[The Destination Film Shoot]
9 April, 2015
I woke up to a lovely morning in Abu Dhabi.
I started my day with meditation and some yoga. I was following the 30 day yoga challenge by Adrienne (available on Youtube) during this time. It is a series of low intensity yoga lessons, each less than 30 minutes in duration, which is perfect during travels and high stress times such as your first shoot in a foreign country.
Post yoga and freshening up, I joined the team for the elaborate breakfast in the hotel. The cast, the cameraman from India and I were staying at the hotel, while the editor stayed on in his house in Abu Dhabi. But he planned to join us for breakfast every morning.
As soon as he came over I asked, ""Licence vanno?" (Do we have the licence?)
He promptly replied, "Licence vannittilla." (Nope)
Little did I know then that this would be our regular exchange for the rest of my stay in Abu Dhabi. But more on that later.
Over a relaxed breakfast, we discussed the day's plan. First we would have a puja (prayer) done. Then we will shoot a couple of small scenes in a few private properties that we have permission for. Most of the scenes to be shot on private properties were more like sequences in montages and I thought it would be a great way for the cast and crew to get warmed up.
One of the "private properties" also happened to be a car. We have a few short sequences in a car as the protagonists in the film tour around the city. And the same licencor whose laptop was destroyed by tea was supposed to do the one and only cameo in the film, as the car's driver.
So I decided to make the most of the day's schedule.
Me: Why don't we also shoot the car scenes with the licencor?
Editor: That can't happen until later.
Me: Why?
Editor: Because he doesn't have the licence...
Me: Yes, I know... but this is inside a car...
Editor: No, no... not the licence for the shoot. He also doesn't have his driving licence.
*SILENCE*
Me: Uhm.. why?
Editor: Because of some traffic rule violation. It was impounded. But don't worry, he will be getting it back in two days and then we can shoot.
So that was that. But we decided that we could still shoot with him today for a certain scene that was to be outside the car and hence, didn't really require a driving licence.
The editor left to figure out how to get the puja done, while the cast and I rehearsed a few scenes. After a couple of hours, the editor came back with some food and said that soon after lunch, we will be going to the production house (the one he is working for and which is supporting us) for the puja and then straight on to shoot.
So after lunch, the cast changed into their costumes, we picked up all the equipment and soon were on our way to the studio in the car which was the key prop for the film as well. Over the next 10 days, we, i.e. the two cast members, editor, cameraman and myself would find ourselves sitting in that car for hundreds of hours, travelling for thousands of kilometres, and building up a nice bonding all along.
The arrangements at the studio for the puja was pretty nice. They had set up a table with the puja materials, pictures of various deities representing various religions and some film equipment such as camera and tripod. They had also invited a veteran dance master to perform the ceremony for us and he did thorough job of it. It was awesome! I was thrilled with my first ever pre-shoot puja with the entire team!
Post the puja, we set off to our first location - a dates shop to shoot a short montage sequence. We drove there and realized that the place is overflowing with tourists and totally not conducive for any kind of shoot.
So we drove away.
So much for that.
Then we went to the Kerala Social Centre, which really is a little piece of God's Own Country within the city of Abu Dhabi. I had discovered this place in my previous visit for location recee, when I was taken there to have chukku kaapi, or spiced coffee, at its little coffee shop. It's hard to describe just how much "mallu" this place was in its look and feel, so am gonna let the description be. Let's just say I fell in love with everything from the lazily draped cloth around the courtyard at the center as a screen against the sun to the chukku kappi that I wanted to shoot a scene there in which the actors would consume that same chukku kaapi!
So we went to Kerala Social Center and shot. Our first shoot for the film!
The scene featured both the actors as well as the licencor who was playing the driver and I have to say that it was a pretty smooth shoot. There were no technical glitches, all three actors sailed through it, and my cameraman was happy to take all sorts of interesting shots in and around the area on his own, which was really cool. We could wrap up in just half an hour or so, which is just as well, because we were soon losing light.
And yeah, then we lost light. So we packed up for the day and decided on the next day's schedule - which was to shoot at a camel farm, yet another private property that I had come across during my location recee and where we had permit to shoot. This place was in the middle of the desert, surrounded by dunes and about 300 kilometers away.
Me: What plans for tomorrow?
Editor: We definitely won't be getting the licence tomorrow. It's the weekend.
Me: Then?
Editor: Let's go to the camel farm and shoot?
Me: You mean the desert?
Editor: Yes.
Me: But we planned to shoot the climax in the desert!
Editor: Yes, so we can shoot the climax tomorrow.
Me: So the very first shoot of the film will be the climax scene?!
Editor: Yes.
I always try to shoot the climax scene at the very end. That's when the actors are at their peak - the high of having come so far take their performance to a different level. And now I have to shoot it at the very beginning, when they hardly have even warmed up!
Me: Yeah, let's do it.
It didn't make sense to waste a whole day without shooting anything. We didn't really have a choice.
So we planned that we will be off by 7am the next day. So after a quick dinner, we got back to the hotel and I hit the bed, and mentally prepared to shoot the first proper scene - the climax.
9 April, 2015
I woke up to a lovely morning in Abu Dhabi.
I started my day with meditation and some yoga. I was following the 30 day yoga challenge by Adrienne (available on Youtube) during this time. It is a series of low intensity yoga lessons, each less than 30 minutes in duration, which is perfect during travels and high stress times such as your first shoot in a foreign country.
Post yoga and freshening up, I joined the team for the elaborate breakfast in the hotel. The cast, the cameraman from India and I were staying at the hotel, while the editor stayed on in his house in Abu Dhabi. But he planned to join us for breakfast every morning.
As soon as he came over I asked, ""Licence vanno?" (Do we have the licence?)
He promptly replied, "Licence vannittilla." (Nope)
Little did I know then that this would be our regular exchange for the rest of my stay in Abu Dhabi. But more on that later.
Over a relaxed breakfast, we discussed the day's plan. First we would have a puja (prayer) done. Then we will shoot a couple of small scenes in a few private properties that we have permission for. Most of the scenes to be shot on private properties were more like sequences in montages and I thought it would be a great way for the cast and crew to get warmed up.
One of the "private properties" also happened to be a car. We have a few short sequences in a car as the protagonists in the film tour around the city. And the same licencor whose laptop was destroyed by tea was supposed to do the one and only cameo in the film, as the car's driver.
So I decided to make the most of the day's schedule.
Me: Why don't we also shoot the car scenes with the licencor?
Editor: That can't happen until later.
Me: Why?
Editor: Because he doesn't have the licence...
Me: Yes, I know... but this is inside a car...
Editor: No, no... not the licence for the shoot. He also doesn't have his driving licence.
*SILENCE*
Me: Uhm.. why?
Editor: Because of some traffic rule violation. It was impounded. But don't worry, he will be getting it back in two days and then we can shoot.
So that was that. But we decided that we could still shoot with him today for a certain scene that was to be outside the car and hence, didn't really require a driving licence.
The editor left to figure out how to get the puja done, while the cast and I rehearsed a few scenes. After a couple of hours, the editor came back with some food and said that soon after lunch, we will be going to the production house (the one he is working for and which is supporting us) for the puja and then straight on to shoot.
So after lunch, the cast changed into their costumes, we picked up all the equipment and soon were on our way to the studio in the car which was the key prop for the film as well. Over the next 10 days, we, i.e. the two cast members, editor, cameraman and myself would find ourselves sitting in that car for hundreds of hours, travelling for thousands of kilometres, and building up a nice bonding all along.
The arrangements at the studio for the puja was pretty nice. They had set up a table with the puja materials, pictures of various deities representing various religions and some film equipment such as camera and tripod. They had also invited a veteran dance master to perform the ceremony for us and he did thorough job of it. It was awesome! I was thrilled with my first ever pre-shoot puja with the entire team!
Post the puja, we set off to our first location - a dates shop to shoot a short montage sequence. We drove there and realized that the place is overflowing with tourists and totally not conducive for any kind of shoot.
So we drove away.
So much for that.
Then we went to the Kerala Social Centre, which really is a little piece of God's Own Country within the city of Abu Dhabi. I had discovered this place in my previous visit for location recee, when I was taken there to have chukku kaapi, or spiced coffee, at its little coffee shop. It's hard to describe just how much "mallu" this place was in its look and feel, so am gonna let the description be. Let's just say I fell in love with everything from the lazily draped cloth around the courtyard at the center as a screen against the sun to the chukku kappi that I wanted to shoot a scene there in which the actors would consume that same chukku kaapi!
So we went to Kerala Social Center and shot. Our first shoot for the film!
The scene featured both the actors as well as the licencor who was playing the driver and I have to say that it was a pretty smooth shoot. There were no technical glitches, all three actors sailed through it, and my cameraman was happy to take all sorts of interesting shots in and around the area on his own, which was really cool. We could wrap up in just half an hour or so, which is just as well, because we were soon losing light.
And yeah, then we lost light. So we packed up for the day and decided on the next day's schedule - which was to shoot at a camel farm, yet another private property that I had come across during my location recee and where we had permit to shoot. This place was in the middle of the desert, surrounded by dunes and about 300 kilometers away.
Me: What plans for tomorrow?
Editor: We definitely won't be getting the licence tomorrow. It's the weekend.
Me: Then?
Editor: Let's go to the camel farm and shoot?
Me: You mean the desert?
Editor: Yes.
Me: But we planned to shoot the climax in the desert!
Editor: Yes, so we can shoot the climax tomorrow.
Me: So the very first shoot of the film will be the climax scene?!
Editor: Yes.
I always try to shoot the climax scene at the very end. That's when the actors are at their peak - the high of having come so far take their performance to a different level. And now I have to shoot it at the very beginning, when they hardly have even warmed up!
Me: Yeah, let's do it.
It didn't make sense to waste a whole day without shooting anything. We didn't really have a choice.
So we planned that we will be off by 7am the next day. So after a quick dinner, we got back to the hotel and I hit the bed, and mentally prepared to shoot the first proper scene - the climax.
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