I was very glad to see them take that initiative and with my blessings to adjust the strings and figure out new ideas, they ran with it. We figured out that certain movements will require multiple people to manipulate a single puppet.
Read MoreMeeting more puppeteers
So here he was, sitting at this table, a quiet older man along with some more worn, emaciated puppeteers.
Read MoreMultan once again
I head out early in the morning and hopped on a Daewoo bus to Multan.
Read MorePrepping for Multan
I need to keep tabs on all the people involved as well as to do way more tasks myself than I really should be doing, but that is the nature of my resources.
Read MorePhool Patti in Lahore and Evernew Studios
I can’t just dwell on the obstacles if I am going to bring all these elements together and make this film happen.
Read MoreAnything can and does happen
Certainly, anything can happen to anyone, but once we lock shoot dates, it is not an option to not show up, and can I get these puppeteers to show up for all the days of the shoot?
Read MorePerhaps tomorrow
It’s not much of a life, but the work looks very good. Each day I think, well tomorrow some of these meetings will actually happen and I we can move forward, and I can have some ice cream.
Read MoreIn search of X-Ray Paper
Umar and I went out to look for some material that could be used inside of some cloth huts we are making, to keep their shape.
Read MoreWandering Gulberg
I ended up walking around afterwards just to clear my head and be out for a while.
Read MoreSo much cloth
Things were crazy and busy in the market. Just as I was purchasing some cloth, I got a call from Khurshid “Sadar” who is a storyteller during puppet shows. He introduced me to several puppeteers when I went to Multan.
Read MoreSohni break
I worked on some more storyboards for “Sohni”. The pieces are coming together. I feel tired though.
Read MoreQing Qi to Landa
So, Umar and I walked through the crowded market and picked up seven dollars worth of cloth, that should help us create a river bank, decorate a king’s court and provide huts for villager puppets.
Read MoreNo phone..no internet
The phones were down and so was the internet. Surprisingly, the electricity wasn’t going out every other hour or more, so I set one of the stories to render so that I can share a version with the dp.
Read MoreDon't linger too long
I spent the day cutting down the story of Sohni by about 12 minutes. It takes a lot of painstaking listening, watching, trying out different images over the music, to figure out what should stay and what can go.
Read MoreLack of electricity
The electricity is a huge problem. I try to cook or run errands in between, but when the battery on my laptop gets low and the electricity goes so often it is really tough to get into a flow of working. I try my best to use battery powered lights to take photos for the next batch of shots, even if the lighting is completely inaccurate. That way I can get the staging, as in the position of all elements in the shot down. I will add images that represent the kind of lighting for each shot, as I can’t gain enough control over the lights I have to direct them enough for that. Besides, the electricity goes every other hour, so it is just fortunate when the battery powered lights are running so I can take photos and see the puppets.I tried to get some work done. I did add some more photos and edit the ones I had taken the day before in the story I am working on. I ended up cooking some karela (bitter gourd), which turned out well.I have to do something productive when the electricity goes every hour otherwise you completely lose that momentum to work. In the evening, the electricity went out before 6pm and I was in darkness until well past midnight. What kind of crap is that? Apparently, since there are regional elections going on, political parties do this nonsense to keep people from congregating too much. Seriously? If that is the case, the entire neighborhood should be at the ruling party’s doorstep instead of the kind of idiotic concerns the general public often expresses. Such as religious policing of each other and worrying about nonsense that does not in any way reflect the duties of elected officials.Well, since the electricity was gone for so long, I drank some tea with Umar when he got back and I will work the night shift along with him tonight. He is working on the throne room background for Raja Rai Diyach in Sur Sorath. It is the largest backdrop in the film, and features some challenging elements, but it is coming together beautifully. I finalized another design the other day, as well as some more designs for huts today. We are getting there with all the tasks needed for production. I used the time without electricity to make a bunch of phone calls. I checked in on my friend Ustad Amb Jogi (music director and composer on “Risalo”). After his multiple heart attack, he had his angioplasty yesterday and is recovering at his home.I checked in with puppeteers to organize my trip to audition the four to work with me on this project. Khursheid or Sadar sahib as he is called helped take me to different puppeteer families in the three locations they live in Multan months ago. This time, we will put a call out to puppeteers in all three cities that they live in, Multan, Bahawalpur and Khaniwal. I know what I need from them, now let’s see who can handle something new and bring the subtle performances I need. I will certainly help, but I need people with skill and the ability to listen and try something new, while, I hope, bringing something of their own to it. These communities have had it rough. I learned that many of the puppeteers were in Lahore, selling livestock in a market.These are performers, but at the moment, they have not changed with the times and no one has really helped them to do so either. I hope to go settle which puppeteers I’ll hire for “Risalo” next week.
Beginning Sohni
The boost from getting a good edit on the Sorath storyboards helped me get started on the next story; Sohni.
Read MoreComing to life
After days of working on this latest draft of storyboards, ruthlessly removing portions that felt the slightest bit unneeded, I began to see things connecting.
Read MoreChallenges?
After a nice breakfast of channai, naan, left over aloo gosh and tea, courtesy of friends, I set things up and got ready for the day’s work.
Read MoreCutting it all, nothing is precious
I find myself cutting out some beautiful sections of music from the film as they would prolong scenes without adding value to them.
Read MoreEvernew Studios
A visit to Evernew Studios, home of Tryangle Productions
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