Zombie Movie the Making

Bula once again.

Thanks to Almighty that we managed to complete our shooting on time. Lets take sometime to see our adventurous production and preparations.

I started packing the equipment on Friday(June 4th) night right after I got back from Nestle Pool party at Fiji Club.
I prepared a checklist for the production on Thursday(June 3rd) and all was fine. I started with my HD Sony Camera. Charged its battery, checked the tapes, checked the mics, checked the boom mics, checked the lights, checked the tripods, checked wires. All set. Unfortunately I forgot about the reflector and boom mic handle. But we managed to go without it.
On the day or shooting(Saturday June 5th). There were some complications but I managed to resolve it.
As a camera man for this production, I had some idea about the angles and style of shooting required and thanks that to our crew. We had practice runs two days prior to the shoot. In my mind I had pictured myself in action. I had some complication regarding handheld shots, following shots and running shots. I thought of borrowing a rig for that from a friend but it was a negative response. Now that I don't have the rig and that means I'm in deep shit. I dont want my camera work to be jagged and bumpy.
With my experience in camera work, I decided to be creative and adopt my own style of modified rig. I have tried these before and it worked. This is how I managed to do some stabilized establishing and action shots. I attached my camera on my Monfroto Tripod which is about 10kg itself. I extended the tripod legs and attached them together as one. Next I lift the tripod in the centre area to get the balance of the camera with tripod. I use my arms as a spring stabilizer. With this style I found the shots to be steady while walking with it or running. I used my legs also as stabilizer to glide along. Though it looked funny and the crew laughing away but I managed to get some nice shots. My hands and legs were so tried halfway of the shoot.
Imagine carrying about 14kg of free weight running and walking after takes and takes. Damn that was a hell of a job. But I really had so much fun running after zombies lol.
I remember the third scene which was a following shot. In this shot I had to walk backward with camera raised head level and guess what, I was walking in a swamp where my canvas went in the mud up to my ankles. Imagine you in my situation. Please don't call for director to get you a plank. I did what I had to do. Just got in the flow. That is fun.
As the shootings progressed, I was getting tired. I had my assistant Zaheed who helped me carry the equipments around. I was glad that he was around.
Overall it was a great experience for me.
Hoping to make more short movies with my friends.


Source: Zombie Production Diary No.3

Freestyle Massage

Bula Vinaka

I came across this classified advertisement in FijiTimes newspaper (29th May,2010). It really got my attention when I read its BOLD dynamic title. Now it makes me wonder how will this masseurs perform freestyle body massage. I'm having numerous imaginary images in my mind of freestyles. Was this a mistake or just another aimless act.
I guess this is some new technique been developed. Worth a try?

Fijian Zombie

Bula Vinaka

I'm looking forward to work on this zombie movie. Thanks guys at failedparadise who have invited me in their team. This project is going to be fun and exciting. Eww love to see some blood and flesh.
Will update more as soon as we get into production.

Link: failedparadise

WHAT'S IN A SMILE

Why do the smiles that we receive from strangers make us feel so good?
Is it the fact that they are acknowledging our existenced, or just that they are courteous enough to do so? Well, have you ever taken the time to really look at someone's smile, or more importantly, how fast their smiles drop as soon as they past you?

I like to smile when I see co-workers, or strangers because I know that it makes them feel good, but when I smile, I like to make sure that it is genuine. I'm not one to smile just as I'm passing someone just because.....I like to smile if I mean it. If not, I may grin a little, but I don't over-do it.

But....there are lots of people, if not most of us, that do.

I really love people watching, and monitoring people's social behavior, and what I've noticed lately are the fake, or passing smiles that I receive daily. I have to say that I tend to receive more fake, or passing smiles from foreigners that natives/locals, but I do receive passing smiles from natives just the same. Maybe foreigners do it as a nice way of communication, but what about the locals. Is it because we're taught to do so, or do we really mean it?

To clarify a little, what I mean when I say "passing" smiles, I mean those big bright, make you feel good smiles that you get when you're near, or passing someone, but, as soon as they are out of your sight, their faces drop as if you were never there. That is so fake and worthless to me, and that's why I ask, "What's in a Smile"?

Is a smile really worth it if it's not heart-felt?

If it's not real?

If it's just done until you're out of sight?

For me, the answer is no.

I tend to smile at those I'm either happy to see, or that I may find cute ;-), but still, my smile is real. When I smile at someone, I usually hold it for a while...maybe out of habit, or out of pure consciousness, but that's just me. What I also do when I smile is look back at the person who just smiled at me to see if he, or she is still smiling, and often times, they are not and that just kills my "happy" mood. It pretty much makes me not want to smile, but then that defeats the whole purpose of being sociable, and that is something that we could all stand to be a little more of.

Everyone often seems to be either high stressed, or too caught-up in work or their own social agendas to where all we can do is try to smile, and continue to move on. It's a feeble attempt at being polite, but without that fake passing smile, where would we be?

These are just my thoughts on how people interact and although they seem to be weak at best, I guess it's better than nothing.

So, what does a smile mean to you?

My first day at Bloggers

Finally I have decided to start blogging. Today is my first day here and I'm trying to get used to these new tools. I know that blogging is easy for most of you readers out there but I think some help is needed here.
Anyways, I need to play more here and will be doing more updates soon.

Thanks for visit.