The Guru - The Student Returns

The Student Returns to the Guru, for more advice, a little older, but is she any wiser this time round?



Click to Watch!

The Guru and the Student Loan

Oh yes, freshers week is over, it is time to knuckle down and get back to lectures. And to remind yourself that you are now in debt to the tune of...a shedload of cash!



Click to watch!

More Good News Everyone!

Alongside Irfan and CWP, I have been busy with other projects. One that has slipped under the 'professional radar' is 'Routine', a 30 second short film shot in one afternoon.



Sippy (who stars in 'Routine' as well as 'Irfan') came up with the idea and it was suc a brilliant concept that I could not resist. And nor can the good people of East London, as this 30 second short is to screen at the Walthamstow Film Festival in September! I will get the dates to you as soon as I get it but here are a list of venues...

And if you are out and about tonight, I should (technology willing) be on the Deep Fried Film Festival Website giving an interview at 7.30pm UK time (18:30 GMT).

At the Deep Fried Film Festival

Video streaming by Ustream

It was well worth heading up to Glasgow to watch the Deep Fried Film Festival which was held in Coatbridge. Now in its 6th year, this suburb of Glasgow was the first place in the UK that got to see CWP - Jay and Kay Save the World on the bigger screen!


(Bunny Rabbits in Coatbridge!)

And as it was my first visit to Glasgow, I thoroughly enjoyed the city. A fantastic place to be and I would take any excuse to head there again...

Now on Sunday, it is off to Poland for Quest Europe! A bit of deja vu, especially when compared to last year...

Polish TV!

As part of the promotion of Quest Europe and its screening there, Jay and Kay Save the World! the whole movie was screened last night on Polish TV! Rah! You can check out RTV Lubuska here.

Yes, I will be in Zielona Gora in a couple of weeks for Quest Europe, and next week is the excitement of our UK premiere in Scotland, which I will also be attending!

More news is coming soon...

The Production Meeting

Always, before submitting anything to an organisation or company, a good brain storming is needed.

I would love to say that this would take place in a funky diner with burgers, fries and a shake while the kids play double dutch and dance around the juke box. Of course, the reality is far more prosaic. Cups of tea, lots of paper and spider diagrams.

I am a huge fan of spider diagrams. While most people jerk off on charts, I see things through loops. I don't know how or why, it is just how my brain works. I blame being left handed for the fact that I see things this way, more in spaces, morerandom than through flowing charts and mediums which make me switch off. It is also a lot less logical to think this way, bu in the end, everything fits together

Spreadsheets - pah...and now, time to do my spreadsheets!

Caution Wet paint - The Kinkiness restarts!

As Jay and Kay Save the World has come to the end of its festival run, it is now time to focus on the next stage of CWP's development. I will be keeping you informed on what I do.

First the process that started development last year of a complimentary TV series to prequel 'The Movie'; to lodge themselves in between the webisodes and the movie with regards to the cannon is well underway.

I will also (finally) put Jay and Kay Save the World online in the next two weeks. This is part of the strategy of developing the TV series. Save the World is the most professional looking (and funniest) of the CWP series so far. Despite the fact it was done with a budget of ZERO\1 Note that, nothing!

Okay, maybe I am blowing my own trumpet, but I am incredibly proud of Save the World. It has gone international to film festivals abroad, which has been great for me as a director to see how audiences outside the UK react to CWP. Abd it is time for the rest of the world to freely see Save the World. Give me a couple of weeks. A redesign of the website is also happening.

However if you are either in Glasgow or Zielona Gora then you can join me at either to see CWP on the bigger screen...

The Guru - Episode 3

As a film director, I have been incredibly busy of late. Some commercial projects which have proved lucrative has taken up a lot of time. I have also been very busy with the distribution of Irfan and the preparation for next month's Quest Europe film festival.

So it has been far too long since I have completed a Guru episode, so I am quite proud to have squeezed it in.

The Guru (Episode 3) Spend, Spend, Spend! from Charles Michel Duke.

Click to watch!

This was the second episode I made with Raj who appeared as the Despot in the last Guru episode. Both Sippy (the Guru) and Raj had a great on-screen chemistry. It is very rare to meet two actors who compliment each other so well on the screen!

I will be shooting the next couple of episodes next week and after that will be planning the next guest actor's to come and join The Guru on his quest for enlightenment. But this morning, my main task is to convert PAL to NTSC. Expect a very geeky post in the next week on this...

Caution WetPaint - UK Premiere!

Jay and Kay Save the World gets its UK premiere in August at the Deep Fried Film Festival:

Venue and Guide for CWP at the Deep Fried Festival.

I, El Director, will be there in Coatbridge for the night to watch the film and to see how our first UK audience reacts to and hopefully loves our film!

So join me, at the Deep Fried Film Festival, Thursday 18th August at 8pm.

Venue: Conforti Institute, Calder Avenue, Coatbridge. Nearest Rail, Whifflet (trains every half hour from Glasgow Central).

The Guru - Episode 2 - Despot

Our Guru lends a helping hand to a man who has lost his way and his kingdom.



More satirical fun from your favourite Guru.

Click here to watch!

I loved making this episode. It was a lot of fun to work with Sippy again and it was a real delight to be working with Raj for the first time ever. I hope to be working with them both in the near future. Ah, the plans and delight of this film maker - I absolutely love it!

CWP at the Golden Knight Festival in Kursk, Russia!

Excellent news everyone! Caution Wet Paint has a new set of festivals this year to head to! In June we are off to Russia as we feature in the Golden Knight Film Festival in the city of Kursk. This has got to be our most exotic destination to date and it is a fantastic feeling to break into the world's largest country! (June 14th-23rd)

Also we are to be screened at a Special Screening event at the Quest Europe Film Festival in Zielona Gora, Poland this summer. Dates are to be confirmed but watch this space for more details...

This is a great piece of news for us here at Babarouge and we hope that CWP's continued success is joined by the emergence of this year's short film Irfan as we strive to expand our presence at film festivals worldwide!

Irfan Distribution 3 - Distribution

I get paid every Friday. And so once a week, I take a look at the film festivals in my inbox and trot down to the post office to spend my wages on postage. For Caution Wet Paint I spent nearly £1,000 on stationary like stamps, DVD's, DVD cases and envelopes. Distribution is expensive stuff, but it is the only way of getting the film seen at festivals. So far I have submitted Irfan to the grand total of 16 festivals. That may not sound like a lot but that is more than three a week since the completion of the DVD's at the end of January.

And unfortunately, every festival wants it done differently. I have said it before for my last film, Jay and Kay Save the World, and I will say it again. Distribution is a thankless task. More so because the turnaround time is sooo long. But it is the thing to do. Just keep distributing. This is a a long and lonesome road that this director walks down...

The Guru - Episode 1

A new web series is out today. The Guru. And in this, episode 1, we see why the bankers are being paid such large bonuses. Enjoy!



Watch The Guru here!

Irfan Distribution 2 - Subtitles

I have connections...and subtitles in Romanian, German and Spanish. That's Polish in the picture, in case you were wondering...and thank you to those who are helping me with the different languages!

Subtitles are a really important part of the distribution process. While film festivals (thankfully) accept films in English without a translation, having subtitles in another language really does help yourself in the eyes of the festivals. To put it simply, it makes it easier for the selectors to understand the language. It also is good for the audience. While the viewers are probably going to speak English, it is also a great courtesy to them that they can read and really understand what is going on.

Once again, thank you for helping me with those translations!

Irfan Distribution 1 - The Trailer

Good distribution starts with a good trailer.

Official Trailer for Irfan (HD) from Charles Michel Duke on Vimeo.

Official Trailer for Irfan - Click to watch!

Irfan Post 20 - Burn, baby, burn!

(Last in the series taken from the original off the blog of El Director)

I am going to be blunt. My cast and crew probably did not give two hoots about the previous posts, but were politely reading them. But this post, they do care about:



For the past two days, I have been burning these babies. The film, is finished!

Irfan Post 19...

Render, render, render...



While today I am in awe of the 4TB of hard drive that I am working with, in a few years time, this will seem all so quaint!

Irfan Post 18c - The last one on Colour Correction...

...And not before time. The stuff bores me silly, but it is, well, essential to making the pic as beautiful as possible.

Here is a shot from the last scene to be shot. And that scene is normally the director's nightmare. The last scene that is shot is normally the most rushed, the one when the cast and crew is at its most rushed and fatigued. And if it is outdoors, the one where the sunlight level is constantly changing as the sun sets in the sky.

Yeah, note to self, the next time I shoot a final scene, make sure it is indoors...

So this was the scene where I am having the most difficulty in correcting the colours. I knew it when editing, this would be the scene that would stump me. Take a look at the original shot:



Time. When the sun goes down, you are racing against time, and it is humanly impossible to work against the sunlight levels, no matter how much goodwill is on set.

Right, so as you can see, the scene looks really bleached out, and a little red. So first things first, I got rid of the red and slightly darkened the clips in this scene:



Next, I moved onto the secondary corrections and managed to enhance Irfan's face as well as bump up the colour of the car. I also removed some of the light from the fence in the background, so as not to distract from the character's emotion onscreen.



It is Christmas, so I am on the computer? Hell yeah! One of the best day's to start the rendering, but that is another blog post - number 19 - the one that the cast and crew will be almost looking forward to (well, they are waiting for post number 20).

Merry Christmas everyone!

Irfan Post 18c - The last one on Colour Correction...

...And not before time. The stuff bores me silly, but it is, well, essential to making the pic as beautiful as possible.

Here is a shot from the last scene to be shot. And that scene is normally the director's nightmare. The last scene that is shot is normally the most rushed, the one when the cast and crew is at its most rushed and fatigued. And if it is outdoors, the one where the sunlight level is constantly changing as the sun sets in the sky.

Yeah, note to self, the next time I shoot a final scene, make sure it is indoors...

So this was the scene where I am having the most difficulty in correcting the colours. I knew it when editing, this would be the scene that would stump me. Take a look at the original shot:



Time. When the sun goes down, you are racing against time, and it is humanly impossible to work against the sunlight levels, no matter how much goodwill is on set.

Right, so as you can see, the scene looks really bleached out, and a little red. So first things first, I got rid of the red and slightly darkened the clips in this scene:



Next, I moved onto the secondary corrections and managed to enhance Irfan's face as well as bump up the colour of the car. I also removed some of the light from the fence in the background, so as not to distract from the character's emotion onscreen.



It is Christmas, so I am on the computer? Hell yeah! One of the best day's to start the rendering, but that is another blog post - number 19 - the one that the cast and crew will be almost looking forward to (well, they are waiting for post number 20).

Merry Christmas everyone!

Irfan Post 18b - Correcting the Colours in the night...

(Note - I know a lot of these photos look pretty much the same, and for all you know I could be bulls**tting all of the corrections - but blame jpegs - a nasty codec that strips all humanity and soul from my blog posts...but take a look at the first and the last photos in the post and you will see the greatest difference of before and after)

This blog will look at the colour correcting of Irfan during night scenes, something very different from the last blog post which looked at an outdoor daylight scene.

Here, the grading is a lot more subtle. The whole point of a night scene is that it is dark. There are going to be few problems with digital fade which is often seen during daylight hours where the picture looks washed out. At night, it is the lighting on the set that matter - and thankfully the lighting was good during the shooting of Irfan.

This is the original footage from the prayer scene.



It is actually a beautiful shot, and something I will probably use in the publicity stills (later on). But there were a few additions I added to this shot. Firstly, I tinted the whole picture blue, in fact the whole scene is tinted blue. I wante to give that cold feeling to the audience, a chill, a sense of death. This may sound waffly, but I am a director, waffle is my bread and butter...or my syrup coated waffles...anyways, as part of the mechanics of the plot, this scene is meant to resemble death, and the blue tint across the whole of this segment of the movie for me gives a sense of cold.



Lastly, I put some subtle colours in at the Secondary correction stage. While not clear in this pic, earlier in the clip, when Irfan's face and mosque cap is in shot, I tinted both those features to give a crisper looking Mosque cap and a more vibrant face so we can see the charater's emotions.



You know what, let me back up a few frames in the clip, so you can see the effect the secondary corrections have on the picture quality. This is a shot from the same clip, with the blue tint (primary corrections) only.



And here is that same shot with the secondary corrections now in place. Note the Mosque cap is a lot cleaner while you can see a little more of Irfan's features.



Colour correcting with regards to dark conditions is more subtle. In fact, it is easier. In the daylight, I have to account for the changes in weather, the angle of the sun etc. Night time correction is easiest of all. As it is dark, I am not trying to brighten up (or dull down) the whole picture - hey, it is dark. So the corrections I am making are more focused on subtle points to enhance the story telling aspect. It is more creative, yeah, fun, and less technical as the tech stuff has been done by the lighting crew during the filming.

More fun from the crayon room coming soon...