New Blog

So... I've decided to migrate my blog to Tumblr. It's kind of a pain, but i think their interface and simplicity might serve my needs a little better. I might set up some kind of forwarding, but for now, you can get there by going to:

http://www.leenap.com/

Thanks for reading, hope you'll follow me as we begin our journey of screening the movie!

Next moments...

Wow, it's been a crazy few months, and finally, it looks like our film is basically done. We've been working on audio mastering then the picture mastering, and have spent the past couple of weeks ironing out various technical issues, but finally, finally... We are basically done. It's an amazing thing to be at this stage of the process, it feels really quite, like some sort of calm before the storm? I don't know, we are starting to now work on screenings, some closed one for investors, then festivals, of course, and then possibly a theatrical run in a couple of places... It's exciting, but weird at the same time, everything feels so... Quiet. It's nice, because between moving, teaching and finishing this movie, I have been beyond nuts. I have a little bit of angst about how this movie will find its way into the world, but I think this is the part where you have to faith that some good things will happen with it. I know they will, we've come this far and worked this hard, it's totally crazy to now think about actually showing the movie. Very exciting!

Crazy Months

The past eight weeks of my life have been totally insane. On a personal note, my hubbie and I decided to buy a place in Culver City. We have been living in Santa Monica for four years, and totally love it, but we had wanted a bigger space, and had thought about about buying. We weren't hardcore about it, but we would look, but the prospects in Santa Monica were bleak--lots of great places that were way, way out of our price range. Anyway, so we started looking in Culver, and found a couple of cute homes that were doable. One went away right when we decided to get on it, and another opened up. We went through a lot of ups and downs in ultimately deciding, but we went ahead, and here we are... Love having the space and place, still getting adjusted to the neighborhood. On the movie front, we've spent the last few weeks polishing the score, working on the sound mix and solidifying our vfx. It's been a good process overall, as we've been working with some really amazing people. As of last week, the film is officially done! It's so hard to believe, and I'm def going through a broad range of emotions having worked on this for so long... But it's also really exciting, now we have to figure out our screening and distribution plan. We've already got a lot of companies sales agents, etc we need to send the project to, and of course, we are starting the festival run. This part of the process is nerve racking, too, because it's all about hustling on a different level and working hard to just get the film out... So, we shall see!

How does it feel?

Being at this stage of the process, I mean, nearing the end, is a good feeling because we're no longer undertaking the very abstract task of raising the money for something that doesn't exist. It's cool to see all of the little pieces come together like the visuals, sound, music, fx, titles and all of that too. But then of course, nearing the finish line opens up a whole new bag of questions, anxieties and just general stress, because the main question now, of course, is, what's next? Where does this movie go? Where does it screen and how does one see it? This is actually my least favorite part of the process, because people, esp festival programmers, some of whom have no idea of how grueling it is to raise money and make a film, get to reject you in an instant. I hate this feeling of standing on the side of the road and basically waiting for someone to "pick us up" so to speak... Actually, I'm pretty sure it's a terrible way of doing things. With our little movie, I of course, want to traverse the festival circuit as far and wide as we can, but I also want to be more proactive in setting up distribution. For a feature, all of the festival stuff is great, but I really think it's more important to get the movie out to people and get it screened. I think with indie films, it's easy to feel like the "world is against you" kind of mentality, but I really think that there is an audience out there for everything, you just have to be smart in finding it. So, as we complete the movie, we face one of the most challenges tasks of all, getting out there and screening it. Should be an interesting journey.

What's been going on?

It's been a seemingly crazy summer with completing post and starting on music and sound. This part of the process is sometimes stressful, because it's even more detail oriented than editing, if you can believe that! Sound and music are really finite, I mean, it's very tough to work on these elements until the picture is locked, and for a director picture lock is well, beyond stressful... But we've gotten past all that and are now approaching the music being finalized. I hired my talented friend Jesse Clark to score the film, and brought in a few friends like, singer-song writer duo, Fair and Kind, and my friend Robin to add a bit of tabla. We were in the studio recording music one afternoon, which was really fun. Now, we're dealing with ADR, sound, Vfx and color grading. I'm excited for the color grading because it'll be the first time I can see our Red footage at 2K. We shot at 4K but have decided to finish at 2K, using the 2:35 aspect ratio. I think it will look pretty :) The next part of the process, getting the film out there, will have all kinds of challenges, I know. It's a little daunting, but it'll be fun to actually show the movie after working on it for so long!

Changes...

As a screenwriter, it's hard at times to think past the written document you're creating. But having gone through the directing, editing and now music/sound process with the movie, you realize there are so many layers of storytelling in a movie... As the writer, you are creating the structure of the story and developing the characters. The in terms of directing, you are rendering the world real--I think as a director, it is very important to be able to think in a completely visual way without totally worrying about story per say, or what is on the page. You want to manipulate the camera in a way that really and truly engages the narrative and makes it as interesting as possible. It is tough as a first-time director to take risks, but I think it's imperative... Our editing process has been a bit tough because the story changed in many ways... It's still the same movie, but we re-structured and re-arranged to make it all gel together better... Now with music and sound, we are really building upon that to fill out the emotional and subtextual layers... So much goes into making one movie, it's truly amazing...

Making It Your Own.

I have been catching up on some writing while working on RM over the past month or so. It had a while since I had worked on any of my scripts, but I've been meeting some new managers lately, and I wanted to polish up a couple of my pieces. When writing a script, there is always this question of when something is complete, will it ever be complete? When I wrote RM, I went through so many drafts. It was draft after draft. It was hard because in the beginning, I wasn't clear on my own personal goals and how I wanted to tell that story, so I let other people shape and then re-shape the vision. There was especially once writing teacher I had who is good, but he's very dogmatic about how he believes a story should be written. Anyway, I left that group, stopped with any/all writing workshops, stopped getting feedback, and started spending long hours on my script, deciding and defining it the way I wanted. It was hard, but as I began to listen to my own voice rather that that of others, it began to take a clear shape. This is the same process I recently went through with the rough cut for the film. I got so many notes, I feel completely overwhelmed, and at one point, unclear about what the movie was about. Then, I took a break and I came back to some clear conclusions about the final edits. It was kind of a grueling process, but it's important to always, always remember your own voice, intentions and goals with anything in life, really. I have a new screenplay I am finishing. It's taken me a long time to be clear about the story, but I finally feel like it's getting there. I definitely will still get notes, but I now know how to parse through them and clearly get the work to be what I want it to be.

Facebook Page

The power of social networking is a little overwhelming at times, but it's a pretty amazing tool. Join us on Facebook for more updates, all things Raspberry!

Raspberry Magic Trailer

Check it out:

After a few months of going back and forth and really figuring it out, the trailer for Raspberry Magic is finally up. Tell us what you think, join us on Facebook!

Re-Writing in Post

We've been deep in the post production process for the past few months, and it's certainly been challenging. After you actually shoot the movie and put the footage together, you realize what is working and what is not with the film. It's like, even if you have great coverage, I mean lots of shots of everything, the most important consideration is this--the emotional arc/beats of your story. Ultimately, shots are just shots, but they really mean nothing unless viewers really and truly connect with your characters and the ideas in the story. Often, those idea are conveyed one way in the script, then another on the screen. In our film, which is a pretty heavy dramatic piece, there is this whole consideration of how our protagonist, Monica, relates to the plants. Plants, of course, are inanimate objects, and visually, it is challenging to SHOW her connection to them. In some of our early test screenings, folks weren't totally getting the connection, even though visually, I shot things differently as the story progresses. So, what to do? Well, I had always thought that this movie potentially would need Voice Over. Some kind of narration to really get into Monica's head and develop her science project on a deeper level. I was somewhat against it in the beginning, but as we added it, and started screening the piece for people, it was a whole different experience. People really got what Monica's connection to the plants was, and how her character grew/changed. Now, the VO I presently have in there is clunky and awkward, but I'm spending the next few weeks re-writing and polishing it. I think it will be good, once the writing is good... Anyway, lots of work to do this summer on all fronts!

Beat Downs

Doesn't blogging seem so old school compared to twittering? I Should be on that whole wagon, but I'm really just not. I'm okay with being old school for now...

Editing the film has been a roller coaster ride, as I expected. There is so much to do, so many processes to go through, it's pretty damn overwhelming. But I think with some tough notes, hard screenings and a few more beats downs, we will get there... It's strange, when you spend so many long hours in the cutting room, you start to lose sight what's working and what's not. I am a big, big believer in constant screenings for the movie, once you have something that looks/feels like and actual movie. Those screenings can be brutal, but they are so, so needed!

It's Been Forever

Yes, it's been a long time since I last posted, mostly because I've been totally obsessed with the post production of Raspberry Magic. Editing the film is all consuming, sort of like writing all over again. Yeesh. It's a very hard process because sometimes you have to restructure things, cut things and reshape portions of the movie that aren't working. We're in a good place, but now we are starting to get notes, which is exciting and daunting, because it means that you really get to see/feel where the movie is at. I think we're in a good place, but you never really know until a bigger audience sees it. I've been really stressed out through this whole process, but I'm finally coming up for air.....

Coverage

I've been spending some very long hours in the cutting room for the past couple of weeks. It's a tough process, sort of like writing a draft of the screenplay one more time. Going through every scene and really making it pop for the performances, story and overall arc of the film isn't easy. You see what worked and what didn't and how the film can be improved. I have to say, as a first time director, you are trying to simply just get the footage during the shoot. But then in post, you can really see where you might have gotten too much coverage, and other places where you might have had too little. The great part bout editing is that if something isn't working, you can take away, substitute or alter in order to make something flow better. Also, there is music and sound to really help fill the gaps where you might have left something out. I will say one thing, you can never really have too much coverage... The more you shoot, the better the options...

Where we're at

So, it's been an exciting and stressful couple of weeks, because we finally have a first cut. I'm liking the cut, it definitely feels like a movie, but there is much, much work to do. The process of seeing something from the script to shooting then to the screen is very interesting. It's a good/tough process, in so many ways. As a director, I see what I did well and didn't do well, and as a writer, I have the chance to really see how an idea translates to the screen. We're restructuring many portions of the film, but it's getting there. Next week, I'll spend a lot of time really digging into the cut and fleshing it out... Should be interesting.

Is there room?

I think it's fantastic that Slumdog has generated so much buzz and is a major contender for so many Oscars. It's very exciting for me, as an Indian American, that India and Indian culture is getting so much attention these days, too. A.R. Rahman was on Leno last night, amazing!! Hard to believe, especially when I grew up (in North Carolina) answering questions like, what the HELL is India? Or, ARE you Hawaiian? Or, what TRIBE are you in?? Very strange and different than my experience when I first moved to Berkeley for grad school, and I had some classmates who would always feel the need to out-Indian me (in naming restaurants, cultural practices, etc), since they had gone to India on a spiritual journey to discover deeper inner truths about themselves... But I digress. Anyway, Slumdog is a great film not only because of its stunning visuals, but it's a great human story that touches people on so many levels. That's what I love so much about the movie--it's got no big stars, it was almost shelved and yet, it triumphed. But, I think in many circles, the film has brought up a larger questions about Western filmmakers going to Third World countries to depict poverty and the strife of "the other." It seems that this type of film is what generates Oscar buzz and generally, it's what folks want to see in the Western world. But what about films that are the reverse like mine which show the opposite? Indians in the Western world? These types of films are a much, much tougher sell, I believe, and not many have broken ground, except say, a Bend it Like Beckham. I think there is a diaspora being created here with films like mine, films which show the other side, but it's tough to say how these movies will fit into a larger culture. One this is for sure, though, I'm guessing there's a whole spate of Slumdog wanna-bes in the pipeline. Should be an interesting year, getting this movie out!!

Assembly Edit

I just had the pleasure of seeing the assembly edit of our film. An assembly basically takes all of the footage that's been shot and places it into the timeline in script order. It was an interesting thing to see it all laid out this way, especially without any music and really just mostly master shots. As you might already know, a film gets written three times, and in the edit phase is the final time. Watching this cut, I could tell some things right away--which performances stood out, which visuals worked and what we needed to do to tighten up the overall pacing of the movie. It's a little nerve racking as the writer/director to go through this process, but you learn so much, and you see that the movie can be shaped in so, so many different ways. I think we have some really good material, and I'm sure our editor will shape it in the best possible way... But I learned a lot about the directing process, here are a few things:

1. Pacing (for actor actions) should be quicker. I think first time directors tend to move things slowly, but I realize, things can move a bit faster, especially simple actions.

2. Get as many wide shots of exterior elements as possible. These wide shots are so helpful in editing transitions, especially to establish a sense of place between different elements.

3. Get as many entrances and exits between places as possible. Sounds silly, but these are so, so helpful in the edit room. Even if you don't think you need those elements, you will!!

4. If you don't like the performance in the moment, you're going to hate it even more later. It's critical to keep doing the take until you get what you want. I think especially watching for moments of overacting are crucial. Go back and do it again and again until you get it, else it's not going to work later.

5. Don't be afraid to have an actor play a take several different ways. In the edit, you can steer the emotional arc in many different ways, and you just don't know which one will work best. Obviously, you should know what you want from the actor, but sometimes, it's not bad to get another version!

Translating Visuals to the Screen

I recently had the chance to see the film version of Doubt, which I thought was brilliantly done. I had seen the play on stage and read it on the page, too. The question of which was best was tough for me to answer, because the stage and the screen are two very different mediums, and I believe that each one was very well done in its own right. But translating the ideas to the screen, they had to do a number of things to make it more engaging--bring it into the realm of a visual medium. All of these elements were crucial in realizing the play as a movie:

1. They had to break up some of the long speeches except for the sermons. If they had translated all of the dialogue to the screen as it was written in the play, it would have been really tough to watch of film because nothing would have been happening. Already, there isn't much action in the play in the sense that all of it is conveyed through talking, but was good that they broke it up. I noticed that their key way of breaking it up was to have the character move through several locations--they walk from the cafeteria to the office, etc. while delivering the lines.

2. They had to create a sense of space beyond just the sister's office. In the play, much of the action takes play in sister's office, in the courtyard and in the church. The play is very minimalist in its sense of space, as it should be, because the emphasis is on the words. In the film, they used many places throughout the school, and they definitely defined with world right outside of the window, showing the New York streets. These visuals definitely helped to add another layer of meaning to the movie.

3. They externalized some of the events which were only talked about in the play. In the play, they talk about "Donald" drinking wine, etc, and the talked about the younger nun's teaching style, but in the film, they showed these. Again, film is a visual, action-oriented medium, and in order to really fill out the world of the movie and give us a deeper sense of what happened, they showed us the world which was only talked about in the play.

4. They used ambiance as a way to add dramatic tension into the story. The open window, the rain, the snow, and the magnificence of the church were all cleverly shot to add dramatic tension into the story. They did a great job of using space visually to add small moments of meaning into the film. I also liked their use of green and yellow to represent the different worlds of the nuns versus the priests.

5. They added characters to fill out the world and make it more real. The play is minimalist, four characters, a couple of locations telling this story. But in the film, they added nuns, students and a whole world in the school to make it real. It added layers of meaning, especially because they were able to externalize many of the ideas that were spoken about in the play, into the world of the movie.

It's a great exercise to read the play and then watch the film, to understand how the mediums are so very different and see how someone with serious skills, like John Patrick Shanely, was able to do both so well.

What's Going On?

I don't need to tell you this, but these are troubled times. The economy is falling apart, folks are losing their jobs, and it just seems like things are generally bad. I feel really lucky that we were able to get our film in the can at the end of last year, and get it into post production right away. The indie film market is pretty bleak, as well, and Sundance was pretty mellow this year. But, as an artist and a creator, I am trying really hard to stay focused on the task at hand, which is to complete this movie and get it out, then work on new material. Last year, while I was in the midst of putting together this feature, I was a finalist for the Sundance labs for another screenplay of mine called, RK Dandekar Finds Home. It's another small, indie film, one which I'd really like to make at some point. It still needs to go through some re-writes, but I really like it and think it would be fun to make. I also have a political comedy, which is now on the third draft, and I'm really hoping to have a polished draft pretty soon. All the while, I am anticipating the first cut of Raspberry, which our editor will have at the end of this month. We're starting discussions on music, titles, distribution, publicity and more while we wait. It's hard to totally gauge these things while waiting for the cut, but I've always had a fairly clear vision for the titles, so my husband, the designer, can start on the boards. Who knows how things are going to turn out, I mean, with everything going on, I'm just trying to stay focused on the task at hand!

Red Camera

Having recently wrapped production on Raspberry Magic, I'm anticipating the first cut in a big way. Editing Red footage has become considerably easier than it was even six months ago, according to our editor, so I'm very happy about that. We basically shot 3.5 terrabytes of footage, then our editor spent two weeks transcoding the footage into a DVC Pro format, which he could then edit. We used Zeiss Standard Prime Lenses, and a Cooke 250mm one day. The footage had a nice look to it, and I was able to watch the takes on a 17" monitor. Many folks tried to persuade us not to shoot on Red in the beginning, but I'm glad (so far) we did, as the footage looks really nice, and we are going to be able to do something interesting things with the color grading. There are so many formats out there right now, sometimes it's hard to know what to choose. For a long time, I really wanted to shoot on Super 16mm, but then I realized all of the film processing would be too expensive, time consuming and I wasn't sure if I could manage with so many child actors on the project. But actually, our children were quite mature and I never really had to deal with multiple takes for this reason. But time was a major issue, especially with the kids. Some days, I did 15-20 setups!! I had to be really fast and know exactly what I wanted out of each setup, which was super stressful. But moving the Red, re-syncing, etc had its moments, but overall, it was fairly quick. It'll be interesting to see how things change/develop with the Red over the next six months, as there are so many features which have recently shot on this camera. It's nice, though, there are so many post houses here in LA that do an incredible job with the color grading and output back to 2K, it'll be interesting.

Lesa Terry and the Women's Jazz Orchestra

Lesa Terry and and the Women's Jazz Orchestra from Leena Pendharkar on Vimeo.

I directed this short doc as part of the UCLA World Festival of Sacred Music in the midst of prepping for the feature. A little crazy, but it was a fun piece to do!