We met Priya almost 3 years ago at her brother’s Shawn and his wife Sapna’s concept film back in 2009. Incidentally, that was the first time Amit met Priya as well. Small world.
We have known Priya for 3 years now and between now and then have met her at countless weddings. She is a shy, down to earth and simple girl who expects nothing from life but is always willing to give. As for Amit, we began seeing him at various weddings as well as time progressed. He is full of life, fun and quite opposite from Priya. Not that opposite but enough for them to be 100% compatible with each other.
Our most challenging task is to get to know the couple as a couple after they sign up with us. In this case, it was a little different. We already knew Priya very well but it was Amit who we grew to learn about in the past year. And believe it or not that’s always challenging. It’s easy to get to know two people and their tastes towards life, each other a lot faster but somehow very difficult when you already know one person and you have to get to know the other person separately. But we did and it was an experience getting to know him. He is one of those guys who is always looking to be better at what they do.
The birth of ‘Tasveer’ came into play when Amit told us that there is this one song from film ‘Pardes’ that he has always loved and wanted to see if we could do something with it. Upon listening to him, we knew he wasn’t professional but he had the potential to do something which was a very risky move. That is have him sing. He agreed to the idea.
From that point on, we hired professional services of a singer to make him sound better and tasteful. We all know that professional singers takes years to become great at their vocals and didn’t expect that but despite that, we feel Amit did a reasonably well job with the time at hand.
Watch the full and final version of ‘Tasveer’ the week of April 8th, 2012
Sometimes, you capture a couple’s story by laying it in the actual context of its occurrence.
Other times, we lay it out against the backdrop of a fictional setting.
This fictional backdrop lends a strange authenticity to a couple’s story. For while the story in and of itself may not be uncommon, its presentation is what defines it, sets it apart. And when presented as a culturally recognized plotline, that story becomes all the more memorable, fun, and ironically–unique.
That’s precisely the manner in which we approached Justin and Kajal’s story, and demonstrative of their mutual love of mafia films.
When they came in, I made it clear to both Justin and Kajal that whatever we end up doing as a concept film, it will take a huge commitment on their part which will include a lot of rehearsals, travelling and a # of days of filming. Once they agreed, we decided to figure out how to approach their story. In our discussions, one thing that stood out the most was their mutual interest in mafia films. They were a fan of everything from ‘The Godfather’ to ‘Boardwalk Empire’. Justin’s bedroom is draped in classic mafia film posters. So we took their story of how they actually met through friends at a restaurant and their interests and hobby and tossed that into a fictional setting. From the beginning, I wanted to give tribute to these classic films by tying them into the story and not being cheesy.
After the scripting stage, we did at least 2-3 rehearsal sessions with the lead actors involved and 1-2 with the rest. Like any production, the idea behind rehearsals of course to get things right before the production. Believe me that makes a big difference on production day. Because on that day, there are all these unexpected problems which did happen to us. Here are few ; while filming at Kelsey’s for the opening scene, there was constant background refrigerator noise and it being restaurant, that couldn’t be turned off. And then on top of that, we ended up getting just 2 hours to shoot the scene as oppose to 3 hours originally planned. 2 hours are decent, if you have one set up and rehearsals. But we had at least 4 set ups for coverage purposes. For each set up, lighting and make up needed to be adjusted and then making sure timing of actors entering is dot on for continuity sake.
So all in all for Day 1, the production lasted 6 hours, with 3 hours dedicated to b-roll footage (couple hanging out together). Add another 2 hours to make up:)
Day 2 lasted 8 hours. It started with Make Up by Huma’s Bridals (who btw did a fantastic job) followed by 5 scenes. Originally we were planning to do only 4 scenes. The Pie scene was planned for another day at a BMW dealership but since that wasn’t 100% go, I decided that we should film it just in case we can’t access to other location. And guess what, it never worked out so we saved ourselves
Day 3 consisted of two final scenes all in one location. The fact that this was the third day and actors involved were used to screen direction, it flew by. We spent 2 hours in Bombay Bhel and wrapped it all up.
A special thanks goes out to Kelsey’s, Bombay Bhel Thornhill and The Vig Law Professional Corporation for providing us with some key locations.
When we decided to tell this story, we knew it would be a challenge during the production. With so many different set ups, indoor and outdoor scenes, we wanted to use the right tools but in a limited way. Thanks to ‘Cinevate’ and ‘Small HD’ we were able to do that. We used Cinevate’s Atlas 10, Pegasus, Durus Follow Focus and Cyclops during this film. Our original plan was to use Pegasus quite a bit for in door scenes and Atlas FLT for outdoor scenes. However, due to time constraints we ended up using Pegasus a lot less than we had anticipated. Not because it wasn’t a good enough tool to work with but more so due production hurdles. We also used Cinevate’s Durus Follow Focus with 15mm rails. It’s one of the most versatile Follow Focus on the market. While some may argue that Cinevate’s Cyclops is not a great viewfinder due to it’s size, I would disagree. For us, it has been a great tool as it allows you to give a full perspective with both of your eyes instead of one.
When deciding to use a monitor, SmallHD was the obvious choice. In my view they make the best DSLR Monitors. Again we utilized this for indoor scenes while we stuck to Cyclops for most of the outdoor scenes. SmallHD 1280×720 resolution really made our life a lot easier on the set. In the web design world, there is a term WSYWIG. What you see is What you get. And that’s the bottom line for SmallHD.
Again thanks to everyone involved in the production, my crew who did a great job, Huma’s Bridals for a marvellous job, the cast and of course our supporters who helped us made this film
In July of 2010, Cassandra Williams approached us for a concept production, having seen a few productions on our website. She also wanted to take us on for our cinematography services, only she’d already booked with another company. But following our conversations, she decided to opt out of her initial contract to sign up with us instead. And thus began this journey.
And thus began the brainstorming. We met up with both Cassandra and her fiancé Ravi Ramjit and came up with the idea of a Medley themed production that would highlight their relationship from its inception (at their first meeting) to its culmination (in their marriage), using bollywood songs from the 60’s onwards. We’d been waiting to realize just such a production for a while now, and had been waiting for just the right couple to star in it. So when Ravi and Cassandra mentioned the idea, we jumped on board! And boy, did these two prove to be just the couple for such a production:). Well done guys!
Our very first task was to find 9 songs that would aptly reflect Ravi and Cassandra’s connection and chemistry. The second part of course was the preparation for the multiple shoots. Finding the right locations, costumes and pulling off all the right looks for all the different songs was challenging. And filming proved challenging as well as tight schedules loomed large, particularly Ravi’s. But where there’s a will, there’s a way:). We broke the filming down into two parts: the first part consisted of 3 full days of filming and the second, 2 full days of filming. The final product is, I must say, phenomenal. We outdid ourselves, and special thanks goes out to Olga Make-Up, Body and Art for creating almost identical looks to those of the songs we selected. And to Fine Cakes by Zehra, CTC West and Crystal Fountain Banquet Hall, all of whom were a tremendous help in the completion of this project.
And finally, *a round of applause* to the couple: Ravi and Cassandra, may we be the first to say that you two would give any bollywood couple a run for their money:). *Cheers and Applause!*
While we were in Nigeria, covering Liza + Basil Royal Wedding, we also dedicated few days to filming a Music Video on a popular Nigerian song “No One Like You” by P Square. Be sure to buy this beautiful and catchy song from ITunes
This was filmed over 2 days in Nigeria and with some pick up shots in Toronto, Canada. We also integrated some local dancers who did an incredible job and added another dimension to the video.
This is a story of a little girl named Shriana and how a man name Ray fell in love with a woman named Savitri.
Personally, I have never come across a story like this one. If you think it’s emotional to watch it, let me tell you, filming it wasn’t easy.
From our initial meeting with the couple and the little girl, we proposed the idea for this video which sold really well with the couple and Shriana. After that we conversed over emails, and stayed in touch and met a couple of more times so to make everyone comfortable. That made the filming a lot easier, where all 3 of them were extremely comfortable with us.
The slow mo scenes were filmed on 60D at 60fps and then cranked it down in cinema tools to 23.98fps. The interviews were all filmed on 135mm and 35mm. We did have to go back and do some pick up shots with Shriana just so it can fit in with story well.
Based on true story of Monika & Ashish’s 12 year journey of falling in love, growing apart and then falling in love again.
Production Notes:
Monika & Ashish came to us in Fall of 2009 for wedding cinematography services. After sitting down with them and learning their story, I knew there was a story at hand to be told. I proposed them the idea of a short film.
Naturally, they don’t have any acting background, so they didn’t welcome the idea that much. But after speaking to them continuously, they bought it into the idea and hence began the scripting stage.
We heavily involved them in the scripting process so their story is told properly. Our goal was to make something with light humour.
The concept of Same Day Edit integrated with their story was something that I never told them about. I wanted to see surprise faces on the wedding day but the whole concept was always there from the beginning.
PRODUCTION
Once the production began, we spent a lot of time rehearsing and driving and more driving:). Both Ashish and Monika were extremely busy with their professions so it took a while to get the production going. Initially, we filmed b-roll footage that we knew we might end up using in the film but it was mainly shot for the teaser trailer.
That being out of the way, we then filmed scenes in chronological order. The story was given a little more weight thanks to their dance video from 1997 that brought them together.
Aside from our Canon 70-200mm lens falling and splitting into 2 pieces and then fixed again, we didn’t have any other problems (trust me that was enough; a short film on it’s own as to how it happened)
Although, we did rehearsals to make sure there is a believable story, I was a bit surprised by both of their acting abilities. Especially, the opening scene at the locker surprised us quite a bit.
Overall, I was pleased with how things turned out including couple’s performances.
We also filmed 3 additional scenes which didn’t make the cut. Although 2 of 3 scenes weren’t that critical to the story, I wish that we were able to put 1 of the scenes in there. But it will be included as a Deleted Scene on the final DVD.
We filmed at a high school thanks to couple’s friend Nupur and UofT Scarborough Campus, thanks to Vinay. We also got a chance to film at Toronto Curling & Cricket Club where Team Canada’s national matches take place. A big thanks also goes to Vikram for allowing us to film in his office.
This short film was edited on Adobe Premiere CS 5.
Ronak and Swetal’s interest in our Studio was sparked with the online debut of Main Aur Mrs. Verma. They approached us this past spring requesting a similar production, but one unique to them and their story. Since both lived and worked in a different city altogether, they were unable to arrive at the studio. But over the next several months we maintained constant communication with them, via emails, phone calls, and even some web conferencing.
The project was one of our most ambitious up to date and despite some major production hurdles, it was not only a huge success but it also far exceeded expectations.
While we, as always, put forth all our efforts and resources towards our goal of product excellence and couple’s satisfaction, the project could not have been the huge success that it was without Ronak’s and Swetal’s devotion and excitement. So of course, congrats to the couple—the project would not have come into being without them and their special day. But for this final product, I gotta say: Congrats to the production team: we did grrreeattt guys!
A Bollywood Style Music Video showing the newly wed couple Mr and Mrs Verma. This is a pre-wedding video that was shown just before their entrance at the reception.
The response was extremely overwhelming.
Production Notes:
With over 40 hours of practicing and 3 days of filming, ‘Main Aur Mrs. Verma’ is one of our biggest project to date.
The outdoor dancing shoots took about 3 hours to film in 15 degrees below 0. Kudos to everyone who danced in that bitter cold.
