We set off from home again, early in the morning. Today was the big day of the steadycam shoot but as luck would have it, it wasn't really working the way we would have liked it to. The cinematographer had spent the whole of yesterday night trying to get it to work but it didn't.
We were picked up by our friends (also part of the cast and crew) as usual and we narrated the sad tale of the steadycam woes to them. It was then that one of them said he has a steadycam of his own and that we could pick it up on the way. That was such a relief!
Happily, we got to the location, with two steadycams in tow. Once we got there, the rest of us set up for the day's shoot while one chap tried to put together the new steadycam.
Shoot progressed pretty smoothly and eventlessly up until after noon when we stopped for a lunch break. A few us, including me, drove to the nearest McDonalds while the rest rested/waited/worked further on getting the steadycam right, back in the location (which, by the way, is still the same beautiful road and bus stops from yesterday).
Just as we reached McDonalds, it began to pour cats and dogs. We immediately called up the guys at the location to warn them of the impending rain, only to be told that the location is already completely drenched but they were all happy and safe under the bus shelters.
We armed ourselves with a ton of burgers and litres of iced Milo and got back to the location. The rain continued to beat down. Given that no shoot was possible anyway, two guys, including the cinematographer, decided to drop by the place that rented out the steadycam and figure out what's wrong with it. Looks like neither of the steadycams were really working the way they should. But I was thankful that with the thought of a spare steadycam at my disposal, at least I could complete the morning shoot in peace!
So as the two boys proceed with the steadycam task at hand, the rest of us waited in the location, waiting for the rain to stop and for the guys to get back. But it was a fun hour of waiting, when we discussed everything under the sun from movies to traditional artforms to world problems.
Soon the rain stopped, the guys returned, and we started to shoot again, now with the steadycam that seemed to work a bit better. We moved to a new location - the road right next to where we were basic - a gorgeous, empty, long, straight stretch with a row of trees lining it on either side.
We had a wonderful time shooting there. Sure, the steadycam was tricky, clearly we were not masters of it and the sun also played tricks - hiding and appearing every now and then from behind the clouds, making a mess of our lighting.
We also had a really unique problem. When we did the final rehearsal two days ago and had a few photos taken, I noticed from the pictures that the leading guy's glasses (also, his prop for the movie) were extremely reflective, unlike the ones that I wear. So during the shoot, he had been wearing my glasses throughout to avoid this issue (at the risk of blinding him, of course). So far it had worked fine but in this new location, where he was supposed to be out of the shelter of the bus stop and walking in the sun, we realized that we had a really HUGE problem on our hands! My glasses had transition lens which turned dark with the sunlight. So every 30 seconds, we had to cut the scene, get the glasses covered, wait for it to get back to its normal clear state and reshoot. What a mess.
But still all of us were on a high. This was the final scene to be shot for the day and we were happy that we had progressed so far. After several takes, we finally wrapped up the shoot.
And then went to total madness mode. We decided to take over the road, stood in its very middle, with a few cars whizzing past us, taking pictures, dancing and giggling like teenagers. What fun!
We ended the day with a team dinner at a nearby food court, once again hurling ourselves into deep conversations on movies and what contributions we can make to the field. On the way back, we also dropped in at a temple to do the site recee for tomorrow's shoot. Being in that peaceful atmosphere was a good winding down to the day.
Another day of shoot, thus came to an end. Tiring but super productive and fun!
We were picked up by our friends (also part of the cast and crew) as usual and we narrated the sad tale of the steadycam woes to them. It was then that one of them said he has a steadycam of his own and that we could pick it up on the way. That was such a relief!
Happily, we got to the location, with two steadycams in tow. Once we got there, the rest of us set up for the day's shoot while one chap tried to put together the new steadycam.
Shoot progressed pretty smoothly and eventlessly up until after noon when we stopped for a lunch break. A few us, including me, drove to the nearest McDonalds while the rest rested/waited/worked further on getting the steadycam right, back in the location (which, by the way, is still the same beautiful road and bus stops from yesterday).
Just as we reached McDonalds, it began to pour cats and dogs. We immediately called up the guys at the location to warn them of the impending rain, only to be told that the location is already completely drenched but they were all happy and safe under the bus shelters.
We armed ourselves with a ton of burgers and litres of iced Milo and got back to the location. The rain continued to beat down. Given that no shoot was possible anyway, two guys, including the cinematographer, decided to drop by the place that rented out the steadycam and figure out what's wrong with it. Looks like neither of the steadycams were really working the way they should. But I was thankful that with the thought of a spare steadycam at my disposal, at least I could complete the morning shoot in peace!
So as the two boys proceed with the steadycam task at hand, the rest of us waited in the location, waiting for the rain to stop and for the guys to get back. But it was a fun hour of waiting, when we discussed everything under the sun from movies to traditional artforms to world problems.
Soon the rain stopped, the guys returned, and we started to shoot again, now with the steadycam that seemed to work a bit better. We moved to a new location - the road right next to where we were basic - a gorgeous, empty, long, straight stretch with a row of trees lining it on either side.
We had a wonderful time shooting there. Sure, the steadycam was tricky, clearly we were not masters of it and the sun also played tricks - hiding and appearing every now and then from behind the clouds, making a mess of our lighting.
We also had a really unique problem. When we did the final rehearsal two days ago and had a few photos taken, I noticed from the pictures that the leading guy's glasses (also, his prop for the movie) were extremely reflective, unlike the ones that I wear. So during the shoot, he had been wearing my glasses throughout to avoid this issue (at the risk of blinding him, of course). So far it had worked fine but in this new location, where he was supposed to be out of the shelter of the bus stop and walking in the sun, we realized that we had a really HUGE problem on our hands! My glasses had transition lens which turned dark with the sunlight. So every 30 seconds, we had to cut the scene, get the glasses covered, wait for it to get back to its normal clear state and reshoot. What a mess.
But still all of us were on a high. This was the final scene to be shot for the day and we were happy that we had progressed so far. After several takes, we finally wrapped up the shoot.
And then went to total madness mode. We decided to take over the road, stood in its very middle, with a few cars whizzing past us, taking pictures, dancing and giggling like teenagers. What fun!
We ended the day with a team dinner at a nearby food court, once again hurling ourselves into deep conversations on movies and what contributions we can make to the field. On the way back, we also dropped in at a temple to do the site recee for tomorrow's shoot. Being in that peaceful atmosphere was a good winding down to the day.
Another day of shoot, thus came to an end. Tiring but super productive and fun!
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