounam - 500 & 5 Tamil Film Song

Panatha Mattum - 500 & 5 Tamil Film Song

'500 & 5' 5K Run In Indian Express and Dinakaran

A big thank you to all our friends, family and friends of friends who joined us on the 5K Run on Sunday. We're super excited to share our celebration of 500 & 5's Audio Launch. And for those who haven't seen our Facebook updates, here are the pics of 500 & 5's coverage in the media in both Indian Express and in Dhinakaran.

The names in the Dinakaran article have been interchanged. Must have been Shankar and Lakshmi Priya. Nevertheless, congrats are in order for Deepak Sundarajan, Sivashankar Srinivasan, Living Smile Vidya, Chinnu Kuruvilla and TM Karthik Srinivasan and Lakshmi Priya :)
And here's the link to the Hindu article - http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/chennai/article3682418.ece written by Preeti Zacharia, who had joined us on the run too. So...

500 & 5's 5K Run/Marathon

How ‘bout another 5? Yeah folks, this time the ‘5’ is a 5Km(& 500 meters) ‘Run’ or Marathon.

You ask, “Marathon? You mean like running? Like exercise?”. And we say, “Well, not really, but if you wanna put it that way, you can.” See, let’s get this straight ok? You can run, walk, slow-jog, fast-walk, cycle or even crawl but you gotta reach the finish-line. No auto! So anyways, this is gonna be a 5K run with the Cast, Crew and Friends of ‘500 & 5’ and Accessible Horizon Films. Everyone’s gonna be there and we want YOU all to join in on the fun and a cause.

Why are we doing this and why do we want you with us? Really…well, there’re 2 reasons.

1. As many of you now know, ‘500 & 5’ is a feature-length ensemble of 5 short films with stories containing Gangsters, Romance, Reality, Dark fantasy, Social rebellion, etc. Despite all the ‘Cinematic’ elements that it contains, the underlying theme of ‘500 & 5’ deals with Money (as the omnipresent yet futile concept that rules us all) through the 5 main characters (and eventually envisions a world without money). Like many seemingly impossible things, this too starts with an idea. In a world where there’s a price tag to anything and everything including basic human-ness, we thought it necessary to shake things up a little. You know, break down the existing concept of Money and bring it down to its knees, at first theoretically, then through the film and eventually, maybe…maybe initiate a dialogue in that direction. We’ve tried to stick to this philosophy even for the ‘Making’ of ‘500 & 5’, which is why we’ve been able to do it independently and without major financial resources. And things like ‘Human-ness’ and the L-word (that ‘blasphemous’ L-word, Love, that we, as a society are embarrassed to use anymore) seem to have lost their meaning and have been replaced by the M-word. So we wanna give a shout-out against that change. How ‘bout that?

2. Now, now, since this is also a promotional campaign for the film ‘500 & 5’, we just wanna have some plain, unadulterated fun with the people who worked with us and made this project into what it is now. There have been tons of people, I mean, real people involved in this project with whom we’ve had too much fun during the making and we want to unwind a little after all that hard work we put in. We want you in on this because this film project is a labor of love made outside the confines of the studio system and we wanna share the euphoria associated with it at a ground level(literally) not at some big, staged, ticketed event.

So…if you’re even a wee bit interested or just wanna get off your uhh…we mean, couch, do join us. Since we'll have some special giveaways for you, we'll need a headcount, so please DO register (it's FREE)with your email at our website http://500n5themovie.com/5KRunRegistration.php. (And hey, if you can’t make it and wanna show your support, you can Like our ‘500 & 5’ Page. It’ll be a booster for our run.)

Event: 500 & 5’s 5K Run

Venue: Marina Beach, Chennai (Start point: Subramania Bharathiar statue)

Date: Sunday, July 22^nd , 2012

Time: 6:30 a.m

For more information & updates, check out:

www.500n5themovie.com

‘AccessibleHorizon FilmCollective’ on Facebook

‘500 & 5’ film's Page on Facebook

www.AccessibleHorizonFilms.com

5 Updates on '500 & 5'

Yo Peeps, time for a little low-down on 500 & 5’s status quo. Things are sort of heating up again as we scuttle towards the finish line. If you’re wondering why the hell it’s taking so long to finish, we can only tell you one thing right now – that this is an Independent film project(which translates ‘You’ll have to do everything yourself’). Trust me, when I mean ‘everything’ and ‘yourself’ – I really mean it, in the dang-est sense of the words.  

1. Like already mentioned, there are 2 songs(1 of which has 3 parts) and 1 poem-track which can be considered a quasi-song if you want. We are working on the fillers (and final touches) for the 2 songs. Panam(Money) and Ganamanatho Mounam(Isn’t this silence heavy?). The poem-song is Nee Sethuki Sethuki(You sculpt...). Once those are done, the next step would be to integrate it into the final film – with the visual lockdown.
2. Getting things ready for the Censor Board Certificate application. A bunch of stuff like the Lab letter, Title certificate, NOC, completed film in the form of a DCP(Digital Cinema Package), Publicity poster clearance, etc have to be readied and submitted during application. Will detail them later.
3. Getting ready for marketing...and preparing publicity materials like Newspaper Ad, Street/City posters, Radio Ad, TV trailer and other miscellaneous online reach. We don’t know how much of it we’re gonna follow through but. Most of the posters are ready, just minor tweaks.  
4. We are thinking of some unconventional ways to reach out – going for something a little crazy and over the top. Basically, planning on the promotional campaign of 500 & 5. If you got any ideas, do give us a holler. More on this later.  
5. Currently in discussion about where and how we are going to get the film out there. As of now, we have something a little staggered in mind. I doubt if it’s gonna be a traditional release.  But until we complete the 1^st 3 steps, I don’t think we’ll get a consensus on that.

So there you go. We’ll post up more updates after the next phase is done with. Till then, do spread the word if you want to support Independent art and film. Lots to be done. Have fun. (Pic: Our Acoustic engineer Rahmath at AH studios mixing the poem-track. Way back in the booth is our man Dass)

'Metroxical New York' Schedule at IDSFFK