My first film!!

When did it all begin?

Long long ago
But not so long ago
Cannot say how long ago

I work for CA.. Computer Associates. Our office was in a campus called Vanenburg IT park, Madhapur. There were a dozen other offices sharing the same premises. CA started constructing its own campus at Gachibowli a few of years ago. I never knew at what pace the construction activity took place, but I should say there was a little delay in completion. And finally in September 2007, we decided to move in.

The HR guys conducted a few competitions on the occasion of the move, making a short film was one of them. The short film had to be based on the campus move. At first our team mates (buddies for short) and team lead ("lead" for short) decided to make a short film on the improved life @ workplace we as a team would have upon moving to our own premises. But later that idea was dropped, partly because we were either too lazy to get started or too busy with business; partly because another group had already started filming with a similar concept. We guys were so busy with our ongoing projects, that we hardly noticed the progress our peer film makers were making. And when the time came, we moved to the new campus. The management decided to move a few teams every weekend over the next few weeks, ours was among the first teams to be shifted.

I hit on an idea for short film on a fine day, which was approved by my buddies & lead. All we needed is a plan to shoot the film. It had nothing to do with the differences between old and new campuses, but centered around a experiences of a single employee during the campus move. I thought it was the best way to stick to the theme suggested by the judges. So, will me make it?

Of course, YES! We got a camera from our manager, and we started making plans. We knew that we were late, the deadline for short film submission was fast approaching. Now I started hunting for some acting talent. I felt like Spielberg! I was pretty sure that I would finalize the "cast & crew" for our film. It wasn't until I tried that I realized that I was terribly mistaken. People had all sorts of creative reasons to reject my offer. Some were camera shy, some were busy with projects and some were busy acting in the other short films! The Spielberg in me vanished into thin air. I managed to grab a handful of people to start off.

We had to get back to our old campus at Madhapur to shoot a major portion of the film. Transport courtesy: Our lead. We went there that afternoon and had to go back to campus by evening.. had some important work to do. I knew I had little time. And very little battery power for the camera. 3 days of sporadic planning couldn't remind us of verifying the status of the battery. I was low on resources, but high on hopes.

Every time I started a shot, the camera beeped violently, indicating low battery. For every 30 seconds of filming, I had to recharge the battery for a while. What's more interesting is the fact that I don't have a script ready in my hands. I had to plan for shots on the spot. I feared that I might make mistakes bigger than anticipated. I quickly shot scenes which I felt would be apt for the context.

That wasn't the end of all problems. I wanted an empty floor for the flashback of the film. A few teams were still working on that floor. So I had to shoot without any of them getting in the frame. I was director Akira Kurosawa for a while, using multiple filming techniques to get better footage. Also we had to move hardware in and out of cubicles to bring the effect of a transition. We improvised by getting props from our friends on the floor. But I wasn't satisfied yet. How do I establish the fact that the entire floor was empty?

I was forced to pack up earlier than I planned. We went back to campus, I began editing the raw footage. And by around 11:30 pm, I was back at the old campus with the camera. With different light settings, I guess I got the right output in the end. One guy was still on the floor, but I wasn't really bothered about him. It was a spacious floor after all.

I wanted to have another day for shooting, but people were busy with project work. Prioritizing things, I couldn't find my short film ahead of many other tasks. I had to adjust with whatever little footage I had. I used trial version of a video editing software, which was good enough for my movie. I shot the last couple of minutes in the film at our new campus. The security at campus were alarmed by the sight of a video camera capturing the surroundings. We toldthem that it was part of a competition within the campus & multiple films were already being shot within the premises.

Things started getting tougher when we hit the road for a scene. We were stalled by the traffic police because I forgot to bring my driving license. As if I hadn't had enough by then, the CM was visiting Gachibowli stadium for an international sports event and the police were worried about my camera! It took 30 minutes of talking to convince the inspector that we were innocent
and get out of there.

Everything was set by then. I believed whatever little footage I had should be enough. I knew I could make use of the stock of pictures I have on my machine. But I was really bothered about the dubbing part. I planned to have the entire film as a montage with a voice over. But it wasn't easy to record voices at office without disturbance. So I had to compromise with subtitles instead of voices. And I really hunted like crazy for background score. I wasn't against the idea of using music from hit movies, but at least part of the score should be unrelated to the cinema world. Out of hundreds of midi sequences I've heard on the web, I finally selected a few.

The editing took longer than I expected. I wasn't surprised. After all, an amateur film maker like me couldn't have done better than that. Staying back in office late nights for a few days.. I managed to finish off the film. It wasn't a masterpiece, but it did look fresh and nice. We submitted the short film to our judges and waited for the results. And as expected by the most of us, the short film regarding Improved life @ CA got the prize. They're short film had a touch of humor, mine had a touch of emotion.

And after the long journey through my short film making, I realize one thing. It is not just the actors on screen that should get credit. It is the people behind the screens who should be praised. When a movie becomes a hit, fans attribute the success entirely to the hero of the movie. It is OK to appreciate an actor for his contribution, but it is the on-the-set and post production staff's effort that make it a hit movie. Without them, no hero would ever become a hero...