The other day I asked X what he thought of my blog and all he could think of saying was that it was too verbose for him to read.
Fair enough.
Here’s a little story with a picture.
Some months ago, I co shot with a producer- director- cinematographer- anchor from New York, for an episode on Mumbai, for a travel show called ‘Not your average travel guide’, a Discovery Travel and Living program. His name is Joseph van Harken, and he is a partner in a production house called Showcobra in NYC.
It was a fun shoot. The crew was small, just four of us: Joseph, Deepa of Mumbai magic fame, who was our guide to the city, Kottayan, who was our ‘location’ guy i.e. he was to handle matters in case we ran into trouble with the police, or the BMC or the plethora of other organizations that one needs permissions from to be able to shoot in the streets, and yours truly.
Joe, Deepa and I got along like a house on fire, and continue to be in touch. Maybe that’s what made the shoot fun. It was like hanging out with friends. But I’ll leave that for another post. The particular incident that I thought I would write about today happened on Marine Drive.
Joe wanted to take a time lapse shot of Marine Drive, with the sun going down, and the street lights of the ‘Queen’s necklace’ coming on. He wanted, therefore, a long shot from a reasonable vantage point. Deepa pulled some strings and arranged for us to shoot from the roof of one of the residential buildings near the Nariman Point end of Marine Drive.
We went up to the roof and Joe and I started looking for our shot. Except that we couldn’t find it. Nothing seemed good enough. We needed to be further out, or a few buildings further down to get the shot we wanted. The latter was not an option, and we were on the very edge of the roof already, hugging the parapet wall. While we were trying to figure out what to do, I noticed that the window ledge was fairly wide. I pointed this out to Joe, who agreed it was worth a try. So off I went to look for a ladder. Fortunately there was some repair work going on on the floor below and I was able to procure a tall stool fairly quickly. Time was of the essence, for the light would soon start dying and that’s exactly what we were there to shoot, dying light on Marine Drive.
Joe and I lowered the stool onto the ledge which was about seven feet below the top of the parapet wall. Then Joe jumped down, followed by equipment i.e. camera, tripod and a bag with spare batteries and tapes and other such paraphernalia, and finally me. There we found the shot that we wanted.
We set up the shot, pressed record and waited.
For the next 45 minutes we were stranded on that ledge, with strong winds blowing in from the sea, and believe me, the winds seem stronger when you are five floors above ground. We had to keep a hand on the camera to keep it pressed down, so that the frame wouldn’t change.
But every minute was worth it for the sheer adventure of it, and for getting the shot.
I hope it found it’s way to the final cut.
Fair enough.
Here’s a little story with a picture.
Some months ago, I co shot with a producer- director- cinematographer- anchor from New York, for an episode on Mumbai, for a travel show called ‘Not your average travel guide’, a Discovery Travel and Living program. His name is Joseph van Harken, and he is a partner in a production house called Showcobra in NYC.
It was a fun shoot. The crew was small, just four of us: Joseph, Deepa of Mumbai magic fame, who was our guide to the city, Kottayan, who was our ‘location’ guy i.e. he was to handle matters in case we ran into trouble with the police, or the BMC or the plethora of other organizations that one needs permissions from to be able to shoot in the streets, and yours truly.
Joe, Deepa and I got along like a house on fire, and continue to be in touch. Maybe that’s what made the shoot fun. It was like hanging out with friends. But I’ll leave that for another post. The particular incident that I thought I would write about today happened on Marine Drive.
Joe wanted to take a time lapse shot of Marine Drive, with the sun going down, and the street lights of the ‘Queen’s necklace’ coming on. He wanted, therefore, a long shot from a reasonable vantage point. Deepa pulled some strings and arranged for us to shoot from the roof of one of the residential buildings near the Nariman Point end of Marine Drive.
We went up to the roof and Joe and I started looking for our shot. Except that we couldn’t find it. Nothing seemed good enough. We needed to be further out, or a few buildings further down to get the shot we wanted. The latter was not an option, and we were on the very edge of the roof already, hugging the parapet wall. While we were trying to figure out what to do, I noticed that the window ledge was fairly wide. I pointed this out to Joe, who agreed it was worth a try. So off I went to look for a ladder. Fortunately there was some repair work going on on the floor below and I was able to procure a tall stool fairly quickly. Time was of the essence, for the light would soon start dying and that’s exactly what we were there to shoot, dying light on Marine Drive.
Joe and I lowered the stool onto the ledge which was about seven feet below the top of the parapet wall. Then Joe jumped down, followed by equipment i.e. camera, tripod and a bag with spare batteries and tapes and other such paraphernalia, and finally me. There we found the shot that we wanted.
We set up the shot, pressed record and waited.
For the next 45 minutes we were stranded on that ledge, with strong winds blowing in from the sea, and believe me, the winds seem stronger when you are five floors above ground. We had to keep a hand on the camera to keep it pressed down, so that the frame wouldn’t change.
But every minute was worth it for the sheer adventure of it, and for getting the shot.
I hope it found it’s way to the final cut.
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