Aqeel Ahmed — Writer-Director

Close to Complete

11 Aug 2009 · 1 comment

Sorry for the lack of updates. For a lot of the time I’ve been unwell, and then I’ve been having other problems/incidents causing the film to be delayed. I didn’t think it was worth blogging about them as it wouldn’t help the project and would just get me more upset.

Anyway, forget that, the important thing is Shattered Pieces is close to complete! (Pause for applause). For some reason, I won’t get into, I ended up doing all of the visual effects and I’m currently finishing off the last shot. (The applause gets louder). It is the “biggy” and the actual VFX shot most people will notice, but I think I will have it done by tomorrow evening! (The crowd goes wild).

BUT, (gasps followed by sudden silence), it doesn’t mean the film will be complete. As I’m finishing off this last shot, Chris Reading is doing the sound design, and the music is still being put together by Vince Pope. Once all of that is finished, Howard Berry (editor) will put all of that together, and then the two of us (which would probably end up being more like me sitting next to him while he does it) will colour grade the thing and put the last finishing touches to it.

All in all, I expect two more weeks until Shattered Pieces is complete. Then, all that’s left is sending it away to festivals and waiting. Oh, I may also have a sort of wrap-party/screening for cast, crew, family and friends, but my first concern is getting this thing finished! It’s taken long enough.

Oh, and for those wondering why I haven’t posted any VFX work-in-progress images/videos; The simple reason is: I don’t want to spoil anything for you or give you false ideas about what the film. Plus, the VFX in this is quite basic and mainly invisible things like TV and background replacements. The focus is on the story between these characters.

Hopefully the next time I’ll blog it will be telling you Shattered Pieces has been completed. Ah, so close!

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Facebook Fan Page

4 Jul 2009 · 0 comments

in News, Shattered Pieces

Shattered Pieces now has a fan page on Facebook. Show your love, and become fans!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Shattered-Pieces/108702566606

In regards to the film and its progress, I’m still doing the visual effects, and Vince is still doing the music, but it does look as though the film will be done by the end of this month! Inshallah.

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Film Poster and VFX Begins (finally)

16 Jun 2009 · 0 comments

in News, Post-Production, Shattered Pieces

Another long delayed update, sorry. What’s been happening?

Well, Vince Pope (from Beetroot Music) is busy doing the music for the film. I sat down in the studio with him last week (Tuesday 9th June) to see what direction the music needed to go into. Watching the film with the rough music ideas was exciting. Music is so important.

I’ve been editing the poster a bit and got one printed out (for £45!). It looks great though, so I’ve made some tweaks to it, and will be sending it off to a print factory to get a whole lot of them printed out.

Yesterday I met up with Pete Wallington outside City Hall (London) to take some plates of the city that I’ll be compositing into the backgrounds (as we originally filmed on the Northbank). Talking of compositing, I’ve also met up with Chris Andrews who I’ll be working together with on the visual effects for this film. It’s going to be epic because of his work load, but I’m confident.

I’ve already started on some of the more easier ones like compositing in televisions. Oh, and if you’re interested, here’s an image of the poster. The detail is probably to small to see properly at such a low resoultion, but it’s actual size is 30 by 40 inches; massive!

Click on the image to enlarge.

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Next stage

31 May 2009 · 0 comments

in Post-Production

It’s been a while since my last blog update. I’m sorry to all those that visit regularly (I can see the blog stats). I’m back now and here’s an update.

First of all, Howard Berry has finished the edit for the film. He’s just doing a few tweaks here and there and doing some motion graphics for it now.

I’ve given this edit to Vince Pope, who will hopefully be doing the music and sound for this.

Once Howard has finished preparing the shots needed to do visual effects with, he’ll send it over to Chris Andrews and me to do our CG magic on.

It’s going to be tight, in regards to meeting film festival deadlines. The good thing is, there’s lots of festivals througout the year so it shouldn’t be a problem.

I’ve also registered a website for the film. It’s currently just a sort of holder page, but it should soon have images, trailer, screening info and other promo stuff.
Check it out at ShatteredPieces.com

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The Wait

27 Apr 2009 · 1 comment

in News, Post-Production, Shattered Pieces

I’ve been inactive for a week, just trying to recover while tying up the last few bits and bobs after production.

I’ve also given the last lot of footage to Howard Berry (the editor) and finally got to watch the rushes myself! I have to say, it does look great. It’s probably going to be 3-4 weeks before I see the first rough cut of the film. I’m feel really impatient, but I’ve just got to wait.
I’m both excited and scared.

While Howard edits, I’m researching on visual effects techniques, currently crowd simulation. I think I’m getting the hang of it.

Anyway, there’s probably not going to be many updates until I actually start doing the visual effects shots with Chris Andrews, which is probably going to be in about two weeks. Until then, we’ve all just got to wait. Sorry about the brief sentences. Brain drain.

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The Shoot: Day Four

21 Apr 2009 · 0 comments

in Production, Shattered Pieces

I lay in bed for a few hours, trying to sleep. When I finally felt like going to sleep, it was time for me to have a shower and get ready to leave! This time, my brother didn’t want to come, so I had to pack up the car with food and drink for the crew myself. I was running a bit late; I had told Andrew Ormes I would be at his house at 3am (it was now 3.10am).

I started up my car, and began to drive off. As I was driving, there was an unhealthy noise, so I parked the car and got out to check. My tyre was punctured! I ran back home. My mum told me to take her car, but then I had to bring my own car back to my road to park it in a safe place and transfer all the bits and bobs I needed to take. Long.
After that panic, and a few puffs of my asthma inhaler, I was off in my mum’s big car. I really dislike driving it, but I had no choice.

This was our last day of shooting, and it was all (mostly) in a cafe. We were filming at Fly One Cafe on Copthall Avenue (London). We started off with a few night time shots of Ted looking into the cafe.
Claire and the extras arrived for 6am. I couldn’t get any extras because of such an early start and because of closures on the underground, so I had to use Rob (Claire’s boyfriend), Vijay (the owner of the cafe), my mum, my aunty Amina, Andrew Ormes and Andrew Ormerod.

Everything went well and smooth. Our sound recordist, Clare Edmans, was feeling unwell and had to leave early, but we had shot all the dialogue and important sound stuff already. We then went out to shoot a few shots of Drew running around in the streets.

And that’s it. That was a wrap. It feels really odd. I’m feeling upset that next week I won’t be meeting my cast and crew and doing a ridiculous night shoot. They made my first live-action film experience great and enjoyable.
Thank you to all the cast and crew on Shattered Pieces.

Now, it’s months of post-production.

Here’s some production stills taken by Andrew Ormerod:

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The Shoot: Day Three

21 Apr 2009 · 0 comments

in Production, Shattered Pieces

KC and Andrew Ormerod, decided that it was best to start shooting on Friday night, rather than the Saturday. My call time was 7pm at the office interior (in The Cannon Street Business Centre), to tell Andrew Ormes how I wanted it dressed, and work out any last minute things with the crew.

Then, it was off to our first shoot location; the office exterior at Aldermanbury Square (different to the interior). This first scene we were shooting was supposed to have a crowd of Londoners evacuating the city. I wasn’t expecting many people; I had asked for about 50, and then use camera lenses and angles with visual effects to enhance it. Instead, only about 15 people turned up! The weather and late night were probably to blame, but I was lost. We tried it a few times, and it looked really bad.

After a bit of thinking between Pete and myself, we came up with ways to try and make do with what we had. From what I saw on the monitor, it looked quite cool, but I have a feeling there will be a need for a lot of post-production work.

My hero of the day has to be Chris Andrews. Unfortunately, our original “visual effects supervisor”, who I won’t name, didn’t bother to turn up to any of the shoots. Luckily, I know my visual effects so I had managed on those days, but I really needed somebody to supervise this crowd scene while I focussed on directing. A few hours before the shoot, Chris got in contact with me asking me if I needed help with post-production. I asked if he could actually help with the production as well, and he said yes. The bonus is, he actually turned up and was a big help. Thanks Chris!

While I’m thanking people, I’d like to thank the extras that came and were so patient in the cold, doing one take after another. It wouldn’t be a crowd of people without you.
Thanks also goes out to Jacqui Adams for looking after the extras for us.

We finished the crowd scene at about 12am, thanked and sent the extras home, and then it was back to shoot the scene in the office interior. It was better than most of the other shoots, as it was indoors, dry and warm, but it was during the night so the whole crew were fighting sleepiness.

I am always a “crazy” person, but I think I went even crazier than usual that night. It was hard. We finished the office scene at about 6am. We needed to shoot a newsroom scene, so we thought we might as well do it on the same night in the office. We put up a not-so-green-screen on the wall (it had a lot of yellow in it), and Pete tried his magic to make it evenly lit and not look too yellow.

Lubna Milne, who I had never met before the shoot, played the newsreader. She was such a professional, and we filmed it fairly quickly.

I can’t remember when, but we finished earlier than scheduled. I ended up getting home at about 9am. Went straight to bed, and woke up at 5pm. The night shoots mess up my brain. I can’t tell what day or time it is. I felt like it was afternoon, when it was really 11pm. Our next and final shoot started at 4am on the Sunday, but that will be talked about in my next post.

Here’s some production stills taken by Andrew Ormerod:

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The Shoot: Day Two

13 Apr 2009 · 0 comments

in Production, Shattered Pieces

I woke up at 4am to get ready. The call time was 7am, the location was a bus stop on Finsbury Square.

When we all got together, Pete began to set up the camera, and I went through the scene with the actors while they got their makeup done.
Then, trouble…

Due to the Easter weekend (I think) there was a Jubilee line replacement bus service. The problem: the buses were using our bus stop as a waiting stand! As one left, another would take its place. Disaster!

It got to a point where I had to make up a new story of how these characters meet to work with the only location we had in control at that time, a monument thing, or, scrap the day to shoot on another day. My director side wanted to do a different day, but my producer side said no way.
It was bad, and I felt as though my film was going to be ruined!

Luckily for us, Andrew Ormerod showed us all, once again, what a great Location Manager and scout he is. He found us a new bus stop on Silk Street (near the Barbican centre) within 10 minutes. A bonus was that this new bus stop was actually better than our original. It was a quieter road and was still urban looking (being just around the corner to Finsbury Square).
In the words of KC, our Assistant Ditector, Andrew Ormerod is a ‘legend.’

By doing the recce a few days earlier with the original bus stop, Pete Wallington easily adjusted to the new location, and the shot list didn’t have to be changed.

Shooting was “easier” than the night before as all the scenes were at this one location. We shot the first scene pretty quickly as it was only about three lines and we moved on to the next.

There was a little interuption when a security guard from a nearby building decided he wanted to feel important and powerful by demanding for our shooting permission. After a few words from Andrew, he went away saying he’ll be back after talking to the law department and police. He didn’t come back and no police came.
Maybe he just wanted to be in the film.

Anyway, the scene was a flashback scene, pre-destroyed London. To have that contrast that I want, this scene involved extras. I only needed about five, but the night before my casting director told me he couldn’t get any extras because of the Easter weekend!

Luckily, after only a few calls to friends and family, I had my extras. I’d like to thank them for helping me out when I really needed them. Thank you: Davina Tirvengadum, Kay Munns, Alyaa Khogali, and my mum. I just forced Adeel (my brother) to sit there pretending to read a newspaper next to the actors. So, he’s actually in a lot of the shots with the actors! Also thanks to my sister Zahrah Ahmed and my aunty Amina for turning up and doing nothing.

Anyway, we shot that pretty “effortlessly” although the extras did get a bit bored, not realising the time it took to set up between shots. Thanks again extras!

Next up was a post-destroyed scene, where the characters are battered and bloody. Jane did a great job matching up Drew’s makeup from the shoot on Saturday, and pretty quickly too. It was also Claire’s first time with the blood and scars. It was gross.

Surprisingly, even with the few hiccups and near disasters that we encountered, we actually finished early! That’s all thanks to the great cast and crew. We’ve all become friends, having fun and still getting the film shot on time. We’re doing what we love.

We also witnessed a pigeon dying. It was sitting there when we started. Chris Patterson (Focus Puller) could probably tell the story better. He’s told it so many times, each time it gets better and more epic. Basically, it was quite ill looking. It’s wing was badly damaged. A little while later, we went to check on it, and it started coughing up blood. Then it’s head slowly dropped, and it died. Sad.

By the end of the day, I was in a bad state. I had the worst headache I’ve ever had, and I had to drive home.
When I got home it worsened, and I felt really sick.

After some TLC from my mum last night and today, I’m feeling a bit better. I’ve been lying in bed writing these two posts and tweeting on Twitter on my iPhone.

After all the energy it has taken out of me, I still love directing. Just next time, I’m going to try limiting films I write to day time and set it indoors where it’s nice and warm!

Here’s some production stills taken by Andrew “The Legend” Ormerod:

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The Shoot: Day One

13 Apr 2009 · 0 comments

in Production, Shattered Pieces

I wanted to be able to make a new post after each day, but even when I got back home, I was busy preparing and organising for the next day or exhausted, so I couldn’t. I’m posting about the first weekend now anyway, starting with Day One. I’ll make a post about Day Two later.

We all met up at Paul’s Walk (On the Northbank, London), our first location, at 2am. This was going to be a zig-zag back and forth, switching between two locations, and trying to make them look like they were meant to be the same place. With the horrible weather and the light (from night to morning) against us, it was a race to get everything shot on time, then move and set up on the next location as quickly as possible.

Being at Paul’s Walk in the middle of the night was kind of spooky. There was nobody in sight, something I wanted to achieve as part of the film, but it was still odd to actually be there. It felt as though I was in this world I was trying to create for this film. I guess it probably helped Drew (the actor playing Ted) to really feel as though London had been evacuated.
Shooting the first scene went well. We did have a few problems with the battery for the lights running out of juice, but Pete (the DoP) figured out how to shoot without them, being creative and moving things around to use the available light.

Once the Paul’s Walk scene at night was done, we raced over to an Alleyway in our cars to set up for the next shot. It had to be a follow on from when Ted walks off Paul’s Walk, into an alleyway. Once that was shot, we had to make the alleyway look as though an explosion had happened. Andrew Ormes (Production Designer) did a great job, with posters on the wall and bit of bricks and concrete he used (from the time we collected it from his brother-in-law) and dressed the set. Again, it was spooky as it felt so real.

Jane Stiefel (makeup artist) made Drew look as though he had been hurt badly from the explosion. Blood and brains! It was disgusting.

Once that was over, we had to clear up the mess we made, and drive back to Paul’s Walk to do the post-destruction scene. Again, Andrew Ormes dressed Paul’s Walk to look as though an explosion had happened. At this time, it was day, so there were people around for the weekend, walking on Paul’s Walk and crossing over the Millennium Bridge, which didn’t help as we were trying to make it look as though London had been destroyed and abandoned. Drew was still covered in blood, and the sight of the boom and camera drew a lot of audiences, but it was unavoidable. We still managed to get it shot in between people moving and the noises of boats and an annoying helicopter!

Then, Drew got cleaned up, and ready for the next scene, a flashback scene. Claire (actress playing Sara) came in, got dressed, and had her hair and makeup done. She was the lucky one, as the rest of us had been shooting since 2am. Her call time was 1pm, so she was fresh and energetic, which probably helped as the character needed to be the same.

The people walking around wasn’t so much of a problem with this last scene for the day. I wanted there to be people around, to have that contrast when there aren’t any. The only problems really were the noises, and when people looked straight into the camera when walking behind the actors. We took a few takes, and it won’t be noticeable when it’s all edited together— I hope!

That was the last scene of the day, finishing at about 5:00pm. I got home about 6:00pm, exhausted and barely able to keep my eyes open. Unfortunately, I had to fight the need to sleep because I had to prepare for the next day’s shoot and sort out extras for the bus stop scene! Luckily for me, I had great family and friends who helped me out, and offered to be extras for the bus stop scene (which I’ll talk about in the day two post).

I got to sleep at 12am, to have to wake up again at around 4am…. Day two of the shoot coming soon.

Here’s some photographs Andrew Ormerod (Location Manager) took on day one of the shoot.

Drew with blood and wound to head

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First Weekend’s Planning

9 Apr 2009 · 0 comments

in Production, Shattered Pieces

I’m taking a little break so I thought I’d post an update of what’s been happening in regards to Shattered Pieces. Today, Andrew, KC, Pete and I met up on Paul’s Walk at 11:30am. While KC and Andrew sorted out the schedule and logistics of the shoot, Pete and I went over the blocking of scenes and the camera shots we’ll be using.

We then went over to see the Bus Stop that Andrew had managed to lock down. We’re going to have the bus stop to ourselves for the whole day, which is great. Pete and I went though the blocking and camera shots again.

Unfortunately, the alleyway location had to be changed because of the inconvenience our filming may cause to residents. So, we headed over to the new location Andrew had found. The whole look of it was great, but there was an annoying bollard at the “entrance” of it. After about 10 minutes of “ooh-ing” and “aah-ing”, we finally agreed that there was nothing that could be done about it, and that Andy Ormes would just have to dress it up a bit with his posters. After going over the blocking and camera shots for this location, we all went off.
Pete went off to get the camera equipment and KC went home to sort out the call sheets and scheduling.

Andrew and I decided to check out the office interior on Cannon Street for next weekend’s shoot. There were several to look at, but I saw one that could really work with this film, and it was quite big. Andrew will be sorting that out, but that’s for next weekend. Right now, I’ve got to focus on this weekend!

Anyway, I’m off to prepare some notes for my actors. Then I’ve got to chase everybody up on getting the insurance papers signed, and then go to the supermarket with my mum to get food and drinks for the shoot (because of the bank holiday weekend). I’ll try to post again tomorrow, the day before the shoot, but seems unlikely, and it will probably be another boring post about last minute planning and scheduling.

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