Light stands = backdrop

chai by Umar

I’m trying to come up with a way to get the feel of some ornate pillars and doors in a design, but by only using larger flat colored shapes. I get the feeling I need to visit the cloth market, having explored this design a bit, to figure it out.We went over to Anarkali for a late lunch. It’s been very hot lately, so I’m trying to keep my errands to the evening. Afterwards, we went over to Nisbat rd, home of Lahore’s camera shops and picked up a couple of light stands. I’ll use them for the backdrop in my film. Now I just need a rod to hang the backdrop by, some velcro and adhesive and I can get on with the next step of the process with some more accurate lighting tests.At night Kristeen, Umar and Imran helped me to try out some tests using the evolving stage setup for this puppet film.

Shalmi and Nisbat

a stop at Gawal Mandi

After working on some background designs, we head over to Shalmi, the wholesale market near the old city. I heard that there were theater lights available there. We walked around and asked about lights. There were some lighting shops, but in terms of theater lights, it took a lot of explaining and then being sent off in random directions to see what was there. I think I did find the lights people were referring to, but what I needed was a backdrop. Still, it is so hard to find things and get proper directions here, that when you do end up somewhere, you might as well make a note of what they sell there for future reference.Next we walked through some crazy traffic to get to Gawal Mandi, or food street to grab a bite to eat. Nisbat rd, where the camera shops are, is right there, so we walked over and got some information about backdrop stands there. Once again, a lot of explaining, and being sent all over yielded few results. One shop had light stands, so that was an option. They had locally made ones that were almost half the price, but they did not fold down as small and seemed heavier. The Chinese ones looked like they could fit in my suitcase. I’ll have to transport all this stuff after all.We walked through this extremely creepy building with half built stairs to get to another place that made backdrops. I figured if they made them, they might have a frame to hang them from. It turned out that they make interesting pieces out of foam. They had brick walls, large wooden looking doors, all painted and carved from some kind of foam. It was pretty cool actually. They did not have the stands I needed, but showed me what they could order from a catalogue.By this point we were quite tired. The heat is brutal and it’s just really tough to get information and find things. We head back and rested. At night I discussed some of the backdrop options. It was really good to brainstorm with Umar and Imran to figure out a good solution. We think I could build the setup with the light stands which would let me lower and raise the backgrounds, some pieces of pvc pipe and velcro. Ok, I guess I will go back to Nisbat again tomorrow.

New place

Each new place I stay brings with it a new set of challenges. Where do we get filtered water, recharge the internet and phone, buy fresh vegetables, is there electricity and water etc. So the day started with exploring some of these things and picking up vegetables to cook.This neighborhood has street vendors that walk through hawking their wares. I got some vegetables from one today. Umar put the finishing touches on the second background for “Risalo”. It was amazing to see the design go from painting to a beautiful cloth piece.I’m working on some research for a palace scene. Between photo references, sketching and discussing ideas with Umar, something good should come together.

The moving rickshaw arrives

moving is so fun

Umar working on the second background.

I’ve woken up the past few days with a sort of negative feeling about the struggles, sacrifice and time involved in the puppet film I am trying to create. There are no guarantees of success and a lot of difficult tasks are on my shoulders to somehow pull off. I’m working on things in a methodical way, to prepare and build towards shooting the puppetry portions. It is a slow and challenging process. Waking up with a negative feeling doesn’t help. I imagine I’ve probably dreamt something or other and the feeling is lingering from that. I brush it aside, because your mind can do some pretty strange things and its best not to let that color your day. I see progress being made on another challenging portion of the films, with the cloth backgrounds. These positive developments are what I use to pull myself through. I’ve got to stick through this for the long haul or it is not going to happen.The time I had requested at the hostel was up. I could probably request more, but there were a few things that better suited my next tasks at my friend’s place. So, we packed up into a rickshaw and head to Imran’s. Umar had been cleaning up a room for us, so I joined him and Kristeen started cooking.Afterwards, Kristeen and I wandered the neighborhood to get some groceries. We all ate lunch together then got to work. Umar is working on the second background now. I sorted the cloth I had picked up and made bundles for the next few backgrounds. I’m thinking about what I need to try and get done in September. Forget what happens after that. What I do now will get me ready for that. One step at a time.

Weekly Landa trip

Sunday is cloth purchasing day. I spent the morning working on notes for some lectures I will be conducting. Then I took the next three background designs and made a list of colors I needed so that we can work on them this week.Kristeen and I head to the Sunday book fair. She picked up a couple of paper backs, and I found an interesting anti war children’s book and a book on lighting setups for product photography, which I felt would be helpful for my lighting experiments for the puppets. I dropped her back then took a bunch of luggage via rickshaw to our friend’s place where we will likely work from for the next month.The rickshaw driver was a friendly guy that I have ridden with a few times. As it happens from time to time, when I told him where I was going and asked how much, he just replied by saying whatever I wish. Once we got there, he helped me unload my things, then gave me some advice regarding living cheaply. It was just a friendly bit of looking out. I appreciate these simple every day conversations with people. Things can be really crazy and hectic here. At times people are rude and other times people can be very friendly. Sometimes you can connect to that side of a person by being friendly. It’s tough when you are tired and have dealt with a bunch of rude and difficult behavior and life stresses, but that’s what everyone around you is going through too.I picked up some cloth from Imran’s collection, hung out for a while, then caught a rickshaw to the Landa Bazaar. Once again, I sifted through piles of assorted cloth, looking for interesting pieces in the colors I wanted. The task was made so much easier thanks to Umar’s help the previous week. This time, I knew where to go. I started by purchasing a few smaller pieces, which were also the lowest in cost. For most colors, I don’t need a full bed sheet’s worth, but sometimes that is what you find. It is still cheaper than getting a yard or so of cloth elsewhere. I ended up getting a few pillow covers which we can open up and use for skys, some blankets and assorted pieces of cloth with interesting textures and colors. It is a little challenging as unlike in painting, I can’t quite create a color exactly as I want it. I have to figure out whether I need a cool, warm, saturated, desaturated color and see what I can find that best matches that. It is also quite cool to explore and find colors and textures that I would not have thought of.In the evening, my friend Kabir dropped by and we had some pizza. It is interesting how the pizza I have had here so far never has any marinara sauce. It was fun to catch up. I am fascinated by his work of finding and selling rare books. He knows all the spots to hunt down books. He had recently returned from a trip to Karachi with a large number of them. There’s a Shah Latif book that I have placed on his list as well. I hope it can be found eventually.

Theater Workshop

IPA Theater Workshop with Imran

Parathas in back alleys

After some work on background paintings we head over for a delicious brunch at my aunt’s place. She showed us several beautiful oil paintings she had made. One was a painting of the Alhamra Art’s Council building which she had painted on location. It was really great to see.Afterwards my cousin dropped us off at a theater workshop by my friend Imran at the Institute of Performing Arts. It was fun to go through the exercises he had put together to get us thinking about various aspects of theater such as telling a story in words, then with facial expressions and body language. We also did a mirror exercise, where one person had to basically mirror the actions of another. There were some voice and breathing exercises and in the end we split into two groups of 6 and put on small, improvised plays.From there we head back to Mall Rd. We grabbed some egg and potato parathas at a little dhaba, before heading to Chaman for their amazing ice cream. I would say that counts as a pretty good day.

Magic Lantern

The night before I shot some test footage. I have a lot of preparing yet to do, but it was good to see the background with a puppet on camera with some lighting. Each test, I try a few more things and I get a bit closer to being ready to shoot. This time I tried out some moving shots with a slider and that was fun. It is challenging to rack focus and move the camera at the same time.In addition to that, I am continuing to experiment with shooting as the camera normally records, and also using Magic Lantern to shoot in raw format. It is essentially a very cool hack for Canon cameras and there are a few steps involved in the process, but potentially, it can allow for more freedom adjusting the final look, in terms of color afterwards. There are several pieces of software to help with different stages of the process. Essentially, you are pushing the camera to do something it can do, but the on board software does not give access to. So there are these fantastic programmers, reverse engineering the cameras to expose more features. This is quite incredible, but you have to test each step and decide what the reliable limits are as far as shooting settings. It’s good to test these options now and make these kinds of decisions or mistakes during this time. I took the footage into Davinci Resolve Light and started following a few tutorials to begin getting into that. It takes a lot to do all of this, but the knowledge that comes out of each step helps a great deal.In the evening, the wife and I walked over to a pizza place, then wandered through the crazy traffic along mall road to a book shop. Simple pleasures. Afterwards, we hopped on a rickshaw and head back home.

A process in place

Kristeen roasting eggplant while taking a break from rHope tasks.

Umar putting together a background

I’m working on a bunch of desert backgrounds for “Risalo”. I paint them in flat colors in an app called Procreate. It’s very intuitive and I can paint with my finger on the iPad. One of my favorite things about this, is that I showed Umar the basics and he was up and running in no time as well. This lets me work on a design, create a copy and let him make any changes he feels like and then pick up and add some more and go back and forth until we are satisfied. I really enjoy the conversation around shapes and color choices that helps us to get where we want.Umar finished the first background and I think it turned out beautifully. We selected every bit of fabric for its color and texture. Each piece was meticulously cut, then roughly stitched to place them and then finely stitched by hand with care given to keeping the flow of each curve to achieve what we worked out in the concept painting. I feel very grateful that he is putting a lot of love and care into each bit, as I do. What more could one ask of an artistic collaboration.We even got the second background started. It’s time to look for some additional colors of cloth that are needed. I’ll try and finish up some more designs and pick up cloth for them as well. Sunday is the day to get cloth from the Landa Bazaar. We picked up a lot of interesting pieces there. In addition, our friend Imran has a lot of bits of cloth or old clothes that have helped us a great deal, so I will have to stop by to check there as well. Any colors that are left at that point can be hunted for in some of the khaddi shops we visited earlier this week. I’m glad we have figured out our main sources for cloth and the workflow for creating these backgrounds. That is a huge bit of progress this week.

Some tasks move forward, some don't

Umar working on the first background for "Risalo".

Umar working on the first background for "Risalo".

I spent the morning updating my blog. It is interesting to look back as I am posting entries about a month after the fact. Over a month ago, I was finishing music in Jamshoro. A lot has happened since then, and yet some things are right where they were, despite my best efforts.I have not been able to digitize any of the other DV tapes to work on music as I have not been able to find a source to get a DV VTR that I can digitize footage into a mac with. I am getting close, but I am not there yet.Backgrounds on the other hand are being made, after going through many steps and challenges. I have progressed on lighting and photography, though not quite ready on that end and I am more familiar with how the puppets can be manipulated. I still need to do more on that end, but things are going. I always feel like I am spinning plates.Umar is a fantastic artist. I am fortunate to have him on board to work on these beautiful cloth backgrounds. His skill set is very complimentary to my own, as in he knows how to do a lot of stuff I do not, but need.After working the rest of the day, Kristeen, Umar and I head to Panj Vera via the metro bus to grab dinner with friends. It was fun to just laugh, eat aloo and egg parathas, drink khoya khajoor, badam milk shakes and eat ice cream. Zahid once again drove us all the way back, across town to where we are staying. I have a deep appreciation for friends who go out of their way to drop us off, because it is a huge help. Besides, it was a lot of fun to talk about movies and all kinds of other silliness.

Backgrounds continue

I worked on some more designs for backgrounds. There are several ways to reuse backgrounds, so that should help cut down on the number we need. I think I can bring down the required number from 25 to about 12. That includes combining several backgrounds that will only be seen closeup into one cloth piece.Umar dropped by around noon and continued working on the rough stitch of the pieces he cut the day before. I had made the long walk in the heat to recharge our internet and pick up vegetables. Kristeen made some lunch and all of us spent the day working on our projects.In the evening, Umar had beautifully stitched some of the sky pieces. The three of us hopped on rickshaw, then made our way through Anarkali, crossed Mall rd and made it just in time to return the useless “tailoring” scissors to the art store and pick up some large sheets of tracing paper. Umar head off to tend to other tasks, and Kristeen and I grabbed some nice food in Anarkali. It feels good to see this next stage of the project starting. It takes a lot to prepare and figure things out, so once you start to see some results, it is quite exciting. It is amazing to see Umar share his input on the design painting and then create it out of cloth. He’ll climb on the table, fix up paper and cloth with pins, then thread the whole design. This project is a ton of work, but these moments where I get to collaborate and create in mediums I have never touched before are truly special.

Backgrounds begin

this ones a trooper, looking for cloth for puppet backgrounds

random interesting spot along the way

finally, a place with smaller pieces of khadar cloth that we need.

Neela Gumbad

Umar taking the concept art and drawing a pattern

reworking sections together

cutting cloth

stitching pieces together

Butt Karhai

I started work in the morning with Umar on background designs. We discussed and worked on the design for the first one we plan to make a bit further. Then off we went with Kristeen to the Urdu Bazaar for brown paper to create patterns, and then to the khaddi market for some cloth pieces in the colors we were not able to find at the Landa Bazaar.We walked through the Mayo hospital to get back to Anarkali. On the way we saw a family grieving hysterically in the hospital grounds, likely at the loss of a loved one. The sounds were heart breaking and devastating.Going through Anarkali, we picked up some art supplies, including cloth cutting scissors, then went back to the hostel. I picked up some lunch and we continued working. The scissors were no good. We’ll have to find good ones and continue. This is how tasks start, in growths and spurts and then some sputters.

Landa Bazar

We took a morning walk through the sunday bazar in Krishan Nagar, followed by a walk to Sant Nagar with breakfast at Imran’s. Umar got there and we head to Delhi gate via rickshaw. We picked up a bunch of cloth for only RS 150 (about $1.50) at Landa Bazar, then walked through Delhi Gate, through the cloth markets, then out through Bhatti gate.It was such a relief to have Umar’s help in locating different kinds of cloth. I felt like I finally had a process for finding cloth of the type we need to create the backgrounds for “Risalo”.On the way back, we walked through the side of Data Darbar, back to Imran’s. We picked up some nihari and all ate together, then walked home. It was great to have all of that support.

Chaman and Waris Nihari

It was another day of working on the computer at the hostel. In the evening, we grabbed some ice cream at Chaman with our friend Umar. Afterwards, we took a rickshaw into some windy roads with heavy traffic to pick up some nihari at Waris Nihari. I just had the rickshaw wait for us, because the place was a mess with traffic.

Working

I worked on designs for backgrounds for "Risalo". In the evening we had dinner with a friend of Kristeen’s from the Peace Festival in Chandigarh back in 2009.

Watching "Moor"

After some work in the morning, we head over to Fortress Stadium, to get away from the hustle bustle of the older parts of the city for a bit. We hopped on a rickshaw and went there. I wanted to check out a film called “Moor”, so we went to a nice movie theater in a mall to watch it there.It is really great to see the Pakistani film industry reviving. This isn’t just about making new movies, but about developing all the talent that goes into making something great. Based on my own, very grassroots efforts to create a film here, I can certainly appreciate the challenges. Though a number of these films are sponsored by local tv channels, I have no doubt that each production deals with untold numbers of challenges to reach the screen, whether funded by a local media outlet or not. It is very promising to see channels supporting films, as that is probably the only way to create a financially viable industry. The sheer number of films coming out seems to indicate that companies are making enough money to continue. I look forward to this commercial industry paving the way for a parallel cinema in the future that represents the quality of writing I see in short stories and novels in our local literature.I had seen trailers for “Moor”, directed by Jami, known for his music video work. The shots from the trailers, featuring landscapes from Balochistan were gorgeous. The composition and color was truly breathtaking. The film itself felt rather long. There were a lot of beautiful shots, and I liked the premise of the story, which was quite different than some of the other Pakistani films coming out. “Moor” seemed to try and tackle something a bit deeper and made an attempt at portraying the intersections of class and various struggles that are very much connected. The strongest scenes to me were the montage scenes, which were more poetic and similar to music videos. The rest of it had a lot of visual beauty, which is no small feat in itself, but in terms of the characters, their humanity and dimensionality, I felt that much could be done to build upon this start in the future.Things were quite dramatic, yet the dialogue and progression of the story did not seem to effectively build up to moments that created an understanding in the viewer, rather than just telling us what happened, or perhaps pushing too many stories and moments into the film without allowing them to develop in a satisfying way.Anyway, I was glad to see “Moor”, regardless. In a country where so much is falling apart, it brings me a great deal of joy to see what seems to me, a real honest effort at something better. As a filmmaker myself, I marvel at all the successfully executed parts of the film and aspire to learn and do my best in my own work. I certainly look forward to Jami’s future work. Seeing a work with so much beauty, it is easy to focus on what is lacking, but as a filmmaker, it reminds me how astonishingly difficult it is to connect on all the levels that a truly great film can. Each film is hopefully a step towards getting there.Afterwards we walked around the nice malls, ate some food and walked around a bunch more before heading back to the hostel. Ustad Anb Jogi was on his way back from Islamabad. It’s a long and grueling ride back to Hyderabad, so he stopped in to get some sleep. It was good to see him before he head out once again in the early morning to get the rest of the way home.

Nisbat, Beadon, Hall

I head out to Nisbat, Beadon and Hall road, to check out lighting gear. It takes a lot to ask questions and even more to get any real answers about anything and everything. A few hours in the heat and your day is done. My friend Ustad Anb Jogi dropped by at night on his way to Islamabad.

Light from Nisbat

After a bit of calling around, I learned that Sunday was the day that different markets sold cut piece or smaller pieces of cloth. I don’t know why the many shops I asked never offered up this information, but that is the way much of the information gathering for this project has been.That saved me a lot of needless travel in the morning. I did some small video tests with my available lighting and camera equipment. I researched some lighting options locally, thanks to help from an LED specialist I had met in Los Angeles, who is from Pakistan. He had given me the local manager of his business’ number in Karachi. I called him, mentioned his boss and he helped me right away. I sent him specs on a simple LED light I had, and he looked up the closest match. Not only that, he found a retailer with a reasonable price. Based on that, I found one here in Lahore with the same price, then went and picked it up.Afterwards, we grabbed some food at Gawal Mandi, the so called “Food Street”. A bit of walking in traffic after, followed by a rickshaw ride back and the day was done. The new light is pretty good. Of course it is missing a nut, so I need to ask about it or find a replacement nut, but it is pretty bright. I think if I can pick up one more and find some lamps for the photo bulbs I brought, I should be covered for lighting. The alternative would be to rent higher end gear, but I like these lights for being light, portable, battery operated, not prone to heating up and sufficient to light the small area needed for this puppetry film.

Lahore Museum

I had hoped to go cloth hunting over the last few days, but it just did not happen. I remember seeing a great variety of cloth shops in Delhi Gate that seemed to be a good place to try and piece together these backgrounds.We hopped on a rickshaw and head over there just after noon. The walk through the short portion that has been renovated and freed of encroachments and sign boards is quite nice. It is a glimpse of what this place could be. The cloth shops begin a bit after Masjid Wazir Khan. There are so many varieties of cloth, but as it turned out, they are wholesalers so they do not sell the small quantities I need for my work.By that point, we were tired from the heat and the challenges of getting information. They had all the kinds of cloth I could want, but did not sell smaller pieces. We walked back out, caught a rickshaw, then head to the Lahore Museum and spent some time looking at beautiful pieces of architecture, sculpture and paintings. Afterwards, we head back and grabbed some daal and rice from the little corner stand. It was really good, as a lot of food here tends to be.After a few hours of rest and asking around some more for where I might find cloth, Imran suggested a few places with Krishan Nagar being the closest. It was less than a 1 km away, so I just walked over there. There were many cloth shops, but this time they sold patterned cloth by the suit, as in you needed to buy enough for a set of clothes. I could not get the meter and a half or so that I wanted. Well, that was the end of another day of searching. I came back and we had some dinner that we made, then rested. I have a few more leads for places to check. I need to muster up the strength to go to them tomorrow.

Anarkali and the sunday book bazar

We took a walk through Anarkali, ate some haleem, then head over to the sunday used book bazar. The sidewalks are lined with booksellers. It is fun to see the variety of books, long out of print. I have already picked up a bunch of books on this trip, so I am trying to be very selective about getting any more. I did not plan to buy anything. It’s just fun to look at the interesting book covers and discover topics and books in Urdu and English from years ago. You get a sense for what people have been writing about.At the end of the line of book sellers, I came across an interesting art book that I could not resist. It was a book of paintings by a couple of Chinese watercolorists (Lin Yong and Su Hua), documenting their trip through Pakistan in 1978 and 1981, called “Pakistan”.Afterwards, my aunt picked us up and we head to her place for another amazing meal. I got to catch up with some cousins who very talented painters as well.

Baby goat in the window

I spent the morning going over blog posts. During July, I had stopped posting all together. I kept writing, but things were so difficult while working on the music for “Risalo” that I could not bring myself to keep posting. So it was, that in mid August, I was rereading and posting blog entries from July.It is a bit difficult to read through those posts. The weight of those struggles is still here, though some distance and time has helped me push ahead. I try to focus on the great people that helped me through the process. Once again, I find myself looking at and getting to know a new set of people, connected through old friends who offer advice and assistance, without which things would be impossible.I did some research and a few sketches for the first cloth background I want to create for “Risalo”. I looked at some other examples of quilted landscapes and flat color, graphic shape landscapes for inspiration. It helps to see how others have tackled a particular challenge.A little goat was crying in the yard behind the hostel room. My wife and I saw it come up to the window. We saw it through the screen and dirty glass. She suggested that we feed it the yogurt she just made with spices in it. I reminded her that Pakistanis don’t feed goats spicy yogurt, we eat goats with spicy yogurt. I don’t know, I didn’t want the little fella to have a problem with spices. I’ve only ever fed grass to goats. The hostel doors on that side have locks on them, so I walked around and found a gate to that same yard. I opened it and the little goat followed me out. Then I was told that someone had brought it for safe keeping. A guard put it back in. I went to get some water for the little goat, but by the time I stepped back out of my room with it, the goat’s owner was taking care of it. In the evening we visited some relatives and enjoyed some delicious food.