Friday, November 26, 2004

Up next....

Today was the last show of 'Good Morning Chennai'. I can't believe it's already over. I have mixed feelings about it. Although, it means that now we can sleep for more than 4 hours a night and can have more time at our disposal, I am really going to miss working on the show. It was an absolutely wonderful experience and a big test to our creativity, talent and team efforts. Up next, we have the documentary workshop from monday. This should be exciting. We all really require it as we'll be going for our covering deprivation trips on 11th Dec. We'll have to make documentary films in some remote forest areas of Mangalore. I am looking forward to that. Apart from that, Romila Thapar is in town so I am planning to attend a couple of her lectures. That's all for the moment. Ciao!

Sunday, November 21, 2004

Of Draggy movies and camera angles....

Well, I saw Veer-Zaara today...man, what a drag. Too melodramatic. I understand that it takes a lot of effort to be melodramatic but it takes an equal amount of effort to bear it! Grrrrrr...
But the best part is that I can now enjoy any kind of movie...ANY kind at all..coz I can now figure out the technicalities-headroom, looking-room, camera angles etc. etc. So, it was not all that bad for me. It was like a three and a half hour class-only it was learning from observation! I can now make out where they cut a particular shot and where they dissolved it into another one. It's good fun.
Went to shoot at a Go-Karting place called "Kart Beat" yesterday. It's Chennai's first indoor Go-Karting track. It was great fun. I had a wonderful time behind the camera coz I could shoot at all sorts of camera angles.
Did I mention that I covered day two of the Kanchi Shankaracharya arrest? I was camping outside the Madras High Court all day. Got footage of members of the BJP and RSS protesting and subsequently getting arrested. My teacher was happy with the footage and believe me he's almost impossible to please. He can manage to find flaws with the story that fills you with pride and almost never compliments your work. I think he does that so success doesn't get to our heads. His purpose might be to keep us grounded but at times it becomes demoralising. But I have immense respect for the man and I think he's simply the best. The man has an unbelievable amount of energy. I wonder if he ever gets any sleep. He's always on his toes.
Anyways, I have to get going now. Will keep you posted.Ciao:)
-M.

Friday, November 19, 2004

Injured!!!

Well, there I was- running down the college stairs to give in a copy of my news bulletin to my teacher...reading an sms at the same time..the message said "...it'll save you a trip..." and that moment, I tripped! As of now, my right ankle is wrapped up in a bandage...seems to be a sprain...and an extremely painful one at that! Ouch!

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

A trip down Bangalore Lanes...

I'd been waiting for this for years...ever since I left Bangalore in 1998, I wanted to go back. Finally got the chance to do so. I went there over diwali holidays. It was a totally fun trip. Met Dhanya after all these years. It felt wonderful to catch up on old times. Apart from her, I met Abhishek, Arunav, Vandana and Ruchi of course(coz I was staying with her!). The 2 days just flew past...didn't realise when I reached there and when I got back. Visiting Vishwa Vihar was also quite a nostalgic affair. Lots of memories attached to the place and the city as a whole. It was wonderful stepping into Army School again. I only wish it had been a working day 'coz I really wanted to meet my teachers. Maybe that's a sign that I'll go back someday-I'd like to think of it like that!! That's it for now. Ciao:)
-M.

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

My New Blog

Hello! So I have a blog now. Let me talk about my work(that's all that there is in life these days...and besides, I love it!).
Broadcast Journalism is a fun thing to do even though there's a lot of work involved in it. These days we produce a one and a half hour morning show called "GOOD MORNING CHENNAI". It's really exciting. We change roles everyday. I was the anchor yesterday and today. Good fun. I am the Production Assistant for tomorrow's show. So basically, my work starts when everyone else's finishes. I have to write down all the details of the programme-which story is recorded on which tape etc. It's quite a painful job and the Production Assistant is the last one to go home-somewhere close to midnight! On the positive side,I had all afternoon to myself...hence, the blog! Other than that, I have been playing games on the net:tetris,pac man and snake-all those games that I used to play in school:) It was fun.
Ok, better get to work now. Will update you on more at some point of time. Ciao:)