I have been tasked with creating a short film within a clear timeframe / deadlines and reporting progress of work to creatives at Nuvu Media. This blog will document the work that has gone in on a daily basis to create this short film.
STEP 1: CONTEXT
Make a short film - the brief mentioned flexibility on the duration, poor lighting and camera quality - the main focus is on how I tell a story visually and how well I stick to deadlines and timeframes under a tight budget.
Who am I going to reach out to? - Friends from dance and other social activities to volunteer and help out with my short film and double down as actors and crew members. Evidence is provided below from those who replied almost immediately:
The shooting will take place on a Sunday from morning till late - so basically we'll have the entire day to shoot stuff whilst hanging out.
The plan of the day would be to shoot one person and travel to the next location to meet another person with the person who has already been shot on and shoot accumulatively collect footage and save time, instead of waiting for everyone to arrive at one spot and collectively commuting together to various locations as it would waste a lot of time and we are bound to have delays due to public transport, so this would be the best approach. This means that each actor would have a different calltime at a different location that is close to them, and we would need to go that location as soon as we finish shooting. This makes sense as we don't have a full-fledged crew and wouldn't require a unit base as such.
Key thing we need to look out for on the day is to keep each other updated of any delays due to commute or shooting overtime and being spontaneous and improvising should there be a huge delay as we cannot afford to wait around.
After we accumulatively shoot content and gather together, it would be natural to have lunch or dinner depending on the time and usually when we have lunch or dinner with friends - it doesn't end quickly as we have a lot to speak - so to streamline this process, we will need to eat in character and film portions where we are in a public restaurant or marketplace like Camden. It will be busy and full of background noise there so we might need to get dialogues dubbed via voice notes sent through WhatsApp messages (not the best or professional approach but I would like to do this project independently with minimal gear or technology to test my abilities and also learn something new along the process.
Now I need some inspiration to base my short film on, since Nuvu Media focuses on the Tamil community, I want to get inspiration from Tamil literature even if I am working with creatives of Bangladeshi, Sinhalese and African origin. I might use Tamil literature as a poetic narrative to drive the story and build characters around.
STEP 2: RESEARCH
For quite some time, I wanted to work on creating a narrative peice that is inspired by Puranaanuru - especially the verses on Yaadhum Oore Yaavarum Kelir as it translates to Every town is mine and everyone is my family which is the core of every immigrant's life who finds home outside of home. Since I am working with creatives who might not be Tamil but are definitely of immigrant background - this Tamil literature would resonate with them and so I will need to build characters based on the verses and what they teach. This is now where I decide that I will name this project: 'Every Town's Ours Every One's Kin'
Here is how Puranaanuru inspired my characters:
TASBEE - Her character is inspired by the verse: நோதலும் தணிதலும் அவற்றோ ரன்ன / Pain and relief are akin to them - what I drew from this verse is that sometimes what we consider as relief may also cause us pain and so I envisioned this character to be someone who experienced pain through longing for their loved ones and being provided relief through reunion and realising that the reunion causes her more harm/pain than relief and so I built on this idea and came up with this backstory.
Tasbee is a character who finally managed to sponsor her parents to stay with her in London but is not able to handle them and their outdated views as they are unable to assimilate to Western lifestyle. (She relieved herself from being afar and longing for her parents and is now dealing with the pain of handling their emotional and sentimental baggages)
SHALENI - Her character is inspired by the verse: சாதலும் புதுவது அன்றே / Death is not something new - drawing inspiration from this was pretty straightforward.
Shaleni recently lost a loved one and is packing to visit her home country but her way of dealing with loss is not expressive and rather desensitised as its not the first time she's heard about the news of a loved one's passing - (Death is not new)
SIVAKKRISHAN - My character is inspired by the verse: வாழ்தல் இனிதென மகிழ்ந்தன்றும் இலமே / Nor is life joyful - drawing inspiration from this too was straightforward as I wanted to show a direct opposite to death which is birth but also show that in a way that is not celebrative / joyful.
Sivakkrishan recently became a dad but has not physically seen his child since birth as he has been working away in the UK despite having all his family back home in his home country. (He cannot celebrate the life of his child but rather feels regret for not being able to be there for him)
JORDY's character is going to be based on the verse: மாட்சியின் பெரியோரை வியத்தலும் இலமே; சிறியோரை இகழ்தல் அதனினும் இலமே / We do not get amazed by greatness nor do we despise the humble
We will make JODY's character someone who is larger than life and luxurious but also humble and respectful towards those who have very little. His nature will reflect the qualities of not getting amused by those who are great / act as if they are great nor does he look down upon those who are begging and busking in the streets.
Gaining a deeper understanding of Yaadhum Oore Yaavarum Kelir to develop character archs and explore them throughout the short film briefly.
In this video the verse "நோதலும் தணிதலும் அவற்றோ ரன்ன / Pain and relief are akin to them" is given a deeper understanding where he gives us context that others do not give pain and relief and that we must have the inner strength to relieve ourselves from pain which was not evident in the loose translation but is something that I can work with in the storyline for Tasbee's character.
This video was particularly useful in getting a more contextual understanding of teachings within Yaadhum Oore Yaavarum Kelir and also was insightful to learn the pronounciation of the verses as I am not familiar with speaking in Sangham Tamil, the only Tamil that comes natural to me is the modern-day Jaffna slang and pop-culture references to Kollywood cinema industry.