An exhilarating experience

I'm back after finishing up the short film. It was a very exciting experience. An invaluable learning experience.

Balu and I drove down to LA on Friday night. We stayed the night at Sukhi's place and drove to the set on Saturday morning. There were 5 scenes to be shot. Sudesh and Balu blew my mind with the set lighting. Sukhi was in top form making sure every thing we needed to get it done was available. The actors Robert and Amy topped it off with excellent performances. There were 2 other actors as well in very minor roles, Bijan and Analisa. Specially worth mentioning was Amy's performance. She got into the character quite well. It was a 5 minute short but the dedication she gave to it was second to none. I saw her getting quite time with the script, reading it and internalizing it. Very impressive.

Russell and his family, who are Sukhi's friends, hosted us and allowed us to shoot at their place. It would not have been possible to do it without their help. Crystal was there every step of the way to get the actor's makeup done before their shots. Bijan kept the mood jovial in the set, cracking jokes and kidding people. I didn't know any of these folks before but the professionalism they portrayed was impressive.

Over all it was great fun directing the film. I loved every bit of it. Did it pan out exactly as I envisioned? I think it played out better. There were a lot of other elements that I decided to abandon in the last minute in the interest of schedule.

Balu and I drove on Saturday night 1:30 am to Sudesh's house in Orange county. We started the editing process on Sunday at about 10:30. We wrapped up at 12:45 that night. 15 hours marathon with very little breaks. Sudesh's skill in editing drama for the right impact is superb. His dedication to perfection is one that I totally admire and understand. By the time we left LA we were exhausted but excited. We pulled it off. Something that started with an idea last Monday is almost a finished product today.

Ultimately we decided not to submit the movie to Film aka. It was impossible to do justice to the intense story by clipping it to 3 minutes. So its going to be a 5 minute short and we will use it in upcoming short film festivals.

So the ultimate question is.. When can you see the finished movie. This week. After I finish with sound, music and titles.