Welcome to movecraft, my little slice of motion graphics heaven on the internet.
Delay, Delay, Delay
This segways into the top 5 things I love about India:
5. Everyone is genuinely interested in meeting you. Even on the street.
People here just exude friendly curiosity. Even in Mumbai, where people are busy and used to meeting foreigners and too cool for school, this is but a small contingency in a friendly and awesome mass of people where almost everyone asks me my nationality, and my name, and what I do, and if I love India, etc etc etc
4. A decent bottle of Indian whiskey will run you about 160 ruppees, or 4 dollars.
There is an old joke about Indian bootleggers that goes something like: There is more Johnny Walker consumed in Bombay then is produced in Scotland. However, now that Johnny Walker is actually in India, producing whisky here, it may actually become legitimately true.
3. Freedom to do what you want.
Can you light off professional grade fireworks in the U.S. No? How about if you are 11? Nope? What if you blow off your fingers? No safety police here. You bought fireworks, you blew off your fingers, you now live life without fingers. No one get sued. It seems so simple.
2. Pav Bhaji
The reason I have to work out everyday, cause it would be gross for me to return from a country with 200 million starving people 20 pounds of blubber heavier.
1. Religion is beautiful and amazing here.
Rather then gross, oppressive, and worst of all, boring and lame, like it is in the states. Religion here from my eyes is varied, amazing, real, and beautiful. 4000 years of Gods are some damn old Gods.
of course, the next post will be 5 things I hate here.
Professional, Political, Personal
The pieces are in place, the culture is obsessed with films and the market here actually, astonishingly, outpaces hollywood in terms of general output (900 plus films a year) and audience (4 billion or so compared to the 3 and a half billion estimated for hollywood films). Of course the only thing that American films far outpace Indian cinema is price per picture (by multitudes). One of the dirty little secrets of Hollywood is that they are gambling huge amounts of money on their pictures, and that they are insanely expensive to make. I think soon most post production will be sent here much to the chagrin of many in my industry and my friends, but hey, welcome to globalism.
At the Divalli party talking with Rafique, who is a head of production here (and one hell of a character), we discussed a lot of things (over whiskey) and one of his main points regarding the state of the industry was my very existence in front of him at the party. "Never in a million years would I have imagined bringing in a top American Visual Effects Supervisor to do one of my pictures", of course, he was fishing, he wanted me to confirm that I was a top visual effects supervisor, which of course I am not. Don't get me wrong, for the effects they are looking for and the scope of the picture, what they really want is a motion graphics artist and I am confident that I can fumble my way through the shoot enough to get the footage that I need for post, where I can set up a post production pipeline, which will be far within my comfort zone. However, his main point was not lost on me, that the industry was changing, the world was changing, and the Indian market will soon not be seen as a second rate ghetto for film for much longer. The firm we are possibly using for our DI (digital intermediate) is called Prasad EFX magic, and on a recent VFX heavy indian film they brought in a Hong Kong Director and an all american post supe and VFX supe.
That night, at the Divalli party, was the second Cricket match in a series between India and Pakistan. Pakistan won in a nail biter that night (within 1 pitch), and the reaction at the party was quite interesting to me. "Let them have it", they said. The context was clear. Let them have this, we are superior as Indians. Rafique also made it quite clear to me as to where my and his place was within Indian society, i.e., we are on the top of society. He asked me if this situation would happen at the states often, A bunch of friends getting together during a holiday party having drinks and playing cards and getting hammered. "It's quite simaler, however, we wouldn't have the servants in the kitchen", I replied. I also made some sort of half-assed reference to the fact that my parties in San Francisco would be a bit more diverse with friends of Asian decent, gay people, etc. I was mainly thinking of my goodbye pancake feed before I left the city, and this was in fact, pretty true, although I don't know how true it would be as a generalization.
I know now how insensitive and grossly ignorant a statement this was for me to make. "Imagine my country, where when you go from state to state, everyone has a different language. Also, they have a different religion.", he responded. "How do you keep from letting it dissolve into unrest like they do in so much of the rest of this area of the word?", I asked. "Well, we don't!", he exclaimed, "We have social and religious unrest all of the time!".
Part of what makes India such a unique democracy is that certain different groups are afforded different kinds of rights according to their backgrounds under the SAME constitution. A lot of this can be attributed to the genius of Dr. Ambedakar, and his drawing up of what is regarded as one of the most airtight constitutions ever written, on par with Mandela's South African one. Of course, the constitution succeeds in keeping the country together, but as a modern document, it does provide less rights for different groups. Largely unknown in the west, Dr. Amedakar represented the Dalits, the lowest caste in indian society, and combined the academia of Martin Luther King with the rage of Malcom X. He also instituted the most massive shift of a group of people to a different religion (willingly) in the history of human kind, as the Dalits were afforded far more rights as Budhists. Tomas, my roommate and producer here, has been working on a documentary for the BBC (Which is now out of funding half way through production) about Dr. Ambedakar's life, and it is fascinating, sad, and beautiful. I will help with post and titles on it once we are done with the paying gigs. One of the reasons Ambedakar will be lost to history in the west was his antagonism toward Ghandi, who has since been forever martyrized.
This leads me easily into the caste system of India itself. I never felt in the people at the party a sense of guilt or responsibility to their fellow impoverished Mumbaikars, something that weighs on me heavily while I am here. It is mainly because that there is a huge sense of keeping the status quo of the caste system. Talking with Rafique, he told me that most of the segregation happens mainly by class rather then race. I think it might be the opposite in the states, where racism is still a large problem but you can't really get a sense of classism the way it is here.
The monsoon season is during our summer. I probably won't see any rain the whole time I am here, unless I travel to the rain forest type areas. Massive flooding is a huge health problem here, as garbage and sewage are in the open, and the rains make the city a giant floating cess pool. While it is a relief from the heat, many of the educated Indians recognize the insane health problems with dirty water and only the very beginnings of the beginnings of the stirring of ecology are being realized here.
This hits me a lot while I am here as well... There is no sense of human's impact on the environment. Indians throw garbage everywhere, and what would be beautiful beaches and vistas are public dumps. Plastic is everywhere. With almost a billion people, and due to double with mainly an undereducated, poor, populace, I feel as though humans as a species are kind of fucked.
There is a lot of beauty here, particularly in the culture of the positive way other Indians treat each other and the focus on the family, which is paramount here. Everyone is friendly and helpful, and everyone is genuinely excited to see Americans. Something else I have noticed is that the Indian sense of humor is robust and pretty close to our own.
The city is mainly an out of control, brakes off, roller coaster explosion of activity and economic boom, consequences be damned. The stock market closed down (bear) last week for the first time in ten years. Think of ten years of uncontrolled double digit economic growth. The city has between 13 and 20 million busy Indians, each every day, getting their slice of the pie, even in the ghetto. I haven't toured Dharavi yet, Asia's largest ghetto and a mini city within a city. An estimated one million people live in a giant maze of corrugated metal and shacks, with limited running water and electricity. However, even there, the estimated export capital from the tiny shops and factories is 650 million dollars.
Lest this post becomes overly academic, here a few pictures from my 27th birthday. We went halfway a through the city to find "The Ghetto" a rock club with pool tables and such, only to find out it was a dry day. (no booze in the whole city!) We eventually found a bar that would serve us, but it was in the Hyatt and they served us as westerners. I got one beer in before they closed up.Twan and I had a great time while he was here. The last night (also thanksgiving) we had a few drinks at a local place and I convinced the Djays to let us have some mic time at closing time and Twan flowed over the beats. They loved it and asked for his autograph, etc etc. Mad MC skillz in India. Also, If there are any fine art reps out there, I can only say www.anthonykurtz.com.
Mumbai Apartment.
I moved into my apartment here. the address is
Building B1 Apartment #202, Serenity Towers complex, Andheri (West), Oshiwara, Mumbai, India, 400 053
My Cell in Mumbai is:
Country Code--->(011) 91 981 930 4870
but to have anything sent please send to the Studio,
Colin Sebestyen c/o Empire House, 1st floor, 10, Shah Indl. Estate, Veera Desai Road, Andheri (W), Mumbai, India 400 053
Cheers
C
Production Meeting
Jump in a Rickshaw with Tomas, producer, and Melissa, Art department from S.F. If I feel out of place here, I think Melissa has me beat henna palms down as she is 6'2" and definitely has a south side chicago accent. We meet with the production company for their Bollywood romantic comedy. Over the course of a few meetings, I get a real sense of chaos from the production... The meetings are still in the brainstorm stage, they aren't sure what effects they will need and everyone seems to have an opinion, except the director, who is really quiet and withdrawn. This should be interesting. The worse part for me was trying to remember everyones name, which I am bad at anyway, but was compounded by the Indian names.
Went to a Divalli party with the production company and etc. Divalli is the celebration of lights in India. For Hindus, it is the celebration of Laxmi, goddess of wealth and prosperity. It's roughly a combination of the Fourth of July, Christmas, and New Years all rolled into one. Kids run around the city lighting off firecrackers and huge exploding bottle rockets. (for a week!) Riding around the city in the rickshaws was interesting- as firecrackers would literally be exploding underneath you like a mindfield as you bumped through the city. Compound that with the fact that rickshaws usually don't know where they are going, and confusion and chaos seem to rule the holiday season.
I haven't had much time to explore the city yet, but we did go location scouting yesterday and I got to see a lot of the city through the window of our mini-van as we drove around. As if I haven't driven home the point yet, the disparity between affluence and crippling poverty is so astounding and on such a grand scale here that I have trouble coming up with any kind of metaphor to describe it. Pictures may do more then words.
That segways nicely into me talking about my good friend and excellent photographer Anthony Kurtz, who is in India right now and should role through Mumbai in about a week. I am looking forward to seeing him and he should have a multitude of beautiful pics of the country and perhaps I will be able to post some here with permission, although I am sure he will post to his own site as well. I have been taking some pictures with the iphone and the xl1, but I am realizing my limited DP abilities.
Speaking of DP (director of photography or cinematographer) - On this feature I am working on he is formally british trained and very smart. I am glad I read the book on visual effects cinematography so I can at least speak his language. I know this is all stuff I should know to do my job here, so some of the research is paying off but my head is swimming with all of the new information ("circle of confusion" - technical term describing the size of boke blur in an image, or state of my mind right now?) and I am not sure technically how I am going to pull off everything.
We are trying to create a comic book like effect for when the characters of the film go into dream/ fantasy sequences, although the metaphor keeps changing, sometimes they want to add it for effect, sometimes as a transition, and sometimes as device. I am going to film all of the talent on location with green screen scrims behind them. I am getting nervous of on-location green screening, because i think it will be hard to get even lighting, etc. I am also realizing what a dark art lighting is and how little I know about it, despite lighting things for years inside the computer. However, since the elements don't need to be "real compositing" just a vector treatment ala MK12's work, I am hoping I can get away with chewy mattes and less then perfect alphas.
There are also going to be some shots with a lot of roto-ing needed, 3d tracking (of which my software, PFHoe pro only goes up to HD resolution, and the film is being scanned at 2K ((which is 2048 by 1556 resolution!)), and I don't know if I can afford PFTrack) and some 3D modeling/animation elements. I am hoping it doesn't get too.... ambitious... to complete in 2 months when I come back in February. I have 60 days allotted for post production and I am thinking I might need every second.
I am lucky to have Melissa here, as she will create all of the production art and has been creating storyboards non-stop. Having someone to board out effects sequences is beyond useful. It makes me realize how important boards are and how it is worth it to take the time to get them absolutely detailed before you move with production if you have the luxury.
The shoot is being pushed back, (principal starts on the 22nd now) so my whole schedule may be re-arranged. I am going to try and complete every effects shot I can before I leave for home on the 22nd of december. Then I go back to SF in January and then wait for them to finish editing on the feature, however, they are still shooting in January! (the climactic shaadi (wedding) scene too, which I will be bummed to miss) Then they lock their edit and then get Melissa started on production art and then I come out and set up a mini post facility thing-y. I was supposed to go back for one month in Feb, but I think it might be more like two months starting in March. Information on this project has been really hard to come by.
Finally, I would still like some time to see a bit of the country. I know I will at least make it down south to Colaba in the next few days, that is the colonial/British part of the city to the south. While in Juhu Beach there are a few westerners but once we move, for the most part, I am living amongst the populist...
A Mumbaikar Minute
After meeting Tomas at the airport, my american producer, we jumped in the car to go to the bollywood studio to meet his indian studio exec. Again; the new pasted on the old, affluent mixing with the crushingly disenfranchised, and population density that made me feel that I was traveling in a human ant colony.
Loopy with jet lag, brain addled with the 3 text books I had read and annotated on during the 24 hours of travel, we arrived and promptly Tomas bought me new shoes. ("Umm... dude. You look like a homeless guy") He says this to me in a city of homeless, more homeless and poor than I thought could exist in any one place. It then occurred to me that I am not here to travel, not here to sight-see, and not here to observe for my blog, but to work. And part of working is impressing those here with the money and my personal presentation. In San Francisco I am used to resting on my personal appearance with many of my clients. Many of them enjoy the bike riding, pants rolled up, tight ironic hipster t-shirt chic. Here of course, money walks and talks and appearance is crucial.
Waiting to go into a production meeting that never came, instead I sat and observed dailies from a current production. Through a run down office (chipping paint, faded posters on the wall) with a 50 year old brass sign that says "Mixing" we walk through a door and into a state of the art, air conditioned, 5.1 dolby sound mixing studio as large and current as anything I saw at Skywalker.
Sitting on the couch and being brought strong coffee, I watched them review the sound of the latest marginally taboo sex farce/music video/ beautiful people/escapist fantasy/Bollywood Epic.
Back to the hotel. sleep.
2 days of traveling
I was about to write that it takes a long time to get to the other side of the world, however, even with layovers and stops in Seoul and Singapore, it will take less then two days. I don't know how I feel about it... There is an intense amount of energy expenditure everyday scuttling us humans around the world in record time never before comprehended. The two days with little sleep doesn't exactly help me from appreciating the miracle of this fact. The singapore airport is vast and modern. Once again, just vast amounts of energy pumping out acres of channel stores, movie theaters, A/C, MAC cosmetics, musak, Burger Kings, even Seranto Coffee! Thomas Friedman is right, the world is flat when I drink a San Francisco chain coffee double latte in Singapore. But despite all that it was good to be locked in a fixed position with no internet access and a few text books.
I read Mark Sawliski's Filming the Fantastic while on the plane and annotated and highlighted the greasy hairy bits that I didn't know, particularly lighting specifics, 35 mm film stock formats, and lens look up charts. This is all stuff you learn in 101 film school but a lot of it is going to be relatively new to me, and its important I sling the jargon like some sort of half assed expert. It's hilarious though- Sawliski is an old school optical compositor and he spends chapters of his book describing the optical compositing process and then ends each chapter - "Well, they don't really do it this way anymore, or ever again." He includes information on digital but everything is all about "mapping to polygons". Apparently all modern visual effects are accomplished by "polygons". Gotta get me some of them.
I started reading Digital Intermediates for Film and Television but I have the feeling that setting up this workflow is going to be far down the line after the shoot. I am a lot more comfortable with setting up After Effects pipelines anyway, so the I think this will be less of a knowledge shock then actually dictating what lights will be used, platforms built, etc. My mind is a blank slate till I touch down and get in that first production meeting.
I also have absolutely no idea what to expect otherwise, from, you know.. not the job and stuff. Like what "life" will be like. I know all the american crew is crashing in one apartment, but I don't know what hood it is in yet. This has the makings of what happens when people stop being polite, and start being real. The Real world. Bombay.
Hooray for Bollywood
So this blog is going to stay industry oriented and still serve as a feed for motion graphics and effects compositing, however, it may take a few swings into the personal arena as I travel to Mumbai to work on a feature. Don't be surprised if you see some personal photos and notes on here along with some posts of me fumbling my way through a full 35 mm project with Digital Intermediate! I am very excited to work on this project as VFX supervisor and as lead Compositor/Designer.
Stay tuned from India!