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Nahlat Record Post #3

The last couple of shooting days for Nahlat were spent in interviewing two more people, and collecting additional B-roll.

08/10/19 -  I interviewed Mr Mohammed Shanfari, owner and board director of the National Natural Honey Company - one of the few Omani-origin honey production companies in the country. Mr Shanfari was holidaying in Salalah, a region 12 hours away from Muscat by road. As the Bakri-Id festival was already upon us, we decided to couple the shoot with a vacation of our own.

Mr Shanfari allowed me to shoot B-roll of his honeybees, as well as the merchandise in the store. Then, he provided an insightful, well-spoken interview with answers ranging from his bronze medal at Apimondia (a globally-judged beekeeping competition), to his hopes for expanding the honey business in Oman.

During the holiday, I captured some B-roll of the beautiful Salalah coast and its beaches, as well as some sand dunes on the drive home. We took the coastal road through Duqm, where I shot camels, deep blue seas, jagged mountains and various marketplaces in the evening. We returned on 13th August. 

08/18/19 -  Two important scenes took place on this day - the rescheduled interview with Mohammed Aulathani at his place, filmed during the day in his majlis, and the use of honey as a sweetner in Omani halwa, a long-awaited sequence that finally came through, thanks to my father’s contacts, on the very last day of my stay in Muscat.

With this, Nahlat has wrapped production.

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Nahlat Record Post #2

We began filming again after a trip to India, on the 27th of July. At this point, my documentary was starting to take some shape, although I was still flummoxed as to what the heart of the story could be. I decided to capture more B-roll in Rustaq, and have a follow-up interview with Masood Saalam Al-Jabry, who practices bee-hunting of the rare, mountainous abu twaiq (Apis mellifera).

Following this, I filmed once more with Dr Hassan Lawati at his office, interviewed melissopalynologist Dr Aliya Sajwani and Omani resident and tour-company owner Mohammed Aulathani. Dr Lawati also directed me to a private lab where honey samples are tested on various parameters, in Rusayl, Muscat.

By this stage, I’ve accepted that I need to make this documentary almost single-handedly, with my family helping in transportation and sound recording. It has been tedious work so far, and I have made a number of rookie mistakes, particularly in my cinematography, and in general organization. But I have also learned a great deal at the same time. Here’s a record of the days we have filmed in July and August so far.

07/27/19 - The plan was to follow Masood Saalam into the mountains, where he would show us a naturally-built abu twaiq hive. It was excruciatingly hot; unsurprisingly, we had to climb back down because the bees were not active in this heat. I got some B-roll of Masood, a mountain-goat in his own right, climbing down a steep, craggy hill like it was made of staircases.

Back in the house, a follow-up interview was filmed, before we made our way back. Our guide, Khalfan al Kulaibi insisted on showing us Bilat Sayt, a village in Wadi Bani Awf (in the same district as Masood’s house). We saw (and got B-roll of) a beautiful fort, and a village nestled in the hills. It had rained in the mountains previously, and we had to leave the area quickly lest we became trapped by a wadi (a body of water that is formed by rainfall and courses downward without impediments, due to the lack of catchment areas in Oman’s mountains. Wadis are dangerous and unpredictable, changing course without warning - to be caught in the middle could lead to fatal consequences.

08/4/19 - As per previous communications, I travelled to Dr Hassan Lawati’s office at the Directorate General of Agriculture and Livestock Research in Rumais, Barka. Here, it was with disappointment that we learned we could not film there - a miscommunication - and that the Ministry disallowed taking any pictures of testing equipment without any beekeeping workshops/training programmes taking place at the same time on the premises. We also learned that several such programmes, including the famous Honey Souq and a children’s training camp, had been showcased in the three weeks we’d spent in India. I had to amend my treatment quickly, directly on the spot.

Eventually, we ended up with a second interview in Dr Lawati’s apitherapy office, where the focus was on the science of producing honey, and the future of this business in Oman. He also directed us to a private lab where honey testing is done based on GCC Standard Organization (GSO)’s parameters. This lab is now learning how to test pollen as well.

08/5/19 - On this day, we filmed an interview with melissopalynologist Aliya Sajwani in Ruwi, Muscat. Melissopalynology is the science of studying pollen count in honey, thereby identifying its source. Dr Sajwani is unmarried and has dedicated her life to her profession - although she doesn’t mention this in her interview, citing it as “personal”. We respected her wishes, and filmed in both Arabic and English.

In the evening. Mohammed Aulathani spoke with us. Aulathani is a colleague of my father’s, and has grown up in Oman. He has seen it transition from a region where people mostly practiced pastoral activities, to a growing part of the modern world, where jobs have changed to fit a new order. Before his interview, his wife graciously agreed to make raqqal bread with honey (a crepe-like bread with eggs, cheese and honey), so I could shoot the same as an example of honey is culturally used in Omani households.

Mohammed Aulathani then spoke to us about growing up in Oman, starting his tour company and so on. However, the interview ended quickly due to the waning light, and we decided to reschedule for the Eid holidays (10th-18th August).

08/6/19 - We got B-roll of honey tested for pH and conductivity, and saw images of pollen testing at the Al Jowdha lab in the Rusayl industrial estates. Mr Abraham, the in-charge, spoke to us. According to him, honey testing is fairly recent, and pollen testing as new as a year-old, a result of Dr Lawati’s efforts to investigate the origins of Omani honey. Beekeepers from the Honey Souq had their samples checked by the lab earlier this year, and businesses, the Ministry and some individual beekeepers alike usually avail Al Jowdha’s services. They test against GSO parameters, in particular checking pH levels and preparing sugar profile (which helps in detecting adulteration). The parameters are provided on the offering party’s request; the lab’s job is to merely give a result of the honey sample’s components, and certify it. They have a contract in development with the National Natural Honey Company, one of Oman’s biggest honey companies, to test their products for international market standards.

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Nahlat production teaser

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Nahlat Record Post #1

The first ten days of June passed by in contacting people I had connected with prior to arriving in Oman, and straightening out crew and equipment required. I rented a Nikon Z6 as my primary camera.

A friend of my father’s (also my producer), Mr Mohammed Aulathani, turned out to be key for several reasons: he was willing to provide a vehicle and a guide in exchange for a glowing review of his company, Sunshine Tours. Sunshine Tours conducts guided excursions in Oman across its governorates. One of Mr Aulthani’s own employees was a beekeeper I interviewed first: Mr Ibrahim Al Rawahi.

Upon contacting my first consultant, Dr Hassan Lawati (an apitherapist), I was able to arrange an interview with him by the 18th of June. He is also in the process of taking care of my permit to film from the Ministry of Agriculture.

06/15/19 - We began shooting with Ibrahim Al Rawahi in the town of Sama’il. Ibrahim was able to show us his beekeeping shed, before we journeyed to his house for snacks. On the way, we stopped at Barkat al Mouz for a quick tour of its ancient city, before heading to Rustaq.

In Rustaq, we were welcomed by the Al-Jabry family - cousins of a colleague of my dad’s. The youngest, Saalam Masood, keeps the rare Omani bee race abu twaiq, or Apis florea. The honeybee in Oman is generally that of the Apis mellifera race (Omanis call it tarbia), but the abu twaiq mostly only populates mountainous areas. Because of its low numbers and low quantity of honey, abu twaiq’s honey is highly expensive. It is also considered “wild”, and therefore, needs to be tracked by “hunters” such as the Al-Jabry men.

Finally, thanks to Mr Al Rawahi, we make our way to Wadi Bani Awf - an unexpected surprise. Here, an acquaintance of Mr Rawahi’s, Sulaiyum, showed us the ancient Omani beekeeping method of stowing combs in palm logs. As we had begun shooting a little after the harvesting season, the eggs hadn’t hatched yet, and the bees were not swarming. 

06/18/19 - We interviewed Dr Hassan Lawati, apitherapist. An alternative medical science, apitherapy uses bee-sting venom, bee-stings and bee-products to help relieve pain and cure diseases ranging from asthama to weakness of muscles. As my cinematographer was on a paid project, I had to shoot the interview myself. Dr Lawati’s office was populated with bee-products, and he showed his vast knowledge of bees in Oman, apart from explaining the scope of his profession, and his work with beekeepers in Oman. We shot some B-roll before exiting his office two hours after call time.

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Avant-Garde Experience

My fifth and final experience this semester was ironically the most relaxing. My idea - to create a feeling akin to the one experienced by people who are extremely self-conscious - was in place, and I was able to get the shots I wanted in a mere two hour time frame.

However, the real challenge was in editing it. The avant-garde concept overall has been a little hard for me to understand, but the crux of it is to create an experience, an instinctive understanding. And structuring the film grammar for it requires finding cues that match the same, so it was a great deal of music-and-sound-effect rooting I had to do, as well as finding the right shots to be highlighted by the same. Ultimately the film was quite easy to understand by a general audience, despite falling in the experimental genre (a little joke there).

The feedback I received was different than the kind provided for our previous films; we did not pitch our ideas as we had previously, so our avant-garde films were analyzed more for their content than any technical detail. Therefore, my classmates and instructor discussed the idea behind the film and how it made them feel, all hitting the nail on the head.

This semester was highly educational, despite being similar to a rush-hour situation, because of our overall course workload. I learned to flesh small ideas out and test my own capabilities in all positions. It helped me:

 a. realize the real need for an actual crew

b. find a certain amount of confidence in myself as a filmmaker

 c. appreciate the talent and hard-work of my peers, with whom I look forward to collaborating over the next two and a half years.

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Set Experience Testimonial

My first set experience was working as a script supervisor for PROD 300 short film titled Seconds, written and directed by a senior undergraduate student, Addy Bruggeman. It was an incredible weekend, where I was simultaneously made aware of how much I had to learn from students younger than I, and how even a student film could be made in a most professional manner.

Filming took place during the first weekend of October. My job, given that it was an MOS set throughout, was to write down anything essential for continuity, and record camera data. It was rewarding by the end to see how my notes helped: I was able to guide the director when she needed to remember a visual detail for a particular shot, and the recorded paper data was crucial in cross-referencing with the DI technician, while checking an unforeseen error reported by the camera.

At the same time, I was completely awed by how a couple of students barely out of their teens were able to manipulate heavy lighting equipment, drive a massive truck, set up shots that - to my untrained eye - were expert in a way I hadn’t seen before, and still maintain an admirable temperament throughout. They were patient and kindly answered every question I had, especially ones that were clearly inane. Recognizing my inexperience, they took the time to explain each step of the process even as they busied themselves in their respective jobs.

Although I’ve worked on ‘set’ before in India, I only know the rag-tag environment of the short documentary world, where one has to make do with minimum crews and outdated, cheap equipment. This was going back to the basics for me, and it was a difficult but enlightening weekend. I was eager to learn more after this, and went on to work on four more sets this semester.

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Film #5: Avant-Garde Proposal

What does it mean to be self-conscious? It’s the feeling of eyes on you all the time. It’s hearing unseen footsteps following you even in places where sound doesn’t travel. Every face is turned towards you, every eye narrowed. Small noises are thunderous. Empty corridors are haunted, a presence waiting to pull your feet from under you. Slits in doorways are filled with watchers. No path is clear, and no light is diffused for you to see beyond an immediate point.

I plan to show this feeling through the point of view of an individual who is constantly walking. Each step is dogged however by a number of others. The sounds of horses galloping will be layered over people whispering, and as the individual turns the corner, they are met by eyes. Everywhere. In doorways, in the bathtub, in open and closed spaces and so on.

Horror movies like Ringu and The Witch are key references for visuals, while the soundtrack of Sinister is a major inspiration for the audio (see link below).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQJlQeJr1Q8

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Documentary Experience

My fourth film experience was considerably smoother than the first three. It was a familiar area - having worked in documentary films the previous year - and I was in my element when I shot and interviewed Mr John August Swanson, a painter living in Westchester. He works mainly in acrylic to depict Catholic art.

Mr Swanson, a warm, generous person, made for a wonderful subject. However, given the general LMU schedule, I could only shoot on certain days, which gave me less time to edit. Additionally, due to a technical issue, the sound was disrupted and thus distracted my viewers instead of drawing them further into the film. However, the overall feedback was positive, and I look forward to making more documentaries in the future.

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Film #4: Documentary Proposal

For the documentary film exercise, I will create a three-minute portrait of John August Swanson, a painter who works in acrylic to make serigraphs for the Catholic faith - although he personally does not consider himself a Catholic artist. Born of a Mexican mother and a Swedish father, he is a ‘simple voice’ that nevertheless speaks volumes about the artist’s need to make people excited about their work, and relate the sacred to the ordinary.

My film will feature Mr Swanson in action at his studio, while tying pictures of his paintings in and showing various knick-knacks around his house that hint at his engaging personality.

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The Fiction Film Experience

The third exercise was an interesting experiment. I dabbled in the genres of horror and comedy by using the thematic delight of Halloween season and a jump scare or two after twilight. The simple plot in my film follows a boy waiting for a friend to attend a costume contest, when he is stalked and followed by a ‘wolf’. He runs, only to be frightened and accosted by his friend in a mask. But little do they know what horror really awaits them.

The parameters more or less dictated the necessity of me being a one-man army, and that made the entire shoot much harder to coordinate. I decided to stick to practical lights and my DSLR, which gave my film an unfortunate, grainy look - but I was pleased with the composition of my shots. Editing took a significant amount of time as well, and given my slow progress at the same, it was all in all a rather stressful time in post-production.

I have also learned that weekends are truly only when people are free to help out. By picking two of the busiest days of the week (although the decision was out of my hands - I’d volunteered to be on a set months previously), I cornered myself with no assistants and, till the last minute, no lead actor. Thankfully, a Screenwriting graduate student was kind enough to help me on both fronts, and I was able to successfully complete this project.

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Film #3 Proposal: Fiction

In this third project, I would like to experiment with two genres: horror and comedy. The basic plot I have decided upon for the present involves a boy with a wolf mask, for Halloween, who overconfidently takes a lonely road on the way to a costume party - only to hear sinister sounds of paws and a terrifying growl following him wherever he turns.

The film would have to be made between early and late evening. I would use striking visuals inspired by horror movies of the ‘20s,  Westerns made in the ‘60s and the work of Roger Deakins. The idea is to use the virtue of misdirection to continually shock and unnerve viewers.

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The Social Justice Experience

Our second assignment for Production 500 was a better experience than the first, both in terms of ideating, planning and shooting. My film’s theme was the taboo culture of menstruation, and I plotted a simple story where a nervous girlfriend tries to hide her stained sheets from her oblivious boyfriend. It was a comedy with a message.

This time, I wrote my treatment beforehand and drew a meagre but useful storyboard that helped immensely in sorting the shots I wanted. The film did not have professional actors, but were my friends from the SFTV graduate programme. However, their inexperience did not hinder their talent, which sold the comedy aspect of the film very well.

The biggest lesson learned from this experience was that I needed to be more careful while importing my footage into an editing software - the lack of focus while doing so nearly hampered my ability to complete the assignment on time. Furthermore, I need to be aware of tonal shifts when telling a story with a social message through comedy. However, this failing during the course of the assignment was also due to lack of time - a resource I could have used better to add more music and thus reduce the awkwardness of the shift, had I not been careless about importing my files. I look forward to performing the next exercise: the fiction film, after duly learning from making this one.

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Film #2 Proposal: Social Justice

In this second project, I want to explore the connection between the immense pain women are expected to endure by mere virtue of their sex - whether it is childbirth, menstruation, great mental strain or the physical exhaustion of dealing with household tasks and caring for family members, particularly in third world countries - and the expectation forced on them to endure the same without expressing their true feelings.

To account for paucity of time and personal experience, I choose to depict the taboo culture of menstruation. Here, it is incumbent on the woman to hide all evidence of her time of the month, while keeping any expression of her discomfort to herself. Furthermore (especially in patriarchal societies), she must limit contact with the outside world by hiding away, like some dirty, sullied thing, till her period passes. She cannot touch any article in a public space, any item of religious worship or even any person apart from herself. Once it does, it is her responsibility alone to cleanse the whole house and continue completing her daily tasks.

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The Vision Experience

Our first assignment for Production 500 involved a fair bit of cudgeling - both the brain and the body. In terms of the latter, I learned that I possessed muscles completely undiscovered till now while lugging around a bulky tripod and a similarly heaving camera bag. But that was the least of my worries when it came to the film itself.

I have to confess that till I sat at the edit table, only the theme was clear in my mind. I had to connect loneliness and hunger, but each visual option seemed  contrived or completely nonsensical. In the end, it was by sheer luck that my film came together at all. By continuing to record till my subject was completely out of the frame, I had sufficient material to alter my original idea, and put together something definitely more coherent.

The biggest lesson learned from this experience is that no matter how big or small the shoot is, every detail requires patience. You are in control as the director/dp and it is incumbent on you to get the best work done in a very short period of time. That means not worrying about what your actors think of you, or how much time you're wasting on other people’s behalf, and so on. It’s also important to test the equipment beforehand, and have a clear visual plan on paper before commencing production. I’m sure to be more mindful during the next assignment.

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Vision Proposal

The feeling of loneliness is something I’ve been privy to for a long time, when I was an adolescent. In my film, I’ll be connecting its hollow ache to hunger, the kind where your stomach growls and refuses to let up, even when you try to divert yourself. When you ignore the hunger, it gets worse till you’re forced to acknowledge its presence and thus do something to alleviate it.

And once you do, life stops being stagnant. You are finally in control, and feel stronger for it.

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PROD 500 Assignment: Vision Writing (Autobiography and Influences)

Autobiography and Influences

School:

It was a era predominantly marked by confusion, incredible envy and tremendous achievement at the same time. Despite excelling in my studies, training as much as time allowed at sports and pushing myself to do the very best for various institutions, I remember feeling happy during only a handful of moments. Teachers straddled the line between being completely supportive and rather regressive, while my schoolmates seemed to forever gossip or conspire to make the next non-conformist feel terribly about themselves.

However, if it weren’t for these conflicting forces, I would not have learned the value of hard work. Not everything came easy to me at first. But by dint of sheer bullheaded-ness (in fact, all I lacked were actual horns; I could be quite undiplomatic when I wanted to succeed badly), and the unflinching support of my parents (who in fact, believed in me more than I did myself - they often became angry if I seemed to give up at anything), I was able to attain a sense of dignity. That prevented me from kowtowing to the more ‘popular’ crowd. More importantly, the desperation to be liked, to prove myself was instead channelled into drive, not addiction. And with the help of an incredible friend who saw me through it all, I passed this phase without too much difficulty into the next.

Adolescence:

Can there be a period in your life where you remember feeling more angry than anything else? I had a chip on my shoulder about everything - from people who I was sure disliked me right off the bat, to people who really did despise me, to the way I was handling my insecurities. Instead of carefully working through them a step at a time, I’d bundle them all into one fragile basket of eggs, before dumping this on the next person who irked me. Needless to say, I was not especially kind to the people I loved, despite only wanting to be liked by everyone.

That was the key need: wanting to be liked, adored, respected. The last was begrudgingly earned because of various leadership positions I occupied over the years in school - I always did justice to my roles - but the first two were more successful in alienating others. I could be a very nice person, till I decided I had something to prove.

People I’ve loved:

He was unlike anyone I had ever met. Aloof, selfish in his need to protect himself But he was also extraordinarily kind and easy to talk to, which I’d experienced with very few before. Curiously, I readily befriended without constantly questioning his actual motives - which meant that I had absolutely no unnecessary standard to live up to.

It seemed like we could talk forever and still not cover everything we wanted each other to know. Learning about the niches in popular culture - he was very knowledgeable when it came to music and films - was now pleasurable, not an exercise in internally comparing ourselves to the other. Of course, the deep affection I had for him grew into my first love - and the moment I decided I was happy - happy that I’d found someone without any expectation of him reciprocating - a major portion of my insecurities fell away like old snakeskin. 

It ended as most first loves do - on a semi-sweet parting note. His agenda was to cut off from everyone he’d met during college (for this was when I met him), and he’s ended up sticking to it. As for me, I will always remember him with immense gratitude. He gave me the confidence to be myself. 

People I’ve hated:

We started out as best friends, and because we grew up together, we did everything in twos. I revered her - she was older by nearly a year, and acted it too, but somewhere along the way, the terrible curse of middle school hit. Suddenly, popularity was her number one goal (as was mine, but to a lesser and less successful degree). She quickly realized that I was prone to being mocked for deserved and undeserved reasons, and left me in the dust. I become bitter, jealous and spent most of my high school years in real unhappiness, for she also seemed to have the knack of taking away people I was close to by turning them into her lackeys.

In retrospect, this could have partly been a reaction to the secret rivalry we had, one that made us intensely competitive for a very long time. The arenas ranged from academics, to individual achievements, to winning the affection of various people in the building complex where we lived. I suspect we never were truly content with our lives - although this worked as great motivation - and that we were both frankly relieved when school ended. It meant the end of a tiring relationship forced upon us - we did not talk about our mutual resentment, and her folks did not make it easier by pretending all was hunky-dory and friendly between us.

Today, it’s a little easier to speak to her. I will probably never understand her fully, and vice-versa. But the distance has helped put the past in a new perspective. We learned hard lessons because of each other and are perhaps better for it.

Art:

The first stories I heard were about the gods and goddesses in Hindu mythology. My mum and dad regaled me in their own ways (my father’s tales had a slightly more religious bent) about the cowherd prince Krishna who stole butter; who would eventually grow up to oversee the events leading up to the legendary Kurukshetra war. There was the honorable Ram, the mischievous but big-hearted monkey-god Hanuman, Arjuna the brave warrior…and then, from the West, about Achilles, Helen, Hector and Athena.

Heroes versus villains. The struggle between good and evil - various forms of each force, of course - have been a regular feature in my imagination. Anything that involved a epic, life-changing moment to fight back influenced me, from Mulan and Aladdin and most importantly, the Harry Potter series. Even today, if I have to be brave about something, my mantra is to chant, ‘If Harry can, I can.’ The themes of friendship and sacrifice from JK Rowling added nuance to my black-and-white view of the world.

But it’s not all popular culture. My mother is an artist. From the bright, sunlit colors of Vermeer’s portraits and Van Gogh’s achingly vivid work, to Rembrandt’s elusive impressionism, her descriptions and my own research have helped me, to an extent, pursue the fine arts on my own time. I’m not the best at it, but the practice has helped better my visual storytelling abilities. My mother’s averse to anime art, though, and that was a wonderful discovery I made all by myself - in fact, it was learning the media’s strange parameters for its characters that made me practice sketching seriously.

Having grown up in Oman, big bare landscapes are the kindling to what I consider free-flowing inspiration. Its stark, rugged mountains, the unflinching heat, the unspoiled, undulating sand dunes and in sharp contrast, the utter blueness of Oman’s waters are home for me, where I can breathe and dream freely. 

Role models:

Harry Potter, the orphan who found a purpose thrust upon him, and rose to the occasion. Fa Mulan, who took a potentially fatal risk and ended up saving China. Aladdin, the diamond in the rough. And Benjamin Franklin ‘Hawkeye’ Pierce of M*A*S*H, a devil-may-care surgeon who got so worked up over an injustice that he rode a jeep in bloodied scrubs through a war zone to an international conference, and protested.

Fiction is as influenced by reality as real life is by the art we make, and these four characters are heroes of mine - or should I say, very close to becoming anti-heroes till they grasped the first opportunity they were given to fulfill tremendous potential. That such initial pieces-of-work, who really believed they were creation’s mistakes, could defeat the very notion on their own, is something I try to emulate everyday. It’s a great way to overcome my severe imposter syndrome.

It’s harder to find people like that in real life, however, because of that irritating truth: they can change, and for the worse. Having said that however, JK Rowling (for her belief in failing to succeed, and the immersive world she’s created), Andy Samberg (for crazy perseverance, comedic talent and the immense clarity of mind he portrays in public), Alan Alda (for the absolute love of the work and play balance) and Charlotte Bronte (for her early feminism, and for doggedly pursuing her literary ambitions) are my role models.

And now, in my life, there are three who have made a mark on who I am today. My mum is the earliest and most enduring. We are oil and water in terms of personality, but her strategic patience and boundless love are two qualities I have to strive to imbibe. In that, she is second to none.

My dad rose from a deprived background, where some family members were decidedly less moral than others. Despite that, he refused to work without studying and today, is the only one to make it out of this narrow-minded society. His determination to prove himself, and admittedly silly humor are why I believe life is always worth improving by trying just a little harder.

The last is tricky, for I have changed in spite of him. A friend I consider a mentor in some ways, and a former crush, he is hugely talented but curiously cynical for it. I tried to become him, failed and learned the difficult way. I have come to see his virtues and faults, and have decided to forgive myself because he doesn’t; have aimed at trying to be more optimistic because he doesn’t; have moved on from believing that a single word of disapproval from him will ruin everything I’ve achieved regardless. He is a wonderful teacher, and he doesn’t even know how much I’ve studied from him!