To all who love me…

Hello all,

Yes, it’s been quite a long time we spoke, how have you all been? I hope you all are great. When you read this, either I am in a flight headed towards the tinsel town of Mumbai, I have landed, or in a very very unlucky option, am dead (seriously, 1 in a million 😛 ).

Jokes apart… All in my 22 years of life, I have been surrounded by people, some have stayed on forever, some have carried on, and some I have chose to not be surrounded by. 😛 This is a thank you note to all of them who have ever been there, even if it was for a minute minute. You have all been a part of what I have grown on to become. And if today I am, at all, an occupant of a flight seat, chasing my dreams, is cause you devoted a moment of your life towards me, loving, supporting, caring, and even at times, hating and hurting.

Don’t be alarmed. Today I shall talk of everything good. Of bad, I shall speak at a time suited for me to talk no more.

Thank you all.

God is good, and He has given a great lot in my life, and I’m blessed to know He is there, guarding me, protecting me, and letting me know He has me sorted.

Maa, you’re that one person in my life I needed the most now, and sadly not there no more. The carcinoma might have taken you far far away from me, but that ‘good night’ you uttered three days before you passed away, still echoes in my ears everynight I go to sleep. To all that I am, I owe you, I am a part of you, I am you.  Just can’t believe you’re gone 6 months. Missing you.

My family. Thank you.

Debraj da, you’re that brother I never had. From us, sharing lyrics, to you, calling me infront of my building, giving up a part of your first pay in India to get it to help my maa in some way, to us, struggling to finish up a song, in the craziest of our times. I love you brother. You are pure, you are open, you are kind. We fought, we hugged, we screamed, and I know we’re strong.

Sayon, you know how close we are. We might not be the best of friends, but we sure are the best of brothers. I have joked with you, corrected you, said the meanest of things, even rude at times, I apologise if they’ve ever hurt you, but you’ve always held a very dear place in my heart, I’ve loved you as a younger brother, always.

To my ‘Chor’ team, Soumyajit da, Biplab da, you guys will always stay a close pair to my heart. You’re the ones whose support was an integral part of me making a film in the first place.

Arghya da, thank you for being killed, on-screen ofcourse. Within those home-concocted blood and black-tape lined ‘boti’, there was your neck and you took it like a boss. 😀

Honey da, busy, charismatic, and super fun to be with. Oh, how I miss those addas at Biplab da’s place. Stay like you are.

Mee Lan, Thank you for being there in Soul Vibes. You have a heart of gold, and I know, in your veiled silence, you have a lot to speak, perhaps we shall sit someday. 🙂

Souradipta, I love you!!! To us, cutting videos up in the wake of the night, watching bat-shit horror movies, discussing takes we’re too confused about.

Gargi, you’ve been a true bro. You’ve taken me and us for what we were, raw, unabridged, uncensored. You’ve come to us, the same. To choosing a nighty with you (to kill in 😀 ), to discussing ghost stories, to having piece(s) of your ‘oh-so-good’ cakes. I wish you have a great marriage (I know now what your palm-lines say 😛 ).  Love.

Rahul, perhaps the first time we met, we actually said, “we seem to quite gel in.” You’ve been a great support, a very very close friend. A brother to be precise. From us, discussing games, to us, actually planning to make one, I know you have a part of me taught.

Hiranmoy, never have I seen you dance since school, I am doubtful you actually dance. 😛 We’ve not been close for years, perhaps the sad demise of my maa brought us together and we’ve been strong since. You’ve made me laugh at a time where laughter was a rarity. Thank you brother.

Swarnava da, you scolded me when I skipped my M.A., you corrected me when my film went sloth, you taught me a great deal in the art of filming. To us, from getting chased at metro, to us, discussing scripts, to us, walking back from tollygunge after shoot, dubbing in an afternoon, with a rooh afza too sweet.

SB da, we’ve known eachother hardly months, but even before we met, I knew you were an elder brother. I wish you all the happinesses in life, Wishing a great life for Gutuls.

Abhishek Sir, Gourab Sir, you know this, and It won’t hurt saying

again, thank you for being such a strong support system in my life.

Pushpen, my only university friend, and one of the my ultra-dearest friends. Yes I shall visit your home, and we shall have a time meant for kings. 😀

A little funny, I’ve spoken individually of you, but come to think of it, very honestly, you’ve come to me as a team. We were an unit, and we shall remain so. You all were more than friends, really, you were like family, naay, you were family.

To all else, who’ve been so special to me, Anwesha, Arijit, Aritra da, Roshmi, Shilpi, Shangarab, Raj, Priyanka, Trisha, Nandini, Arko, Aditya, Jayesmita, Abhijit, Munmun, Tanaji, Debojit, Shubhayan, Arpan, Pooja, Tania, and all, Thank you.

To our supporters in the social media circuit, you have been like a storm.

 

 

 

Ria, love you.
This is Debatma Mandal, signing off, wish me luck, thank you all, and until we meet again, stay healthy, stay happy and stay safe. I pray for all of you.  God bless you.
Much love.
D.

6 main things to Post-producing your indie film! ( Part II: VFX )

Hey ya’ll,

Now that you have your film nicely edited according to your vision, let’s get down to the next step, VFX and Music. Apologies beforehand, I’ve been late in my post, and it is because monologue pictures is now working on a very very ambitious promo film, the details of which i shall give you when the time is right. But let’s just know, i barely get sleep now. 😛

Okay, so let’s start.

2. VFX or Visual Effects: In the indie film circuit, vfx is basically about making your film look visually more appealing. Unless you’re making ‘Transformers’ (That’d be great if we could really make Transformers’ independently, but hey, hard facts, you need 150$ million first, so…) Anyways, so what VFX covers is mostly color correction, special transitions, some in-film effects (film scratches and dirt, vintage effects, burnt film, lens-flares, film abberations and others), keying, and a few times a little CGI (Computer Generated Images).
Now your’e question could probably be why you need vfx in the first place? Could you do without it?
Ofcourse you can.
You could totally do away with vfx if that is what you want. However a little color correction, a little letterboxing never hurts. Sometimes, or rather, most of the times, it actually enhances the visual feed of your movie. Makes it more immersive. More impactful. To illustrate what I just said, here I have some examples.

“You took my heart Away” (c) monologue pictures/ Soul Vibes Records

“You took my heart Away” (c) monologue pictures/ Soul Vibes Records

See the difference?

These are screenshots from a music video we made in March 2012 called “You took My Heart Away”. It had an extensive use of Color Corrections and vignettes and also Lens Flares. You can Check out the video here – You Took My Heart Away Click it! Click it! 🙂

Adobe After Effects CS6 *Photo from Web*

Though a lot of editing softwares come with their own vfx capabilities, I’d rather suggest you use a dedicated program to treat your scenes. Yes, it’d take more time but trust me, it’ll totally be worth it.
A trusted software that I’ve been using for over years is Adobe AfterEffects. It’s a beast of a program. And the Vfx possibilities in this software is just epic. Check their website here. Notice how it’s being used all over the industry, even in hardcore CGI movies like The Avengers, Transformers, Hugo etc. Yes, the program is that good.

Whoa, wait! Before you open up the interface and cringe, thinking that you could never move around this software, let me tell you that you could get a lot of help all over the web. There’s Andrew Kramer’s videocopilot.net which frankly is,  awesome. Learn all about the software on project basis, which is actually a lot of help. There’s creativecow.net ( if you know the basics already). And there’s Lynda.com (Basic-Advanced). There are so so many options to choose from really.

And you know what? You could even ask me if you’re stuck up somewhere. I’d really love to help.

So, here it is, the VFX part of the post-production process. Do tell me if you like my posts.   Next up, I’ll be starting with the sound department, so hey, wait for it… 🙂

First Look/Teaser of ‘Room for Rent’

Video

Here it is! Along my posts, you surely must have come across ‘Room for Rent’, my new mystery-horror film. Well, we just finished shooting and the post-production is on in full speed. However, the first look of the film is out! *super excited* Do check it out fellow bloggers and let me know if you like or dislike it… support the indie film-making genre! Cheers. 

 

 

“You Have My Permission to Die” TDKR review!

NOTE: I can’t figure out how to start this review off, because no matter how great of an intro I think of, it’s somehow microscopic compared to the film I’m to write about, the highly-badly-painfully anticipated ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, the supposedly last installment of Christopher Nolan’s Batman Trilogy.

So, here’s a picture of Anne Hathaway ( not once referred to as ‘catwoman’ though ) tackling a goon in the film! 🙂

Drenched in rain, I enter the cozy IMAX theatre with 6 of my friends for the 9am show in the morning. This early-morning (Read ‘dawn’) show practically is a cricket-chirping, dilapidated sort of a deal.

We had a full house.

The ‘Man of Steel’ trailer plays, which is great, by the way, and we embrace ourselves for the batman. The film starts 8 years from where ‘The Dark Knight’ left off. The Caped Crusader has retired. It’s been years anyone has seen Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale). Wayne enterprise is about to collapse. And whoa! All of a sudden we’re in between a city under siege, held under hostage. We travel through Gotham in its most darkest, crucial, and helpless yet. All thanks to the oh-so-strong, ruthless, Ra’s al Ghul-trained Bane (Tom Hardy).

With a runtime of approximately 165 minutes (2 hours, 45 minutes) ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ is the lengthiest one of the trilogy yet. However not once does it feel lengthy. From the first scene, it is a nail-biting, goose-flesh inducing, intelligent, touching joyride. The surprises throw you totally off your seat. The realistic fight sequences are crazy. The performances are perfect.  And hey, the bat-pod is so freakingly awesome, I’d kill for one! 🙂 

Tom Hardy as ‘Bane’

Differing from the comics, bane here, does not carry the venom apparatus on his back, but has a mask that pumps in a stream of painkillers to numb a constant, almost excruciating pain. He is an extremely menacing and believable character, and yes, he does break batman’s back (that’s barely a spoiler 😛 ). Tom Hardy presents a superb performance as Bane. His voice is chilling and physically, he looks the closest believable that Bane has ever been. His character cannot be, or rather, should not be compared to that of Heath Ledger’s Joker in ‘The Dark Knight’. I mean, these are two totally different characters performed by two totally different artists in two totally different films. Heath Ledger was phenomenon, Tom Hardy was too.

Anne Hathaway renders an extremely beautiful, graceful and a witty cat-woman. In the film, she’s referred to as the cat-burglar, or the jewel-thief, or Selina Kyle, but funnily, not as once, cat-woman. Her dialogues are witty and intelligent and her fight sequences are as crispy as nachos. 🙂 And does she look phenomenal on the bat-pod!

Anne Hathaway

What can I say about Christian Bale. If ever a real batman emerges in a real city, I’ll bet my money on him.

Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon

In short, all characters do great great justice. Gary Oldman ( Commissioner James Gordon), Morgan Freeman (Lucius Fox), Michael Caine (Alfred) , Marion Cotillard and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Go, watch the film! 🙂 ) are wonderful.

Perhaps what touched me the most ( may not touch you) was how every character in the film faces mental vulnerability. And when I say every character, I mean it. The crisis we witness is not only physically taxing, but kills one on the inside. It’s a helpless situation that lets the heat known in the film as well as outside. There are few films that render characters so three dimensional as this. And it’s brilliant. Batman faces not only a physical challenge but his spirit is challenged too. And so, are of the other character’s. I guess this is what makes Nolan’s Batman so-not-superhero.

‘Batman Begins’, ‘The Dark Knight’ had us witness a dark-gritty-intense-cinema. What ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ adds is the Epic feeling of it. Thousands of people in Gotham fight against anarchy. A Nuclear Time Bomb that is supposed to bring liberation to the race. A city taken over by prisoners. A lawless- merciless situation where there are no lawyers, no hearings, only death or death by exile. It’s a crazy world as the audience themselves feel the brittle pieces of the last-living moral sensibility break down and turn extinct.

Hans Zimmer’s music fits right in and it pushes the film up by notches. The chant the characters at a prison explain as ‘Rise’ is bone-chilling.

Christopher Nolan

The other technical aspects of the film are brilliant. The cinematography, the editing, the visual effects are a treat to watch. The script and screenplay by the Nolan Brothers are exceptional. It certainly was a great decision by Christopher Nolan to not shoot the film on 3D. I say, this 2D masterpiece beats any 3D, anywhere, anytime. 🙂

The epic-film ends. There is no standing ovation. No applause. Just silence. The audience is too stunned to do anything. So is me and my 6 other friends.

An exceptional masterpiece by Christopher Nolan, if you miss ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, I’m sure you’ll be missing out on something huge! So, Go, Get the tickets!

 

 

P.S. Do let me know if you like or dislike the post. Also share your experience at ‘The Dark Knight Rises’.  Cheers.

P.P.S.  All photos used in this post has been downloaded from the internet. I do not own the photos in any way.

6 main things to Post-producing your indie film! ( Part I: Editing )

Hey ya’ll,

As I told earlier in my 6 simplest steps towards making your own film! 🙂 that I would dedicate an entire post to ‘post-production’ in general, so before you even ask, here it is! But in Parts, since I realized, it’d be a very very huge post if I tried to cramp everything here. I’ll discuss about ‘Editing’ today. I’m sorry, I’ve been a li’l late since the work-pressure for my new film, Room for Rent ( Like the facebook page 😛 ) is really high and I’m barely getting any time free enough to update. However, now that I have some, let’s start…

Let’s brush up on the points I told you earlier regarding Post Production:

• Editing
• VFX ( Visual effects ) (Optional, not in all cases)
• Music
• Sound Design
• Dubbing
• Rendering and Authoring

Pretty long list, eh 🙂

For an independent film, these points are good to go. However, what you have to keep in mind is that as the movie scales bigger, these points will gain obvious extensions and break down in a thousand steps. But since, we’re talking about small films, I’ll be better off speaking in general, what-you-need and what-you-don’t. That should help you out, I guess.  🙂

1. Editing:

Editing is when you take fragments of shots, arrange them, join them up, and compose a scene, and eventually a movie (This is so general, I bet some people are probably laughing their breath off right now  😛 ) Anyways, that’s that. But what is great about the editing part of a movie-making process is everyone has a unique style. Composing a scene is awesomely subjective. The way you feel comfortable cutting up scenes may differ grossly from the editor next to you. That’s wow, isn’t it?

There are probably hundreds of editing softwares in the market right now. But I’m going to speak of some notable one’s, so it helps you, from the most basic to some advanced.

Anyone heard of Windows Movie maker yet? 🙂 Possibly the simplest and the easiest-to-learn editing software out there. There is not much to do in it, but what it let’s you do will help you produce a decent little movie for a starter. Learn it and I’m sure it will totally help you with the basic editing practice.  Runs on any normal PC. Check Void Main created entirely with Windows Movie Maker, so that you don’t feel WMM is useless.

PowerDirector10

An editing software that has lately grabbed some eye in the indie film-making scene for the easiest interface and some strong features is the Cyberlink Power Director. It’s a sweet little software, that certainly packs a lot of strength when it comes to editing a movie. Check it out here. If you’re looking for an easy, simple, but powerful software, here it is. Runs great on a slightly better-built PC, a little RAM and a graphics card makes the experience smoother and way more satisfying. An almost similar software to the PowerDirector for Mac-users is the iMovie. Check out my movie Chor (thief) made in the PowerDirector9 (entire editing).

Now let’s speak of the advanced softwares.

Over the years, Adobe has come up to be not only a creative master but also an innovation empire which, to be frank, makes life way way easier and better than you think. For editing , Adobe has Premiere Pro, which is an immensely powerful software, and carries features that are not only great but helpful and life-saving. Check it here.

Adobe Premiere Pro CS6

But just as everything good comes with a good price. Premiere is not only expensive but also requires a high-spec PC or MAC to run on, for uninterrupted editing. If you have one and possess the wealth, look no further, and go for it like a guided missile. But if you don’t, don’t be disappointed, there’s something for you too. Premiere Pro runs on PC and MAC, but if you want to have something Apple-built, go for the Final Cut Pro, which too is an advanced software,  and similarly to Adobe, great fun to use on a super-computer. There are some other softwares too, such as AVID, Pinnacle, but I didn’t go there because they are alien-ground to me, never used.

However, the most spoken of  and supposedly a great powerful editing software is Lightworks. I’ve not used it yet, but plan to use it soon, but listen, this software is FREE.

How about that! Check their website out. Packed with tech-support and tutorials and free downloads, this software not only looks great, but I’m sure it’d be great to use too. ( I’m only stipulating, cuz haven’t used it)

The LightWorks interface

So here it is, from basic to advanced, from paid to free.  Pick your monster. 🙂

Now let’s come to the hard facts. Editing is based completely on timing. There is no easy way to do it, no bypass tricks, no formulas, no shortcuts to compose a scene. It takes grueling practice and countless hours of brain storming to just get it right. How a film is edited affects the movie directly. It’s from this that we come up with concepts like a high-paced film, or a chaotic scene, or a slow subtle movie, or a film that is haphazard (sloppy editing). Editing is that weapon that will fill up all imperfections, all loop-holes in your movie. Watch a great lot of films and notice how the scenes are composed. Slowly, with the practice you will gain that timing. A great practice for me has been to treat my shots differently and to edit them as many ways as possible and to see, how it looks up or comes through. Trust me, it’ll help you a great deal.  With this practice you’ll not only self-teach possibilities of a scene but will think of more different shot-possibilities in your next venture. So, ready-set-and let the cutting begin. 🙂

Photo Courtesy Souradipta Maity
(c) monologue pictures 2012

So, here’s the Part I of my new post. Hope it has helped you. Stay tuned for the Part II where I’ll be discussing about VFX and music. Do comment if you like or dislike my post. I’d be more than happy to take in suggestions, questions and queries.  So long, cheers. 🙂

“The director is the only person who knows what the film is about.”

Hey, I did not say that! 🙂

This man!

This quote is by the film-maker genius, Satyajit Ray. And this is one fine example of an Universal truth. Truth, that only the director knows his film. Before it’s made, that is. No matter how great a story-teller you are, how awesomely detailed you write a script,

how masterfully you fabricate your words, but a film does not EVER come through in it’s glorious 100% when you tell it to others.

Not your Actors. Not your Crew. And your Producers, hehe! 😀

I’m almost sure you guessed it why. Now let’s take a first hand example, ME. When I think of a film, I see it run in my head. Edited, color-corrected, and completely cinemascoped. 🙂 Now try telling that in all it’s exactness to your cinematographer or actors.  What he is actually seeing is more of a ‘The Naked Gun’ version of your story. Either this, or a ‘Max Payne’-ish darkness… 🙂

Ever noticed a fellow film-maker friend discuss a story with you, and then when you see the product, you’re still searching for the elements he spoke about. It happens to me, like on a daily basis. 😛

When I came up with the story for ‘Chor (Thief)’ , almost nobody got what I was saying. Almost nobody (except few) liked the story, and we had excellant rarities (ah, this sarcasm 😛 ) when it came to finding the script funny. But when it was made and the final cut of the film appeared, we had likers all around, and lovers too. 🙂

Photo courtesy: Sayon Kumar Saha
(c) monologue pictures 2012

Same occured with that of ‘Room for Rent’. The story was far-fetched, wacky (Can’t say much) and in the primary levels, way too difficult to explain. Though the shooting is still on, what I am confident about is that the film will gather the same (if not more ) positive response.

You, as a director, only know what you’re film looks like, how it treats your character, how it reaches the eyes of your audience (as in, the packaging, the treatment), how sound is it musically,  and how it should effect. Your job is to transfer that on screen. A tough job, but an awesomely challenging, and at the end, a magnificently satisfying one.

Now, your question must be, why am I telling you this. For all my fellow film-making enthusiasts, no matter how blunt your story may sound to another person, no matter how many laughs your serious story gathers, no matter how many awkward silences your comedy-script fetches, if you think you see a great film on screen with your story, just GO FOR IT. Do not slow down since you did not impress others. Others don’t quite gather the glory of your story till they see the product. And that comes in the end. 🙂

So, that’s it for today. 🙂 I hope my posts help you. I’ve been keeping a helluva lot busy, doing with the shooting and rehearsals and editing for ‘Room for Rent’, and I believe I’ll be able to present a great film for you all to see. Do tell me if you like my posts. If you need any help of any kind (Seriously, I don’t have money 😛 ), do ping me. 🙂 cheers.

6 simplest steps towards making your own film! :)

Photo courtesy: Sayon Kumar Saha
(C) monologue pictures 2012

So, you wanna make a film, right? You have that story in your brain that continually gnaws at the walls of your head, trying to come out, but you are stuck in the middle of things, feeling relaxed at pulling your hair off that little scalp, but still can’t figure out how to place everything in place?

This guy is smiling ‘cuz he forgot the story after all that tugging… 😛

Well, hold on to your bald patches, here goes the process I follow while I’m making a film. 6 steps, explained. However, this is strictly for independent production, if you wanna go technical, well, go study. 🙂

Here are the 6 steps. Hope it helps all of you reading this.

1. Story & Script :

You’re sitting at a cafe waiting for your coffee… the waiter comes in and places a cup of milk, and gives you those free sachets of sugar (that’s sugar, right? ). This cup of coffee (?) is your film without a story. I can’t probably make it any more clearer, the story is the most important aspect towards making a film. Your story will make you want to do it in the first place. Your story will gather you people. Your story will gather you eyeballs. Once you’ve conceived your story, it’s probably time for you to go forward and make it into a script.

Fact: All scripts are stories, but all stories are, not necessarily, scripts.

Keep this in mind at all times. You’ll probably need it at every instance. A script is a very very real life-like treatment to a story. A story is more literal, a script, however is, more human.

Now, what do you write in a script?

•  Dialogues: What the characters tell to each other or to themselves.
•  Locations and Timing: Where and when a scene occurs.
•  Brief actions:  eg. Doctor ( furiously scribbling random alphabets and mindless equations on the black board) : Dialogues
• Very broad details: If you can write finer details in this stage, you’re God. 🙂

The whole idea of indie-filmmaking is un-conventionalism.  So, don’t care how you write a script. Write it any way you feel comfortable. It must be understandable to you, that’s the best you should do… 🙂

2. People :

Actors, Assists and everyone nice (ha! ) How you search for your actors and people is completely on your capabilities and wants. But get this, film-making is a Group-affair. If you have a great work-group, who share your wavelength, your craziness, your trust towards your project, the film you make is wow! What we actually look for in indie film-making is volunteers. If you’re a rich guy and throw in cash every now and then, you’ll probably get professionals, i.e. More work, less talk. But working with free (not free-lance 😛 ) volunteers tests not only your groveling capabilities, but at times, your patience, your temper. However, how can we ever forget the fun to totally experiment and work. Go through your scripts incredibly well. Casting plays a great role in films. If a character in your film does not look and feel  like the character, it’s probably a wrong cast-decision.

3. Equipment and Locations :

Hehe! Here comes another set of begging and groveling! 😀

Screenplay Refer Photos
(c) monologue pictures 2012

4. Screenplay :

A very very important step of film-making.

Now that you have your script, locations,  equipment,  and people all set, be merry ‘cuz it’s time you went for the screenplay (the finer details part i spoke of  in the first step ).

What you have to be aware of is:

• The capabilities of your equipment. for eg. you have an entry level DSLR to film your movie with and you plan a super-slow motion scene. That’s called being grossly unaware. 😛
• The capabilities of your actors. Very Important. Trust me, it is.
• The locations for your shoot and the vantage shooting points in that location as well as blind spots.

Now, take your script and a very thick bunch of paper and start breaking down your scenes and sequences in a very detailed manner keeping in mind, the things you are aware of.

This is totally me, but what i love to do is take photographs at a location, at different parts, at possible angles, before i start with the screenplay. what it actually does is helps me refer to them later on. You could place a scene there. Plan for detailed props at a certain place. But this is me, you may feel comfortable with a different process though.

5. Shooting your movie :

The most fun part of making a movie. Go crazy, go experimental, go bold, go against the crowd.

This is that part that will determine what you are in for. Though the screenplay and the script will help to a great extent, but still there will be times when you should break that extra bone and try on a different perspective.  Always helps. 🙂

6. Post-production :

A huge aspect of film-making to talk about. I’m gonna discuss about it in all it’s glorious details in another post. However, these are what comprises the term ‘post-production’ in indie filming:

Photo courtesy: Sayon Kumar Saha
(c) monologue pictures 2012

• Editing
• VFX ( Visual effects ) (Optional, not in all cases)
• Music
• Sound Design
• Dubbing
• Rendering
• Authoring

Woo! That was pretty big, huh? 🙂 after your post-production is that other-worldly moment when you pick the DVD up from your burner, freshly written with your movie… all ready to blow the minds of others… 🙂 Heaven, ain’t it? 😀

I hope, this post has helped you. I’ll keep posting tips and tricks, suggestions and opinions whenever i’ll have some time. 🙂 Do chime in your opinions and comments. I would love to know if you liked or disliked my post… 🙂 Stay Connected.

P.S. You may want to read the next part of this post at https://monologuepictures.wordpress.com/2012/07/18/6-main-things-to-post-producing-your-indie-film-part-i-editing-14-2/

Making your own indie film :)

It’s not that hard really. 🙂 Now when I use the word ‘hard’, it may mean an umpteen number of things to any number of people. I’ve faced that.

Lately, I’ve received a number of calls from people I know and also people I don’t, regarding how to start off with making their own movie. And every time I say the same thing. Every time. There is no set rules, there is no norm, no limitations. If you’re good enough, film-making is like a playground without parents. Yes, you will make mistakes, but you will get wiser at the end of the day. Some are too concerned about camera, and rigs, and technical ting-a-ling-a-cling, but, believe me, once you start, you’ll realize, they just come secondary. What you really need is a story good enough to be told, and a YOU ready enough to take the challenge.

My first solo-project, Chor (thief)- Bengali Short Film was shot in a simplest of simple consumer camera, which though, has a video feature, let’s face it. is not so great. The Light-reception in the camera was so bad, we literally had to carry around bulbs and fluorescent tubes to lighten a scene. All we had around was the 6 page script, a social satire, which we thought was worth telling. We opened the film around end-ish-2011 at the 17th Kolkata International Film Festival, however the process of writing the film started way back in 2010. After 17thKFF, we made rounds at the college competitions, and almost in all of them, won. Surprisingly, Chor (thief)- Bengali Short Film received an official selection at the Gujrat International Film Festival Of India (GIFFI). And all this for only 700 rupees ( 13 $) 😀

My First Post! :)

Hi there!

Before I start speaking, let me be completely honest. This, right here, is my first Blog, perhaps my first post, and therefore, though I am immensely excited like a new-bought-bulb, still I can’t shake the pressure off of actually sitting down and writing something.

So what better way to start off than letting you guys know of the first film that I ever made. Here it is, directed by a friend, Arijit Halder and me,  Void main – Silent Short Film . No budget, No support, Not even a decent camera to begin with. The origin story of Void main is a pretty interesting one. However, first check the movie out, we’ll talk about the origin later, what say? 🙂