Wednesday, September 28, 2011

What's Virgin Mean?

one of my favourite short films for obvious reasons:


all views expressed belong to an opinionated dickhead called Pushkaraj Shirke. If you have differing views, feel free to share them or visit www.go-fuck-yourself.com

Warrior

monkeyrating: 8/10
i actually wanted to give it a 9 coz:

1. i love MMA (i practice MMA myself)
2. director gavin o connor is the man who gave us MIRACLE
3. i love MMA!


waddabout: two estranged brothers with their own emotional strugges find themselves fighting for a better life in a MMA championship.

isay: watch it. not for the fights, but for the emotions. this is a modern day Rocky. a movie that's set in a world of violence but focuses more on the human within. masterpiece!
Especially the way its treated relationships between grown men - the bond between brothers and the father-son relationship

monkeyrespect to: Gavin O Connor for resisting the temtation to get swayed away by the action in MMA and stick to the soul of the movie. and all the 3 actors! what a smashing performance! Tom Hardy, Nick Nolte and Joel Edgarton... hats off!

TOM HARDY, is a man to watch out for! he is Brilliant beyond words.



all views expressed belong to an opinionated dickhead called Pushkaraj Shirke. If you have differing views, feel free to share them or visit www.go-fuck-yourself.com

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

MOVE

This one is the best of the 3 film series.3 guys, 44 days, 11 countries, 18 flights, 38 thousand miles, an exploding volcano, 2 cameras and almost a terabyte of footage... all to turn 3 ambitious linear concepts based on movement, learning and food into 3 beautiful and hopefully compelling short films = a trip of a lifetime: move, eat, learn.
Rick Mereki : Director, producer, additional camera and editing
Tim White : DOP, producer, primary editing, sound
Andrew Lees : Actor, mover, groover
These films were commissioned by STA Travel Australia: ENJOY!


all views expressed belong to an opinionated dickhead called Pushkaraj Shirke. If you have differing views, feel free to share them or visit www.go-fuck-yourself.com

Friday, September 16, 2011

Weekend Photoshoot: Casual Portraits





about Shivani: i do not try to sum up in words a person too beautiful for words. that's her.

- Pushkaraj Shirke



Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Joel Fonseca: the 'product-shot' man


The best part of my job is meeting really interesting and really talented people. And the kind of people i love meeting most, are people who REALLY know their job. people of sheer skill and natural or cultivated talent. One unique individual of many such people that I've met, is Joel sir. The man most of the advertising industry in india would call as the 'product-shot' man. the man is the 'A-team' of product shots!

At first glance - he's a very simple guy. a common man. with a nice big happy paunch, an easily-mistaken-for-goan personality complete with the typical mouchtache and most often wearing his unofficial uniform - a hat with an overflowing cloth, a polo tee, shorts and boots. Once you watch him work - you know that attire is not some fashion statement - its sheer hardworking functionality. He'll crack the funnies, laugh with you, take your suggestions, help you out, listen to directors, help them out, keep working with the same high level of enthusiasm through all the countless takes - but when he knows exactly the scene he wants, he most often gets it right within 3 takes or less. that's an attribute which comes from his experience (to which i shall come later).
the best part is, he does all of this, without once seeming 'all-knowing' or 'overbearing'. which once you know him work - you know that he easily could be.

What's most brilliant is the fact that he has no 'formal' or 'institutionalized' educataion on the job he does. All that he has behind him, is years of hardworking on-the-job experience - and one thing that comes naturally to him: improvisation. Which is what brings him from being a spot-boy on the sets of some big directors to being the one man the industry calls to when in need of a great product/ingredient shot.
FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT KNOW: Ingredient/product shots are those tempting little scenes within ads which make you feel the product - whether its temptation, lust, freshness, warmth or even the coolnees of a product. The fresh, cool splash of pepsi, the ooozing chocolate, the showering zestfulness of liril, the chunky wheatgrains in your biscuits - if you've ever felt these on Indian TV, you've most probably felt the work of 'Joel Fonseca'. 
It's amazing to see how at ease he is with all the equipment and gadgets in his 'lab'. Equally interesting is to watch how he knows what material will have what viscosity, will look how on screen, will blend with what colour and will need how fast a frame rate to be best captured - WITHOUT AN ADVANCED DEGREE IN PHYSICS - Which i'm pretty sure you will think such a function needs if you know the demands involved.

"joel sir, we want this to splash and cross on screen"
says a reputed director.
the director has the shot in his mind, but doesn't know how it will happen.
all Joel says is "ho jaayega sir." with his perpetually cool confidence.
15 mins of lots of mixing liquids and a few fountains later - poof - its done!
and it dosent stop there: "color change?" "ho jayega" "more splashy?" "ho jayega" "extra twirl in the liquid?" "ho jayega".... from my experiences with the man, i think even if you ask him to bend the very laws of physics, he'll say "ho jayega"... and get it done too! While somewhere Newton would be twirling in his grave.

His 'lab' pretty much holds the secret of his success. When you enter it there are three things that will almost always catch your eye: Joel working hard at his task, the non-flashy but extremely well equipped workplace AND a wall full of the most important ingredient in this, or any business - people.
The wall of photos of Joel at work with the various crews he's worked with are quite a walk down memory lane. Even today he continues his customary 'photo at the end of the shoot' tradition - capturing all the people he amazes with his adorable nature and hardworking presence.

By all means, truly a man worth meeting. A true gem of a person - Joel Fonseca; the 'Product-Shot' man.

-Pushkaraj Shirke
Discussing a scene with Joel during a shoot.

At the product shoot of the Sunfeast Dark Fantasy ChocoFills ad.
L to R: Zap, Me, Joel, Archana, Gemma, Pooja and Anuj.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Going Solo (advice for entrepreneurs)

a real interesting self promo - stopmotion animation film created for a festival by STUDIO BOTES.

thoughtful and inspiring - and at the same time - very simple and neat.


Going Solo. from Studio Botes on Vimeo.

It is a stop frame animation created for the Toffie Festival 2011. It shares advice from local (South African) and international designers on starting your own business.

all views expressed belong to an opinionated dickhead called Pushkaraj Shirke. If you have differing views, feel free to share them or visit www.go-fuck-yourself.com

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

BOOM - TIFF

this ad captures an emotion that i bet every aspirational film-maker will come across. esp in this industry which is nothing but rampant nepotism and incestuously corrupt. it hits the nail on the head!



all views expressed belong to an opinionated dickhead called Pushkaraj Shirke. If you have differing views, feel free to share them or visit www.go-fuck-yourself.com

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

12 Angry Men

monkeyrating: 9/10

genre: drama

waddabout: a single man with a differing perspective about a boy on trial for murder debates in support of his view with the rest of the jury - who are convinced on pronouncing the boy 'guilty'.

isay: if drama ever was as good as sex - this would be the sheer example of it! of course the movie is a great play that is perfect in classic theatre - but the movie itself is a crash course in character development, script writing, and ofcourse dialogue writing! add to that the awesomeness of the fact that its all set in a single room - kabooooom! film genius!

monkeyrespect to: Director Sidney Lumet and writer Reginald Rose - both couldnt have done it without each other. the words and the essense of the story is woven into a drama that is captured in every sense perfectly. Sidney has brought forth even the underlying issues of the characters to the screen is sheer genius at work!

trivia note: as the shooting progressed, the director purposely switched to lenses of longer focal lengths to create a sense of claustrophobia in the room!

watch trailer: 


all views expressed belong to an opinionated dickhead called Pushkaraj Shirke. If you have differing views, feel free to share them or visit www.go-fuck-yourself.com

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