On behalf of everyone involved in the production of MINUS 1, I'd like to thank everyone who attended the premiere screening at the National Film Board of Canada, and those who tried to make it to the screening but were hampered by the apocalyptically bad weather we had that day.
The screening at the NFB went very well, and I can confirm that I am currently in talks with the Royal Film Commission of Jordan (http://www.film.jo) to screen both MINUS 1 and BLACK COFFEE at a special screening ceremony in Amman this summer. I will be conducting my discussions with the RFC immediately upon my arrival in Jordan on the 10th of September and will hopefully be able to attract enough attention to help me finance my debut feature film, to be shot in Jordan in Arabic.
Thank you all for your continuing support, and keep watching for more updates in terms of releases of the film or other screenings.
Yours,
Zaid
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Hello everyone,
I'm gonna make this a quick update because it's 2.40am and I'm exhausted. The shoot last week went great aside from a few bumps along the way with the settings (nothing too bad, no worries). The shoot started off at the Church, moved on to the internal scenes at the house, and the next day went off to Sterling Road in Toronto to do more of the outdoor shots that we finished the movie with. Everyone's contribution was fantastic and I'd like to personally thank everyone who was there to help out on the film.
There will be professional photos soon, courtesy of our photographer Darren Kennedy. Until then, keep your eyes peeled for more updates on how postproduction works out. We've got some B-roll footage to shoot at some point in time (when it gets cloudier, weather permitting) and then Eric Wiegand will be ready to work his magic in the edit suite.
Keep watching! See you later!
I'm gonna make this a quick update because it's 2.40am and I'm exhausted. The shoot last week went great aside from a few bumps along the way with the settings (nothing too bad, no worries). The shoot started off at the Church, moved on to the internal scenes at the house, and the next day went off to Sterling Road in Toronto to do more of the outdoor shots that we finished the movie with. Everyone's contribution was fantastic and I'd like to personally thank everyone who was there to help out on the film.
There will be professional photos soon, courtesy of our photographer Darren Kennedy. Until then, keep your eyes peeled for more updates on how postproduction works out. We've got some B-roll footage to shoot at some point in time (when it gets cloudier, weather permitting) and then Eric Wiegand will be ready to work his magic in the edit suite.
Keep watching! See you later!
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Shooting Today
Wow....has it been a hectic week of running around or what. Still, I love doing this no matter how stressful it is.
Yesterday, 1st AD Jason McLeod, Grip Kiran Singh and I went out to several production service places around Toronto, driving a giant HINO van to pick up all the lighting, location support equipment and the big prop of the fancy coffin. It was a fun ride that ended up with all three of us being extremely starving in the sun (which thankfully came out again just in time for the shoot!). We topped off the day with a nice little meal courtesy of Popeye's on Yonge. What a meal that was! :-P
At 6pm we had a small dress rehearsal for Michael and Claire at Carina's place. Art Director Sonia Hong was on call to help me determine what is needed for hte wardrobe. With that out of the way 2 hours later all that was needed was to keep a clear head and a smile on your face and you're ready to start shooting.
They tell you it's easy? Boy do they not know what goes on in one's head 12 hours before a shoot!
So here I am, it's 10.36am in Toronto by my watch. We're due to meet up for our first location shoot, the Metropolitan United Church, in an hour and a half. I'm excited, nervous, and impatient. I really hope this works out both for my sake and for that of all the people who've had faith in me over the past few months to make this work.
See you on the other side :-)
Yesterday, 1st AD Jason McLeod, Grip Kiran Singh and I went out to several production service places around Toronto, driving a giant HINO van to pick up all the lighting, location support equipment and the big prop of the fancy coffin. It was a fun ride that ended up with all three of us being extremely starving in the sun (which thankfully came out again just in time for the shoot!). We topped off the day with a nice little meal courtesy of Popeye's on Yonge. What a meal that was! :-P
At 6pm we had a small dress rehearsal for Michael and Claire at Carina's place. Art Director Sonia Hong was on call to help me determine what is needed for hte wardrobe. With that out of the way 2 hours later all that was needed was to keep a clear head and a smile on your face and you're ready to start shooting.
They tell you it's easy? Boy do they not know what goes on in one's head 12 hours before a shoot!
So here I am, it's 10.36am in Toronto by my watch. We're due to meet up for our first location shoot, the Metropolitan United Church, in an hour and a half. I'm excited, nervous, and impatient. I really hope this works out both for my sake and for that of all the people who've had faith in me over the past few months to make this work.
See you on the other side :-)
Monday, May 5, 2008
Things have been picking up rather well on the Minus 1 front as we prepare to start shooting at the end of the week. As a matter of fact the time now is 13.08 on Monday afternoon and at 4pm Eric, Michael and I have a meeting with the top production team which in the past few days has evolved from just being Kar Wai Ng to art director Sonia Hong, production manager MyLy Pham, as well as 1st AD Jason McLeod.
MyLy's been fantastic at organising the shoot schedules and call sheets and her contacts with the related parties, and it's definitely made my faith in the production stronger still. Apart from contacting The Metropolitan United Church and the Regent Park Council for us, MyLy's been great at getting our priorities set with the permits from the City of Toronto so as to keep the work running smoothly.
Sonia came in a few days later by reccommendation from Michael and I liked the fact that she was in tune with the production's visual aspects from the start. Sonia is now attempting to buy more props and additions for set decoration based on our limited budget from flea markets and discount shops. I find that rather a fun concept actually since it's just a reflection of how dedicated people are to finding the few bits and bobs the production needs to secure the authenticity of its look and how bare-bones the production is. Hehehe...
We had a bit of a kerfuffle with the Regent Park Council a few days ago when they refused to let us shoot on their grounds without paying an exorbitant sum of money per day for the production (for the sake of not embarrassing both them and us, no numbers will be given here). However I believe Eric and Michael have come up with a solution that would probably satisfy everyone and keep us on the go for the time being until it is necessary to find a contingency plan and shoot elsewhere in the City, which I hope won't be necessary at all.
Apart from that everything is hunky-dory. I'm hoping that Humber College excuse me if I become a bit pre-occupied with the film over the next fortnight or so as classes commence again and I find myself trying to balance between the two facets of my life. Once everything clears up I'm hoping we can start to send out letters to film festivals worldwide in hopes of attracting enough attention to the film and possibly get our names out there as writers and directors and established filmmakers. This should be a good opportunity for all.
And now I have to take the family car out for an oil change. I'll see you all at the next update! :-)
MyLy's been fantastic at organising the shoot schedules and call sheets and her contacts with the related parties, and it's definitely made my faith in the production stronger still. Apart from contacting The Metropolitan United Church and the Regent Park Council for us, MyLy's been great at getting our priorities set with the permits from the City of Toronto so as to keep the work running smoothly.
Sonia came in a few days later by reccommendation from Michael and I liked the fact that she was in tune with the production's visual aspects from the start. Sonia is now attempting to buy more props and additions for set decoration based on our limited budget from flea markets and discount shops. I find that rather a fun concept actually since it's just a reflection of how dedicated people are to finding the few bits and bobs the production needs to secure the authenticity of its look and how bare-bones the production is. Hehehe...
We had a bit of a kerfuffle with the Regent Park Council a few days ago when they refused to let us shoot on their grounds without paying an exorbitant sum of money per day for the production (for the sake of not embarrassing both them and us, no numbers will be given here). However I believe Eric and Michael have come up with a solution that would probably satisfy everyone and keep us on the go for the time being until it is necessary to find a contingency plan and shoot elsewhere in the City, which I hope won't be necessary at all.
Apart from that everything is hunky-dory. I'm hoping that Humber College excuse me if I become a bit pre-occupied with the film over the next fortnight or so as classes commence again and I find myself trying to balance between the two facets of my life. Once everything clears up I'm hoping we can start to send out letters to film festivals worldwide in hopes of attracting enough attention to the film and possibly get our names out there as writers and directors and established filmmakers. This should be a good opportunity for all.
And now I have to take the family car out for an oil change. I'll see you all at the next update! :-)
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
A rough poster for the film.
This is obviously not Claire, but hopefully we'll get a photoshoot going for her soon.
Stay tuned!
Monday, April 28, 2008
Another week of no updates is justified when you consider how busy it's been on fronts other than just the film one. Since I'm doing my post-grad diploma at Humber College, this past week was the finals week for the second term and I need to bone up on the work. Nevertheless, through all the hub-bub of getting the studying out of the way, we managed to find ourselves our lead actress to play the role of Vicky, our troubled protagonist.
Ladies & Gentlemen, boys and girls, please welcome the lovely Ms. Claire Duncan
Claire comes to us from Newton Landry management and from the two actresses that we managed to narrow down our entries to, she was the most convincing, most prepared and most connected to the role of Vicky. In her second reading in cooperation with Anne and Michael, I really saw how the three of them would work together to form the great on-screen team for the film.
We're going to be working on an EPK to send out to festivals later in the year and hope that it works out for us. We already have an idea of how we want our promo poster would look like and are hoping to schedule a photoshoot with Claire at some point in time so we can work on it.
Keep watching the blog for more news on how it goes, and hopefully very soon we'll have an EPK ready for you all to download.
Adios! :-)
Ladies & Gentlemen, boys and girls, please welcome the lovely Ms. Claire Duncan
Claire comes to us from Newton Landry management and from the two actresses that we managed to narrow down our entries to, she was the most convincing, most prepared and most connected to the role of Vicky. In her second reading in cooperation with Anne and Michael, I really saw how the three of them would work together to form the great on-screen team for the film.
We're going to be working on an EPK to send out to festivals later in the year and hope that it works out for us. We already have an idea of how we want our promo poster would look like and are hoping to schedule a photoshoot with Claire at some point in time so we can work on it.
Keep watching the blog for more news on how it goes, and hopefully very soon we'll have an EPK ready for you all to download.
Adios! :-)
Monday, April 21, 2008
A Much-Needed Update
I haven't updated in a week. Bad, bad Zaid! I should have done that a very long time ago.
Thing is, I couldn't help it! It's been such an exciting week in terms of casting and location scouting that one gets caught up in the excitement of the whole thing to the point of being overwhelmed! Hehehehe
Well, first of all! Casting on Monday was fantastic! We had close to 30 actors and actresses coming in for these three parts. Some carried themselves with a great deal of talent and others, well...you could tell they were new to the acting thing! Nevertheless we are happy to confirm that we have succeeded in casting the roles of Vicky's Mom and The Dealer.
Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome Anne Shepherd and Michael Woodley:
So now all that's left is having a second reading for the two actresses that we've narrowed our choices down to for the role of Vicky: Saffron Cassaday and Claire Duncan. They'll both be reading on Wednesday April 21st with Michael and Anne and a decision will be made then. It's gonna be tough, but it's also gonna be great.
Also in the fantastic zone of news! HAH! You're gonna like this, we've been negotiating with the Metropolitan United Church of Toronto for the use of their sanctuary area for the filming of the final scene of the movie. Kar Wai, Eric, Michael and I went for a location scout the past Wednesday to all three locations in the film (Regent Park, the house, and the Church) and we've got some fantastic prospects on the table.
We've also got a new CGI expert working on another draft of the work for the film, Mark Alberts comes to us recommended by producer Eric Weigand and has some great ideas for the CGI effects used in the film.
We're also happy to welcome veteran sound engineer Valentin Pricop (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0697233/) to the team as on-location sound mixer.
It's rather fantastic to know that someone who's worked on $10m movies and productions before can spare some time to work on a small little thing like this that's about 1% of the budget of his other work.
The support I've been getting for the project from friends and acquaintances is great. There's no doubt that friends are an important factor in spreading word of mouth about the film, but it's rather overwhelming to see the support go in such directions as attempting to help with entities such as the Dubai International Film Festival or the elusive Royal Film Commission of Jordan. My thanks and appreciation goes out to all of you who help out constantly.
It may interest some of you to know that I am also currently extending a short screenplay that I have into feature length in anticipation of sending it to the RFC in Jordan to see the potential for finding investors for it there. It'll be an interesting story, I'll promise you that. So if you're interested, keep watching the blog ;-)
See you all later, god bless!
Thing is, I couldn't help it! It's been such an exciting week in terms of casting and location scouting that one gets caught up in the excitement of the whole thing to the point of being overwhelmed! Hehehehe
Well, first of all! Casting on Monday was fantastic! We had close to 30 actors and actresses coming in for these three parts. Some carried themselves with a great deal of talent and others, well...you could tell they were new to the acting thing! Nevertheless we are happy to confirm that we have succeeded in casting the roles of Vicky's Mom and The Dealer.
Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome Anne Shepherd and Michael Woodley:
So now all that's left is having a second reading for the two actresses that we've narrowed our choices down to for the role of Vicky: Saffron Cassaday and Claire Duncan. They'll both be reading on Wednesday April 21st with Michael and Anne and a decision will be made then. It's gonna be tough, but it's also gonna be great.
Also in the fantastic zone of news! HAH! You're gonna like this, we've been negotiating with the Metropolitan United Church of Toronto for the use of their sanctuary area for the filming of the final scene of the movie. Kar Wai, Eric, Michael and I went for a location scout the past Wednesday to all three locations in the film (Regent Park, the house, and the Church) and we've got some fantastic prospects on the table.
We've also got a new CGI expert working on another draft of the work for the film, Mark Alberts comes to us recommended by producer Eric Weigand and has some great ideas for the CGI effects used in the film.
We're also happy to welcome veteran sound engineer Valentin Pricop (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0697233/) to the team as on-location sound mixer.
It's rather fantastic to know that someone who's worked on $10m movies and productions before can spare some time to work on a small little thing like this that's about 1% of the budget of his other work.
The support I've been getting for the project from friends and acquaintances is great. There's no doubt that friends are an important factor in spreading word of mouth about the film, but it's rather overwhelming to see the support go in such directions as attempting to help with entities such as the Dubai International Film Festival or the elusive Royal Film Commission of Jordan. My thanks and appreciation goes out to all of you who help out constantly.
It may interest some of you to know that I am also currently extending a short screenplay that I have into feature length in anticipation of sending it to the RFC in Jordan to see the potential for finding investors for it there. It'll be an interesting story, I'll promise you that. So if you're interested, keep watching the blog ;-)
See you all later, god bless!
Monday, April 14, 2008
Sound?
Minus 1's sound designer Douglas Wright has been phoning me all weekend trying to formulate a good atmospheric description of the heroin addiction that engulfs Vicky (I'm still not giving any information on what's going on ;-)) I think he's having some trouble with how much time is required for the length of the sound dimension that's needed. I hope it sorts itself out soon. It's really an issue of getting it to work with the edit and the emotional projection that the actress playing Vicky will be able to pull off.
Over the weekend we've also had CGI animator Ian Thomson send us some of the samples he created to go with the sound design. Fantastic stuff. It just fills me with a great sense of pride to know that I'm doing this and it's going out to the masses finally after years of trying to get myself in a good pace of work. I honestly can't wait to get my stuff out there.
The casting is in a few hours. I'm sat here watching Terry Gilliam's Twelve Monkeys and really trying to figure out from the faces of the actresses and actors if there's going to be someone that's going to fit the bill. Honestly speaking it sometimes appears in their faces, but I know I shouldn't judge by the faces because acting talent is never going to be projected in a simple promo headshot. Ah well, it's just me ranting in the middle of the night. So I'm gonna sign off and keep my head clear for the afternoon's casting auditions and hopefully all will go well.
Over the weekend we've also had CGI animator Ian Thomson send us some of the samples he created to go with the sound design. Fantastic stuff. It just fills me with a great sense of pride to know that I'm doing this and it's going out to the masses finally after years of trying to get myself in a good pace of work. I honestly can't wait to get my stuff out there.
The casting is in a few hours. I'm sat here watching Terry Gilliam's Twelve Monkeys and really trying to figure out from the faces of the actresses and actors if there's going to be someone that's going to fit the bill. Honestly speaking it sometimes appears in their faces, but I know I shouldn't judge by the faces because acting talent is never going to be projected in a simple promo headshot. Ah well, it's just me ranting in the middle of the night. So I'm gonna sign off and keep my head clear for the afternoon's casting auditions and hopefully all will go well.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Casting Call Now on Mandy.com & Yipehipe.com
Hi everyone,
The casting call for Minus 1 has now been posted on Mandy.com at http://www.mandy.com/1/cast3.cfm?v=27407750 and Yipehipe.com at http://yipehype.com/video/audition.php?aid=27 so if you're interested and have an acting resume and a sexy headshot, give us a call. ;-)
The casting call for Minus 1 has now been posted on Mandy.com at http://www.mandy.com/1/cast3.cfm?v=27407750 and Yipehipe.com at http://yipehype.com/video/audition.php?aid=27 so if you're interested and have an acting resume and a sexy headshot, give us a call. ;-)
Hmm...
Michael's probably going to have my head for this, but I've just tonight come upon a revelation that perhaps there should be some additions made to the script that help the film progress. I know budget constraints will probably not allow it, but I'm gonna take it up with him tomorrow and see what he says. It will probably extend the film another 10 minutes or so, but I'm sure it's going to be worth it.
Updates to come on that one ;-)
Updates to come on that one ;-)
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Minus 1 Update
Things are getting rather exciting on the Minus 1 front. I have been lucky enough to collaborate with a great producer such as Michael Patrick, who has literally brought with him an army of contacts, each with their own amazing deals and additions to the Minus 1 family.
In December we confirmed Kar Wai Ng (http://www.karwaing.com) as the Director of Photography. Kar Wai comes with experience in the indie film scene here in Toronto with more than 20 films under his belt with several independent film directors and producers, including past classmates of his alma mater, Ryerson University. He was immediately able to connect to the sort of lighting and atmosphere needed for the film and is currently working on getting the right equipment for shooting for when we begin shooting.
Speaking of which, and seeing as the weather's cleared up nicely (and it's about time too! Who knew I'd immigrate to Canada just in time for its worst winter since the 1930s!), we've confirmed shooting dates in and around the Regent Park area of downtown Toronto for the weekend of May 10th to the 14th. So hopefully if the weather continues to maintain its nice and clear streak for the rest of the spring/summer, it should be nice and clear sailing until the end.
Also to maintain a smaller radius of shooting within the GTA, instead of going to the church originally intended for the shoot on Albion Road near Etobicoke, the church scenes will hopefully be filmed a few blocks away from Regent Park in the Metropolitan Church on Queen Street East. We are yet to contact the city about the use of this facility but hopefully they'll be supportive enough of the project as to allow us to film both internally and externally. Internal shots of Vicky's house, on the other hand, will be shot at my lovely girlfriend Carina's apartment another few blocks away from Regent Park, and it is now that I would like to thank her and her roommates for their support on the matter.
Recently, Michael Patrick and I have been hard at work at securing a good network of cast and crew for the film, and Michael was lucky enough to introduce the project to Eric Weigand of local postproduction company Producer's Choice. Eric has worked with Michael on several other projects and I was rather overjoyed that he felt the script had a powerful message and great aesthetic potential. Not only was he happy to be postproduction supervisor for the film's difficult post process (and believe me it's gonna be difficult, just you wait and see), but he's also very keen on editing it. This comes as a relief as logistics have not allowed us to insert into the budget enough money to send an insured drive by courier to the UK for my good friend Chris Smyth to edit. For more info on Eric, he's on iMDB! http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1496850/
In a meeting with Michael and Eric on Friday, April 4th, we looked at the work of a prospective animator for the film by the name of Ian. Currently working on a project for Disney, Ian promised us he'd come up with mock-ups for the animation we had in mind for the hidden character in the film and so we're waiting on the results. In the meantime, we have sent out a casting call to all agents and casting directors here in Toronto in hopes of finding our three principal characters. The casting will be taking place at the Producer's Choice offices on Queen West & John on Monday, April 14th.
Also, (and this is very exciting news!) we will soon be confirming an early acceptance for 'Minus 1' in both the Small Town Film Festival (http://www.stff.ca) in Chatham, Ontario for late 2008 and the Kingston Canadian Film Festival (http://www.kingcanfilmfest.com) for early 2009, with more festivals in North America to follow, and then hopefully to the rest of the world. STFF will post their confirmation some time within the next month and Kingston's is still pending, but Michael assures me that it's also a certain thing.
It fills me with a great sense of pride to know that I'm finally doing this and getting my name out there, even if it does feel sometimes that the scope of the film is sometimes a few bites more than I can chew, particularly the fact that I'm currently in the final 4 months of my postgraduate degree in PostProduction at Humber College. I feel, however, that I must do right by myself and prove to the world that I have the capability of sustaining myself as a filmmaker and director so that I'm capable of achieving my desired goal of getting my name out there as a film director.
This past Thursday (April 3rd), I got a chance to meet with famous Armenian-Canadian director Atom Egoyan and, in the brief conversation that we had, he mentioned that I am at a vantage point at my age to be able to exploit my talents in the world of TV and Film production. Hopefully with enough exposure and PR this can be achieved, and so I'm hoping that past the two Canadian fests that we've confirmation of entry into is a wide horizon that spans the whole globe in terms of marketing and PR.
To all the readers, your support and networking capabilities will be needed and appreciated. And so I will leave you with a thank you for reading, and please do watch out for the completion of my website www.zaidadham.com in the coming weeks.
Cheers,
Zaid
(watching The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly on his TV)
In December we confirmed Kar Wai Ng (http://www.karwaing.com) as the Director of Photography. Kar Wai comes with experience in the indie film scene here in Toronto with more than 20 films under his belt with several independent film directors and producers, including past classmates of his alma mater, Ryerson University. He was immediately able to connect to the sort of lighting and atmosphere needed for the film and is currently working on getting the right equipment for shooting for when we begin shooting.
Speaking of which, and seeing as the weather's cleared up nicely (and it's about time too! Who knew I'd immigrate to Canada just in time for its worst winter since the 1930s!), we've confirmed shooting dates in and around the Regent Park area of downtown Toronto for the weekend of May 10th to the 14th. So hopefully if the weather continues to maintain its nice and clear streak for the rest of the spring/summer, it should be nice and clear sailing until the end.
Also to maintain a smaller radius of shooting within the GTA, instead of going to the church originally intended for the shoot on Albion Road near Etobicoke, the church scenes will hopefully be filmed a few blocks away from Regent Park in the Metropolitan Church on Queen Street East. We are yet to contact the city about the use of this facility but hopefully they'll be supportive enough of the project as to allow us to film both internally and externally. Internal shots of Vicky's house, on the other hand, will be shot at my lovely girlfriend Carina's apartment another few blocks away from Regent Park, and it is now that I would like to thank her and her roommates for their support on the matter.
Recently, Michael Patrick and I have been hard at work at securing a good network of cast and crew for the film, and Michael was lucky enough to introduce the project to Eric Weigand of local postproduction company Producer's Choice. Eric has worked with Michael on several other projects and I was rather overjoyed that he felt the script had a powerful message and great aesthetic potential. Not only was he happy to be postproduction supervisor for the film's difficult post process (and believe me it's gonna be difficult, just you wait and see), but he's also very keen on editing it. This comes as a relief as logistics have not allowed us to insert into the budget enough money to send an insured drive by courier to the UK for my good friend Chris Smyth to edit. For more info on Eric, he's on iMDB! http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1496850/
In a meeting with Michael and Eric on Friday, April 4th, we looked at the work of a prospective animator for the film by the name of Ian. Currently working on a project for Disney, Ian promised us he'd come up with mock-ups for the animation we had in mind for the hidden character in the film and so we're waiting on the results. In the meantime, we have sent out a casting call to all agents and casting directors here in Toronto in hopes of finding our three principal characters. The casting will be taking place at the Producer's Choice offices on Queen West & John on Monday, April 14th.
Also, (and this is very exciting news!) we will soon be confirming an early acceptance for 'Minus 1' in both the Small Town Film Festival (http://www.stff.ca) in Chatham, Ontario for late 2008 and the Kingston Canadian Film Festival (http://www.kingcanfilmfest.com) for early 2009, with more festivals in North America to follow, and then hopefully to the rest of the world. STFF will post their confirmation some time within the next month and Kingston's is still pending, but Michael assures me that it's also a certain thing.
It fills me with a great sense of pride to know that I'm finally doing this and getting my name out there, even if it does feel sometimes that the scope of the film is sometimes a few bites more than I can chew, particularly the fact that I'm currently in the final 4 months of my postgraduate degree in PostProduction at Humber College. I feel, however, that I must do right by myself and prove to the world that I have the capability of sustaining myself as a filmmaker and director so that I'm capable of achieving my desired goal of getting my name out there as a film director.
This past Thursday (April 3rd), I got a chance to meet with famous Armenian-Canadian director Atom Egoyan and, in the brief conversation that we had, he mentioned that I am at a vantage point at my age to be able to exploit my talents in the world of TV and Film production. Hopefully with enough exposure and PR this can be achieved, and so I'm hoping that past the two Canadian fests that we've confirmation of entry into is a wide horizon that spans the whole globe in terms of marketing and PR.
To all the readers, your support and networking capabilities will be needed and appreciated. And so I will leave you with a thank you for reading, and please do watch out for the completion of my website www.zaidadham.com in the coming weeks.
Cheers,
Zaid
(watching The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly on his TV)
Monday, February 11, 2008
Why direct Minus 1?
Minus 1 is the story of Vicky, a 16 year old girl living in the slums of the inner city, and her struggle with drug abuse at the hands of her abusive mother and her manipulative drug dealer. Forced into a life of prostitution and crime to satisfy an addiction brought upon her by her mother's own selfish needs, Vicky must try to overcome the need for her Fix before it is too late. But will it work?
When Conor first submitted the script to me in its original format, I saw beyond the rhymes of its dialogue to a more important and sinister issue at hand. I knew that many a film had previously tried to tackle the issue of teenage drug abuse and domestic violence but that none of the ones I’d seen had endeavoured to put it in such dark, controversial light that had potential to be artistic as well as informative.
The use of animation in trying to get Minus I’s message across, as well as the use of complicated audio postproduction, is a nod to the work of several artists and directors who have had an influence on my work, notably artist Holly Warburton, photographer Anton Corbijn, and director Stanley Kubrick, particularly the latter’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. I hope to be able to shed both light and tears upon the subject of teenage drug abuse and domestic violence for the sake of our society’s future heirs.
When Conor first submitted the script to me in its original format, I saw beyond the rhymes of its dialogue to a more important and sinister issue at hand. I knew that many a film had previously tried to tackle the issue of teenage drug abuse and domestic violence but that none of the ones I’d seen had endeavoured to put it in such dark, controversial light that had potential to be artistic as well as informative.
The use of animation in trying to get Minus I’s message across, as well as the use of complicated audio postproduction, is a nod to the work of several artists and directors who have had an influence on my work, notably artist Holly Warburton, photographer Anton Corbijn, and director Stanley Kubrick, particularly the latter’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. I hope to be able to shed both light and tears upon the subject of teenage drug abuse and domestic violence for the sake of our society’s future heirs.
Art has always been a bit of a phantom presence in my family, and it spanned over a wide spectrum of subcategories. My maternal aunts, for example, were writers and illustrators. In her youth, my mother dabbled in poetry, while my father nurtured my love for music from the very earliest of my days with his passion for playing the keyboards. I suppose everyone has some form of artistic talent or another that tends to either wither away and die with disinterest, or grow and flourish to become something more than just a fleeting hobby.
My artistic roots began in 4th grade when my enthusiastic English teacher noticed that I had a knack for storytelling. With his encouragement, I wrote my first novel, generically entitled The Return of Death. It focused, chapter by chapter, on the horrible and gruesome murders of each victim of a serial killer known as Sammy Addams (Addams being spelt with two Ds in a nod to The Addams Family film which had come out earlier that year). The knack for a 4th grader’s imagination to concoct such gruesomeness for each chapter’s killing notwithstanding, writing took first place among my teachers’ priorities while educating me in my second tongue.
A few years later, having moved schools at the age of 14, music took its toll. To cut a long story short, music was the main driving force of my high school years up to perhaps the year 2004 when I finished my first (and thus far) only musical release. A true labour of love, A Clarion Silence was the name of my venture into the world of progressive death metal, and it was written and performed almost entirely by myself. While it made some very small ripples in the world’s underground metal scene, there was still something missing. There needed to be a link.
I speak of a link of course because my university years were spent for hours each day behind the lens of a camera or above the projectors of a darkroom. I was a late bloomer, discovering that law school was never the right path for me, it took me a year after graduating high school to realise that Art was no longer a phantom presence in my life, that I needed to embrace it fully and unequivocally. Starting off at The American University in Dubai and graduating finally with a degree in Visual Communication from The American Intercontinental University in London, Art was the Road, the Journey, and the Destination. I embraced photography, often to the ire of both my instructors and my parents, neither whom understood my work. This was especially so when attempting to combine photographic work with music in the form of installations or photomontages. There had to be a better symbiotic link…
It takes quite a long time for people to find their niche in life, and I have to say that my passion for making films never manifested itself in my life until the summer of 2003 on my summer term at AIU in London. Out of interest, curiosity…perhaps even boredom, I enrolled in an elective course in filmmaking. The thrill of going out to shoot your own material and editing it to form a story seemed the ultimate gratification to all three of my main artistic categories. Where else could you combine storytelling, music, and motion photography to create the ultimate canvas of emotion? I had the answer, and I needed to work on it.
Fast forward a few years to 2005, my last few terms at AIU have seen me go through all my courses and I’m ready to graduate, but I’m not done yet! I may have finished all my requirements for my BFA in Visual Communication but I was still to get to my goal of directing a proper film. Thankfully, my university allowed me to cross over to the Media department for 2 terms while I worked on my first short, Black Coffee. I filmed this with my university’s equipment with the help of a few friends and acquaintances, finished the postproduction process…and received the first ‘A’ of my university career.
And the only other media course I had done before that was in 2003? I knew there was something I needed to tap into there. I had found my niche. It was about time, too!
That year I decided that filmmaking was going to be much more than just a side-project, that I was willing to make it a career and not a job, that I was NOT going to sit myself down behind a desk staring at a computer screen with some Microsoft or Adobe product staring back at me until I lost all my hair and my teeth were falling out. I needed to take action, bite the bullet, and be the most stubborn that I ever could be. I took an internship with CNN International in London, went back to Dubai to work in advertising for a while before I became a TV Producer for a local music channel. The more and more I stayed in television, the more I loathed it. This was not where I wanted to be, but it was paying the bills nonetheless.
Luckily by then Black Coffee had been picked up by the local media scene and the press devoured it for a few weeks which gave me a bit of publicity that helped boost my credentials in the Middle East. I felt that it was time to move on. There was no real film scene to speak of in the United Arab Emirates, and our family’s immigration status to Canada had been approved. Canada it was, and I was determined to make the elements work for me this time. In the words of my former boss “you’re not employee material, you’re too strong for that.”
He’s right, and I’m prepared to share my vision with the rest of the world. Care to follow me?
My artistic roots began in 4th grade when my enthusiastic English teacher noticed that I had a knack for storytelling. With his encouragement, I wrote my first novel, generically entitled The Return of Death. It focused, chapter by chapter, on the horrible and gruesome murders of each victim of a serial killer known as Sammy Addams (Addams being spelt with two Ds in a nod to The Addams Family film which had come out earlier that year). The knack for a 4th grader’s imagination to concoct such gruesomeness for each chapter’s killing notwithstanding, writing took first place among my teachers’ priorities while educating me in my second tongue.
A few years later, having moved schools at the age of 14, music took its toll. To cut a long story short, music was the main driving force of my high school years up to perhaps the year 2004 when I finished my first (and thus far) only musical release. A true labour of love, A Clarion Silence was the name of my venture into the world of progressive death metal, and it was written and performed almost entirely by myself. While it made some very small ripples in the world’s underground metal scene, there was still something missing. There needed to be a link.
I speak of a link of course because my university years were spent for hours each day behind the lens of a camera or above the projectors of a darkroom. I was a late bloomer, discovering that law school was never the right path for me, it took me a year after graduating high school to realise that Art was no longer a phantom presence in my life, that I needed to embrace it fully and unequivocally. Starting off at The American University in Dubai and graduating finally with a degree in Visual Communication from The American Intercontinental University in London, Art was the Road, the Journey, and the Destination. I embraced photography, often to the ire of both my instructors and my parents, neither whom understood my work. This was especially so when attempting to combine photographic work with music in the form of installations or photomontages. There had to be a better symbiotic link…
It takes quite a long time for people to find their niche in life, and I have to say that my passion for making films never manifested itself in my life until the summer of 2003 on my summer term at AIU in London. Out of interest, curiosity…perhaps even boredom, I enrolled in an elective course in filmmaking. The thrill of going out to shoot your own material and editing it to form a story seemed the ultimate gratification to all three of my main artistic categories. Where else could you combine storytelling, music, and motion photography to create the ultimate canvas of emotion? I had the answer, and I needed to work on it.
Fast forward a few years to 2005, my last few terms at AIU have seen me go through all my courses and I’m ready to graduate, but I’m not done yet! I may have finished all my requirements for my BFA in Visual Communication but I was still to get to my goal of directing a proper film. Thankfully, my university allowed me to cross over to the Media department for 2 terms while I worked on my first short, Black Coffee. I filmed this with my university’s equipment with the help of a few friends and acquaintances, finished the postproduction process…and received the first ‘A’ of my university career.
And the only other media course I had done before that was in 2003? I knew there was something I needed to tap into there. I had found my niche. It was about time, too!
That year I decided that filmmaking was going to be much more than just a side-project, that I was willing to make it a career and not a job, that I was NOT going to sit myself down behind a desk staring at a computer screen with some Microsoft or Adobe product staring back at me until I lost all my hair and my teeth were falling out. I needed to take action, bite the bullet, and be the most stubborn that I ever could be. I took an internship with CNN International in London, went back to Dubai to work in advertising for a while before I became a TV Producer for a local music channel. The more and more I stayed in television, the more I loathed it. This was not where I wanted to be, but it was paying the bills nonetheless.
Luckily by then Black Coffee had been picked up by the local media scene and the press devoured it for a few weeks which gave me a bit of publicity that helped boost my credentials in the Middle East. I felt that it was time to move on. There was no real film scene to speak of in the United Arab Emirates, and our family’s immigration status to Canada had been approved. Canada it was, and I was determined to make the elements work for me this time. In the words of my former boss “you’re not employee material, you’re too strong for that.”
He’s right, and I’m prepared to share my vision with the rest of the world. Care to follow me?
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