An Environmental Film

Interview on Gul - Human Rights Essay - Environmental Essay - Press KitGul(flower) is about contrasts. Humanity's impact on the environment is a strong theme of the film. Much of the visual development of the film came out of my surroundings. Here in Southern California, there are great swathes of natural beauty and industrial blight. On one hand there is a fascination in seeing the intricate leaves, and multitudinous branches of a forest of trees. It touches some primal core that seeks the comfort of soft floral colors and organic shapes. In stark contrast are the abominations that generate our electricity and process our filth. These inhumanly intricate structures with which we pretend to bend nature to our will are also fascinating and endlessly intricate, but with a morbid, claustrophobic, foreboding grotesqueness.We stand before both, minute and insignificant, but where one is magnificent in its grace and brutality, the other secretes a slow poison that promises a total destruction with no return. Humans are interesting creatures. Like the lion trainer's who put on a show with powerful animals that could destroy their impotent "masters" with an accidental swat of the paw, we court and create our own greatest dangers.These ideas parallel the greed of humanity, not only in its pillage of nature, but in its egotistical pursuit of its ambitions and agendas. Yet somewhere within all of that, is the excitement of opportunities, the newness of youth, the open possibilities of naivete and hope. Where concrete snuffs out life, rain crumbles it, revealing new green life, inching into sunlight. Gul seeks to connect on that visceral level in the natural and unnatural that concerns of our environment.Watch the film here.Interview on Gul - Human Rights Essay - Environmental Essay - Press Kit

A Human Rights Film

Interview on Gul - Human Rights Essay - Environmental Essay - Press KitInspirationThe issue of human rights is of central interest in Gul(flower). I see the lack of human rights as the root of most social issues in the world. The power of storytelling lies in its ability to share experiences, educate and provoke thought. It is when people do not question the norm that human rights abuses go unchallenged.PurposeGul brings to light the question of our own free will in the context of human rights. Often we feel we do not possess the means to stop abuse. While we may not feel empowered to have a direct effect on the actions of others, we do have the ability to choose our own actions. This endearing truth kept me working on this film for years, as a personal statement attesting to the hope that I see in even the most difficult situations. I always had in mind that this piece could tell far more by not being over stated. The mind has an incredible capacity to fill in information as needed to create understanding. I realized that, I could make art that is participatory, rather than passive. At the end of it, I trusted in the audience to engage with the piece at their own level.ResponseI was reassured by the first screening in Seattle to Costa Rica, Romania, Iran, rural villages in India, small towns in Pakistan and beyond at the ability of all kinds of people to interpret art that is challenging and not spoon fed in its consumption. Social workers, parents, children, farmers, activists and all kinds of every day people have shared with me their insights, observations and passion for this film. It has been, and continues to be an amazing and gratifying experience to share it, without lengthy explanation, to be taken as is. A truth understood is far more powerful than one that is told.In Great CompanyGul(flower) screened at the 2009 Mill Valley Film Festival, with films such as Awakening from Sorrow: Buenos Aires 1997, Soundtrack for a Revolution, The Most Dangerous Man in America and many other hard hitting films about important social issues. Later it screened at the Seventh Annual Patios: New Orleans International Human Rights Festival, while I was in India volunteering. It has screened at numerous festivals, for which I am grateful, but Patios in particular was a big deal for me, as it meant that the work had reached its goal.Emily Ratner, from the Patios sent me a short bit about the screening that I really enjoyed:"The screening turned out to be a very interesting and powerful one. We unexpectedly hosted a group of 35 youth of color from a small town about an hour outside of New Orleans, and so one of the organizers (whose also a social worker) used the opportunity to talk with the students about child abuse, metaphor, and how experimental media can tell very real and painful stories. I think your film definitely threw some of the youth for a loop, but on the whole I think they were really into the experience!"I had similar experiences in India as I traveled through New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Chandigarh giving flipbook animation workshops to kids at various non profit orgs, an art therapy workshop with an amazing group of HIV/AIDS infected women in Bangalore and wonderful discussions on Gul(flower) and the many emotions and thoughts it evoked throughout. It is a wonderful feeling to create art that encourages a richness of thought and discussion. To see that first hand has been one of the most powerful experiences of making this film.In Pakistan, I worked with a group of Multimedia Masters students in Lahore, using Gul as an example of the power of developing a concept into a finished piece. In the end, it has been an empowering experience to convey a lot that I have felt inside for a long time, without the use of words, in a way that strives to connect to that commonality of the human experience and the importance of human rights.Watch the film here.Interview on Gul - Human Rights Essay - Environmental Essay - Press Kit

Reel Breakdown

The SmurfsHair and Cloth for Smurfette and Cloth for Gutsy Smurf.Beowulf (cloth and hair)I was the first member of the team. Shortly after, I was joined by another TD and we lay the groundwork for the pipeline by doing a great deal of R&D in areas such as panel cloth, object cloth, examining old pipelines, testing theories for a more modular approach that would allow for maximum reuse of assets and procedural costume builds based on user created assets. We tested the best ways to handle layered costumes, draping of large volumes of cloth, ideal initial states for cloth and more. As the team grew, I built cloth models, rigged many costumes, including Frizan raiders seen in the battle sequence as well as their leader with the wolf hat, Unferth (John Malkovich), Wiglaf (Brendan Gleeson) lots of work on dresses, cinched tunics and countless others, created hair for 2 characters, then continued to train junior artists, shot work, debugged scenes, created custom fixes for one off shots and helped junior artists.Various Commercials and Music VideoCreated and simulated light streamers caught on and colliding with ferris wheel. Created pipeline for and simulated all hot air balloons. Created splashing drink, flying papers and elevator.Cursed (Werewolf shots)I created the hair, did hair setup and ran dynamics simulations for the hair of both the werewolf and dog characters. I also created all the hair for the transformation sequence, animating it from human to wolf hair. In addition I custom rigged digital hair that the actress pulled out of her scalp and animated it falling down to the floor. One additional TD animated falling hair with me based off of my setup and one TD worked with me doing most of the Werewolf comb while I did most of the Dog comb.Gul (flower)Created all story, concept art, pipeline scripts, execution, models, rigs, textures, animation, lighting, compositing, custom code and techniques for painted look, hired and directed musicians and sound designer for audio.DrivenI worked in a small team at Digital Dimension on various VFX shots on "Driven." I UV mapped, textured and rigged all 7 cars used by Digital Dimension. The shots on my reel were animated and lit by me. I also composited the take off shot and did camera matching for the pit fire shot.Invisible ManThe shots I have shown are a sample of the many VFX shots I worked on at Encore. I was handed clean and action plates and it was my job to finish the shots by creating and compositing the VFX. We used Cyberscans of the actors and I rigged, matchmoved, animated, lit, textured, modelled props and composited (including tracking and dealing with plate issues) for all the shots on my reel.PaintingsThe paintings are samples from my portfolio of quick studies painted from life.

Gul (flower) Music

I knew from the start that for Gul, I wanted a warm acoustic sound with a raw feel to it. Much like the visuals, that was the energy for this piece. After experimenting with different music on rough cuts of the film, I found the perfect match in Sindhi folk music.Thanks go out toSuffi Bilal Khalid of the National College of Arts in Lahore,Fatah Daudpoto of Communication Design at the Center for Design Excellence in Jamshoro, Sindh and Saeed Mangi of theInstitute of Sindhology in Jamshoro, Sindh for making it possible for me to connect to the right musicians and record their music.In the end it came down to a 3 hr recording session at the Sindhology Museum with audio engineer Zulfi, 2 DV cameras, 3 mics plugged into them, 5 excellent musicians and a constant loss of electricity.Ustad Anb Jogi Composer/DholakJairam Jogi on MurliUstad Mohammad Buksh on BanjoNasir Jogi on 2nd MurliIbrahim Jogi on TaliZulfi Recording Engineer on Music

Gul (flower) Credits

Credits:A Film byAdnan Hussain spent his formative years in the US, as well as Pakistan. A childhood fascination with writing stories combined with a steady diet of comics, cartoons and books warped his brain forever, leaving him no choice but to do what he does today. After years of visual effects and animation work, "Gul" marks his directorial debut, though mostly he directed a team consisting of himself. http://www.madguru.netwithSound Design byBrian StronerMusicians aquired byFatah Daudpoto http://www.fatahdaudpoto.com/Music by:Ustad Amb Jogi (Composer/Dholak) from Umerkot, is the grandson of the tabla player Ustad Khamuso Jogi, and trained under Ustad Nazir Khan.Jairam Jogi (Murli) is a seventh generation Murli player.Ustad Mohammad Buksh (Banjo) was born in Talhar and learned under his uncle, Ustad Bilawal Bailjum.Nasir Jogi (2nd Murli) is from Umerkot.Ibrahim Jogi (Tali)Zulfiqar Ali Gopang(Recording Engineer on Music)Recording Facilities byWebsite byJayson Joseph http://www.elephantswithguns.com/Thanks to:Saeeda Hussain, Tasadduq Hussain, Waqas Hussain, Kristeen Singh, Cholki Han, Terry Ziegelman, Zach Schlappi, Suffi Bilal Khalid, Saeed Mangi, Majeed Sumro, Naimat Sahib, Azam Bugti and all who encouraged, critiqued and took time to help in the process.

About Gul (flower)

Gul, a young girl, is awakened by her mother's dying breath. She struggles to recall her past. A child's view illustrates conflicts between abuse, self determination, human rights, and the environment. Her world manifests through visual poetry. Raw, expressive, painted style computer animation is scored with masterful Sindhi Folk music from the villages of Pakistan. With all that she finds, can love create hope in the face of oppression? Credits -- Music -- Press Kit PDF -- Gul Wallpapers -- Gul on Facebook -- Gul on Myspace -- Gul on Youtube 

Resume

Adnan HussainLos Angeles, CA USAE-mail: adnanmg@hotmail.comEmployment ExperienceSony Pictures Imageworks (Culver City, CA) (Feb. 2011-current)Senior Cloth and Hair TD on "Smurfs" and "Arthur Christmas.".Ingenuity Engine (Hollywood, CA) (Sep. 2010-Mar. 2011)Generalist TD on VFX for commercials, music videos and a feature film.Mad Guru (Los Angeles, CA) (Sep. 2007-current)Directed/Created the short film "Gul" (flower).Sony Pictures Imageworks (Culver City, CA) (Oct. 2005-Sep. 2007)Senior Cloth and Hair TD on "Beowulf."With another TD, lay the groundwork for the pipeline through R&D in panel cloth,object cloth, old pipelines to create modular approach to maximize reuse ofassets and procedural costume builds based on user created assets. Layeredcostumes, draping of large volumes of cloth, ideal initial states, etc Builtcloth models, rigged many costumes, created hair for 2 characters, trainedjunior artists, shot work, debugged scenes, created custom fixes for one offshots.Walt Disney FeatureAnimation (Burbank, CA) (Oct. 2004-Sept. 2005)Look Dev TD on "Meetthe Robinsons." Hair and material creation for characters.Sony Pictures Imageworks (Culver City, CA) (Apr. 2003-Oct. 2004)Hair TD on Wes Craven's "Cursed."Hair R&D (rigged hair, custom techniques for transformationscene, Look Dev (combing), dynamics. Handled the entire show's digital hairneeds for both hair covered hero characters.3D Bob Productions(Burbank, CA) (Apr. 2002-Apr. 2003)Lead Rigging TD. Rigged herocharacters with muscles. Scripts/R&D lighting and cloth. Modelled realistichuman characters. Did hair and pipeline work.Encore Hollywood (Hollywood, CA) (Jun. 2001-Nov. 2001)Textures, lighting, animation, matchmoving, compositing and some camera matching for many effects shots in the live action series "The Invisible Man."Digital Dimension (North Hollywood, CA) (Jan.-May. 2001)Modelling, textures, lighting, animation, compositing and some camera matching for numerous effects shots in the live action Feature Film 'Driven'.Digital Sculpture(Columbus, OH) (Nov. 2000)Rigged and animated two and a half minutes of character animation.OC Incorporated(Orlando FL) (1998)3D Modeling, Textures and Animation for Navy Technical TrainingEducationBFA in Computer Art SavannahCollege of Art and Design (Cum Laude)Awards/RecognitionFeatured at the Orlando Art MuseumJune White Scholarship for an Animation in the International Competition for Student Artists.Additional SkillsVictor Ramirez: Assassin (Currently in Post)Production Designer on Live Action Short Film Directed by Ravi Kapoor (May 2009)Movie Posters for FilmakaSoftware ExperienceMaya (including Maya Cloth), 3D Studio MAX (various plugins and scripting), Sony proprietary cloth and hair tools and lighting package, Disney proprietary Hair and 3D Paint tools, Renderman, Photoshop, Digital Fusion, Premiere, Unix, Linux, HTML.

Xaml Error and Reset Ribbon

By Adnan HussainSoftware: 3DS Max 2011OS: Windows VistaDuring startup of 3DS Max I have run across this error. First a window will appear:Followed by:You can click through these error messages and still launch the program, but our ribbons menus will be gone.The problem is that a file called MaxManaged.xaml has become corrupt for whatever reason.First close 3DS Max.You can find the MaxManaged.xaml file in your user, appdata folder, which for me was:C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Autodesk\3dsmax\2011 - 32bit\enu\UI\You'll notice that this file has a size of 0KB if it is corrupt. Simply delete it, and make a copy of the backup file MaxManaged.xaml.backup, renamed to MaxManaged.xaml.Relaunch 3DS Max and you should be good now. Unfortunately, this problem is likely to occur again, but at least now you have a solution.