TRAVERSING THE CROSSROADS

2009-12-29T06:56:00.000-08:00

Filmmaking 101

A Comprehensive Filmmaking Workshop and Digital Filmmaking
Dates: 30^th, 31^st Jan, 6^th and 7^th February 2010
Time: 12:00 pm to 6: 0 pm
Venue: Kalpataru, The Hobby Club, road no 7, Opp Meridien School, near GVK1 Mall,
Banajara Hill, Hyderabad -34
Fee: Rs 3500/-

(No prerequisites required. Camera and Camerman be provided by us)

Schedule and Course content:

Day 1: Saturday

a) Introduction to Filmmaking Process
b) Digital Filmmaking and Technology (Cameras and Formats)
c) Digital Cinema and Revolution

d) Screenwriting
1. Format and screenwriting softwares
2. How to approach a screenplay

3. Elements of screenwriting

4. Three Act structure and Character driven plot
5. Creating and developing a Character
6. Analysis of few scripts like American Beauty, Little Miss Sunshine, Thelma and Louise etc

Day 2: Sunday

1. Fundamentals of Cinematography
2. Lighting and light equipments

3. Stocks and Films
4. Three Point Lighting

5. Camera aesthetics and operation ( 3CCD mini DV camera)
6. Lenses
7. Colour Temperature, White Balance, Focus, Exposure, ND Filter

Day 3: Saturday

1. Direction

a) Frame Balance & Composition
b) Camera Angles
c) Orientation & Direction
d) Storyboard

e) 180 degree rule
f) Blocking and staging
g) Cinematic techniques

2. Basic Editing Techniques

Day 4: Sunday ( Whole Day)

Shooting Day:

Students will be divided into different groups who will work on a script and make a short film

Students will have to shoot a short film based on the script written by the group. and Cameraman will be provided by us.

The workshop will be conducted by:

Rabi Kisku has produced and directed a digital feature film called "Silicon Jungle" based on the life of IITians, which was released in a multiplex in Chennai and was screened in 8 cities across India. He is currently looking for producers for his next venture "Dreamer's Boulevard".

Siddharath graduated from IIT Madras with a Btech in Electrical engineering and then did his diploma in Cinematography from Mindscreen Film Institute run by Rajiv Menon. He assisted Rajiv Menon in few ads and also does cinematography for corporate and NGO films.

To register and for more details contact Rabi Kisku

Email: rabi@rabikiskuentertainment.com Mobile: 098865 39405, Suresh: 09866817117

Films made by previous batch students:

Filmmaking 101

Filmmaking 102:

Filmmaking 103:

Filmmaking 104:

2009-10-19T03:47:00.000-07:00

Edwood D. Wood Jr

Edwood D. Wood Jr, sounds like his name first name repeats itself without the E, is considered the all time worst filmmaker ever, but I think he is an auteur. Call it the influence of Tim Burton & Johnny Depp for bringing alive the character of Edwood in the movie Edwood with their brilliant direction and acting that I have started to grow a fascination for him. If it were not from Burton & Depp I doubt the movie would have any influence on anybody.

I feel there is a "Edwood" in every filmmaker because of the fact that every filmmaker believes in his story whether it makes sense to others or not. Now there is a thin line between an eccentric genius and an inane filmmaker. If the movie works he is called a genius and if it doesn't go down well the audience he is considered a moron. Again the biggest cult film have been delivered by the great directors and the biggest dud are also been delivered by the great directors. For eg Saawariya by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Alexander by Oliver Stone or the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the crystal skull by Spielber & George Lucas.
Apart from lacking aesthetics & technicalities, Edwood's movies also lacked logic and sensibility but inside him there was a story teller with immense passion for films. He seem to have got involved in the story so much that he didn't or forgot to take care about the other aspects. He was a writer, director, producer, editor and music arranger and never got anything right. A sci-fi writer perhaps had no clue about science & technology.

Somehow after watching Tim Burton's "Edwood" I seem to be respecting every filmmaker and their work whether its good, bad or worse. In India, each state had its own industry and have their own style and perspective. I guess there is no good movie and bad movie concept, its all subjective. I saw a documentary about a filmmaker in Malegaon who remakes the old hindi classics with a handycam casting his local friends as actors, edits it on a home PC, screens it in a local video parlour and releases a CD. Almost every person in that place has his seen at least one of his movies. He may not be a great filmmaker but for few thousands of people in Malegaon he is the Ramesh Shippy or Mani Ratnam.

2009-10-07T03:09:00.000-07:00

Okuribito: Departures
Orkuribito; Departures the Academy award winning film in the best foreign languange film category from Japan is a cinematic Metaphor for "Life & Death". Ironically it deals the subject of life & death in very subtle humourous way. Filled with Synocdoche & Semiotics its a film straight from the rule book of filmmaking. This movie will remind you of the old classical style of filmmaking. It's been a long time since I have not watched a contemprory film in the recent time which has a feel of Satyajit Ray & Kurusawa in it. Watchin this movie is like sitting in a filmmaking class and listening to a master enunciating the nuances of filmmaking. The movie takes on a visual narration sans the plot oriented structure letting the camera and silence talk. Complimented by beautiful cinematography & music the story blends with the philosophy, beauty & emotions.
The movie shows the most contrasting aspect of life through completely contrasting professions symbolizing highs and lows of life. A musicians life, where one is living the life of his dreams and a then the life of an encoffineer who is living a life for the dead giving both dream & death it's identity and importance.
One of the most beautiful scenes of the movie I liked is where the protagnist and an old man look below the bridge on to the river where Salmons are tying to swim upstream and a dead fish is flowing down stream. symbolizing that life and death co exist.

People said that the movie is too long takes its own time in establishing. I never felt it was long.
The other movie which has similar touch but dealt with the darker side of life is Asif Kapadia's "Far North". If this movie was shot in English language then it would have definitely taken away couple of more oscars.If you are a filmmaker then don't miss this movie.

2009-10-05T23:20:00.000-07:00

I Am BACK..

I don't know how many people have been visiting my blog or following my stuff but it's been a constant invisible force from the people around to be part of this new revolutionary wave of reaching people or voice one's opinion. It has almost become an imperative thing to be part of this THE thing. As if the community sites like orkut, facebook, twitter are not enough that we have to succumb to the pressure of the fear of being left behind. I still find blogging much more difficult than writing a screenplay. In a screenplay who know what you are writing, whom are you writing and who all are gonna watch that movie when it is finally made. But blogging I guess is the ability to write random things to communicate with random people and for celebrities its a new marketing strategy in to be in lime light. 3 years back I used to think that I would start blogging only after I become popular with my films but that thing has still eluded me. I wonder how people get time to write so much. I feel that people who have secured jobs and have so much to do in life have time to write blogs. Artists have thier art form to tell their stories. Over that artists are the people who have ample amount of spare time. They spent most of the time just thinking, thinking what to do, how to do & why to do. It's give them more kick in thinking than actually diong it. I don't say I'm completely jobless or have better things to do in life. When you are completely jobless you are totally preoccupied with the thought of find ways to keep yourself busy. I feel I'm more busy when I don't have any project. I go to the gym, make breakfast , wash dishes, make lunch, eat lunch, watch a movie, read, clean the car, wash clothes, mop the floor, then make dinner, eat dinner, wash the dishes & watch a movie. Now if you really have a job in hand you wouldn't think of doing so many things.

2009-01-01T00:57:00.000-08:00

Looking for Producers and Investors for the Film:

Dreamer's Boulevard is an inspirational underdog story which has a universal theme about dreams and ambitions which every individual could associate with.

It is a low budget entertaining commercial feature length film to be shot in 35 mm film format with a budget of around Rs 1 Crore.

It will be a coming of age Bollywood film under college drama genre, featuring actors from Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore.

The movie will be shot in English language in Bangalore. It will have a urban multiplex release targeted at youth, corporate and family audience. It will later be dubbed in Hindi and Telugu for the north and South audience for additional revenues from regional satellite rights.

The movie will be closely on the lines of “Iqbal”, “Bend It Like Beckham” and have the “Rock On” and “School of Rock” flavor.

The movie can be produced either by a single investor or 2-3 co-investors who can invest from 30 lakhs or more and share the income accordingly.

Slide 3

•

Slide 3

2008-12-16T03:01:00.000-08:00

Dreamer's Boulevard:

People dream, but half way through some give it up and some let it go and there are few who stand by it, hold on to it every moment of their life to achieve it. They are so passionate and in love with their dream that they never give up until they fulfil it facing every obstacle and crossing every hurdle that comes across them.

Dreamer's Boulevard is about people who dare to dream and chose to traverse a road less travelled. It's about those writers, singers, composers, actors, musicians, painters, sculptors and their struggle to make a indentity in life.

It's story of a 17 year old girl Visakha and her four years journey chasing an unconventional dream against her parents will and against stereotypical dogmatic society in a male dominated realm.

It describes how Visakha not only fights all odds and overcome all hurdles to conquer her dream but also inspires others to follow their heart.

The movies is set in a college where all the events happen during her college life.

2008-11-26T00:48:00.000-08:00

Filmmaking 104

A Comprehensive Filmmaking Workshop and Digital Filmmaking
Dates: 6^th, 7^th, 13^th and 14^th December 08
Time: 10:00 am to 4: 30 pm
Venue: St. Joseph Boys School, Musuem rd, Near Residency Rd, Bangalore.
Fee: Rs 5000/-

(No prerequisites required. Camera, Camerman and Editing studio will be provided by us)

Schedule and Course content:

Day 1: Saturday 6th December:

a) Introduction to Filmmaking Process
b) Digital Filmmaking and Technology (Cameras and Formats)
c) Digital Cinema and Revolution

d) Screenwriting
1. Format and screenwriting softwares
2. How to approach a screenplay

3. Elements of screenwriting

4. Three Act structure and Character driven plot
5. Creating and developing a Character
6. Analysis of few scripts like American Beauty, Little Miss Sunshine, Thelma and Louise etc

Day 2: Sunday 7th December.

1. Fundamentals of Cinematography
2. Lighting and light equipments

3. Stocks and Films
4. Three Point Lighting

5. Camera aesthetics and operation ( 3CCD mini DV camera)

Day 3: Saturday 13th December:

1. Direction

a) Frame Balance & Composition b) Camera Angles c) Orientation & Direction d) Storyboard

e) 180 degree rule
f) Blocking and staging
g) Cinematic techniques

2. Basic Editing Techniques

3. Trip to Post production studio

Day 4: Sunday 14th December ( Whole Day)

Shooting Day:

Students will be divided into different groups who will work on a script and make a short film

Students will have to shoot a short film based on the script written by the group. Professional Camera and Cameraman will be provided by us. Later they have to edit the film at a studio provided by us.

Day 5: Sunday 21st December ( 5:00 - 8:00 pm)

Screening and analysis of the short films made by the students.

To register and for more details contact Rabi Kisku

Email: rabi.kisku@gmail.com Mobile: 98865 39405

Films made by previous batch students:

Filmmaking 101

Filmmaking 102:

Filmmaking 103:

Filmmaking 104:

2006-07-10T07:07:00.000-07:00

My Tryst With Adieu

When the Alumni Association asked me to make a video for ADIEU-2005, I was on cloud nine. The video would be watched by all the current graduating class and the alumni attending the function. And the problem before me was how to shrink four (or more!) exciting years into a 5-minute video!! I knew the video would have to leave a lasting impression however it was made and I knew it better be really good.

The enthusiasm it generated was enough to outweigh our B.Tech projects, a few work slots, some quizzes and a couple of W grades. We formed a group of 20 to 25 students and got going. We listed out what to include and what to leave out. Some interesting questions came up. If we included the first smoke at Tarams , the waterless bogs, the long waits outside the girls' hostels, the grub at Quark and the fun at Sangam and Saarang, there was no time to cover the last-minute mugging for quizzes, the CRC or the library!!

Despite a lot of planning, things hardly fell into place (after all, we are IITians too!). Anyone close to the camera got a role! Even the security officer got his space on the screen. Nitish Joshi (now in IIMB) and Suprita (a third-year student at IITM) were our perfect 'hero' and 'heroine' for the video. Special mentions for Anita and Makkad ("Nick") are due.

We made it a point to cover all the possible locations - departments, hostels, Tarams, Vels, even the bogs ! As a result, we had to run from one place to another, getting permissions for shooting at the various spots, carrying the equipment and trying to get somebody to act. The entire shooting was completed in a single day (two days before ADIEU). We started at 8 in the morning and we wrapped up by 9 at night.

Once the shooting was completed, we finished the editing with considerable ease. The trick was to get the right background music for that would decide the mood we set. We just couldn't find the right lyrics. After a full night of Googling for the right lyrics and music, we wisely decided to do away with the lyrics for there was no time to find the song which we wanted to sing. The theme music from the film Braveheart seemed just what we wanted and suited the video so well that we couldn't believe our luck. With the function due to start at 4 pm, we left the editing studio at 3 pm only to find the CD broken when we came back. 3.30 pm.

Thanks to some skillful driving and a 5-minute delay at the start, we screened the video as promised and I can say with full confidence that there wasn't a single soul left unmoved. My friends broke down in tears and sobbed uncontrollably. To top it all, there was Aanchal Sultania's poem at the end.

To all of us involved in the making of the video and to all those present at the CLT on that blissful evening, it was, undoubtedly, the most pleasant JOURNEYof our lives.

2006-04-30T07:34:00.000-07:00

Directors cut:

Ok I see lot of discussion about the flaws of the movie. I would like to clarify where things went wrong.

First of all, let me tell you that this film was shot in very unusual and unconventional circumstances. We had constraints from all corners,

1. Money,
2. Time,
3. Actors and crew availability and
4. Location problem.

And to shoot a feature film with such constraints was highly impossible.

When we started off we had just one forth of the money what we had expected for production. We took loan from the institute and pooled in scholarship and stipend money from friends and batch-mates. The money wasn’t enough to complete the shooting so we had to compromise on few things like lighting and equipments. Sponsorship money came later.

We shot it in the month of May after the end semester examination. Some had summer course, some had projects to submit, some had visa interviews, no dues etc and some had to leave for vacations. It was difficult to coordinate and get every body at the same.

We had permission for just twelve days of shooting in the campus. And in IIT, if you want to remove and relocate even a brick it needs letter from the higher authority. Since it was shot in real locations like hostel rooms, class rooms, and canteen it was tough to place all the lighting and camera equipments in such small room. When we fell behind schedule we had to take permission again for the extra time. Lot of time was wasted getting letters itself.

And about

Abrupt ending:

The movie was planned for 100 minutes. Unfortunately we couldn’t shoot the climax scenes which need two days of shooting time in aerospace lab and few extra equipments. In place of two days we were allowed to shoot only for two hours. Money got over by the end of and people had to leave for vacations. We were left without a climax in the movie. So I had to play around with whatever footage I had and have a decent ending. The removal of the actual climax scene made a lot of difference to the actual story line.

2. Other aspects of IIT.

There were scenes of Inter IIT sports meet and Saarang also. We had to remove those scenes because the initial cast which was supposed to be in the film dropped out when the main shooting began.

Lingos:

If there weren’t IIT lingos the movie wouldn’t have been an IIT movie. We wanted it to be more natural.

Sponsorship Branding:

Corporate people don’t go by subtlety. When money is involved without any backup its better to play a safe game. And we needed money desperately.

Editing:

There were too many mistakes in the film. When we tried to cover one, another appeared. Every one in this crew was a first timer except Mihir Mysore.

Length of the film:

There is lot of difference between a documentary and a feature film. Any fictional film above 70 minutes is called a feature. This movie had more than 70 scenes and that too without songs, dance and fights. Holding audience for 80 minutes at stretched in good enough.

As a Director I was never happy at the way things went. There were times when I thought of scraping the whole project and burn the footage. But there were things that kept me moving. I didn’t want to waste the hard work and honest effort of so many people that went into it.
More than the technical aspects I think it is the story and a novel message that counts. And that came across.

In spite of all the hurdles, constraints and pain I’m proud that we pulled it off.

Rabi Kisku

2006-03-26T06:47:00.000-08:00

Ticket 2 Tinsel town

On 24^th of march,2006 I officially became a Film Maker (Producer, Director). I received the censor certificate from the Censor Board of Film Certification for the film Silicon Jungle and hence baptizing me to Film Maker. I lived for a year without a professional designation, though sometimes I called myself as a freelance, occasionally a writer and when I gave up, Jobless. Its an irony that I still haven’t got my mechanical engineering graduation degree certificate from IIT Madras yet (I still haven’t submitted the no dues). I don’t know the fate of my movie, I don’t know whether I will ever be able to make a another movie, god forbid if anything happens to me, but whatever happens, in the end I will die as a Film Maker.

2006-03-09T05:58:00.000-08:00

Movie Stills

Check out the pics from the movie Silicon Jungle.

2006-03-06T04:30:00.000-08:00

Silicon Jungle

Silicon jungle, call it a dream or an odyssey.

For those who have being a part of with this for all these years, the struggle we being through, the obstacles we faced and the hurdles we crossed, definitely its more than just a movie.

Silicon Jungle has been through many ups and downs, from being a vague idea to a plausible task, from a doomed project to a successful endeavor. Making this movie was no less than taking the lord of the ring to the mount doom. After so much of humiliation, trauma, hardships and privation we did come a long way.

People say I made Silicon Jungle but the fact is that, it made a film maker out of me. I didn’t choose this road, it just happen on the due course. Its like, my destiny showed me the way and I just followed it wherever it took me. The only thing I did was hold on to it. Every day was a new day and every event a surprise.

In fact if I had not made silicon jungle I don’t where I would have been, perhaps working in a software firm, writing endless codes and dreaming to make movie someday or the other. And that day would never come.

It took more than three long years to make silicon jungle, more than the usual time for a big budget Bollywood movie. But the important thing is that we MADE it.