MATHAWAADA

Documenting Sri Lankan Metal Scene through a Camcoder

noreply@blogger.com (realskullzero) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:32:37 PST

Its been sometime since Drg and I did our first feature documentary with four Sri Lankan metal bands called Arise. When we decided that we wanted to do this documentary we hardly had any material to work with, even though the Sri Lankan metal scene has been alive and kicking (at least in a very smaller scale) for so many years there was hardly any live footage to be found. In fact for certain bands even though they had been playing for more than five years they only had a few band pics and some live photographs to share with us.

This was indeed a tragedy, but of course when looking at the number of people who were coming to local gigs, supporting and encouraging the metal movement this was hardly a surprise. So in order to create the documentary apart from band interviews we traveled between Colombo and Kandy recording a number of gigs within a span of around one year. The footage we got were of very low quality, gigs were recorded off a Panasonic DV cam which was very bad in low light conditions and did not have a lasting battery. However once I was able to afford a decent camera I started recording off more gigs and band performances. Not to mention that these also have the shaky camera movements and some times bad low lights, but still within the span of last 1 1/2 years we have been able to slowly document most of the bands in the Sri Lankan metal scene on video.

As most would agreed the best feeling of a metal track would be to listen to it live. As of late with help of several friends we have started to use dual cameras for gig recording. This is no way an easy task, since we are not using any professional cameras, additional equipment or live editing. The hardest part comes at the editing sessions where footage from the two cameras needs to be synchronized and edited. Also the audio tracks on most of these gigs are not professionally recorded so we are ended up with the audio feed picked up by the camera itself. However once an edit is completed and when you go through the footage several times, the satisfaction you get is unmatched.

Of course we got a long way to go in terms of videoing gigs professionally though this can be taken as the first few steps in that direction. And kudos to everyone who are attending gigs and making it possible for bands to perform and supporting in any way they can.

This video was taken from behind the stage, its shaky and not of the best quality at all, but still love this. Capturing that performance and the crowds reaction was just epic!

Our latest dual camera experiment featuring WLG, an upcomming metalcore act from Kurunagala.

Well you could find more videos of lesser and better quality than these at our youtube channel along with live performances of a number of well known local metal bands, check them all out at http://www.youtube.com/mathawaada

DSC_0141 [Flickr]

Naveen Marasinghe — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:33:00 PST

Naveen Marasinghe posted a photo:

DSC_0137 [Flickr]

Naveen Marasinghe — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:32:49 PST

Naveen Marasinghe posted a photo:

DSC_0136 [Flickr]

Naveen Marasinghe — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:32:36 PST

Naveen Marasinghe posted a photo:

DSC_0135 [Flickr]

Naveen Marasinghe — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:32:28 PST

Naveen Marasinghe posted a photo:

DSC_0133 [Flickr]

Naveen Marasinghe — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:32:21 PST

Naveen Marasinghe posted a photo:

Idea Pettiya - E01 with Angam Documentary Director: Anjula Rasanga

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:52:50 PST

First episode of our Tube talk show Idea Pettiya is now live!!

We spoke with Anjula Rasanga, who is a independent filmmaker and a cartoonist who recently screened his first feature documentary "Angam". The documentary goes in depth into the Sri Lankan traditional martial arts called "Angam Pora", so in this episode we discuss what inspired him to make this movie, how he went ahead with it and his insights and experiences on film-making in Sri Lanka.

One interesting point he brought forward was the use of the so called "new media" as a young film-maker to promote his work. It was indeed an interesting chat we had with him, hope it would be the same for you.

The episode is in Sinhala with English subtitles (make sure to tun that on by clicking the "CC" button on the video)

Tune in for more episodes very soon, meanwhile click here to subscribe to our YouTube or visit the below link

www.youtube.com/mathawaada

Cheers to an Inspiring 2012!

noreply@blogger.com (realskullzero) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 10:01:11 PST

May you reach your goals, fulfill your ambitions and most importantly enjoy life while it lasts.... here's to an year filled with creativity, innovation and inspiration!

Best wishes for the New Year from everyone at Mathawaada!

Amdens Stories (ඇම්ඩන් - නුතන ජනකතා)

noreply@blogger.com (realskullzero) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 07:42:34 PST

Last week I managed to step into the National Library for the book launch of Amden Noothana Janakatha (ඇම්ඩන් - නුතන ජනකතා) which translates to english as Amden- Modern Folk tales. There's hardly anyone in Sri Lanka who hasn’t heard about Amden or one of his stories. Though his stories may not have reached some of our elders the younger generation is quite familiar who Amden is. So as someone who has grown up amidst all types of Amden’s stories, this event was something I was really looking forward to.

The book had been compiled by Asanka Sayakkara a young talented author who had inked the stories in far more different style. It can be considered that his attempt has been to convert Amdens stories which are told in everyday language (with so much filth) to a more traditional literature oriented text. This attempt gave book a different twist and made it an interesting read.

The event also featured three interesting lectures that discussed how Amden has impacted the modern day society and the reasons behind birth of characters such as Amden. There was a very interesting lecture by Sudheera Jayaweera which discussed how Amden’s stories have become sort of a alternative path to go beyond the so called ethical boundaries in religious, social, political and sexual contexts that exist in the modern society. He discussed how it had paved the way for the common man to challenge the so called moral entrepreneurship with vile little funny stories based around this character called Amden.

Anyhow, the event was quite interesting and the book was also a good read, which featured a selection of Amdens stories (not all of them) and is priced at Rs 200. I don’t actually know which bookshops would have it but if you come across it grab a copy and check it out. (Its publishers are Script House (pvt) Ltd)

Tribute to the Gods 2011 held at Clancys

noreply@blogger.com (realskullzero) — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 02:30:29 PDT

We managed to cover some of the awesome performances by Karmic Salphur, Hollow, Fallen Grace and Tantrum at the recently held Tribute to the Gods gig. This gig organized annually brings some of the best known Sri Lankan metal bands who get together to put up an awesome covers night honoring their Metal Gods!

Below is a video playlist we have put together with 12 awesome covers done by all these four bands, and all of these are pretty damn good, its hard to hand pick any but i have also embedded some kick ass songs played at the event below as well :D Enjoy!!!

Video Playlist " Tribute to the Gods 2011"

Karmic Salphur covering Rage Against the Machine's Freedom

Hollow doing a kick ass cover of Pantera's Domination

Fallen Grace paying Tribute to British Death Metal outfit Bolt Thrower with Killchain

The last fcking song Tantrum tearing up the venue with Lamb of God's Black Label

"Cingalese" women

noreply@blogger.com (Dee) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 09:51:49 PDT

I'm so totally duplicating this from my blog, but thought I'd share it here because it is A VERY interesting article I came across and I think more people should read it.. :)

Hugh Boyd who came as an envoy to the Kandyan Court in 1782 writes,

The Cingalese women exhibit a striking contrast to those of all other Oriental Nations in some of the most prominent and distinctive features of their character. Instead of that lazy apathy, insipid modesty and sour austerity, which have characterized the sex throughout the Asiatick world, in every period of its history, in this island they possess that active sensibility, winning bashfulness and amicable ease, for which the women of modern Europe are peculiarly famed. The Cingalese women are not merely the slaves and mistresses, but in many respects the companions and friends of their husbands; for though the men be authorized by law to hold their daughters in tyrannical subjection, yet their sociable and placable dispositions, soften the rigor of their domestic policy. And polygamy being unknown and divorce permitted among the Cingalese, the men have none of that constitutional jealousy, which has given birth to the voluptuous and unmanly despotism that is practiced over the weaker sex in the most enlightened nations, and sanctioned by the various religions of Asia. The Cingalese neither keep their women in confinement nor impose on them any humiliating restraints.

More on the article The Position of Women in Buddhism here

Taking the Colombo-Badulla Express

noreply@blogger.com (realskullzero) — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 21:51:58 PDT

Colombo-Badulla express train indeed offers some breathtaking views of the Sri Lankan Hill Country. The colors, the weather and the whole ambiance just takes you to a whole different world and leaves lasting memories in your mind. If you are up for a long but a rewarding train ride, I highly suggest you take the Colombo-Badulla train from Fort Station. There is a train leaving at around 5.15am everyday (Podi Manike) and will offer you the best views since the train will be travelling during day time. If you can reserve the Observation Deck beforehand I am sure you will be in for an awesome treat (I am yet to try this out). The footage here are just glimpses of what you can enjoy captured while we took the train from Pattipola to Badulla....

Also note you may need to reserve the tickets at least a week beforehand because these tend to get sold out pretty early. I heard that Dialog users can now book this train using thier mobile, so things just got much better!!

Real men don't harass women

noreply@blogger.com (Dee) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 01:30:54 PDT

Found on Hollaback Mumbai, an absolutely brilliant comic I found drawn by Tory for a pre-teen on how to deal with perverts and the aftermath. Really, really REALLY wish someone had told me all this those days! Sigh. Please share with your girlfriends, sisters and cousins 'cos you never know when a desperado lies await to prey on them.

Mathawaada Chithrapata presents Pissu Cinema Show

noreply@blogger.com (DRG) — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 21:41:36 PDT

Hiking to Lipton Seat in Haputale

noreply@blogger.com (realskullzero) — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 20:26:25 PDT

Well, last weekend we hitched a ride to Haputale. The train was already booked for the weekend so we decided to head there by bus. One of my friend'stold me about the "Super Line" bus which actually offers a very comfortable night transportation between Colombo and Badulla.

After some Googling we came up with this very informative post on Lakdasun forum on how to reserve seats on the Colombo Badulla Super Line bus. The ride itself was really good, the bus unlike other AC buses had enough leg space and the reclining seats provided a comfortable sleep during the journey. Our visit to Haputale was in fact to take a hike to the much famous Lipton Seat which is said to be used by Sir Thomas Lipton as favorite look out post during the his visits to British Ceylon. On a clear day you could see 5 provinces in Sri Lanka and the view from there is magnificent.

We reached Haputale Town at 4.00am on Saturday morning, after chilling out at SriLakView rest (which we had booked before arriving) we began our journey to Lipton Seat at around 10.00am. Lipton Seat is located a bit off the Haputale Town so if you are going to take a hike you very much need to take the bus from Haputale to Dambetenna Tea Factory which takes around 40mins.

From Dambetenna Factory there is a long hike which would take up around 3.5 hours. If in fact if you have a vehicle the journey is quite fast where you could get to the place itself in the vehicle.But we of course opted to take a hike to the place and thought of cutting across the long winding roads by making our way through the tea plantations.Though the hike was tiring the view leading up to the place was magnificent and its worth every effort. After exhausted few hours we were able to reach Lipton's Seat, there was a small Shop run by an old couple who served us some awesome tea and biscuits.

We relaxed and spent several hours in the place, and started our way back through the tea plantations as the sun started to set. We heard that the sun set from the top was really amazing but we had to rush back as we needed to catch the last bus from Dambetenna to Haputale. There are some video compilations captured from the hike...

I've located Lipton Seat on Google Maps, you could access it from the following link. On Google Maps swith to Satellite(Earth) to get a better 3d view of the place...

http://bit.ly/LiptonSeat

From Baiting to Bliss : A Tale of Three Bears

noreply@blogger.com (realskullzero) — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 01:43:08 PDT

You might remember the previous post I published with regards to Bear Baiting in Pakistan, well some great news arrived in my inbox today! With so much donations and support WSPA has been able to rescue three bears and usher them to a safe sanctuary where they are enjoying their new found freedom.., Its really great to see that something you have contributed in little had made a big impact on the lives of so many people...

With continued support and donations they aim to rescue more of these suffering animals held in captivity in various parts of the country. Read the full story from the below link..

http://www.wspa-usa.org/latestnews/2011/SanctuaryLifeisGoodUpdateThreeRescuedBearsBalkasar.aspx

Check out this awesome video on the tale of the Three Bears...:)

Paranoid Earthling Live - Concert Videos

noreply@blogger.com (realskullzero) — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 03:02:14 PDT

Paranoid Earthling is one of the most prominent and well known Rock/Grunge acts i Sri Lanka. Few week back they put up an electric performance at Aphrodisiac at their self-titled concert "Paranoid Earthling Live". There were also performances by Nevi'im; an exciting new act by Dhas brothers as well as well known experimental stoner rock band Karmic Sulphur.

With all the footage gathered I was able to create a small playlist, but of course the adrenaline rush and the thrill that was unleashed at the audience is noway justified in these videos. But of course if you like any of the bands don't forget to check them out and be there at their next performance.

Note that I have kept the videos in order of performance you could always skip through as you wish from the list you would get below once you click the play button.

Stop Bear Baiting in Pakistan!

noreply@blogger.com (realskullzero) — Sat, 28 May 2011 05:01:37 PDT

Well, my newsletter subscription for WSPA, brought a very unusual update from Pakistan. To be honest I don't run through thoroughly on any of the newsletter subscriptions but the image heading itself caught my attention. A bear tied to a rope and another coming out from its nose....the story was on Bear Baiting, a horrific sport practiced in Pakistan where captured bears are forced to fight each day and left to live a miserable life in unimaginable conditions.

They are caught as cubs and brought up only to fight with raging dogs who are unleashed at these sporting events. Most often the canine teeth of the bear are pulled out and the bear is tied to a rope to prevent it from escaping. If the dogs manage to hold the bear down for a considerable time it is considered that the bear is defeated.Unfortunately these poor animals have to undergo several fights at a given day in one event. They live in gruesome conditions with no proper feeding and with unhealed wounds from previous fights.

Of course there are many such notorious blood sports across the world, like Bullfighting, Dog Fighting Fox Hunting etc etc.. And its always hard to put an end to all of it single handedly, but I believe that all of us in our own capacity should work towards eliminating these inhumane practices.

This image just took me back to childhood, um sure everyone had a Big Brown Teddy to play with..but this is just not that beautiful....

WSPA has for a long time, with the support of Pakistani people and its legislature had campaign against this cruel sport.

Please visit the below link, Do your best to support, create awareness and donate in any way you can!

https://www.wspadonations.org/pages/3683_bear_baiting_appeal_5_11_version_q.cfm

High? Our eco system?

noreply@blogger.com (Dee) — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 23:30:01 PST

A friend who visited Delhi after some years away reported the new, hip thing to do in Delhi clubs. Cocaine. Affluent men, women of the upper classes lazed around getting high, but it was the lax attitude about it that shocked her.

Cocaine is primarily a substance which stimulates the brain and is highly addicitve. I'll leave the pros and cons to the reader, but has anyone really thought about the supply chain and how it actually affects the eco system?

In fact, even the illegal cultivation of cocaine (AND ganja and other drugs) kills acres of rain forests in Costa Rica, protected national reserves world over, acres of the Amazon and supports violent, drug-cartel related crimes globally. In fact, Colombia being the 2nd largest producer of Coca saw its forest cover falling from 82% to 78% between 2002 to 2007 where as the drug crimes in Mexico just gets worse.

Danilo Villafañé, an Arhuaco indigenous leader in Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta who is helping his people take back lands formerly controlled by guerrillas and cultivated by commercial coca growers.
Photos by Rhett A. Butler 2010.

The implications are frankly scary, specially in a day and age where we need out living greens to at least sustain the earth as we pollute it from one end. The question is, does a drug have to cost so much?

So the next time, someone narrates me a story about getting high in Hikka and how fun it was, I'll only be thinking how misinformed that person is. That maybe being a little less ignorant where your intoxicants come from would probably take you out of a cycle that cultivates deforestation, promotes poverty/dependency and violent crime the world over.

Amaarisge Ethnocentrism+Marketing

noreply@blogger.com (DRG) — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 10:51:03 PST

Ethnocentrism is the tendency to believe that one's ethnic or cultural group is centrally important, and that all other groups are measured in relation to one's own.- Wikipedia
Inspired by Barbara Kruger's Work

Everything Can Change on a New Years Day...

noreply@blogger.com (realskullzero) — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 18:30:00 PST

So the year 2010 has come to an end, tomorrow would be the dawn of a new year and for those who believe in the Mayan calendar and that movie, we are just two years away from being wiped out and the whole mandkind coming to a stand still.... So as we all grow old, and step into a new mundane year called 2011, i would like to leave you all with a great song from Rage Agaisnt the Machine..a band that had inspired me all my life, and continue to do so keeping me sane across the insanity and clutter....

Its a song called War within a Breath, and though Rage Against the Machine is so much politically motivated and aggressive in their lyrics, one thing I continue to respect has been their attitude which had given me hope and courage to wade through... so as we say goodbye to another year and step into a new one, Wishing you all the every best in your future endeavors we leave you with these inspiring words from Zack de la Roacha....

Everything can change on a new years day..
Everything can change on a new years day ..
Everything can change on a new years day..
And everything changed on a new years day...

Da Bass Factor - Elethnography ( Download the album for Free)

noreply@blogger.com (realskullzero) — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 21:45:13 PST

So the year is coming to an end and we at Mathawaada thought of gifting our readers something special, :D.

Well..its just that you can now download the debut album from Da Bass Factor for free on rapidshare or mediafire. The album Elethnography is a composition of 5 ambient/electronica songs we have done in the last few years. Most of the songs were available on myspace and reverbnation for along time for online streaming, but we thought of releasing the full album for downloading since we are planning to come up with few more singles. :D

You could listen to some of the songs from Reverbnation Music Player on the sidebar on the right hand side.

If you would like to donwload just some of our singles you could visit our reverbnation profile and check out some of the released singles for free downloads. You could also check us out on Myspace, and support us on Reverbnation.

Download Elethnography on MediaFire

Download Elethnography on Rapidshare

Enjoy and also please feel free to forward any comments!!!

- Da Bass Factor

Derana Goes Alternative over Peppermint Candy

noreply@blogger.com (Admin) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 21:50:18 PST

Love is a confession… A turn of phrase that shot through into a night of stars at the Derana Music video awards held on last Friday, 5th November. ‘Aadaraye Ansumaathrayak’ carrying the theme love is a confession was nominated for 8 categories out of which it won 5 titles for

Best Direction
Best Cinematography
Best Editing
Best overall act
Best Video Adaptation of a movie song

The video directed by Udaya Dharmawardana, echoed in person by Indrachapa Liyanage, is the Official Music Video of the film ‘How I Wonder What You Are’ directed by Udaya Dharmawardana and Chinthana Dharmadasa. The film was a venture into the unsought grounds of independent cinema by the director duo, where an unconventional cinematic experience revolves around two souls seeking for a human bond within the forgotten language of connectivity.

This year’s Derana music awards took a massive alternative turn where the video of Funeral in Heaven was awarded as the best music video of the year and the very original ‘Gemba’ was also awarded for its daring innovativeness along with the eminence Aadaraye Ansumaathrayak received. The channel seems to have taken a step at the edge of hope to uplift the underground attempts of local artists to promote artfully rich creations which may have bound to go unnoticed in midst of the hollow sugar coated, candy floss stream the industry has currently crowned. Its motives were confirmed by the persons who were invited to judging panel that holds eminence for their original artistic ideology as Subash Pinnawala, Vimukthi Jayasundara, Sumeda and Shyam

Winds of Uva was recognized for Best Music Video, Best English Music Video and Best Rock Music Video at Derana Music Video Awards

Gemba, an innovative unconventional take in Sri Lankan music videos

One of the most popular category awards which was based on the SMS’s received by the public was won by a ‘Mr. Wanna be’ like Iraj who claims himself to be fighting a battle for the cults of the society with his ‘so called’ art. This makes it clear on what grounds the mindset of the public lies today where they’ve lost their own thought of identity into what cheap money oriented gimmicks wants it to be. So eventually the public is merely puppets of what some power sourced social stunt perceive them to be. Being locked away from authentic arty creations for decades where many like Vimukthi’s own Cannes passed the country by and where rainbow colored fluff balls were platformed; the people cannot be blamed but sympathized for having no sense of rational contentment and simply gobbling down whatever bullshit that’s fed to them with so much imagined goodness.

At a point in time as such, the attempts made by Derana (Assumed that they were consciously made) to recognize the potentials where art could foster for the richness in it, dues an immense load of respect. But we can’t say ‘hail Derana’ in unison as at yet. Does it have the power to continue the step they took forward and keep going deeper into the woods or would this merely be a single apex that helps them to cover as much as scope they can and how well they face the pressure and reactions of the air headed gimmicks labeled as ‘artists’; are questions that would have to be left to be answered with time.

Post courtasy : Randhula De Silva

Dancehall

noreply@blogger.com (Dee) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 09:35:59 PST

A lot of people seem to be surprised by my enthusiasm on the Sean Paul concert happening next week. I personally find that its all about perception. Sean Paul is Jamaican and one of the many commercial artists coming from the Caribbean. This includes Rhianna, Bahamen, Sean Kingston and Bob Marley who share a common base, primarily traditional African music, though broken up into Reggae, Dancehall and the many other genres today.
Anyway, I'm not too familiar with the whole history of the islands, but I do know that the people in this region did go through a lot of hardship and still do, due to the effects of colonization, slavery ("Outward expressions of African culture were not permitted. Women would use oral tradition to keep past traditions and histories alive.Dance also became an integral part of culture among slaves. This was a way in which women (along with men) could offer up prayers to their gods as well as release emotion. Slaves would often engage in dancing ceremonies on their free time as it was a way in which they could freely express themselves and their cultural heritage against the orders of their colonial oppressors"), mass brain drain and some natural disasters (Haiti).

Anyway, history will have to attest to the great music, dance and rich self-expression coming from this region over the years. Nice.

Whoa. Flexible...some dance students all the way from Poland!

Diss if you can actually dance like this :D

Happy Birthday Blogger!

noreply@blogger.com (realskullzero) — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 18:51:31 PDT

Well there are over 300 blogger meet ups happening around the world today! all of that commemorating the 11th anniversary of Blogger!

Awesome new templates, performance monitoring, editable HTML templates and so much more!..what more can you ask from them?? You guy ROCK! \m/ Too bad many of my friends are on bloody WordPress...damn you guys, Blogger Rocks..:P

Too bad we couldn't get a Meetup organised over here...oh well may be next year! Anyways... Congratulations to Blogger and the team at Google on a job well done! Happy Birthday from everyone of us at Mathawaada!

Girls Who Rock My World..

noreply@blogger.com (realskullzero) — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 11:19:38 PDT

Well, I guess we can say that about the first one on the list, but others go a bit beyond just rock n roll...So here are the girls who rock my world these days...

Mariska Veres (R.I.P) – Shocking Blue

Well her amazing and very distinct vocals are just the right mix for the band's amazing tunes. Shocking Blue was a Danish rock n roll band from early 70s who has produced some awesome tracks before they split up in 1974. Even though they shot to fame with one single called “Venus” I still love this song “Send Me a Post card”! Sadly Mariska Veres died of cancer in 2008., she was 59 years old.

Angela Gossow - Arch Enemy

Well, anyone in the metal community would know her and love their music. Being the vocalist for one of the most successful Melodic Death Metal Bands, Angela still continues to be an inspiration and a role model to many in metal.

Britta Görtz – Cripper

Well when I downloaded, their album I was just looking for some good thrash metal and was never concerned about the vocalist. But later when i realised it was in fact a girl who was on vocals i was quite surprised, Cripper not only has some groovy tracks, but also has a pretty awesome female vocalist.

Sabina Classen – Holy Moses

This German hottie is undoubtedly one of the great contributors to thrash metal. Holy Moses is among some of the first few German thrash bands which has had a great influence over the scene in Germany. Sabina Classen, the bands vocalist is undoubtedly one of the very few female vocalists to be on the scene in those days. Holy Moses churns out some awesome thrash metal since 80s and to know that it is female fronted just adds to their awesome reputation.

Bambara Walalla

noreply@blogger.com (realskullzero) — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 21:50:09 PDT

Went and watched Bambara Walalla at Regal yesterday, and must say the movie was quite awesome. Needless to say that Mahendra Perera(Mel) and Shriyantha Mendis (Jinnhey) took the spotlight for me even though the movie was centered around Athula Liyanage's character "Podi Eka". Although there were certain areas i wished could have been done better in my humble opinion, the movie at large i think is a refreshing break to the line of cheap carbon copied, romance movies that are being produced lately...

Official Site
http://bambarawalalla.com/

Filming those Long Takes....

noreply@blogger.com (realskullzero) — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 23:04:43 PDT

When I was small, used to think that film making or even making a teledrama is just a piece of cake as long as you could get hold of a camera and some good actors, where you would just shoot the conversations that happens. But I later came to realized the mammoth effort that goes into creating even the smallest scene.

One of the main aspects in a movie clip would be the camera angles and how the camera is being used in each scene. You could shoot a film in many different angles; this is done due to many reasons.

Some can be to best illustrate the contents of the scene, for example in a scene where two actors are engaged in a conversation the camera will switch between their facial expressions. For this you would either need to shoot with two cameras at once or to shoot the conversations separately.

Also you would slice the movie down into different scenes and have breaks in camera shots just to make it easy for you to get the perfect picture. Then you would work your way through little by little shooting each scene with breaks, this will reduce actors mistakes and ease up choreography and handling of other props.

But as of late I have grown in interest and being fascinated by “long takes”. Long takes are simply where the director uses one single camera to film an entire scene without having breaks in the acting. It lasts longer than the normal editing phase going into extra several minutes. Long shots are extremely hard to do simply due to the effort and the cohesiveness of all the teams that need to go in just to get it right. One single error means that the whole shot have to be taken from the scratch and for a very complex scene this is simply a nightmare.

I first started to show a keen interest on long takes through the movie Children of Men, where director Alfonso Cuarón has created a masterpiece giving you an amazing experience and suspense through his extensive use of this technique.

Of course there are so many directors who are famous for long takes, such as Alfred Hitchcock, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson and many more but these are three of the best scenes I could find over YouTube and i am sure you are going to enjoy these...

The Goodfellas - Copacabana Entry
I love this one. One of the most popular scenes from Martin Scorsese masterpiece; The Goodfellas, the scene is where Henry and Karen enters the Copacabana. With the use of a steady cam the director takes the viewer in a smooth journey into Henry’s stratum of friends society he deals with.

Interview on how they made the Copacabana Long Take, utilizing a steady camera
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBMKyNJvNV8

Children of Men (Uprising scene)
I have no idea how they pulled this off; this highly complex and thrilling take keeps you at the edge of your seat, and I am sure the director was able to strike right at the heart of the viewers with the free hand camera that follows Theo (Clive Owen) though this scene.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuZSmSBLWAg

Children of Men ( Car Scene)

Great use of the Long Take to give the viewers a roller coaster ride of emotions. The shot which is done inside the car is amazing and the techniques they have used for this is simply brilliant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=en16i8BY4hI

Old Boy

This fight scene from old boy has been dubbed as one of the best movie fight scenes ever, and I couldn’t agree more. The director Park Chan-wook has done an amazing work in making Old Boy and this scene is undoubtedly a testament for it.

The long take starts at 0:58

Bangkok, The Red T-Shirts and the Walking Street

noreply@blogger.com (realskullzero) — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 23:30:00 PDT

In mid April we took a trip to Thailand, the land of the Siam People. This was during the height of the Red T-shirts protests, where the red t-shirts had encamped themselves in Bangkok city center blocking some major shopping malls and getting into violent clashes with the law enforcement authorities. Just days before there was a mass funeral parade exhibiting the 12 coffins of the red t-shirt protesters who have died in the clashes. So needless to say it wasn’t the best timing for the trip.

But the trip which was planned for several months had to proceed regardless of the situation, and come to think of it, it couldn’t have been planned at a better time. In fact we were there during a period which was defining the Thai political history.

Our stay in Bangkok was just limited to four days and three nights, but we could very well say that it was an experience of a lifetime. One of the major highlights was Pattaya, a wonderful beach destination located just 2 hours off Bangkok. Pattaya is home to the much famed Walking Street; a place popular for its vivid and brightly lit neon lights and the partying that just keeps on going from dusk till dawn.

Walking Street - Is not just about walking!

And...

how can i forget the frog legs? Delicious, tastes like chicken...,but dont eat too much then you would really start to feel its taste :D

On the final day of our trip we visited central Bangkok where the red t-shirts had encamped themselves around some of the most popular shopping malls in the city. The roads had been blocked off and they did not allow anyone to get in unless they were red t-shirt supporters. After wondering around the shopping malls and crossing many streets we suddenly ended up in the middle of a road which has been cordoned off by the red t-shirt supporters who had now camped themselves there.

They didn’t block us off from walking in the street may be because we were tourists. In fact there were several tourists who were walking around buying red t-shirt souvenirs and talking to the protestors. Just few meters away a man in full guerrilla attire was giving a charged and an intense interview to a bunch of local and international reporters. We later learnt that it was Maj.General Khattiya Sawasdipol, a rogue army officer who had aligned himself with the red t-shirt movement. He was shot dead by a sniper a few weeks later while giving a similar interview to a group of reporters.

After a few weeks returning from Bangkok, we saw how the Thai Army stormed the camp sites to evict the protestors and how the bloody clashes ensued afterwards left many people dead. It was really sad to see this as just a few weeks back we had been on the same place where now many people have perished.

Red T-Shirt Protests, in the middle of the shopping district.

There is a very serious political crisis in Thailand at the moment which has somewhat bitterly divided the country and its people. Hopefully Bangkok and its wonderful people would recover from this bitter divide soon and this City of Angels would reach back to its former glory.

Sri Lankan Art – Teek wechcha ape kalaawa!

noreply@blogger.com (DRG) — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 11:59:37 PDT

In recent conversation with my fiancé, the point came in to the surface whether I’m losing my depth in art or not. Simply my answer was that now I’m more influenced by the stuff like Kill Bill, Demon Ananda’s pulp novels and Cowboy Bebop, so my motive now is to bring that atmosphere and tone in to our audience in any way I do art. That’s why I tend to look for Monroe and Jimi Hendrix in the stencil graffiti and more unorthodox concrete style in my poetry.

In Sri Lanka, virtually every art form is dominated by the work which consists of certain degree of visible depth and similarity to the reality. In films the applauded ones are reality based dramas directed by well renowned, award winning directors. The mainstream films lack everything, even a moderately good, original plot. In Sinhalese Literature the good ones are tend to be the translation of famous novels, and better original work is mainly popularized by the reality based themes. You can’t see western best selling kind of paper back thrillers or sexy pulp novels here. In drama – it’s same, In TV- it’s same, In paintings and drawings- it’s same. Damn-I’m bored… Even the Sri Lankan English Language drama and literature scene is not getting enough attention though they are trying to be different and more creative than their native counterparts. Why Sri Lankan film makers not doing horror movies? Why they are not going for simple romantic movies which are set in suburbs and based on ordinary people without sticking to weary bollywood formula? Why don’t writers try raunchy subjects and thrillers? Where’s Sri Lankan original techno, rave, trip hop, electronic or computer instrumental music?

What is the reason for this homogeneity? Is it because we are intellectually bankrupt? Or lack of finances for the innovation because of less audience and market scope? I don’t know… but the point which is important is that Sri Lankans try to be on the middle path to get the maximum benefit- not going to the extreme experimentalism or to the massive meaningful crowd pullers. Even if they go for either sides (very few) most of them are incorrect approaches or being neglected by majority which is not the case in other art-rich countries.

I hope somebody would break the shekels. I hope I will see the work similar to Quentin Tarantino here, the turntabilism, the pop art, simple romantic (not bollywood-formula bullshit) and trashy horror movies, and more street art too…

Oh baby! I have a dream…

(P.S. - Thanks for Somea and my fellow juniors in Uni for popularizing the word “Teek” and the word and usage borrowed from them.)