Shoot at Site

As soon as we got out of the cab, I looked up at the building. And immediately set my retinas loose to scan the place for any sign of what looked like a huge 12’ by 15’ signboard which pretty much said ‘Hot-shot photographer’. I was thinking that I would get to chat up some models in the waiting room, exchange some numbers maybe. A waiting room, where there would be millions of beautiful shots adorning the walls…rows of beautiful sceneries, clusters of wildlife pics, scores of scantily clad women in seductive poses…

Eyeballs darted to and fro outside the building, as if they were witnessing a live lawn tennis game, but all to no avail. There was none! So I along with my advanced in years Art Director, started up the stairs. We asked some delivery boys who were standing at the floor where the studio in question apparently was. They were happily posing and clicking pics with their mobile-cam. ‘Yes Saar? No, no photographer’s studio Saar! Must be some other place’, he answered hurriedly, since we were obviously intruding on his own private photo shoot. Just before we turned to leave ‘it’s the office next to us, to the right’, came a sheepish voice from the crowd of 5 being clicked.

So we headed in that direction but saw a plain looking door, that obviously could not be the studio, I thought. So I started to climb the stairs going to the roof. Just as reached the roof and saw a phone booth like cement cuboid which certainly wasn’t 'it'. “Over here, sir” said a small voice from behind. Turning around, I was quite amused to see a bearded head that popped out the door that had been closed a few seconds ago, much like a rabbit out of a conjurer’s hat.

I walked in and saw a ‘typical shoot’ type of set-up to my immediate right, it was the JK tyre. And it looked exactly what the ads crowned it as, ‘The Big Bad Badshah of Radials'. It had several lights trained on it, from every possible angle.

Now, I turned my eyes toward the room only to find that, it was the most unglamorous thing I had ever seen in my life! No waiting room, no models and no sign of extravagance in any shape or form. But yes, there were pictures, in a cluster right above his work-desk. Not the wildlife kind or the scantily clad model kind, but beautiful pictures nonetheless.

Other than that there was an ordinary looking laptop that showcased some reference shots, sitting on the desk. And then, there it was… Now, I was jealous. It was a camera, which the photographer unzipped from a rather bulky looking bag, filled with attachments and what not. What a beaut! The moment I saw it, I fell in love with it. It was big and looked like it was capable of getting a clear shot of a nose hair inside the nostrils of a person seated a kilometer away. It was spectacular!

Eavesdropping on a few minutes of conversation between the photographer and the Art Director revealed that it was the same photographer that had shot the Tic-Tac cricket print ad. I introduced myself and soon after asked him about the ‘no sign board’ thing. “Actually, we shoot a lot of ads here and celebrities as well, which is why we prefer to keep a low-profile, and try to be well, almost invisible. Even most of our neighbors don’t know what it is we do here. You see, my goal is to supply my clients with good talent for a very reasonable cost. I know we don’t have AC rooms and ‘some higher end camera that costs a couple of lakhs – forgot the name’, but that would raise the cost considerably. But maybe in a few years, we’ll see…” he replied.

I heard what he had to say, and absolutely bought into his philosophy. I liked the idea that we had come there for a service and that is exactly what he promised deliver on. No frills added. His philosophy was very Subhiksha, and seemed to carry with it a ‘morcha against kharcha!’ kinda sensibility. I was still sort of disappointed that there were no hot models hanging around though.

The shoot went on superbly; we saw that he not only talked a big game but could deliver on it as well. Immediately the unphotogenic photographer seemed to be, just what the doctor ordered. We sipped on tea and frooti that the bearded head (photographer’s assistant) that had popped up earlier promptly brought us. And the art director advised the photographer on the type of light and shadow play he wanted on the product.

So after a 2 & ½ or 3 hour shoot, we exchanged cards & thank-yous and were office bound. I was immensely happy with the experience, but in retrospect am still kinda sulky about the models.

Posted by Shane

Lights, Camera and Action for Meera Coconut Oil

After 4 months of work - which included a series of concept presentations, truckloads of script narration, analysis, deliberation and a final call to action, the Meera Coconut Oil film finally got shot on 23rd and 24th in Chennai.

The shoot crew had an interesting mix of people. It's directed by Karu Palaniappan, who is an upcoming, young and popular feature filmmaker in Tamil. Having directed Parthiban Kanavu, Sivapadhigaaram and Pirivom Sandhipom, Palaniappan brought in a feature-filmy take to the script. Incidentally, this will be his first independent ad film.

The Producer, Prabhakar who runs Brand Box Office had roped in Thiru, the ace cameraman for the project. He, according to me, can take this ad film to the next level. Apart from shooting loads of ads, he has helmed the camera for Hey Ram, Bhool Bhulaiya and Abhay. His next big venture is Robot with Rajnikant. But to get a glimpse of his talent, one needs to watch the much acclaimed Priyadarshan feature 'Kanchivaram' which has got rave reviews at the Toronto Film Festival.

Since the director and the DOP have a feature film background, the set too reeked of stories from Bollywood and Kollywood. Here are some interesting snippets:

1) Tamil cinema is facing a dearth of good screenplay writers. Today, mostly the directors write the screenplay / script themselves. So guys, if you have a story and the knack of writing screenplay, you know where to head.

2) Asin has started refusing big banner offers from the South after Ghajni.

3) PC Sriram (Thiru trained under him), once came at 10 in the morning for an ad film shoot and walked out at 10.15 because some miniscule detail in the set wasn't up to the mark. And he came back the next day to resume shooting, since that had wrecked his mood.

4) Nayanthara, the South bombshell carries a scissor with her during shoots. Because she always has an altercation with her designer on how short the length of her mini skirt should be. And finally she decides. With her scissors going chop, chop, chop.

Okie, I have digressed a bit. Just that I thought some filmy gossip can inject some mirth to your monday morning.

Nonetheless, as far as the Meera film goes, you guys should be able to catch it on Tamil channels by the second week of January.

Have a nice day.

Posted by Murali

Breakin in my brand new shoes.

Story about a Journey from K to B (Kamanahalli to Brigades).

So there they were lying on my couch, still in a box, with a bunch of clothes piled on top. Took em' out. Slipped em' on and went "Daaaaaamn! These things are comfortable." God bless Reebok!

The bike has been surrendered for a service. So i'm thinkin, I should put these lazy legs to work. More than the work they put in to facilitate tasty trips to the fridge.

"Hey you know what you should walk to brigades!", I said to myself in the mirror. To which my reflection promptly nodded in approval. The little hand on the clock tells me it's 8:45. So i'm Brigade bound and thinkin...Really? You haven’t walked in like.....like....you can’t even remember how long? An argument with myself that ends with, Cummon', let’s put some miles in these bad boys, let’s see how far they'll go!

Ah! The joy of being 24, our bodies can get away with anything. So i'm half way there and all of a sudden a drizzlelette is upon me, that's like the midget of drizzles, the smallest one in the rain family that got picked on a lot. The most famous member of the rain family being a quirky looking chap that stars on the Hit Show 'The Office' and goes by the name of Rain Wilson. You know him, he's the weird-funny one they call 'Dwight'.

But a little drizelette and a drippy nose ain't gona rain on my parade. I had made up my mind, it was brigade or bust. If the word bust would come into play, it would only be the KFC crusty, delicious, deep fried kind.

Walked up to the counter and ordered the monster of Meal Combos...The King Kong Combo. Scarfed it down in 10 min flat. Talk about finger lickin' good. Well, that combined with nail-biting anticipation leads to...... Let's just say that, I now possess only 9 and a 1/2 fingers. Yep, fraid' so.

Incinerated some serious calories on the way there, but made up for the loss in calories, by wolfing down that monstrous Combo. But fret not, I didn’t stop there, I walked some more...digested my meal on foot.

These ‘New’ Shoes took one sweaty fella from The Big Bright Brigades to Shivaji Nagar. Yep, these shoes were meant for walkin, and that’s just what they did.

You should try it sometime; it’s an excellent way of relieving stress, and spending the next week recuperating in a wheel chair. If you aren’t as lucky as me. But who cares? Go for it. You’ll be glad you did.

Well, I can safely say that I got rid of that blasted new shoe smell, quite successfully.

I must confess however, that I can no longer do the bunny hop.

Posted by Shane

TRIPPIN

The thrill of it…

Is in making a plan to not make plans.

Is in getting on a bike at 11:30 in the night and not knowing what your destination is going to be.

Is in driving a hundred and fifty kilometers with the fuel indicator on empty because your chilled out buddy thinks…Hmm the fuel gauge is probably broken. Probably.

Is in knowing that somebody up there that likes you, because your bike runs out of fuel, bang in front of a petrol pump.

Is in defying the dead silence by screaming like a freak of nature in the middle of the night as you pass through abandoned roads, with only your headlights to break through the darkness and dissipate paranoid thoughts of serial killers jumping out of the bushes.

Is in feeling like a freaking genius because you thought of the perfect thing to say to your grandma who called up at 1:30 in the morning to find out where you are.

Is in stopping 35 times in the middle of nowhere, when all the sane people are fast asleep, 20 of which were to pee by the way.

Is in cracking a joke and bravely laughing like madmen at each stop…for at this moment you believe that you’re the scariest FU*%@R out there.

Is in sipping chai at a hill station at 3:30 in the morning. Because that was what this whole trip was for. One single cup of chai in the freezing cold.

Is in priceless moments and laughter shared with your gang atop a hill, as you sit on a ledge and gaze at the lights shining below of a city that has refused to sleep just like you.

Is absolutely in returning home just in time to watch the sunrise from the only place in the world you would rather be right now. Your bike.

Is in smiling like an idiot as you reminisce about the night you’ve just had. Knowing that even if just for a night, you and your buds know exactly what it feels like to be a ROCKSTAR.

Here’s to…
The open road.
My buddies.
My brothers.

Cheers.

Posted by Shane

My first time

Sorry.
This is about my first ad.
I hope you’re still reading.
I became a copywriter when I was 11 years past the age at which the Election Commission considers you an adult. I know, I know, I should’ve done it earlier, but it took me that long to decide where to cast my career vote.
So here I was in Mudra - Bangalore, crouched in a corner, hand held out for assignment droppings. And come, they didn’t.
So I spent my time copying the great Volkswagen ads onto my scribbling pad, just to get a feel of how they would’ve looked on Bob Levenson’s, before they adorned the Hall of Fame. When, in walks Karthik, the account head, cursing my community, “F***ing copywriter b********!”
I turned around in panic. I was alone on the floor.

“Not you” Karthik assures me.“Who are you?”

“Trainee writer” I offer.“Balki said I could sit here.”

“And where is Balki?”

“In Mumbai, doing the UNDERLINE YOUR PRESENCE campaign for Van Heusen”.

Karthik sits down, rearranges his frown and sighs. “There is this ad to be done for IBM. I had briefed Kavita and Sharmila. Now they’ve both let me down. Sharmila says she’s just joined a week ago so she’s still in the soak cycle.”
“And Kavita's washed out too?“ I ask clumsily clinging to the metaphor.
“She’s dried. Tumbled out. Quit. Because she doesn’t want to share the assignments with Sharmila. It’s just some posters for the IIMs. I guess I’ll have to do them myself.”

Silence.

“I studied there.” I confess.
“What? And what are you doing here?”
“Waiting for you to brief me.
Karthik grabs my limp hands. “IBM is back in India after 15 years. Just give me a poster that tells these grads that it’s a great career option.” Then he throws an IBM newsletter on my table. “You’ll find all the info you need in it. Can I see something in two days? “
“Tomorrow morning” I said dramatically.
“You do that, I’ll take you to Koshy’s.” says Karthik humorously.
That’s my problem. I over commit.
But it makes me anxious; the only state in which I do any work.
So that’s good.
I look at the newsletter. It’s titled THINK. I remember back at my engineering college there was an IBM 1620. It came with one accessory that was hung on the wall. A little IBM designed plate that read THINK. Their slogan since they started making computers. (Before this they made meat slicers.). And, evidently, IBM did THINK. Because they had 5 Nobel laureates on their rolls. Suddenly it was all coming together. This is one company that had an interesting history And a dynamic present. Obviously the future could not be any behind. (Metaphors mixed, oops.)
I got it. I am going to give Karthik not one poster, but three. Two teasers followed by the final one. Writing the teasers was a breeze. The problem was the final one.
Then I remembered a line I had written for our institute T shirt: “I THINK, THEREFORE IIM”. It wasn’t used because the student’s rep didn’t get it. (Yes, not all IIM grads have heard Descartes’ original line.)

I leapt at the opportunity. “I THINK, THEREFORE IBM”, I wrote.
Morning came, and Karthik couldn’t believe it. A writer chasing him with work to see. He did like my lines. But more the fact that I had lines, I suspected. Anyway he asked Santosh, a kindhearted art guy to make the layouts, which, in those pre-Mac days, took at least 24 hours. So I had my nails for nutrition.

When I saw the bromides, I remember thinking “My lines! In print! They look good.”







The next afternoon when I came back from lunch. I saw these messages on my soft board.



I still have these yellow post-its, only they’ve yellowed further in 16 years. Mike Klein (then head of IBM India) actually had these posters framed for his room.

Karthik’s enthusiasm for my work helped my career get the impetus it badly needed. Today he is in Singapore heading, among other things, the GLOBAL BRAND FORUM. (Google it, you’ll learn a lot.) Thanks Karthik.
Balki gave a me a pat on my back. And lots of work.

Simply put, my first ad came to me rather easily. It was the ones that followed that threw me. But that’s another post, for another day.
Karthik did take me to Koshy’s. Where I had the first steak of my life.

Posted by Thomas

Humankind Workshop -Srilanka

I think I speak for both of us when I say our trip to Srilanka can be described in two ways; Before Pavlova and After Pavlova. If you don’t know what Pavlova is, you should kill yourself or pray the kind people at Orchard send you for a humankind workshop to Srilanka.

Day 1:
We start on a high tension note with me arriving really late and being told by our Jet Airways attendant that the flight is full! Much stress, screeching, disbelief and running later we are tucked into our blankets and on our way to the Chennai airport.

Chennai airport is decidedly easier.
We while away time Looking For Cookie Man and never finding it, salivating in the duty free section and taking pictures of our feet due to lack of scenery. link: Read more.
Srilanka:
There is no lack of scenery here. The airport is large, clean and welcoming. The guards are large, clean (?) and not so welcoming. There is an ominous presence of the army, young boys flaunting guns and tough faces.

On the ride to the hotel we try and ignore the uncomfortable bits and concentrate on the scenery, the terrible-but-terribly-funny- somewhat-surreal advertising and the cleanliness! Jetwing is brilliant. There are flowers on our bed. And an endless stretch of sea. And a BATHTUB! (I think they put us in the honeymoon suite, but we’re not too keen to bring this to their notice)

Are You Bhuwan?
The evening starts off with Arrack and Margaritas in Shweta’s case. Very sinful feet massage. And hoppers. We also meet a whole bunch of people with difficult to pronounce names and warm smiles.

The hosts are kind enough to play Bollywood for the rowdy Indian crowd, over and over and over again. Our Phillipino counterparts manage a cute bhangra.

A horrible resident then demands that we stop the music or his kids will die of bleeding ear drums.
We curse him and retire.

Day 2:
Linda Locke likes us in our seats nice and early at nine. We manage it (by missing breakfast).

We start off on a great note with Ken. Funny and brilliant he keeps us laughing as Linda then introduces us to Mark. My stomach growls. Meanwhile Linda and Mark Blears give us a short spiel on Understanding The Clients Problem.

From here Mark takes us through a really interesting forty minutes where we see how advertising has moved from being interruption to involvement. He shows us a particularly interesting film where a brand speaks as a human being on a date. The brand talks loudly, screams, seeks attention and finally offers a free holiday to win back a disappointed friend. Obviously nothing works. People refuse to stay loyal to brands that don’t engage them.

My growling stomach is silenced with a coffee break.

We gorge and find ourselves meeting Richard Dale, some interesting accessories and HUMANKIND! Humankind as we do not know it. We start off with simple stuff..like problems and demystifying them.Surprisingly The Times Of India campaign finds its place in the Human kind map. With an extensive campaign and Amitabh Bacchan they’ve managed to involve India and the rest of the world. Now I’m really mystified.

Things are made simpler with the Earthhour. A very well executed campaign that makes you wish you’d thought of it.

Lunch and gossip later, we’re taken through a session that makes me and Shweta miss our servicing team dearly. The session is on What is a good (Humankind brief) and how to write one.

Apparently briefs can be made very interesting.

Mark tells us how he once briefed his young insensitive unmarried team on detergents meant for housewives. He says he made them live on a budget for a week, wear only whites, pick up his kids from school, cook meals and then wash those dirty whites with the detergent in question.I’m suddenly thankful our servicing team is not so experimentative.

We are then introduced to our teams. My team gets to work on Tide. Shweta’s on Mc Donald’s.

Richard Dale then ends the day with a brief and effective piece on applying humankind.

Shweta and I end ours in the swimming pool.

Day 3:
We make it for breakfast.
Mark Blears tells us about KISS.
Keep It Simple Stupid!

We then meet Trevor Kennedy. Trevor is a kind man. He does not talk. He lets us watch and JUDGE! We’re bombarded (rather sweetly, I thought) with many many commercials which we rate on the 7+ scale. There is not much talk, but we feel nice and important in the end.

Linda then tells us about the Do Good Era. And some cutting edge stuff. Like Halo 3. I have a confession to make here. I’ve never got the ad. I always feel stupid when I see it.

But Glass Of Milk is great! Speaks worlds about my mental age.

We have another heavy-duty hopper-filled yumilicious lunch. I think I can sneak in here that srilankan food is a combination of my favourite kinds of food. Keralite and Tamil. I’m loving and it and Shweta’s plate proves she agrees.

After lunch we’re introduced to John Borzi.

John Bozri’s is a truly incredible lecture. He tells us everything from What To Do With Those Long Things Hanging Down Your Sides (I mean hands!!!) to what kind of brain we possess.

Shweta and me both turn out to be two reds and a yellow. Emotional and creative. How fancy!

5:30 onwards we are allowed to work on ideas. My team ideates in the swimming pool and over some beach volleyball. Guilt eats my insides when I see Shweta looking hassled and working over hard. In two more days we’ll be making our presentations based on Humankind.

Later my team burns the midnight oil and agrees on absolutely nothing. We however work out an interesting thought that Linda, my team’s mentor is destined to bomb the following day over lunch.

Shweta’s team meanwhile is sweating it out over the target audience. Do mothers decide for kids or do kids make their parents decide for them?

Day 4:
More John Borzi. Today we learn about showmanship! A dimpled fellow from Thailand wants to know if it’s O.K to take off your pants during presentation.

John is inclined to agree. All is good, if it has a valid reason.

I wonder what would make a man take off his pants during a presentation. Bipasha Basu?

After a coffee break we all make our own presentations on random topics based on John’s presentation module. I get to sell whisper to pregnant women.

After lunch we all break to meet our teams. I might as well explain our briefs here. Tide has a problem. It’s been known for whiteness, somewhere along the line it’s lost it’s ground because it’s been pitching itself on cleanliness just like every other brand. However whiteness is a better proposition that other brand are inching in on now.How should tide regain its old glory?

Mc Donald’s meanwhile has been losing its favourite customer. The happy meal is not exciting anymore. We need to put happy back in the happy meal. Somewhere along the line Mc Donald’s had lost it’s happiness quotient, becoming over involved with the toy. How do we put the happiness back?

Every team breaks their heads till no less than four o clock.
Somehow I don’t find myself complaining.

Day 5:
Presentations!!!
I don’t want to say anything here. Except I beat up my teammate while masquerading as a housewife. I don’t believe he’ll ever forgive me.
But Shweta won!
Cruel world.

The next day Ranil takes us for a fantastic lunch at The Cricket Club where we eat Pavlova like it is our last meal on earth. The world is a nice place again. (After I mentally block out Shweta clicking pictures with her spanking new Canon Powershot A590 IS Digital Camera).

Posted by Meera

Making of the Varilux TVC

Varilux Shabana film shoot

Tape rolling! Sound rolling! Camera rolling! Trolley! AAND AACTION!! I blinked.

Being a greenhorn has its share of advantages. I was staring at the scene, wide-eyed like a three-year-old. At 7.00 am that Saturday, the quiet imperial interior of the Emperor’s Court at the Renaissance Hotel, Mumbai was swarming with screaming men & women who will breathe life into the humble storyboard sitting snugly in my backpack. Things were being ripped apart, put together, moved into position, taken out of field, fixed, measured, moved and mounted all around me. The term ‘buzzing with action’ must have originated from a setting like this one.

Enter Shabana Azmi looking quite elegant in a lovely green kurti. She takes a seat facing the window & picks up the script. Did I hear someone humming a tune from Jab We Met amidst the commotion? Turns out it is her. Beautiful voice. Really.

The shoot begins. ‘Its great to go single after 40’ states the talented actress smiling into the camera. Just perfect. This should be over soon, I think. Minutes later, the tracks change course. The heavy-duty lights & reflectors are moved into position after much deliberation. The young couple appearing in the far end of the frame look suitably engrossed in a friendly banter. I stare at the little monitor. Baba, Shabana’s brother who happened to wield the camera does not look too happy. The stylist rushes in. Leaves the frame. Not a hair is out of place. The blinds go down on the French windows. The reflectors change position again. The cold coffee in the tall glass is replaced one more time. Did I tell you we were already in the second half of the day? Tape rolls, sound rolls, Abhishek, our director calls for…oops! In walks a stranger looking for the coffee shop. Coffee? Sorry. Shop’s shut. All becomes quiet. Somebody chuckles. Abhishek delivers a wisecrack. Laughter breaks out. The production folks speak urgently into their walkie-talkies. The frame is ‘cleared’. The camera rolls again.

They said the location presented a relatively controlled environment. They described the script as being without complications. They spoke of an actress of great calibre and an experienced team to back production. 30 seconds, did they say? More than 10 hours after we stepped into the hotel, Abhishek and team decide to pack up. One has to witness it to fully understand what they mean when they say ‘attention to detail’. With Abhishek & Baba cleverly capturing Shabana Azmi as she played the part the day saw its share of ‘wow’ moments.

But then, I guess I’ll leave out the more obvious details here.

Posted by Parvathy

Cinthol 'Don't Stop'

Making of the TVC in KL

Ajay Menon, the creative behind the Cinthol 'Hrithik' campaign gives us a lowdown about the film shoot in KL.

The Cinthol Hrithik Film or How everything went according to the script.

Hrithik’s dates were available. And we were ready to roll with the first line - “Film opens on Hrithik Roshan at Kuala Lumpur.” We had come a long way from the presentation of the script to finding the right director – Abhinay Deo. Then it was a month of preproduction and more preproduction, but in Abhinay we had an extremely talented director and things couldn’t go wrong. (Or so it appeared to me.

So I will concentrate on what I did best at the shoot. I was a traveller (tourist seems to bring to mind a shopper with a camera across the chest. I always travel light, that’s without a camera.). And I had Kaushik and Kevin for company in Malaysia. We reached KL and I was taken aback by the sheer beauty of the land. The roads were perfect, I saw no dust in the airport, and the equatorial greens were fantastic to the eye. Our driver was Shiva, a third generation Tamilian from Malaysia. (Language was no more an issue, and I hit it off with Shiva that it even got me some nice local toddy.) Further, it was the Chinese New Year break. So no traffic, and the entire country was celebrating the Year of the Rat. The city was dressed in red Chinese lanterns and it was beautiful. I put it down as a good omen.

Ashit from Ramesh Deo Productions handed us a 5-day shoot schedule. We quickly worked around it to fit in our itinerary: see everything in KL, catch up on the pubs and bars, and do a little shopping. Food was high on the agenda with Kaushik as captain.

So we would go to the shoot, get a first hand look at how a great director works with a great team, works with a great star. There were schedule issues which they quickly sorted out. There were certain logistics issues, which they sorted out. There were certain stunt scene issues, which they sorted out extremely well. While I carried around within a 5 meter radius, of the cooler filled with everything.

We would laze around while Colston, the still photographer, would catch Hrithik in between the shoot to grab some still pictures. They turned out really well the first day so we didn’t disturb them. So we clung to the cooler in the 38­­ degree celsius environment. Every once in a while we would go to the monitor and enjoy watching the professional in Hrithik. It was quite an experience to watch Hrithik go canoeing, rollerblading, diving, horse riding, jet skiing, parkouring, bungee jumping and playing rugby. While every woman in the agency wanted to be there, we three men just hung around with a cold tin in hand.

We burped our way through the shoot and celebrated at the wrap-up party organized by the production headed by Ravi. We were happy especially when Abhinay, Hrithik, the director of photography, the production crew, the stunt team, all echoed that it was fabulous shoot and would make for a great film. That bought a smile to our very tired-looking faces. I decided to take a couple of days off after the shoot. I needed a break.