day 14, pre-production

the most introspective day so far. full up major up's and down's. boy, the day whizzes by so fast, so much happens and still not much happens....its a constant swing....

whats the fate of this film? what will happen? too many 'what's' too early in the day...
what seemed impossible yesterday, suddenly seems possible....what seemed a certainity now seems like a huge doubt....uff....

hmm....we have some way to go, its so hard to find talent, i cant come up with an innovative casting call option....we dont have professional casting directors, i wish we had professional location managers.....professional fund raisers....the list is endless :).....

i want to bring about a change in the way a film is produced with this project....there are so many innovative things i want to do...so little time to apply them right now...dunno know.....anyways..

more preparation, better mind and body co-ordination....more focus on the end goal....more emphasis on immediate targets....more, more, more....

lets see what tomorrow has in store, the months is coming to an end....we have about a month to go for shoot, i see the start day being pushed by a week....why? cus feb has 29 this time round, right?

enough time....dunno....so much has to happen?....hmmm........

later

day 13, pre production

its been a whole week since i posted anything here...i dont know why...its been a whirlwind few days. a lot has been happening, i know i must make more of an effort to post regularly...

i just got back from chennai, had a few sessions with the music director, gave him the script and everything, had quite an intense time with him...the result is a few good tracks....happy about that....very happy...

we have also roped in the main female lead in the movie...so thats terrific too...

i know you guys have been saying, more pictures, no more cryptic messages, etc etc....i have to take a call on this....its not like confessions you know....this time its a high profile thing, and i dont think i wanna reveal too much about the MD or the heroine, the industry is a....so competitive....my assets soon become a liability.....i dont know...i see your point, let me see if i can work something out....

but yeah, lets see, its almost two weeks since pre-production started, and we have the main leads fixed, we have most of the tunes ready, i have an art director working on the designs, just waiting for some confirmations from the DOP and Cost.Designer....hmmm....

a lot of the casting is due though....lot of roles to audition for...maybe i must hit the 'press' button and get some more people coming in for auditions....lets see...

otherwise, tons of stuff happening everyday...i'll stop here for now, am blogging for work, so feeling kinda guilty about that.....must focus on some work....

till later guys

day 6 pre production

was a terrific day yesterday, we might have found the perfect girl for the project, lets see if it works out...wont say anymore at this point.

things are moving on quite well....auditions and talent searches are in full swing...almost...well it could be better...

will keep it short this time....have to get back to some work right now...

day 5, pre production

I told everyone to take it easy, was a sunday after all. Came in later to meet a few costume designers. All of them were not what I wanted in a film costume designer.....hardly anyone these days has any sort of passion for film costume designing....cant blame them I suppose, I guess they dont see much of a future here....

So here is a call out....is there a costume designer out there....I need one for my movie....he/she must be real/original/passionate and desperate to want to proove themselves in this field :) please do pass the word around, its a major position as far as my crew is concerned...

A few exciting things are in store this week...have been working on the title design for the movie....its still in its early stages, but we are getting it ready for a possible press conference later this week...

And from today its audition time....people are going to be coming in for screen tests...gotta rush out so later guys....

day 4, pre production

the best day so far. had a day long script reading with the entire team....was a terrific session which ended with everyone debating about the film with passion...
good stuff.

as i went through the entire script one more time....it just re-affirmed to me, this is a monumental project...atleast for me...looking forward to the challenges ahead...

capped off the night with dinner with the team and headed back home...

day 3, pre production

Its been great to see how the industry reacts to Sekhar. He is easily today the most eagerly watched and anticipated of all filmmakers here in A.P....from the days when he wasn't allowed into a studio floor and was asked to wait outside, to today when people leap out of chairs to greet him.....wow!
the industry is a funny place huh....

again not much happened at work yesterday, it was a nice lazy day spent chatting about the script and so on...but today morning is important...i must have already mentioned...a team script session...i am hoping for some bright ideas and questions....

last night i watched nagesh kukunoors bombay to bangkok.....a very bad movie....2 hrs long....but it felt lik 4hrs.....is this the same guy who made Iqbal and Dor...hmmm...

well, need to get ready for work...so will catch up later guys...

day 2, pre production

I am writing while I am still at work. Goes to show that nothing much happened today. Most of the crew had to catch up on the script, so they have been spending the day reading, while I have been trying to put some of my thoughts about the project on a whiteboard.

An extremely dull day at work. Tomorrow will be better cus everyone would have read it by then and I am sure they will have a million things to say or maybe not...my direction team never had much to say, actually they had nothing to say after watching 'confessions'....so I'll be surprised if they have anything to say this time round....

sigh...."you guys can speak up you know...its a free country..."

So to encourage that, I will have a team script session tomorrow....that will get everyone on the same plane as far as the script goes....meanwhile my music director says he has a new tune coming up....keeping my fingers crossed on that one....

Have also let a leading art director read my script...I want him on the project, he is easily the best in the business right now and it will be a first for amigos if we hire a art department like his...lets see what happens with that.....

thats it for now

day 1, pre-production

Wednesday, July 04, 2007 that was my last dated post in my earlier blog.

Lot has happened since then. Some of you might already know....I am on the verge of starting my second feature film.

Like I said, a lot has happened since the 4th of July last year. To start of Happy Days is the biggest hit of the year and then a script which I first started working on in 2006, came back to life late in 07.

So after months of making notes and rewrites, the script is finally done and official pre-production started today. well 16th actually.

I thought it was time for me to once again bring a blog back to life and get into the hang of writing....that will take a little time, but I must document this I feel....

Its going to be two months of pre-production starting today, followed by two months of shoot and a release hopefully in august-september or maybe winter (if post takes time).

I have so much more to talk about, but let me get this blog out of the way today.
I promise to have more details in tomorrow..

for now...I want to say 'hi' to all my friends who have been looking forward to hearing what I might have to say next....its been a wait huh?

bye for now.

One last confession....

It’s a little over 2 weeks since COF released online. Its been something alright. Initially I just caved in to the pressure and the comments. I didn’t know how to react and sort of went into a shell. Also what was bothering me was I never had a chance to sit back and just enjoy the fact that I’d released my movie. There was tremendous backend support work which I had to do and am still doing.
I understood what it takes to have a pay-movie-site….things go wrong…people don’t get passwords….they don’t know how to login…there are video buffering problems,all kind of shit happens, I have had customers call me direct to my house…etc etc.
Through all of this I was trying to upload a higher quality video…but have failed so far…the uploads speeds just aren’t good enough here in India…but that’s alright.Anyways….so, it took a couple of weeks for everything to be streamlined….and now with almost minimal backend support, the movie is doing fine, no great!…

Its a small piece of history, maybe in telugu cinema, if not Indian cinema...a full length feature film...shot on hi-definition....
it had a blog running, building a community around it....released trailers on youtube and finally released the film itself on the web....small but siginificant....I wonder who can claim to have made some decent money on something like this too?
Meanwhile, its been wonderful connecting with every single person who has paid and watched my movie….thats a privilege very few filmmakers have….its also a privilege to hear the choicest abuses right at your face….but the compliments that come through, more than make up for the former. :)

Anyways….so, it took a couple of weeks for everything to be streamlined….and now with almost minimal backend support, the movie is doing fine, no great!
The feedback I have been getting has been tremendous….people have either loved it or hated it….and that’s fine…I have tried to write back to most of them…
The number of hits has been gratifying,overwhelming…..33,000 hits at the time of writing….thats great!...
ofcourse a small percentage of people have decided to pay $5 and watch too…. I’ll keep you guessing on the actual number :)….but I’ll admit its enough to pay off my credit card bills for now….I know for a fact that 1 out of 5 people have shared passwords...which is great for the movie...not that great for my purse though :) oh well, you win some you loose some,right?

So yes….what does a filmmaker go through once his film is released huh? Well I think its unique in each case….I believe my movie has been a success, more for me personally…I made a movie…I said what I had to say…and I got a few people to watch it…and some of them loved it….thats good enough for me…for now.
Made on a budget of 4.5lakhs, in 30 days….shooting for not more than 4 hours each day…editing and other post work for nearly 3-4 months, depending on when studios were free…I feel vindicated whenever I read or hear from someone who has understood the movie and what it stood for….I have put a lot more at stake professionally than financially.

In the PFC community, I would like to thank ‘Striker’ and ‘OM’….the very first reviews which came out were from them….their views and thoughts gave me a lot of confidence in the initial days….when more such reviews poured in, I felt vindicated.

And ofcourse, OZ….thanks for just having the vision to build a site like this….What a community of people these are….what a collective passion for cinema!. By taking up a cause like ‘confessions’ and several others, you truly stand by what you say your site is all about.
lol...this is beginning to sound like an award acceptance speech....so yeah, I'll continue..stop the music, let me finish...

thanks to everyone at PFC....we may not know each other by faces....but we know each other by our collective passions for cinema.
thanks to everyone who followed my blog....you didnt know me or my film then....but decided to spend some time on it.
thanks to everyone who wished me well....every great review and every bad review....if someone feels for your movie....good or bad....its an honour either ways.
thanks to my friends and family....for not questioning why I decided to do this...and supporting me all the way through.
thanks to anurag kashyap...I dont know you personally and I dont think you have watched it...but your outlook on cinema has been inspiring to me...a scene in my movie was based on your feelings.
(PFC viewers take the trouble to guess which one :))
thanks to kamal, for living the role and carrying the film on his shoulders....(remember guys, just one actor in a movie and 1hr:45mins, its not as easy as it sounds,its fucking tough.)

and finally....
thanks to our constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression, for which PFC and my blog is evidence of...

ciao.
for now...
Anish Kuruvilla

sigh

I really dont know what to write. On the one hand, I am really happy my movie is released. I am also really satisfied with the feedback I have recieved. I mean its all cool. Lots of people watched...some money earnt....good.

but what really saddens me....is I have been unable to do anything about getting a high quality video out like I thought I could....
its too....its really dis-heartening....
my film was shot on hi-definition....and I have to make to with some really poor quality video....sigh.

anyways.....thats been hardest to deal with....I am still trying to see what I can do...its not that getting a high quality file is tough....but getting it uploaded with the shitty upload speeds I have here....thats a nightmare....
all this tech shit, has taken out the maaza from me completly....

anyways...I will write later....yet another weekend gone by, where I haven't been able to do what I want.....

A GRAPH SPEAKS A MILLION WORDS

This is whats been happening at my site since the 15th of June 07.

:)

DOWN BUT NOT OUT!

Its been terrible. First I thought I had only video problems. I got that sorted out in time.Now something in the 'code' gave in....we did a million tests earlier...and it was working fine....
but then....whatever.

we have found the problem...fixing it will take a couple of hours from now...and then the website will be up again..
its sheer hard luck....and i am trying not to get too worked up about it....
i hope i can bring back my audience to watch my film....

now is not the time to crib and complain...i am just waiting for my film to come out...and then i'll be a free man.

p.s users who have paid and are worried about pwd expiry...not to worry, i'll be fixing it. sorry for the HUGE KLPD!

ITS SHOWTIME SOON!

Ok, so in a few hours from now my film will be ready for the world to see. I am relieved...finally all that I have been talking about is here.I am also relieved that I don't need to write or talk about this anymore...I think my film will do that for me...

There are a lot of mixed feelings. I am a little sad, that I am unable to show audiences the movie in the high definition format that this film was shot on. The internet movie version DOES NO JUSTICE to the original cinematography in the film. You might understand what I am saying after you watch the film.We still have a few years to go before high definition images on the internet becomes a regular feature. Atleast here in India.
I am happy, my film is called "Confessions of a Filmmaker-Naa Video Diary"....one thing the film will deliver on is...LIVING UPTO THE TITLE....
I mean REALLY live upto the title... :)

Like any filmmaker, I am nervous about audience reactions. But what has to be has to be....I hope none of you ever feel it wasn't worth your time and money. That's important for me.

Have a good time watching it....and please spread the word about the film. I wouldn't mind some money coming my way.... :)

See you all today evening, 18:00hrs EST

Eve of the release, too much stress

Its been a tough past week, everything that had to go wrong, has gone wrong...the film was to be uplinked on the server by now...but I am still struggling to do that...
with the monsoons, erratic power and possibly everything else that can hinder the release of my film...every fucking thing is going wrong....I really dont know whats going to happen....

just uploading the film will take me a good 20hrs...encoding before that (which failed once) will take another 20hrs....theoritically at the time of writing this, I can still make it...

but the reality is something else....
trying to keep calm....lets see what destiny has in store for me, after all this time....

any regrets... too early to tell

p.s the pic above clearly depicts everything I am going through....

ITS JUNE15TH FOLKS, MAKE OR BREAK

THATS IT...I'M NOT GONNA BE WRITING HERE FOR A BIT...OR MAYBE I WILL...OR MAYBE I WONT....
BUT ANYWAYS....THE POINT IS...THE BIG DAY IS ON THE 15TH OF JUNE 07 RIGHT HERE....WELL ALMOST....

@ WWW.CONFESSIONSOFAFILMMAKER.COM FOLKS.

REGISTER....PAY AND WATCH MY MOVIE...PLEASE :)AND PLEASE USE THE MSG BOARD ON THAT SITE TO LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS.

WILL BE BACK SOON, RANTING AND RAVING AS USUAL...
NOT TO WORRY

what have i been upto?

THIS HAS PROBABLY BEEN THE LONGEST BREAK I EVER TOOK BETWEEN POSTS...SO WHAT HAVE I BEEN UPTO?

I HAVE BEEN GETTING READY TO RELEASE MY FILM ON THE INTERNET.
YES, THATS RIGHT, LIKE I ALREADY MENTIONED A FEW TIMES BEFORE...WORK HAS BEEN PROGRESSING SMOOTHLY...AND THE FILM WILL BE READY FOR AN INTERNET EXCLUSIVE RELEASE SOMETIME THIS MONTH.....

MEANWHILE, IF THERE ARE STILL PEOPLE OUT THERE, WHO CONTINUE TO COME OVER TO THIS SITE, I APOLOGISE FOR NOT KEEPING YOU UPDATED...I WILL TRY AND WRITE MORE REGULARLY...BUT ITS JUST THAT...ALL THE WORK THAT THIS EVENT NEEDS IS TAKING UP ALL MY TIME...AND LEAVING VERY LITTLE TO WRITE AS I ANXIOUSLY WAIT FOR THE RELEASE DATE...

http://www.confessionsofafilmmaker.com/

....IS THE URL WHICH WILL FWD YOU TO MY NEW WEBSITE....PLEASE KEEP CHECKING IN ON IT WHENEVER POSSIBLE FOR THE RELEASE DATES.....

MEANWHILE PL SPREAD THE WORD AROUND ABOUT THE WEBSITE....I NEED AN AUDIENCE ON RELEASE DAY AND AM TRYING MY BEST TO SPREAD THE WORD.

LET ME TAKE THIS OPPURTUNITY TO INTRODUCE ALL OF YOU TO ANOTHER GROUP OF ROCKERS...THIS TIME ITROCKERZ.....THE GUYS BEHIND DEVELOPING MY WEBSITE....
IF THIS WORKS...WE WOULD HAVE CREATED CINEMA HISTORY....I WANT TO PROOVE THAT THE INTERNET IS DEFINETLY A VIABLE OPTION FOR THE SMALL TIME FILMMAKER.......

P.S please watch this space, i will be posting regularly from now on...

THE MUSIC OF COF, AN INTERNET EXCLUSIVE

Hi guys, the road towards the internet movie release of the COF is clear. Work is progressing smoothly on that front and hopefully I should have an announcement to make in a few days.
Meanwhile I have decided to showcase the music of COF.

The theme and an additional number were composed by a Hyderabad based band called EXAbyssus.

You can download the music directly from the links below. For those not too familiar with rapidshare downloads, after pasting the link on the URL bar,hit enter, scroll down and click 'free', it brings you to another page where you type in the SPAM code given to you and then simply click download.simple right?

these are the links:
http://rapidshare.com/files/34053751/02_Track_02.mp3
http://rapidshare.com/files/34052142/01_Track_01.mp3

EXCLUSIVE INTERNET RELEASE OF 'COF'

Like I briefly mentioned in my earlier posts, I have plans to get this film across to people.

COF will premiere exclusively on the internet in a BIG WAY, 'sometime' in june.

I am a little guarded about the exact date, since work is still being done on a special portal being designed for the same.
I will look to everyone who writes in my blog to spread the word about the release, once the official dates are out and do all that they can to make sure everyone they know watches it....thats what I need from you guys...

It will be a pay site and I am doing all that I can do, legally and technically to curb piracy.
Well I will have more updates in the days to come...

meanwhile keep the flame burning...

THE CHENNAI ONLINE.COM REVIEW

A movie on making a movie News
Anish Kuruvilla, who played the hero’s brother in Sekhar Kammula’s Telugu film 'Anand', has made a 90-minute film, 'Confessions of a Film-maker: Naa Video Diary’.

The film is all about a guy who loses faith in the system and culture prevailing in the Telugu film industry after failing to direct a film in the last minute despite being in the industry for 10 years.
The film is made with a crew of only three, including Anish, who wore different hats as a scriptwriter, cinematographer, director and producer. Kamala Kumara, who played a supporting role in 'Godavari', played the main lead in the film and came out with an impressive performance.

The film talks about how the people in the industry make use of aspiring directors as pimps and how Telugu films are becoming a reflection of sex. It documents the 10 days in the life of an aspiring doctor who commits suicide at the end of the 10th day after editing all that has been shot.
The film received big applause from the audience and was hailed as a bold step. Anish Kuruvilla has been associated with director Sekhar Kammula from his 'Dollar Dreams' days and has been a co-director and executive producer for all of Sekhar Kammula’s films including the latest one, 'Happy Days'.

"It is a small budget film. If I have to go for theatrical release, I will definitely have to spend more than what I spent for the film," he said.
Though Anish said the release of the film depends on the feedback after the screening, he said he was not going to release it after the screening but assured that he will release it in DVD format. "Though it can't bring change in the prevailing culture in the industry, it encourages one to speak up," opines Anish.

The best thing is that he assured that in future, if he makes any films, he would be bound by his 'Confessions of a Film-maker: Naa Video Diary’.
Though he is just 30 years old, the understanding he has about films is astounding. Though many didn't agree with the film targeting a few in the industry, it was appreciated.

We can see in the film the lead character holding placards at various places in the city, reading, 'Cinema will die if nepotism lives', 'Open your eye for a better cinema', 'Respect our time and money', 'Film-press stop lying'.
The movie talks about how the directors, despite being the creators of a film, have become pawns in the hands of a few influential directors and heroes.

Though people from the film fraternity like Gunnam Gangaraju, Sekhar Kammula, R Narayana Murthy and Tammareddy Bharadwaja, attended the screening, they were tight-lipped when it came to giving their comments.

P Haribabu


MAN THIS GUYS INTERPRETATION IS SO FLAWED...BUT WHAT THE HELL, A REVIEW IS A REVIEW...ANISH

Music release plans.

The theme music and video, specially shot for 'confessions of a filmmaker' will be available on the net in a matter of days.
The music was composed by one of hyderabad's most influential rock bands-'EXABYSSUS'.
I am truly proud of their work and I think you'll agree when you hear it yourself.

I am also excited knowing that I am bringing my film one step closer to everyone. Its all a matter of time...