The story behind GEM Hospital's AD Series

The story behind GEM Hospital - a series of 4 commercials made in very very low budget.

One directors illness is another directors film.

One evening at 5 pm I get a call from a producer asking me what I was doing the next day,
"Free, but why?" I asked,
"Can you direct some AD films tomorrow?" he went on
Shocked for moment then all the questions flowed "What, Tom? Where? How?"

So the director who was to direct these AD's fell ill and the location, actors, DOP etc were all booked and advances paid in some cases would all be lost, so I got lucky. (In a very low budget film thats like all money spent) I asked for the scripts which was promptly emailed across to me and I read them, there was no treatment note or references, or any homework done by the previous director or if done were not shared and by this time it was 6 pm, with all the chat over the phone and the booking of tickets I was off to the Mumbai airport by 7pm for a 8:15 pm flight, still talking to the producer on route,  passing on a few instructions of things that could be done and with questions still flowing I was off to Chennai.

In all the confusion of trying to answer my questions, booking my tickets and making sure that I got to the airport on time the producer missed his flight, he was coming from Bangalore, luckily since the distance is not too much he caught a night bus to reach early in the morning, so much for our plans of meeting late in the night to discuss details. At least I got to meet the DOP and discuss with him the way he was looking at these films, I was still trying to get all the films clearly into my head to see which way I could treat these films the best.

At 6 am I finally met the producer, we had a short discussion where I learnt that the client was a friend of the producer and on his request was ready to invest a tiny sum to make a few commercials. We reached the location which I was having a look at for the first time, followed by the actors, briefed them along with makeup and choose the costumes (which were self owned options carried) Then along with the DOP made a shoot plan and and the rest is there for you to see.

4 commercials all shot in one day with a turnaround for shoot less than 12 hours (at least for me) These are my showreel versions, the client versions ran in theatres and a few cable channels in the south region of India. Do let me know what you think of them.

"Missed Call"

"Treadmill"

"Sweet Tooth"

GEM Hospital Sound Sleep*

*For some reason the last video has some glitches post upload in youtube, tried various exports so click on the link above to see in Vimeo.

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A robotic arm for slow motion photography

A robotic arm that gives precise movements coupled with slow motion, check out this web page

Slow Motion Meets Robtic Arm

more details on their web page,

The Marmalade

or check out what the camera can do on vimeo..

http://vimeo.com/33408157





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New Version of Now or Never in HD

For those who had not seen it Now or Never was a short film/commercial that was entered for an international contest, the reason given to us for it not winning was it lacked the achievement high that commercials require, we had avoided the comeback initially, but here is a new edit with a comeback and fresh music which has taken the film to another level. Please do watch it on full screen and let me know what you guys think.

CREDITS:-

Produced and Directed by - Amit Chitns & Auggie.

DOP: Kevin Pereira

Music: Melvin Saldanha

Cast (in order of appearance):- 

Croydyn Fernandes, 

Amanda Mendes, 

Swati Srivastava & 

Anurag Chitnis.

Cast (sequence not used is final edit): 

Noel Tauro & Iona D'souza

Special thanks: Irene, Ernest

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Newest Camera Device - Motion Control and Time Lapse Device

Newest Camera Device - Motion Control and Time Lapse Device

Just came across this and all digital filmmakers should have a look at this, I think this would be a very cheap option for those who want to do Motion Control. Some of the advantages of this are, its small, easy to set up and is cheap. For more details click on the links below.. While most of what these guys have experimented with are time lapse, I am thinking special effects... cheek it out...

Genie Motion Control Time Lapse Device

Follow them on
Facebook - SYRP
Webpage - Genie SYRP
Vimeo - Vimeo SYRP


Also check out the competition, though these guys seem a bit expensive but have more options on equipment.

Ditogear News Going Black

Follow them on

Facebook - Dito Gear

Vimeo - Dito Gear on Vimeo

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Chief A.D’s Thinking. Part – 2 (1st A.D’s Tips Part – 2)

"Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!"- Oliver Hardy, Sons of the Desert (1933)

Chief A.D's  Thinking. Part - 2

Continuing from where we left off in Chief A.D's Thinking Part-1 we cover a few more tips as to how a first assistant director (1^st A.D.) looks at different departments. 

Also, read  How to plan a shoot in 10 easy steps. before you go ahead with these tips. 

In Part -2 we cover 

Director Understanding, 

Location / Set – Art, 

Lighting Shift and DOP’s Preference, 

Shoot order and Back up Plan.

Director Understanding

What I mean when I say director understanding is simply understanding the director, as the 1^st A.D. understand what the director is trying to say and what the director wants to do. Remember the most important thing whether the director is an established one or even if he is a beginner, all they want is from the 1^st A.D. is that the shoot should run smoothly. Most directors have a standard style of working, like some would do the shot breakdown only on the set just before the scene, some like to leave the entire day planning to 1^st A.D. and don’t bother what needs to be shot next. Understanding their style can come from having worked with them or the production house earlier maybe asking people who have worked with them about how the director likes things done. The genre of the film also helps in understanding what needs to be done, like some directors concentrate on the style, so this guy would look very closely into details of props like fabric or lenses or kind of equipment being hired etc. Some like the actors to do most for the film so they would concentrate a lot on casting and would like spending time explaining and rehearsing with actors. This does not mean that the rest of the areas are overlooked but whatever be the style of your director its easier for you to function as you will know what areas you need to concentrate on and what areas maybe less important from the shooting point of view. Lastly in general Directors in features always look at the larger picture while advertising directors will be looking at minute details like even the colour of a prop in the background, the tv serial directors would be concerned with the timing of scenes (to fit the episode) and documentary directors would mainly worried if the point that they are trying to make is coming out or not.

Location / Set – Art

Shoot at a outdoor location 

Location v/s Set in features, TV series as well as in advertising, as a 1st A.D. it is important to know when the place would be ready to be handed over for shooting. In case of actual locations like airports or railway stations or landscape shots there usually, is no set dressing or a few props to be placed and one can begin shooting as soon as the DOP is ready to roll. Sometimes in these cases where some propping has to be done the art team needs to be made aware of the time available in which to finish it. Public locations like streets or like the ones mentioned are usually available only for a few hours and therefore reaching these locations on time and fully prepared helps. Planning and finding a base that is as close as possible to these locations and getting all ready in advance there before moving to the final filming location helps. In the case of locations that are houses or mills or places like stores, there could be a bit of propping that needs to be done and the A.D. needs to find out how long this would take. 

Indoor built set for a shoot

In case where a Set is required, set construction is followed by set propping and after which lighting can begin, as an A.D. when meeting with the art team one would have get a timeline from the art director for each and every location so that the final schedule fall into place. E.g:- a project that involves set as well locations the A.D. will have to find out these details and make sure the set construction has begun on time so that the floor is ready for shoot on the desired date keeping the time taken for lighting in mind as well. Set construction could go on for days or even months if the detailing is elaborate, there also needs to be the meeting between the Art and the DOP and VFX team (if any) to figure practical light sources and if any part needs to be constructed in such a manner to suit easy filming, like movable wall’s or extra windows or in case of VFX like a portable chroma wall or even a moving set like in case of an airplane, ship interior.

Set built of a ship's cabin

The bottom line wherever you are shooting is that a time frame has to be agreed upon and stuck to by the art team, direction team, and the producer who has to make sure that all is done so that this can fall into place. As simple as this may sound if there are minor delays here it will just spiral into a lot more other problems. Like a delay in obtaining the location for artwork to being might delay it being ready for the shoot which in turn will delay the start of the shoot and that could throw a lot more things out of gear.

Its always good to have at least one dedicated A.D. to art especially in features and TV series where continuity of set, and props go over a period of many days. These days it's easy for the A.D. to keep continuity using a simple digital camera, as long as the pictures are clear and organised into folders with details the job on set is fairly simple and yet could go drastically wrong if no one is paying attention, like same props being used in 2 different locations.

Lastly don’t forget to clear all the requirement lists with the art and production team, this is one space that mostly goes into a grey area where art says this needs to be done by production or vice versa, you don’t want to be stuck on set where one assumed the other is getting it. It's best to have lists typed and copies given to each department so that all know what they are responsible for and the job gets done.

Lighting Shift and DOP’s Preference

So depending on whether your shoot location is a built-up set or an existing location your cinematographer (DOP) will ask you for a certain amount of time to light up the place. In places where lighting is not possible like a street or a market usually the time taken for the DOP to be ready would be the amount of time taken to load up the camera and rig it if necessary and you are ready to roll. This does not mean that there may be no lighting in these places, there could be sometimes the placement of reflectors and or large lights at distances to add fill or spotlight in the environment.     

In cases of controlled environment mostly indoor locations and in cases of where u are on a constructed set, the DOP and the gaffer would determine the no of lights that would be required to light up the place and in turn how long would it take for the lights to get set up and be ready to roll, this could vary from a few hours to half a shift to even a full lighting day or two depending on the size and kind of lighting required. 

As an A.D. once you have this information it helps to determine the time required by the DOP and his team to be ready to roll the first shot of the day. So now depending on the kind of shot’s to be taken (Storyboard or shot break down) which is decided by the director you would go about planning the shots from the time for the first roll onward's. You have to try and fit all the shots planned for that day and make sure that there is sufficient time to finish all the planned shots, or complete the scene, in case of shooting for more than one-day balance shots could continue the next day but be careful that too much of shots moved to the next day might increase the work the next day and if further moved then shots or scenes required from that location might not finish and therefore leave you with an incomplete scene or a film. Generally, a large amount of time goes into the first shot of the day and you pick up pace after that, this happens because you want everything to be right and all departments to fall in gear before you proceed. Also once all the master lighting is done there is a lesser amount of shifting of light’s (compared to the master) for the shots to progress.

Remember to ask the cinematographer his preference for shooting order, (either at the recce or the previous day if needed) but do so only after u have a plan already ready so u can discuss it out, don’t forget to include the director in the plan if not at the discussion the stage at least before you lock on your final shoot order. Remember to keep all other factors in mind in this discussion like time of actors arrival or time required for special equipment  or prop to arrive so that u don’t plan something and have to change it last min.

Shoot order and Back up Plan.

Planning your shoot order usually happens the day before the shoot, this could be because you could have had balance shots from the previous day, or the director or DOP might have a preference to being with. That does not mean that you should not have a basic plan ready in advance. Irrespective of where you are shooting, in scheduling you would give a large amount of time to the first shot of the day as getting everything right for the first usually takes time, you generally pick up speed after you have taken your first shot. Most of the time you would plan your shots one axis at a time and scene wise, you would complete one scene and then move to the next unless the other scenes are similar in continuity and you can afford to shoot 2 scenes simultaneously. You finish all shots from one axis before moving to the other, rarely does one jump axis from shot to shot in a scene. This usually happens when the scene is acting dependent (some director's like to do it this way) or if there is permanent damage by the end of the scene like breaking of a key prop.

Basic plans per axis are the wide master shot is covered first then you would get closer into the scene ending up with close-ups. You would make a basic plan in this manner in advance and then discuss it with the director and DOP before you finalise the plan. When you have your plan in mind you should also have justifications to the order that you have planned and be open to suggestions before fixing the final plan. Light plays a huge factor in a shoot especially outdoors and the director and the DOP might want to shoot a particular scene at a particular hour of the day, like sunset or backlit scene’s. You have to have alternate plans here as on the day of the shoot your plan might change completely, like late arrival or a key prop or an actor. Here is where knowing everything that is happening in all departments help as that decision to change shoot order affects all and could make or break the entire shoot.

Axis Plan

 If you have the time, and you have all the shots that you have to shoot numbered you can make an Axis Plan (like the one above)  this is something that I would do especially on shoots that have a large number of the axis to be kept in mind and shoot in the same location for the same scene (or a commercial) it helps a lot in sequences that have stunts or visual effects to go with it. It's easy to see from this if you have covered all your shots for that sequence. The above Axis plan was done for a Limca Commercial which had a lot of VFX involved and since it was an outdoor shoot the plans had to be bang on.

Lastly, after you have done your schedule for the day, you can  do a time division to each shot and see if all your shots fit within your planned shift. Don’t forget to include your break time and keep buffer for each scene, for e.g:- in a 9-9 shift if you roll call is 10:30 am (assuming that major part of lighting would have already been done or only an hour and a half is required to light up) your first master shot you would assign 2.5 hours, this is from 9 am  - 11:30 am assuming that after the first roll (which usually gets delayed) you would take reset time and do  3 – 4 takes of the same, so this time has a buffer of 15- 20 mins, your next timing would be 11:30 – 12 for shot 2 of the day, 12- 12:30 for shot 3, 12:30 – 1:30 for shot 4, lunch from 1:30 – 2:30 and so on. You would keep a buffer time of 10 – 20 mins for small shifts in axis and 30 – 1hr or more for complete shifts in axis (like a cross over’s where a lot of things have to shift and be reset.) It’s not always possible to plan in such a manner as shots could be added or changed at the last moment, sometimes the director does not even plan the number of shots per scene till they are on the set, in such cases you could keep your division to scene timings, like scene 1 to be shot could take 2 hr’s scene 2 could take 1.5 hr’s etc so that you know that you have to complete those many scene’s by a certain amount of time so that you could push for work to move faster if you are falling behind the schedule.

You could print your timings for each scene on the call sheet to let all know if they are behind or ahead of the schedule. This is not a known practice at all, but I did it sometimes as it helped to keep everyone on their toes right from the beginning instead of trying to push too much at the last minute.   

More of these Tip's coming up in Chief A.D's Thinking. Part -3 

Auggieism:- What do you call a blogging Auggie... . 

Ans:- Bloggie..

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Now or Never (Short Film / Commercial)

Its time to get over your everyday fears, its time to break free, take charge, aim higher, conquer fear. 

It's Now or Never.

This film was entered in an online competition where the topic was "Now or Never" and the duration limit was 60 sec. (it included 10 sec of sponsors tags) These competitions are generally self-produced commercials, in this case, the sponsor didn't want a commercial per se but a short film The Brief received as follows

YOU HAVE 60 SECONDS TO MAX IT!

We won't tell you how to MAX IT...you tell us!
Make us laugh, make us think, make us dream...“WOW” us! If it's original, inventive, humorous and thought provoking…you'll get our attention. We’re looking for wild, unexpected and amazing films and the talented individuals behind them!  

After reading the topic and the brief we debated various ideas and finally we rested upon "Man vs Nature and Man vs Machine" as the base idea to the commercial. We did shoot one more sequence which is not included in the final edit. I composed the music myself. Please do leave your comments to what you think of our effort.

CREDITS:-
Produced and Directed by - Amit Chitns & Auggie.
DOP: Kevin Pereira
Music: Auggie
Cast (in order of appearance):- 
Croydyn Fernandes, 
Amanda Mendes, 
Swati Srivastava & 
Anurag Chitnis.
Cast (sequence not used is final edit): 
Noel Tauro & Iona D'souza
Special thanks: Irene, Ernest




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Shoot Now Focus Later

Check this out, Click now and focus later

Crazy 4D camera Lytro Sale

also their earlier post on Lytro

Camera that's refocusable post

See some of the images posted on how it works and the home webpage for more information.

Lytro Home Page

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"I see dead people."  - The Sixth Sense (1999)

How to plan a shoot in 10 easy steps.

You have worked enough as a second A.D. and D.A. and you think you are now ready to be the first Asst Director but you are still lacking confidence on how to plan the shoot read on to find out how to plan a shoot in 10 easy steps. 

So while you may consider the director to be a conductor of the orchestra, the first A.D. is like the traffic police at a junction. During the shoot, the director concentrates on performances, shots, and the edit as well sometimes, the first AD has to make sure that everything runs clockwork. The first A.D. has to be aware of everything that is happening on and off the set and in all departments, he has to make sure that all departments deliver on time and come up with alternative plans in case something goes wrong, a lot of thinking on the feet and man-management has to happen.  

So how to go about planning a shoot,

1. Read all the material possible namely the script, treatment note, references, storyboard’s etc. (all material in the PPM docket if there is one.) Understand what is the key driver to the shoot. (is it action-based, or drama or product-driven in case of commercials)
   
   
2. Get the breakdown done based on the script/storyboard of all the requirements and divided into each individual department. Make sure all is covered.
   
   
3. Meet and understand the director’s perspective. Understand his style of working and what he is looking for in that project.
   
   
4. Meet the head of all departments more than once if possible, share all the requirements from each department. Make sure that there is no overlap of responsibilities or assumption that someone will do it. Give a written list so that there is no confusion as to who is doing what. (eg. when art assumes that production is getting a prop or vice versa) Do follow up’s with all to check the progress.
   
   
5. Get timelines from each department, like how long for art to prep, how long to get the artist ready from makeup hair and costume, distance and time it will take between locations (especially if you are shooting 2 or more locations on the same day) etc.
   
   
6. Go for a recce, not just to see locations but to plan the entire shoot, to figure out problems that may arise at the final shoot day. Go for more than one recce at times if possible, if not then a final tech recce with the main required people where all details are discussed is a must.
   
   
7. Plan the shooting schedule and shoot order. (this could be done before or after a recce depending on the situation, although the A.D. should go for a recce with a plan in mind so that they can figure if the plan is possible or not) Keep in mind the director and DOP’s preferences in order of shoot. Confirm with all required that the shoot order is fine. (Done after confirming with the director)
   
   
8. Prep the call sheet, here all the requirements, call time for each department and artists, etc, don’t forget to include weather, tide and all other details that may apply to that project. Make sure that call times are given to all and follow up and pickups arranged with the help of production and your assistants.
   
   
9. Have a final meeting with production and other departments if possible telling them the final plan, or just production and passing information to all departments making sure that all are on the same page.
   
   
10. Shoot. Communicate on Shoot, make sure that your assistants are passing on all the relevant information, make sure all departments are working to clockwork precision. Don’t forget to plan the next day’s shoot while the shoot is going on.
    

Lastly, enjoy your shoot and try and maintain a friendly atmosphere throughout.    

These 10 points just give a quick overview of what needs to be done. In the following blogs, I will put down the 1^st AD’s perspective into each department.

Auggieism:- What do you call a hard-working Auggie... . 

Ans:- Sloggie..

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Panasonic Dimensions 3D film competition:-

A 3D competition put together by Panasonic where 7 film schools across India participated in a short duration movie/documentary making contest in 3D, a workshop at Upper Deck @ Lonavala where Barry Braverman (DOP / 3D expert) took everyone through the basics of 3D in quite a depth at the same time introducing Panasonic's AG-3DA1 camera.

Upper Deck - Lonavala

You can check this page for the specs and some basics of the camera and 3D:-
http://pro-av.panasonic.net/en/3d/ag-3da1/index.html

Film schools that participated in this competition were
LV Prasad - Chennai

Chennai Film Industrial School (CFIS) - Chennai

Asian Academy of Film and Television (AAFT) - Delhi

NDTVmi - Delhi

Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) - Pune

Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication (SIMC) - Pune

Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute - Kolkata

The entire gang.

In the workshop, Barry not only covered 3D but also looked into storytelling and how one could use 3D to enhance the story by using it. The limitations and the so-called rules or basic principals one could say were also shared during the course of this workshop.  

A bunch of professionals from the industry including me, were asked to act as mentors or creative producers, our responsibility was to make sure that while creativity was given a free hand there were no basics that were overlooked and a check on budgets of course. Nikhil Gonsalves was the chief producer and all teams had to report to him.

The mentors along with Barry and Nikhil.

The fields from which each mentor come are as follows:-
Satyanshu Singh - Scriptwriter

Arjun Venkatesh - Cinematographer

Rohan Talwalkar - Assistant Director

Augustine Fernandes (Auggie) - Director. 

Chirag Patel - Cinematographer / Photographer

Tunali Mukherjee - Photographer / Writer

Kumar Devanshu - Scriptwriter

Over the 3 days, the teams were given a chance to use 3D cameras, so that technical questions mainly because of the medium could be sorted, also limits of the camera and medium were figured. Each team had to work on stories which they had to pitch and only after all the producers were happy were the teams given a green signal for that story to be their 3D film which they would work on following the workshop. While pitching each team had to have back up ideas in case the one pitched failed to make the cut, also they had to come up with a Title, log line (story in one line or something that is memorable from the film), and a poster for the pitch. (This is something that a few directors go through when they try to sell their script to producers or financiers)

Post the workshop teams returned to their colleges and work on their storyboards, location recce, casting, costumes and mainly budgeting, dates were fixed post-budget approvals and this followed by prep and shoot. All teams were given sufficient time and were called in batches for their respective edits at Qlabs in Mumbai, the process involved a basic 2D edit a 3D conform, DI while dubs and sound mix on 5.1 Dolby. The finished films were burnt onto blu ray and were ready for judging.

The judging was done by none other than
Rajkumar Hirani 
Nikhil Advani  and
Karan Johar

So while the winning team got to fly to LA to visit the Panasonic Studios the rest of us took back the fact that we were among the rare few who got to learn and work in a medium that is still in the developing stage. We also got to take back memories along with a whole bunch of new friends from across the country.

You can watch the episodes that were covered by NDTV and which were aired in the links below
(Don't know how long these links will last though.)

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Final Episode






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Producer Creativity

At the rate that production houses are cropping up and the creativity used in their names I thought that I would suggest a few of them, hopefully, these are not already taken if so then I am sorry and if you decide to pick a name from here do send me a cheque to thank me...

FPS FILMS
PINEAPPLE FILMS
(ANY FRUIT) FILMS (some fruits and vegetables are already taken)
MONKEY PRODUCTIONS
JACKAL FILMS
DONKEY WORKS
(ANY ANIMAL) PRODUCTIONS (some animals already taken)
BIG FAT ENTERTAINMENT
SPF :SPARROW POOP FILMS
SMALL THIN PRODUCTIONS
OH FILMS
500DP - 500 Director Producer / 500 Dop's / 500 Direct Productions..
50DP
5DP
BLUE SKY FILMS
COVERAGE PRODUCTIONS
LIGHT UP FILMS
UFO - United Film Organisation / Untitled Film Objectives
BANGLE FILMS
i FILM
i PRODUCES
WHATEVER PRODUCTIONS
YOU DECIDE FILMS
OPTICAL PRODUCTIONS
FFF - Fast Forward Films
PP - Pause Productions
CAKE WALK FILMS
BP - Burn Productions
CURTAIN FILMS
BGF - Back Ground Films
SFF - Scratch Free Films
FILMY GUYS
OFFLINE PRODUCTIONS
ONLINE FILMS


CUTTING CHAI PRODUCTIONS
PPP - Pani Puri Productions
OMLET FILMS
BHEL FILMS
SARI PRODUCTIONS
BPP - Bhajiya Pav Productions
VPP- Vada Pav Productions
(ANY INDIAN FOOD) PRODUCTIONS


If you have any more suggestions, or if there exists a production house that is up on this list then do let me know I will gladly add or delete it.

So first suggestion come is
Feni Productions (courtesy Nigel) or Feni Films
could also go with a few Goan ones
Dodol Productions
Bebik Films
Sorpotel Productions..


See more in the comments below



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PPM – Pre Production Meeting

“Elementary, my dear Watson”, Sherlock Holmes”  - The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, (1939) 

PPM

A PPM – Pre Production Meeting which exits in advertising is a meeting of the Client, (which includes the brand team), the agency (which includes creative and client servicing) and the production house (which is represented by the director and producer and rarely the DA as well) So what happens at a PPM? And when does a PPM happen? This meeting is organised so that all parties involved are happy with the direction the AD film or Campaign is headed. This meeting happens ideally a few days before the commercial is shot so that there is enough time in case changes are required to be made and checked before the film gets shot. Sometimes because of lack of time, (because of deadline or non-availability of important people’s times) these meetings also happen the night before the shoot but those times it’s very difficult to make large changes.  There are also sometimes a Pre PPM which has the agency creative and the director meeting to see if the progress is being liked creatively. There are at the time also 2 or more than 2 PPM held if the client wants to see the changes before the ad film goes on the floor.      

So what gets discussed at the PPM, almost always it’s everything that you can think of. Only rarely the client is happy going over only a few things as he trusts the agency and the director to make the right decisions for the brand. The contents of a PPM are agency script and storyboard (if any), director’s treatment note, director’s storyboard, location options, references of costume, hair and makeup, art (set and props), style, look n feel, colour palette, etc. computer graphics references (if there is any style or technique that needs clarification on) The cast, (along with options) the crew, and the schedule. Not all these are present always but depending on the ad they are included or not.

The PPM is presented with different materials depending mostly on what the director is used to and what is available. Most of the material is put together either on a word docket or PowerPoint slide presentation and sometimes it’s even prepared on photoshop. These are printed into dockets that are distributed at the PPM. These dockets also help the director in showing the rest of the crew what direction he is taking the film. For the rest of the PPM different material is used if possible and as and where it is possible, some of which is explained below.

The agency script and storyboard are kept intact the way it was sent to the production house. As most of the times, these have already been shared with the client.

The Directors Storyboard and treatment note includes his vision for the ad, while talking of the finer details that would be looked into and the style, look and feel or various parts of the ad are mentioned here. The treatment note mostly concentrates on what the director is bringing to the table, and what the main focus would be, casting, or style or look would be talked of more than the rest.

Location options are shown (if there are options) via pictures which were taken at a recce of the place, sometimes video is also shown to understand the geography of a place especially if it’s complicated. If it’s a set then those references fall under art.

References play a big role here in the PPM as the director presents these to show what things would look and feel like. Most of the time images are used to show the references for each section. 

For ART there are miniature models of the set that are carried to the meeting sometimes and also some key props are also presented as lots of times the physical prop is better to judge than images. There are also 3D images of the set showing what the set would look like in scale. Different level drawings and as much as detail required is shown. There are also separate images shown sometimes for what the finish would look like. A sample of floor colour or texture or a colour chart for colour of walls is also shown if these are critical. 

For COSTUMES besides the design drawn there are material pieces and colour choices shown if possible, sometimes the entire outfit is also presented if it’s ready by the PPM. This happens when the costume plays a very important part of the story. There are times when pictures of costume fittings/trials are also presented. 

HAIR n MAKE UP gets a mention and style is stressed upon if it plays a key role. If it is a character look then sometimes pictures of the style or a test is done and presented to the client as to what the final look would be like. This mostly happens in skin or hair products.

LOOK n FEEL,  COLOUR PALETTE, and STYLE are mostly included in the director's treatment note, but sometimes there are images which are presented which helps the director explain what he is looking at to take the film towards. Sometimes it’s just part of the image that might be of interest and therefore an explanation along with it is a must.

CG references are shown if an explanation of how the film is to be shot is shown, this is done as most of the time during a VFX heavy film only the director and the VFX specialist along with a few of the crew understand what’s going on. CG also gets shown for product window sections were it at the most used to display the client's main product. It’s good to have this plan cleared at this stage as that helps in saving precious time and heading in the right direction.

The Cast is presented by DVD’s, CD’s and even though a DV camera connected to a TV. These are mostly auditions of the cast done by a casting director or rarely work done by the actor if they are not available for the audition (in case the director really feels that this actor would work for the film). Images of the cast are also shown sometimes to show what they look like in makeup. Sometimes only the main cast is presented and rest is left to the agency and production house to choose. (mostly done when there are a lot of characters to the film)

Lastly as a formality the key crew is listed out, this mostly happens when a specialised person has been hired to do a specific purpose. Like a hairstylist from abroad or a recognized DP etc. The schedule gets a mention so that deadlines can be clear and people can keep themselves free on dates for presentations. 

On an average PPM’s last for 2 – 3 hours there are times when they do get over much faster if all are happy with the approach and can get longer if debates break out on any topic. So sometimes these discussions are solved by having another PPM at a later date with the changes made. Depending on the situation to the client the more different kinds of materials used could impress and in certain cases, the least amount used can also be impressive. There are sometimes details that are held back like CG in PPM’s as its better to have finished the job and shown what it would look like than trying to explain and losing out a good idea at a discussion stage. The presentation material should definitely have clients name, product name, project, agency, production house names mentioned somewhere on the presentation (mostly at the beginning).

There is also another pre-meeting which in cases is also called a PPM. This involves all the crew who meet up for before shoot. This PPM involves all departments (ideally) at the same time so that the director can brief all in one go and discussions between all happens in one go. Details of this kind of meeting I shall elaborate on later. 

Auggieism:- What do you call a lazy  Auggie who delays his work... . 

Ans:- Slaggie..

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Digital v/s Film

I came across an interesting site so I thought I would share it with people who are interested in the camera field.

The test results make good learning not just for DP's but for others as well as it might help them chooses the course that wants to take their projects in. There are tests done and results compared between film and the current digital cameras.

Following is the link to the site where there are 3 episodes of the tests done in 2010 -

http://www.zacuto.com/shootout

Enjoy.





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