Golden Age Diary

The nail biting

2007-07-16T08:25:52Z

Thank you all for the great words of encouragement you have all sent to me. Now all I can do is sit and wait ! It's frustrating as from a state of "How am I going to finish all of this in time" panic, now I have nothing to do but wait. The mind and body is so used to action and to being adrenaline induced. I wake up every morning with a start - and then do not know what t do !! Must get down to writing my next script. But the next 4 months will be spent in traveling and promoting the film. Cate, Geoffrey and Clive are busy filming , so I guess I will be doing most of the traveling ! Don't mind it, but must must must lock down my next film.

Temp Score and Real score

2007-06-01T16:28:19Z

I am going through the last minute pains of Golden Age. As we edit the film we add what we call temp score to the edit - to impress people as the see the film in various stages of the edit. This this score is stolen from all over the place. Other movies mainly, but also from classical recordings etc. Problem is that you got so used to the temp score that it is difficult to imagine any other score to fit the film...

]]> ..but of course it will not. For the temp score is chosen for it's particularness to each shot. It has no harmonious integrity of it's own. When the composer comes on, he will score the film so that the whole score has integrity and some kind of unison. As he should for the theme to evolve. But it will never ever be as precise as the temp score !!

So I trying to get over my addiction to the temp score right now. My fear that actually the film that tested so well in the US had better music. Which is of course is not true, but another bit of obsessiveness on my part.

Shekhar

The Great Storm

2007-05-26T11:26:54Z

When Phillip of Spain launched the Armada to invade England, it was one of the greatest fleets ever launched in an invasion. Even though the fleet was ill prepared (more about that later), combined with the forces of the Duke of Parma, the English Navy did not have enough defences to stop it. But for the Great Storm ..... without which their would have been no British Empire. Spain would have probably gone on the conquer the world. India would have been a Spanish Colony, and Spanish would have been the primary language of the world. This blog would have been in Spanish. And perhaps India would have been Catholic and not primarily Hindu....

]]> ..... for all the mythology that surrounds the great English defeat of the Spanish Armada, the Armada was ultimately defeated by a freak storm that broke it's formation and drove it all along the northern costs of England and Scotland - many ships smashing on the rocky coasts. While the smaller but more manouverable English ships hounded them.

The History of the world changed by a freak storm.

shekhar

Golden Age, the second in a trilogy

2007-05-21T19:12:56Z

Elizabeth was about Power. Survival in the context of Power. Love and Betrayal in the context of Power. And the trade off between the ruthlessness that is essential to gaining Power, against innocence, love, trust and joyfulness.

Golden Age, on the other hand is about Immortality. It is about absolute Power and the aspiring to Divinity. To go beyond the ordinairy and to be Divine. Almost immortal. It is about Elizabeth becoming the Divine, the Immortal being she is percieved as today.

The third, when everyone is ready to do it, will be about Mortality. How do you face Mortality when you have been Divine ? When you have been Immortal ? Elizabeth, when she knew that her time was near, tried to impose her will upon Death itself. She stood for 12 hours (a tiny exaggeration I think !) refusing to lie down, knowing that if she did, the Gods would spirit her away.

More later, Shekhar

The Golden Age Trailer

2007-05-03T13:09:24Z

watch it now

For those of you who would like to see an extra large version of the trailer, check it out at working title films website.

Test Scores

2007-05-02T21:44:41Z

Studio's these days will test films with audiences to judge their reactiosn. At the end of the movie the audiences are asked to rate aspects of the film via a very thorough and a very comprehensive questionaire. An analysis of which reveals a lot about how the film is percieved. By male or female audiences. By age groups. Or how they react to questions of pace, drama, relationships. How they reacted to each performance. While no one could say that the analysis is absolute, despite my doubts and apprehensions, I have to say that Studios have got it down to a pretty exact art ! Or perhaps I am just saying that because Golden Age tested very well. I wonder what I would have to say if it did not ? Perhaps I would have not put this entry on !

Letting go !

2007-05-01T12:55:25Z

Barring the final mix. Where all the elements of sound (effects, foley,music and dialogue tracks) are mixed together to give us the final sound in the theatre. And Barring what we call the DI, where the all the colours and the intensity of the film is 'harmonized' or even 'deharmonized ' for a particular emotion or effect. Barring this, the film is over and I must now let go. Must not cling. Must see the film now have it's own identity. A birth given. No longer mine. Now it belongs to you, the viewer. Shekhar

I hate Video monitors

2007-04-29T10:48:10Z

Kedar asked me if I encourage my actors to look at Video monitors. Actually I really hate video monitos, and if the producers did not insist, I would never have them on my set. . I never watch them personally and believe that it is waste f time for the actors to watch them. The only time I do watch them is when I am using a steady came or a device where I have not been able to look thru the camera, such as a remote controlled crane. The pictures you see are probably one of those devices. Or maybe I am trying to persuade an actor away from the monitor ! I make films for the adventure of it, and to be able to judge a shot only by looking at video monitor rather than a larger more all encompassing instinct. takes a way the thrill of film making....

]]> To me the adventure of film making is why I make films. Otherwise you are making a commercial. So I never watch a shot through a video screen, but stay as close to my actors to almost will them on to perform and live their parts. I also believe that directors who sit behind their monitors as scenes are being shot, are disconnecting from a larger more spiritual form of connecting with the process.

They are separating the consciousness of their art thru hiding behind a cloak f technology

shekhar

working stills

2007-04-24T07:54:32Z

For those that wld like to see some working stills from the film, please visit
http://www.workingtitlefilms.com/filmPhotoSets.php?filmID=102
shekhar

From Jordi Molla

2007-04-01T23:03:17Z

Jordi plays King Phillip of Spain in Golden Age. Jordi is one of the foremost actor's in Spain. But this was a special relationship where the lines between actor and director blurred. So I asked Jordi to write something on his experience. Read on :

]]> "Fascination by what is uncontrollable.

Images. The testament of movie making in our memory.

The mystery of Philip, the most powerful man in the world.

Life is what we thought had no importance.

Creation is what we thought had no importance.

The Golden Age. The tip of the iceberg.

Light was our childhood. The feeling of a story we are no longer able to explain.

Philip’s voice. The slave of blood. The King.

Power. The result of a greedy equation.

The storm in the king’s breath. The battle. The holy war.

Philip thought the flame of a candle could devastate the universe.

The gap between me, Philip and Shekhar. Something we cannot even perceive.

The fear of a man loved by his people.

The set. A place to discover, a silent field, a holy place, as vulnerable as birth.

I found Philip, not in a canvas, not in a book, but in Shekhar’s hands.

Respect. The only way to make something happen.

Life and creation without a parachute. What is meant to be, is meant to be.

Not framing emotions, not framing characters, but framing inmortality.

A villain?

The most powerful man in the world. Somebody who needs the hand of a little girl.

The shade was Philip’s oracle.

A period piece. A present moment in human history.

Elisabeth. The repression of true love.

A huge monastery, is the only place where a man can hear his own voice, the voice of God.

Four days before starting shooting this film, Shekhar and I were talking about a different movie. I guess it was, in a way…The Golden Age."

Jordi Molla

Craig Armsrong and A R Rahman

2007-03-25T14:52:45Z

Both the composers are now feverishly working together in Galsgow (scotland) a Craig's studio for the score of Golden Age. It's fascinating to watch them interact. Two people with toally different backrounds and cultures. Because this is a predominently a western film, I am ecouraging Craig to lead it. But am looking to Rahman to inject some bold, 'out there' melodies and sounds into the score.

test screening of golden age

2007-03-25T13:48:29Z

Thank you all for the feedback of the test screening of Golden Age in Los Angeles. Yes, the response was exciting and such a relief ! When I make a film, I am so involved with the process and the one liitle 'eye' that as a director I am supposed to keep on the audience completely dissapears. I just HAVE to trust that my subconscious is in synch with the viewer's. We are all, after all, emotionally in synch with each other, even though we may belong to different cultures. I have been away from the blog as the editing process has been particularily difficult, but will write about that later, Shekhar

Trial and Error

2006-12-02T08:43:02Z

Apologies to thse that have ben visiting this site for the last month. We have been very busy in the edit room, and I guess we have been guilty of ignoring the site. Editing is a process that often is one of trial and error

]]> And of course it is not like filming, where so much money is being spent n the day that there is little time for discussion. It is easy to make decisions on a shoot, merely because you have to.

But when u get into the edtiing room, several points of view come into the film. Not just the editor's and mine as a director, but also the producer's and the writer's. It is a difficult process sometimes as sometimes there is a very thin line between judgement and prejudice. In almost everything we do.

I do have what I believe though, is one of the best editor's in the world. Her job is a difficult one. To negotiate everyone's opinion, to evealutae and not be prejudiced about any opinon, and yet to hold on the her instincts about the film.

It's a tough time in the process of film making, and is often a frustrating time. But in the end it is probably time well spent. It's a time to hold on to your instincts when u are faced with very diverse opinions.

shekhar

Tricks of the Trade

2006-10-10T16:47:09Z

A major benefit of working with experienced crew is seeing their methods to get work done quickly. When making films at school or with inexperienced friends you muddle through learning by trial and error. I cut a film recently and had a lot of trouble with a sequence. I was cutting at home on Adobe Premier Pro.

]]> Everytime I came up with a new solution for the sequence I made a copy of the previous and searched through the bins (stored rushes) looking for clips to find what most appropriately matched what I was trying to do. i.e. at one point I was looking for longer pauses and looks between characters to highlight the growing tension.

I found working this way exhausting. By the time I had gone through the bins and selected what I was looking for, I had wasted so much energy I couldn’t concentrate on what I wanted to do in the first place. I was constantly side tracked and looking through useless clips that had ok sections but also included bad camera work and poor performances.

I found myself loose enthusiasm for the project and waste time with this bad organisation.

I recently watched Billy cut a music video out of work hours on a similar package. For each take he made a new video track and he thoroughly watched through his rushes and cut out any sections no matter how small where he was dubious about performance or camera. This meant from now on he was only dealing with useable footage. Also, having all that information visible on the track doesn’t mean you are looking though the original source material in bins all the time. This makes working that little bit quicker and smoother.

Jill also is very thorough in her selects. Carefully going through rushes and making edits with all her favourite clips. Meaning she can quickly find an alternative shot that is suitable without constantly traipsing through inappropriate footage. This organisation means that she can concentrate on her creative decisions, making her work immediate and less tiring for unnecessary reasons.

It sounds obvious because it is and I probably should have realised lessons like this for myself, as I knew there was a problem with how I was working. The fact is I didn’t know how to fix it and working in the cutting rooms picking up techniques like this make my time here invaluable.

karen

small productions/big productions : karen

2006-09-29T19:47:25Z

Until “The Golden Age” I had only really worked on small productions and my own films at film school. I’ve had various experiences on TV programmes and in postproduction houses but nothing really to speak of.

]]> Compared to “The Golden Age” my involvement on low budget features and shorts was a completely different kettle of fish. My level of responsibility was usually high and I was juggling several roles. Some days I would wear a Producer cap others a Writer and most days I was multi capping, not always a great look. Working in this homogeneous way with roles bleeding into your co-workers you always have an overview of the project, a lot of support and enormous amount of creative fulfilment. Where my vision was impaired I could rely on a co-worker to lead vice-versa and you work on getting a film made.

On a feature you generally start out on the lowest rung of the ladder and you work exclusively in one department, in a supportive role. So it’s often difficult to get an overview of what is happening on the project and to find creative fulfilment. There are also hundreds to thousands of people involved at any one time. This means you can be completely unaware of forces affecting decisions being made.

This is an odd thing to get used to as you can quickly start treating your role like a regular job and stop absorbing what’s going on around. It is very easy to not feel utilised and get bored. If you commit to these feelings then you’ll find yourself not seizing the opportunity to absorb the actions of the heads of departments when they come up. So one of the greatest lessons for me was learning to make a concerted effort to observe the creatives and not begrudge the times when there is little to do. When you manage to do this it’s very humbling and you are constantly amazed and in awe at the years of experience that so many of the crew have to offer.

I talk about my experiences on low budget work as homogenous but that’s an idealistic description. It is often a chaotic and the interpersonal relationships can become very messy when there are blurred ideas over the films ownership. Working on a feature you get the space to focus in one department, find clarity and learn from crew with immense experience and talent something difficult to find or access on frantic low budget projects.

I guess the trick is to keep making and creating on personal projects and continuing the learning and absorbing on larger industry jobs (whilst hopefully climbing the rungs on the ladder), to get the best of both worlds and keep developing.

Karen