Editing – The Non-linear, Mind-bending Asana

Editing is like intense meditation. More so, meditation that forces you to concentrate so intensely that you have to first take time to get into it, then stay in there focused and then take an equal if not more time to get out of it. Or it may also be comparable to sitting on the shit-pot on a fairly constipated day and trying to focus all your energies at that one point, ‘doing’ it and then slowly relaxing your way out of it. I had to resort to that scatological reference for nothing else could be more illuminating.
I am, at any rate, not a meditative person but tough times call for tough measures. So here we are, well into the Editing aura. Two major portions have been completed(rough cut) as of last week, but the remaining is yet to be brought into contact with the scissors. Today as I look up at what’s ahead of us, it’s sort of daunting to say the least. Actually, a better expression would be an anticipated sigh of exhaustion. It’s literally twisting the mind into following a rigorous and methodical procedure. (Signing off end of June).
Contd from present(The gap is thanks to the unavailability of power and the patchy access to internet) Another way of describing non-linear editing is that it resembles the writing process. Or you could say it’s basically re-writing the script visually but with your previously imaginary characters who now have a defined form and personality. I typically make a layout of the usable/good clips before starting the actual cut like outlining the script before I actually start writing the scenes. Just noting down random but usable thoughts in the detailed outline, then proceeding to write the nuances. So here in the editing timeline(like a palette to artists or the blank document for scribes), the re-re-creation happens. I say two ‘re-s’ because they say a film is made 3 times. Once while writing the script, 2nd while shooting it and 3rd while editing it. But anyways.
One thing I noticed though, is not to look at the entire layout too often. Take shots of a particular scene or a small sequence, get to work, finish it and then move on to the next one. Keep doing it until you have no other sequences. To be clear, basically, take 1 sure step at a time and don’t look at the mountain ahead too often. Awright, I’m getting out of character here and before I start rambling away, I need to stop. And the rough cut is almost done. Almost...so I need to meditate a bit more.

Rusticating away...from the past!

This is a post written almost 2 months back. So let's keep the chronology in mind....After all the madness of Production work(which is now comfortably in the near past) in the cities, Post-production now seems to be quite a breeze in ‘the little village we know so well…’, (yes, Asterix reference), ok lemme rephrase, in a little village called Kavanoor, near Arakonam Taluk. For the geographically challenged, it is about 170kms from Pondicherry or about 100kms NW of Chennai. When I say ‘breeze’ it is only in comparison to the city schedule, and I am, in no way, being a reductionist when talking about Post-production being a breeze. Get that! But again, before getting into the details of work, there are some things about village life that begs to be told. Not that 10 days of it are enough or qualifies one to write a thesis on this kind of living, just that in this age when we seem so frantically searching for something in our fast-paced urban life that will take us to the next level or whatever, it feels kinda like taking the back-seat and looking at things retrospectively.
Ok ok timeout…for now there’s a thunderstorm that’s adamant on demanding my attention. Am back. It seems months had passed since the rains smooched the earth and today, it's a hard-core French kiss. The strong wind is shaking the living daylights out of the big teak tree that’s in our backyard (as if it wasn’t already breezy enough here to sway the tree thereby emitting the only sound we can hear around us). Ok now continuing after a 4-day hiatus.
And about the subjective reality here. Yes, I’m gonna make a couple of revelations that may shock the shit of you city-slickers out there. One, that power outage happens every morning between 9 and 12. Not to mention the periodic (5 to 10 minute) breaks in power any time and also during the rains. Two, the lack of…uhh…the internet! Yes, don’t panic for us because we have gotten used to this way of life, at least for now.
But the biggest difference or change that you can feel, is the enormous availability or rather the protracted-ness of the indefinable and strangely(but ironically) unquantifiable TIME. There seems to be too much of it. Obviously you can’t help but romanticize the surroundings especially when you haven’t really experienced this way of living before. But then again, this extension of space-time(I use it both literally and figuratively and also because I don’t wanna segregate the two) really helps to do the one thing that’s most imperative right now – EDITING which is a process in itself. I’m gonna save it for the next post. Signing off around mid-June. The above is a shot of the backyard just after the rains.

Stop-gap

Ok, this is one of those times when we've been meaning to update for a while but because of various avoidable and unavoidable reasons could not. I've written 2 posts in the mean time but haven't really sat down to post them. But what's actually been happening is E-D-I-T-I-N-G. So until we muster up enough resolve to let you in on the details...see? can't even finish this...

Of the mind...

Just when you think you know it all, you get a reality check, a real fucking hard slap in your face. A lesson in humility, modesty…about the greatest ever lesson ever taught or will be taught – life. Yes, you can swear or scoff all you want, but it sometimes feels like an existential crisis out here, I mean, in the mind. Maybe ignorance is really bliss. Why do we have to try to learn so much and suddenly have to realize one day(that oft repeats itself) that you gotta unlearn it all and then relearn it all. Arrrrrggggghhh, the irony of it all!!!

C'est la rue!

Rue Pedro Canagaraya Moudaliar

Of radicals and resurgence...

A little excerpt from one of the many ramblings...

"There are a lot of things that's making me feel alive. I'd think twice about saying this out loud, but i think i'm evolving into a state which makes my foundational philosophies question literally just about everything. the basis of everything we've learned.

No specific goals in the horizon but this time i feel, is a time for revolutions, not of the gun-trotting kind but of something more infectious...more viral...more in times with the 'now' where everyone feels the need for change but not sure how to go about it. but i feel energized, a sort of resurgence within, which we hope to spread through the ideas within. for right now, thots are being made into celluloid reality through radical means for that is the way to go.

now i feel is a time, where non-conformism is the new conformism, where the darkness of shadow is the presence of light somewhere close, where the unheard voices will be heard, where the mind is without fear. coz that is the only way to break out of this godamn prison the humans have created for themselves. the alienation, the desperation for something as basic as love, the feeling of helpless doom where the soul is cornered into a seemingly irreversible blackhole. "

Corridor Noir

Shot in progress - as seen through the tripod. Setting the mood.

Ok been there done that...next?

What do you do when you reach a point in time which you’ve been wanting to for a long time? So much so that you think, ‘I’m gonna burst my lungs out in pure inhalator-y bliss?’ when you reach there. Do you actually scream out in ecstasy? Do you run around naked like Archimedes when he hit upon the discovery and yelled Eureka? Do you feel like the shaken, corked-up champagne which has just gotten its liberation? I mean, do you ‘really’ feel the exhilaration?
ORRRRR…do you feel a transcendent moment where everything seems sublime & ethereal and experience a quiet sense of ‘It had to happen and now I’m here’ and not really feel the way you thought you would feel? Now that we have completed a process, one that has been pending for a long time, I am left wondering in a state of intermediate high as to what one should feel. Anyways, here’s a tiny glimpse of what’s yet to come. No points for guessing who this is.

A lil' trip

Feel it.

Amidst the calm...

I've never wanted someone so bad (ok wisecracks, you know what I mean). I even had a dream a couple of nights back - a faceless but somehow intense 'Jenny' came up to me and said "oh you still haven't found her, you poor, languishing insomniac? Lemme put you out of your misery...yes...I'll be HER". Ok, fine, she didn't exactly say that but you get the drift. While we brood over Jenny's so-close-yet-so-far predicament, lemme put out something to show a sign of activity. This is in Palavedu, Periya Annan's headquarters.

Casting Call - Jenny!! Where are you???

Casting Call - Alternative Tamil Short Film (Chennai/Pondicherry)

We are casting for a key female character 'Jenny' in her early t0 mid-20s to play an extreme character. Interested folks can contact the number in the poster. (Orig. pic courtesy Google.)

Grinding Halt

I guess I spoke too fast last week. We suddenly find ourselves coming to a screeching halt in our production. All because of you --- > JENNY, JENNY --- WHERE ART THOU?

Cosmic Conspiracy - Production still

Sometimes I wonder what really makes things happen in the cosmos. I mean, how does a thought become a creation…through a series of seemingly chaotic, difficult and sometimes impossible stages? Here, in Bangalore, we just finished our shooting schedule surmounting a sequence of things that weren't in place. The people aligned, the location aligned, the process of shooting itself aligned, the flow, the vibe, the energy, literally everything came into alignment. The shoot went quite well, with the adrenalin pumping and everything. Who do we acknowledge apart from the people? I guess it's needless to say. It's also strange that some other things happened too but let's leave it for later. Here's a glimpse of what happened.

A morsel from the cauldron

I know we haven't been updating anything from the 'making of' process. As expected, the going got very crazy and we are still figuring out our next schedule. But here's a little morsel out of the production cauldron. This is a tree that we shot one of our scenes from, in Palavedu village, a little away from Avadi. This is from the 'Social Worker's' story.

The madness is on...

It's finally time and pre-production is almost over. Our short films are on the verge of taking an identity. Planning for the wildest ride in a long time. My head is about to explode into mushroom cloud. At least that's how it feels. The anticipation, the craziness, the fucking high...wonder if dope can be this intense. The psychedelia of it all. Mannnnnnnnnnn......

Distinctly Pondy

One of the few roads not taken much but very distinct in its style. Where French meets Indian.

Sax Player in New York City Subway

This was shot during our documentary film shoot about the Subway Music in New York City Times Square Stattion. Something about his pathos inducing note made us wanna obscure his identity. Think his name's Ahmed or something, couldn't quite catch it coz his voice was broken. He himself seemed a broken man and his music was haunting enough to prove it.

Short Film - Chasm in Time

One of our short films made almost 2 years back.
Synopsis: When the subjective realities of the materialistic world and the war-torn world meet, the only visible consequence is the chasm between them. When three friends 'accidentally' meet a super-market employee, he is not what he seems.
Cast: Cornelio Abella, Karthik Srinivasan, Joey Mintz, Kymm Walker.

2G Scam? What 2G Scam?

World Free Consultants

World Free Consultants are those who do any kind of help to serve the people or a community for free.

A new wiki page is created which will comprise a collection of all those wonderful souls who exist among us in this very world we live in. Here anyone can add in the people whom they know who are helping either a few people or a community with whatever skills they are capable of. This wiki is not dedicated to any particular country or region or a sect of people. This is for us, the people of this universe. Please feel free to add more people to the list here.