THE MAKING OF A SHORT FILM

This blog is about the making of a short film. A low budget short film. And by low-budget I mean very very low! We’ll be shooting in a few days time but I wanted to put down the thoughts and processes at work when we make this short film.

A couple of months ago, when Piyush had come to Bombay he stayed at my place. As usual, we were discussing everything cinema when he told me a story idea. I thought he must have flicked the idea from somewhere but it was his original idea! The story itself was so simple that it was brilliant. I was hooked. He was leaving for Kota the next day, so I told him to write down any and every thought that’s bouncing around in his head about this story. He mailed it to me a few days later, and a week later I wrote a tentative script. It was a rough draft, but at least it gave us an idea about how the film will pan out. Anyway, Piyush suggested some changes and we discussed the script inside and out over emails and phone calls. Now, as I write this, the script is final and we’ve done the shot breakdown and we’re ready to SHOOT!

Almost everything that I’ve done professionally has been in the Non-Fiction field. The same goes for Piyush. This short film, will in fact, be our first fiction piece. And truth be told, I have this monster self doubt hammering away inside my head, screaming at me, telling me that this whole thing is one BIG mistake. We’re at that point where everything is ready and there are still a few days before shooting begins, and I’m picking out mistakes in the script almost every time I read it. Almost feels like I’m throwing myself down a dark well again and again.

Funny thing is I’m pretty sure the shoot will go off very well. There will be problems for sure, but then production is basically about solving problems.