Finally we have made it, Known Number, a short-film and it's released. Though it was just a 10 mins movie, it took a lot of effort and time. And, making a movie, even a short one, isn't easy.
After watching a countless of movies and seeing your friends make shorts, you always want to do that. My first thought was I wanted to be a part of my friend's short film crew, just want to present in the spot when he makes the film, That's what I asked, but he offered to cast me in his next short. I was excited after hearing the story, it was funny. And, we kept talking about it for years and it never took off. I just liked the thought of being a part of a movie, though it may be a short, even if it's not acting, but it didn't happen.
Then, last year same time around my company announced its annual event where short films will be a part of it. So with my colleague who's my roommate as well started to do a movie. This time we did create a poster and it was put up on the walls inside our company. Then, we even shot for few days thanks to my friend, who happens to be a photographer. We rented lens, camera, etc., and shot for few days. First, the function was canceled, but we wanted to finish the film even if it won't be telecast there. And, then came the rains and it was unofficially dropped. We had to shoot in too many places, involving many artists, by many I mean four people and nothing went as per plan and so we dropped it.
This year when the event was announced we decided to do a short again. This time we want to do a different movie. So, my colleague/rommie, wrote a script in which there won't be a need of any female artist or any other location except in and around our room. And, thank god, our previous movie cinematographer, who was very busy agreed to be a part of this. We don't think this movie would have happened if didn't accept, at least not by this time or by this quality we did the camera on our own.
It took us a month to complete the shooting though we shot only for four days in the night time. We started in our rooftop with sun-gun lights and it was like a real shooting spot. And, we don't have any pics, thanks to Suresh. We slowly moved out, shot in front of our room, then in next street, then in the GST road, finally in front of a busy hotel and TASMAC to wrap it up. It wasn't much difficult to shoot in those areas as well. We made a lot of changes on the go and we okayed many scenes without going for a retake. And, never noted down the dialogues or the okayed shot number which haunted us during editing and dubbing.
And, we learned some tools, thanks to Suresh again and we did the editing, it was a tiring job. Every night we all sit with laptops like how we used to get together for night study.
The next part was dubbing, which was most difficult part in this movie. I didn't expect us to go this stage, to go to a dubbing theater and all. I was giggling right from the moment I entered the theater. The dubbing was even more fun. I try to say a dialogue and it sounds terribly funny to those sitting in the other room. I know they are laughing, but I try to ignore it. In the end I sounded terribly funny. It was embarrassing, funny and an unforgettable experience.
After that using some software, we completed the sound mixing and adding background scores thanks to all those music directors around the world. It was once again a tedious job. And, it's ready the only time we spent money making this movie is for dubbing.
I know we haven't achieved something great. I know we were just a drop in an ocean of short films that are already in YouTube. But, we are happy and satisfied that we are also a part of it.
We were very ambitious to try a sci-fi, night shoot, double action and to fit everything in 10 minutes and also to learn the tools to edit, mix the sound in our first movie itself. But we are proud of our output even though it isn't perfect. If at all we make a next one, we will try to better this.
After watching a countless of movies and seeing your friends make shorts, you always want to do that. My first thought was I wanted to be a part of my friend's short film crew, just want to present in the spot when he makes the film, That's what I asked, but he offered to cast me in his next short. I was excited after hearing the story, it was funny. And, we kept talking about it for years and it never took off. I just liked the thought of being a part of a movie, though it may be a short, even if it's not acting, but it didn't happen.
Then, last year same time around my company announced its annual event where short films will be a part of it. So with my colleague who's my roommate as well started to do a movie. This time we did create a poster and it was put up on the walls inside our company. Then, we even shot for few days thanks to my friend, who happens to be a photographer. We rented lens, camera, etc., and shot for few days. First, the function was canceled, but we wanted to finish the film even if it won't be telecast there. And, then came the rains and it was unofficially dropped. We had to shoot in too many places, involving many artists, by many I mean four people and nothing went as per plan and so we dropped it.
This year when the event was announced we decided to do a short again. This time we want to do a different movie. So, my colleague/rommie, wrote a script in which there won't be a need of any female artist or any other location except in and around our room. And, thank god, our previous movie cinematographer, who was very busy agreed to be a part of this. We don't think this movie would have happened if didn't accept, at least not by this time or by this quality we did the camera on our own.
It took us a month to complete the shooting though we shot only for four days in the night time. We started in our rooftop with sun-gun lights and it was like a real shooting spot. And, we don't have any pics, thanks to Suresh. We slowly moved out, shot in front of our room, then in next street, then in the GST road, finally in front of a busy hotel and TASMAC to wrap it up. It wasn't much difficult to shoot in those areas as well. We made a lot of changes on the go and we okayed many scenes without going for a retake. And, never noted down the dialogues or the okayed shot number which haunted us during editing and dubbing.
And, we learned some tools, thanks to Suresh again and we did the editing, it was a tiring job. Every night we all sit with laptops like how we used to get together for night study.
The next part was dubbing, which was most difficult part in this movie. I didn't expect us to go this stage, to go to a dubbing theater and all. I was giggling right from the moment I entered the theater. The dubbing was even more fun. I try to say a dialogue and it sounds terribly funny to those sitting in the other room. I know they are laughing, but I try to ignore it. In the end I sounded terribly funny. It was embarrassing, funny and an unforgettable experience.
After that using some software, we completed the sound mixing and adding background scores thanks to all those music directors around the world. It was once again a tedious job. And, it's ready the only time we spent money making this movie is for dubbing.
I know we haven't achieved something great. I know we were just a drop in an ocean of short films that are already in YouTube. But, we are happy and satisfied that we are also a part of it.
We were very ambitious to try a sci-fi, night shoot, double action and to fit everything in 10 minutes and also to learn the tools to edit, mix the sound in our first movie itself. But we are proud of our output even though it isn't perfect. If at all we make a next one, we will try to better this.
Thanks to my team Ram, Suresh, Bharath, our cinematographer Rakesh and everyone who supported us from last year.
மகிழ்ச்சி!!!
Great to know you had done a short film Karthik. The narration of what you experienced during the making of it is very interesting...
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