Christmas Aftermath
Today was the first proper day of editing where I got a proper 8 hour shift and it was good. I had been sneaking in about 3-4 hours of edit over the past couple of days so that the assembly would keep progressing nicely. At last count I have assembled about 38 minutes of the movie - which is not bad going considering that I have probably put in about 24-25 hours edit time into that. The real challenge in editing usually starts when the assembly is done and you start trying to get the pacing and rhythm right.
It is holiday season and most of the country is on a holiday break. I still find it amusing as to how almost the country comes to a stand still during this period. The shoppers don't mind it though since everyone is out shopping and this year there was a record spending spree leading up to Christmas where the total amount of transactions through credit cards and debit cards hit NZ$ 196 million in 1 day (on Friday)- which to me is absolutely insane as it does not include any cash or cheque transactions either. People find so much comfort in materialistic things when it is a feeling of goodwill and sharing that counts. Even if half the people did one good deed on that day the world would be a better place to live in.
On Christmas eve - i.e Sunday evening, I went and had dinner with friends at a Thai restaurant - the food was a bit expensive but really yummy. On Christmas evening I was invited to a lovely dinner with Lance and his family. The Christmas dinner was heaps of fun and was rounded up nicely by a table tennis tournament, card games and some lovely food.
I have been bad over the last week or so, in the sense that I haven't sent anyone any Christmas greetings or text messages or emails. I am so caught up with editing the movie that the dose of reality just jars me. So you can say that I have been really lucky that some people thought it worthwhile to drop me an email or a text wishing me the best for the holiday season but a couple of text messages have been really frustrating as well - they are from numbers I don't have on my cellphone. They obviously know me and have gone to the pain of wishing me but when I text them back wishing them the same and asking who they are, I don't receive any reply back. How annoying is that? I am not being an arrogant son of a bitch or anything, I genuinely want to know who it is because I don't have their number on my address book. We can make life so complicated sometimes.
I found out today that freelance work for me at TVNZ would start from the 3rd week of January, so now I have to really make my savings stretch that much more. On the other hand it is fantastic - as it gives me a good 3 week solid run at editing the movie and I can possibly get it to the half way through the rough cut stage by that point.
As a sign off note I would like to draw the attention to our environment.
Global warming has claimed it's first inhabited island recently. To the critics who think that global warming and climate change is just a whole load of shit then they ought to read this article as well -
Climate Change is turning animal's world topsy-turvy. And we are not helping other species either -
Orangutans are at the brink of extinction because of man-made follies. How did we let it come to this? Are we really that inhumane?
Till later,
Amit
Labels: Festival, Five, Global Warming, Holiday, Movies, Post Production, TVNZ
Shopping List
I have ticked off most of the stuff on my shopping list for the movie - just another 10-15 items to go. First shoot date is this coming Sunday and we are still putting final tweaks to the script. Doing a movie on such short notice/time span has definitely been a huge challenge and a big learning curve. I have an idea for the 'Five' website (finally!!) and now have to implement it.
Still sleep deprived for a good portion of the time - I might get some sound sleep tomorrow night (keyword is 'might').
Sir Nicholas Stern's report on economic impact of climate change has come out and it seems to have finally shaken people up. You can read it
HERE. If you don't want to read the full report then
check this out to read the summary.
Till later,
Amit
Labels: Five, Global Warming, Pre-production
Look both ways
Hard to believe that time has again proved tricky to keep track of. It is thursday evening and another week draws to a close.
I finally put in my citizenship application yesterday after filling out the form and getting signatures and stuff. Now keeping fingers crossed for things to sort themselves out. Also had the first workshop with the actors for 'Five' on Tuesday evening, which proved to be really good and intense. Now just have to accelerate things even more since we are a month away from shoot now.
Watched a couple of movies - a really depressing australian movie titled '
Look Both Ways' [really well shot and directed and acted but still very depressing] and a really bad horror movie titled '
Saw 2'...ooops did I just say that?
Went to the Auckland Art gallery to attend the reading of a theatre play titled 'Mike and Virginia' written by Kathryn Burnett & Nick Ward. It was heaps of fun and overall had lots of stuff going for it. Once a couple of things are smoothed out, I think it would be a fantastic play to watch.
Auckland Art Gallery
Aotea Square @ nightHere is what I was feeling like this afternoon - pretty random but still beautiful.
As a sign off note - there have been lots of newspaper articles this week both locally and internationally which have given increased importance to the warning signs of global warming. Here are some which you might like to read:
"
Global warming will threaten millions"
"
Alaskan storm cracks iceberg in Antarctica"
"
Antarctic ozone hole hits record"
"
Get ready for freak weather"
and possibly one of the rare pieces of news where US has done something positive for the enviroment "
US offers debt-for-nature swap to Guatemala"
Till later,
Amit
Labels: Five, Global Warming, Movies, Pre-production, Theatre
An Inconvenient Truth
Fever is gone (I think!!!). Sleeping through most of today did me some good.
Saturday was a good game of badminton but I had to leave before our 2 hour period ended as I felt the fever coming back. In the evening, caught up with a friend who has come up from Wellington and managed to catch '
An Inconvenient Truth'. It is a compelling movie and I would say is highly recommended for everyone to watch - especially the skeptics who think global warming is a whole load of shit. Irrespective of what your political inclination is I think it is extremely important to rise above the petty politics and think about the planet. As a movie - it is not perfect, it has its flaws. - like intercutting the subject matter with Al Gore's personal life didn't make much sense. It definitely cut off the flow of the movie at times but it is still a compelling watch because of the science behind it. Global warming is a reality and I think we are definitely inching closer to the 'point of no return' faster than we can imagine.
I got out a new lot of books from the library and this time instead of picking up books that interest me I just picked up the first 3 books on the recommended read shelf. I started reading '
Shut Up & Sing' by Laura Ingraham and by the 3rd page I was getting frustrated by the author's pig headedness and wanted to close the book. But it is unfair doing that to any book - so decided to finish the first chapter and see if I wanted to continue any further. By the end of the first chapter I had only one thought in my head - if this is what america's socially conservative, middle class americans believe in then that country is really fucked. When a book starts off in a defensive counter attack on ideology then you know that the author is nothing but a pure hack. I skim read some pages across the book and it has the same problem - the author really is dillusional and divorced from reality.
I put the book away and started reading '
Natural Born Cyborgs' by Andy Clark and it is proving to be a fascinating read.
Watched '
The Aristrocrats' and it was a great documentary. It's tagline is 'No Nudity. No Violence. Unspeakable Obscenity'. And I would say that it is an understatement but it was hilarious seeing some of the best comedians tell the same dirty joke. A must watch and definitely a game you can play with strangers and friends alike and watch them squirm. (:-)
Till later,
Amit
Labels: Badminton, Books, Global Warming, Movies
Innocence
Another busy day and it feels just right starting off the new week on a high note. On introspection - I am surprised as to how much I have gotten used to the 'week' system instead of the 'month' system which we have in India. And obviously the 5 day week is something which I see as a bonus for working in NZ - you end up having 2 days to yourself instead of the 6 day working week in India - which used to be a killer. Different cultures, different work habits.
I went and saw '
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence' {it was playing as part of World Cinema Showcase @ Academy Cinemas}along with Bronwyn and Jo. Bumped into a lot of familiar faces at the theatre - Stu, Justin, Nicole, Mel to name a few. The movie was visually stimulating but too slow paced and the story leaves something to be desired. I don't know if you know it but 'Ghost in the Shell' is one of my all time favorites because it was visionary and a thrill ride. 'GIS2' has its moments of brilliance but overall as a movie it does not come as a complete package and it just felt a little long at it's 90-95 minute odd mark. The cityscapes are breathtaking and the philosophy discussed in the movie is again great but it just slows the story down instead of moving it forward. I will reluctantly have to say that I did not enjoy it as much as I would have liked to (wanted to/wished to) and I definitely can't sit through a second viewing of it {compare it to the first one which I have seen atleast 20-22 times till now}.
The trailer for '
An Inconvenient Truth' really shook me up and I had to take a deep breath after I watched it..it is a 'must watch' movie and hopefully it succeeds in getting its message across. It deals with climate change and is definitely an area of concern - because as a collective human memory we tend to forget incidents and events really quickly. We are less than 10 years away from the 'point of no-return' and we couldn't care less as long as we have money in our bank accounts to spend on our own luxuries. It gets released in the US soon but not elsewhere....this should go worldwide - I really hope it does.
This is for the hope that humanity realizes the foley in it's ways.
Amit
Labels: Global Warming, Movies
