How we made JIVA in 20 Hours

Some unexpected things do happen in life which will affect your life.This is a story about such how I started and made my short film JIVA.

I remember my friend Sooryah sent me a message on fb which was a link for a 101 hour short film festival. He said we gotta do it ,as usual I was ready for every project proposed and I forget it later as usual.It was the day they were going to give the genre by email. I was busy in some wedding shoot and didn't even care about it. After finishing the shoot ,took rest that day and early morning felt something uneasy It was something guilty that I am escaping from a challenge and even my friend was pushing hard for it. so finally we decided to give it a shot as there was just 48 hours left in those 101 hours . Yeah Damn!!! I wasted a lot of time. As the genre was " Livelihood " I could write something easy on  3- act structure which goes something like ,A character want's something and we give more problem to get it and finally we give him. It's as simple as it is the most simple script I ever wrote. I personally hate the so called message oriented films I just wanna show the problem than solution. In fact this is the most cliche I ever wrote .It was done in 2 hours at a tea stall in Madhapur. so It was time for shoot.

I always hated doing casting ,It may be hard to admit for other short film makers also but it is true that's why we choose our friends as the cast. Not until that night I moved my ass to get the actors and props.I needed a 10 year old boy so It was not so hard but finally got a kid near by my house who is dead and dumb and over that he has fever but, his father insisted to take him as actor.Done with the cast as I wrote locations which I have seen so it was not hard to get them too. As I needed night shots I started the shoot as soon as I met the boy ,fixed the costumes and props in a hour and started the shoot. Now comes the fantastic creature Camera . We used 6D , 85mm1.4  and just that nothing else no wideangle ,no zoom's no nothing. It was just because of my friend Viswanath who gave me this gear to shoot or else I would even shoot it with a mobile phone.Due to his absence I gotta do the Cinematography myself no focus puller ,no lightguys All in one.

We choose a main road near by my house and started the scene where the guy sleeps on a footpath.I arranged the boy communicated with him by myself sleeping on footpath as he is deaf and dumb It was everything shown to him .I was never good at getting performances and I feared how I could do it with a 10 year old guy my luck .The boy is talented though he is a watchman's son he is very disciplined and cooperative .The problem was  unwanted attention on road everyone started crowding.I started getting nervous ,so we shifted him were less people could see and I hided my self as I had a long focal length lens 

.I wrapped the shot in 1 hour.got some cool images in street light and gotta get ready for shoot at 6 A.M. Well sooryah was on the way he didn't even know that I started the shoot without the producer .That night he came after the boy slept we went for location scout and finalized the shot list  and we had just 36 hours more. we had a sleep for 2 hours and started next schedule.

The best thing that had in the morning was we lost the shot list ( and meeting my 6'th class girlfriend during the shoot  after 10 years)seriously that's the best thing because I shot things which I didn't imagine.We completely went to capture an early morning ambiance, so shot everything Interesting.All the shots were cool the shoot was going fast as the boy was really good in acting.It was like I had a gun and was shooting everyone like in a Hollywood action film.It was a good practice by shooting weddings as they will hone your skills of focus and composition.While I was shooting a scene there of guy vomiting It was 8 in the morning I always saw a dog giving milk for it's babies from the balcony.I never thought I could use it in a film.It's the best thing I have captured with a camera ever.At that moment I didn't give a shit for focus or composition I was just shooting the marvelous scene and I was experiencing the beauty of it by my eyes as the camera was shooting itself for 1 min.

The shoot was completed in tight 4 hours as we don't have any ND filters and have less time for edit and music.Thanks for my colony people who gave their locations for free The kirana store ,The tiffin center ,The paper shop and everyone the whole colony was colorful as a festival.We felt really happy for being that reason .After wrapping the shoot I bathed and slept for few hours as I need to get back on editing.

 Editing was always easy as I shot the footage myself. done the first edit in a hour was not much satisfied as I did it without music.I found I have no time for music as I had just 10 hours to submit. done with final edit and color pallet in 15 min. Intentionally we gave it a low contrast look to make it feel soft and some good vibrant colors.I was not understanding how the movie was, because I lost my perspective on the film by editing.I was just fine with the film and was very eager to get the response.The first response was from a fellow participant of Chennai. His response was fantastic.I thought he was flattering until I got the response from sooryah's friends . I have a list of genuine guys who abuse my works. It was the final test ,even they liked it ,they were curious about the visual style and narrative.At that time I didn't how far this was going to go until I meet J.k Bharavi ( writer of Annamaya and Ramadasu). he watched the film during the final R.R by Ree Bhatter,

 Bharavi sir liked the film and even watched my previous films too ,He gave a hi five after seeing my previous works and took my contact and said we would work soon.That's It I needed nothing else than that.There I believed I made a satisfactory work.I am a fan of Ree Bhatter we used to sit and discuss a lot of Hans Zimmer .He genuinely got inspired by the film and composed it which is my ringtone now.It is my first original composition ever so It will always be memorable work for me.

I reached the final success which is my satisfaction. I was not so impressed I was just satisfied .I have been waiting for this from many years.It was recently selected to Purbeck Film Festival in UK among 2000 films.It was the first fest there are lot more but ultimately the audience response is important I would love to have 1000 dislikes than 100 views.

All this film gave me was expensive confidence on the art I believed.It will have always an affect on my life.It was just possible by 4 people Sooryah ,Ree,Viswanath and Vasu.I imagine If I could do this in 20 hrs how many films could I have made so I gotta do more works like this. It's always a matter of perspiration and passion. For everyone who is waiting for a chance .give it yourself. No one else knows you more than you.Go grab a camera and shoot something. All the best.

Empire Awards 2014 DISS FINALS

When I was a kid every year they used to telecast " Filmfare " Awards on T.V. they used to be very glamorous ,they gave me a lot of inspiration to push my self towards film making. Everyone who watches it wish to be there but, normal thinking says " It's not possible " . It's been 20years now my life style is very simple I wake up late something like 9, rush to college, get a RTC bus , take a share auto and reach college 1 hour late . Have fun listening and questioning lectures and repeating the same adventure and reach home. Then I browse all latest film making technologies and it goes on up to unexpected time and end the day with a movie with also 1 hour studying general subjects while sleeping I write about the day in my dairy questioning will I ever be a filmmaker . But I was wrong I was already a filmmaker the burning Intention to make films make one a filmmaker . No one is a profession they always learn something even Spielberg , James Cameron , Martin Scorcee  .etc, they discover film making . so one day I began to get my film party dream come true . I participated in Empire Awards 2014 DISS and luckily got selected for the finalists . I got an Air Ticket , Driver catching a placard  with my name , 5 Star Hotel , Red Carpet and lot more which I cannot say

Meeting my Favorite directer who even judged me as a Winner and gave me my first champagne bottle .

Anupama Chopra famous film critic and Anchor whom I used to watch her on T.V and today I was at a party with her .

First Red Carpet  "walk and smile to the camera's " were the words said by my Organizer .

And then return back to Hyderabad my home . It all Ended

So what's this all . If you ask me now I call it bullshit . At the party It was all hypocritical drinks girls and blah blah.... It was  a sour grape once you eat it It' nothing . It is still attracting me because It gave me a costliest day but, frankly I didn't enjoy much  reason, they sponsored me all alone and not my team . That was most disturbing reason, I was there because of their hard work . And It's not good to make films for film festivals. Make it for the audience it doesn't coincide  with experimental films. I missed to entertain my regional audience .I am gonna do that first now .
                                        " Make films which you like not ,
                                                        what festivals like "

Production blog and Teaser Release of " ZINNIA " Short Film

The reason why some film enthusiast turn's into a " STORY TELLER " is the desire to tell his own story. I have gone a lot of metamorphosis in the past year by doing freelance works which I didn't even Imagined in my life I would do. It was a great mixture of Knowledge, Experience and humility. All these experiences can be reflected in the work of " Zinnia ". Here I am to share the first day experience and how we started from script to shoot off " Zinnia ". Before that better watch the Teaser to get Interest.

I woke up at 5 P.M, I promised my grand father that I would drop him to the station and I over slept. I felt a strange emotion of Guilt and love towards that incident with my Grand father because we rarely meet for years  .within a few hours I got a thought of how would It be If I caused the same emotion to my audience with fiction and drama. I was against dramatization of the story, but something pushed me to do it. Thus it started, I wrote the screenplay in a week by doing proper homework on all basics of story structure, 3 act 's blah blah......., I have made a previous short film which is a  science fiction . The response was mixed. It was criticized for confusing story and creepy Visual effects .at the same time praised for it . In fact it gave me a lot of opportunity's like directing a commercial .well that's another topic ( I even have  a thought of writing a book how not to make a short film  )  . I wanna get away with Epic quality and Super naturalness  of my previous films . That's the reason why I choose  this simple script and I decided not to invest any money and to just use perfectly the tools I have , It was just like an exercise of film making



                                                         I acquired enough knowledge on to make a neat film from story to Render . And stayed away from telling this idea to anybody by posts on fb and stuff because I wanna make it before publicizing it. Coming to the matter of what I have it's nothing but a computer with 2GB ram and a 512MB graphic card and skills to all Film making Departments  ( except sound mixing ) . I gotta get all the equipment by favors . It started with Camera to Lens , Gear, Lights and even skill . I take this opportunity to thank all those who funded for the films 


Canon 550d :- Rahul Raj

Canon 600d :- Sri Harsha Nagula

Canon 500d and Lens :- Sahith Chowdary

Steady Cam Rig :-  Suresh Krishna



Lights , diffusers and Reflectors :- James Wilfred

The complete 80 % of picture has low light environment  so we choose  prime lens to shoot we took to return in a single day and used it for almost 5 days ( for which I faced pretty problems ) . It was about 4  A.M and we dint get the 550d so we thought we should cancel but It was Harsha's 600d which  saved the day . The most common thing in short films is every one wanna act but they are never prepared for the hard consequences this film includes shooting from night 12 am to 3 am ( or even 5) and shooting in public places like bus, main roads and railways stations . It was all overcame by Kiran Varma and Rakesh . he was a last minute decision without any audition and stuff .I took him because I know him .well coming to my Cinematographer it's his first venture as short film  , as he is an experienced still photographer in tollywood doing for films like Yevadu , SVSC etc...., so the team was done and with good pre- production . I opted a shot division list and followed exactly it was a great method I guess .

 The shot list was a bit confusing the first day . I was confused to the order of shots, In a nutshell I Didn't follow much of the shot list ( But I learned to use it effectively from the 3'rd day ) . we were trying to get a night effect by lights and gels . that took almost 50 % of the time . and I realized what's the most hardest job of cinematography . we shot for 7 hours to get 1 and a half min  of the film . and crew slept at 6 am while I was watching dailies . I did a bit fun by shooting them in awkward sleeping modes .and after watching my dailies I slept at 11 A.M. That's the Joy of Indie film making .

  ( DURING LOCATION SCOUT)

How to get ultra- slow motion video with CANON 550D by Kagita Vidyadhar

Every one has a wish to create DIY cinematic effects at home like , green screen shots, slow motion , vfx shots etc...,

so, here's how you can get a super cool slow motion video with a Canon 550d or 5D

NEEDED :-

1) DSLR  CANON 550D

2) Twixtor plugin

3) After effects or premier pr

4) Props ( water splash, ballon burst ......any thing else  )


STEPS :-

1 ) Set the camera settings as
Shutter :- 1/2000
ISO -400
Aperture :- 5.6 ( keep as low as possible )
Lens :-  kit lens ( any lens can be use 50mm preferably )
 Video mode :- 720p 50fps

2) Adjust with any external lights as high shutter may use  more light.

3) record it


4) edit with the following software as suggested by VFX bro
http://youtu.be/ycjwORvHUlw


 ALL THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!  by KAGITA VIDYADHAR

5 Important points for Cinematic look by Vidyadhar

Five Important points which I personally believe which are important for cinematic look are ?

 1) LIGHTING

2) LENS

3) DETAIL

4) SOFTWARE'S

5) ASPECT RATIO


LIGHTING :- The most important department which does the 50 % of the job of getting cinematic look . It's is not about getting expensive lights .It's about using available natural light effectively. we can even use candles. the best way to study lighting is study nature and see them . most of the films are shot at a particular time called "Golden hour" . which is the time before sunrise and after sunrise.

LENS :- Use prime lenses like 50mm and 35 mm with lowest aperture possible like f 1.4 and f1.8 which helps to  generate depth of field and shoot at low light.

In Stanley Kubrick's film BARRY LYNDON they shot the above scene under 3 candela which is about 45 times less bright than a 25 watt compact light bulb. . they used the Zeiss prime lenses which have some of the fastest apertures ever created. The difference between a f/1.2 lens and a f/0.7 is almost 2 full stops.


DETAIL :- If you don't have detail there's no use of even world's expensive software. the reason why we cant shoot a feature film with iphone thought it has the same resolution as canon 5d and 7d .the reason is detail , sensors and dynamic range. that's the reason why we opt for Blackmagic or RED camera's sometimes.



PROGRAMS :- Once you have the detail u can play with it in software's and develop the mood required by using software's like Davinci resolve , colorista , Magic bullet etc...,

ASPECT RATIO :- The ratio of length to width ratio should be 2 :35 :1 which is called the cinema scope effect .

The above scenes are from my short film ZERO

I hope I shared my knowledge enough : ) Have a good day .

"Zero " progress and experiences and ( Zero short film poster )

I have never been so far in making " Zero " till now . It was two years of commitment. I wanna share how I started " Zero " . by the way this is our short film poster and please do support us by clicking the link https://www.facebook.com/pages/ZERO-A-short-film/534513319906237?ref=stream and helping in publicity.
    

First script treatment, it was 3 pages and a 6- min expected short film. it was inspired by a physics theory of Arthur C.Clarke called  quantum teleporation and mass cloning . after several problems and finally at a script of  9 pages and expected 20-30 min . I should admit that I made this film in a hangover of Hollywood sci-fi films like Matrix, Source code, Tron (1980's ) ........and many other it was completely unconscious inspiration .


                                                       When I first started the shoot in 2011 we went  a scout for the locations as we need to new world atmosphere. which shl'd resemble earth but not earth . we did 60  % of the shoot. later it was cancelled by some other reasons. I was alone . but at some bottom of my heart said never give up  so made  a new team again . people say whatever happens is for our good . well this 2 years of my life proved it . again I started the shoot with new team , this time we did more research on technology and other stuff, and again many re shoot's happened because they weren't matching the required visual effects . finally we finished shooting and the visual effects are done ,just editing and sound is left . I wanna tell one word  " ZERO WAS MY FILM SCHOOL " . I have learned something may be which I cl'dt  even learn in a film school.
  

ZERO : Making, new techniques,programs and plugins used

According to you-tube they get 1000's of short films  daily  so, to get noticed we need be special I have  dreamed of making  a short film from a couple of years but i lack guidance ,experience , knowledge,team and resources. Instead of waiting for resources to come I started making them like camera rig's, software cracks .now I'll explain specialties of my short film


1) Story ( asusual for every filmmaker his story is gr8 )
2) Micro budget vfx
3) Real footage of moon ,Jupiter, Saturn, and crab nebula shot with an astronomical telescope and canon t2i

4)Miniatures

5) Virtual sets
6) Time freeze and time slice using a single camera
7) Done with Diy camera gears ( snorricam, dolly, helmet cam )
8)  Courtesy of various Visual effects artists who permitted me to use their footage's
9) Integration of real images with set extensions and matte painting
10) home made props

 Programs and plugins :-

1) After effects ( composting )
2) Nuke ( composting matte paintings )
3) Cinema 4d ( camera mapping)
4) Maya ( 3d models )
5) Maya matchmover

6) Golaem ( crowd generation)
7) Element 3d ( 3d models, titles, composting)

8) Photoshop (matte painting )
9)Holomatrix ( holograms )
10) Primate keyer ( keying )
                                                With the help of various film making channels and websites which produce free license vfx projects and sounds and knowledge like  Video copilot, Video-hive, Indy mogul, Film riot, Bestgreenscreen , Saint man ect...,      

Written , directed, produced :- K. Vidyadhar
 Casting :- Ajay , Rakesh, Nikhil, Srinivas, Praveen, Sonank, Yeswanth
 Cinematography :- Karthik
Art direction :-  ajay ,vidya, chandu, sonank
 Sound Designer :- Prince  Anselm