Fear - Onto post-production

Film-making, if someone tells you is an easy job, scoff at them. At worst, excuse yourself and go and converse with someone more interesting. In terms of Hardwork Index, Film-making will probably figure only behind coal-mining. The last two days will arguably go into the history as the most hectic and exhausting weekend I've spent so far.

Enough of bantering and now on to the real stuff. The shooting for Bhayam (Fear) is complete and it's onto post-production now. And yes, we've learnt quite a lot during this weekend and now that we're officially film-makers and not an 'aspiring' ones, it's time to list down the learning.

Things that went well:
Script script
Our focus on scripting and storyboarding paid off. We were quick to get into positions and were even aware of the camera angles.
Schedule
Scheduling is essential. We had planned which scene we are going to shoot when. That helped a lot in coordinating with the cast and crew.

Things that did not go well:
Lights off!
My, my, lighting! Both Dinesh and I completely missed out on this part. We were so engrossed with the script, so busy with casting and I kept nagging him on the sound front because I was really worried about the sound recording. But lights? We were totally caught unawares and realising that we are novices, the cameraman took charge and almost started behaving like the director. By the time we overcame the shock and wrested the control back, some damage had already been done. But on the second day, we were back in control, and voila, it was smooth as a silk.

Casting
For that upper-middle class college girl, I casted my friend and, on Sunday evening, on the sets, realised to my shock that she can't speak Tamil! I should have realised it when she asked to have the dialogues written in Hindi! Her Tamil was only slightly better than what Shah-Rukh did in Hey Ram. Then we had her wear her hands-free, and I went into a room, called her from my cell and prompted her for every dialogue through hands-free when the camera was rolling! Problem solving at its best.

This apart, there were other minor glitches such as certain dialogues not sounding natural when spoken out loud, a lady who agreed to do the mother's role ditching us in the last minute forcing us to change a scene, etc.

It may not be the best short-film made in the recent times. But it's certainly the most important one for those involved. Considering that, it was all worth it. On the whole, it feels like we've rushed through an entire Diploma in Filmmaking just over a weekend!

P.S. A few people deserve our heart-felt gratitude. Sindhu, thank you for coming over to help us on a 12th hour notice. Kathir for the on-the-set assistance. Moushumi and Satish, you were so understanding and cooperative, I would have hugged and kissed you if not for that busy schedule. Harish for your illuminating scripting fundas. Kavita Kalyan, you were wonderfully emotive but need to work a lot on your Tamil. Mahesh for putting up with me and waiting in the parking lot with your family while your house was being used for shooting. Vijay for all that help rendered and some work still left incomplete! And all others for enquiring throughout its making and encouraging us on this mainden short-film venture.