I've been to a few movies since I got here. The big releases generally open here on the same day as in the US. Shortly after I got here I saw John Carter, which I quite enjoyed thank you. A few weeks ago I saw The Hunger Games and today I went to see Titanic in 3D. The Hunger Games was good and Titanic was actually pretty awesome in 3D. Cameron did a good job on the conversion except for one little thing that probably didn't bother most people.
I'm going to digress here for a moment for my friends in the animation and VFX industry, because, well, it's my blog and I can do that sort of thing. It's kind of like writing in long tortuous sentences that are grammatically correct but wind on forever and ever until they finally come to a definitive and declarative end which this one has finally done.
Heh. So, the digression. The one thing that bothered me about the conversion was that the eye lines were off for so many over the shoulder two shots. Jack and Rose are talking and the camera is bouncing back and forth, first over Jack's shoulder looking at Rose and then over Rose's shoulder looking at Jack and so on. Watching the film in regular old 2d it's clear that the two people are looking at each other or it's cheated for the camera in such a way that it seems so. That's a whole other topic. Anyway, in the 3D conversion, they pushed the character facing the camera away from the viewer and pulled the person facing away closer. It seems perfectly natural to do that. That's how it would feel in you were in the room peeping in on the conversation. The problem is that they pushed the stereo a little to much in many of the shots. The person facing the camera never seems to be looking the character closer to us in the eye. They are always looking just a little on the far side of that person. I'm probably a lot more sensitive to eye lines since I've worked on several films with realistic animated characters, but this was really something that kept cropping up again and again during the film. I'm sure it was discussed during the conversion process and a decision was made to sacrifice accurate eye lines for more depth, but it pulled me out of the movie several times. Okay, end of digression.
Seeing a movie in India is very different than any movie going experience I've had anywhere else I've been. It's probably the most like Japan, but not really. First the ticket prices. There are usually three levels of seating. Sometimes they are priced differently but most of the time it's the same price. The highest price, when there is a price difference, is reserved for the Premiere Seating. It's basically anywhere from 1 to 5 rows at the back of the theatre. Huge, puffy, amazingly comfortable chairs with lots of space to spread out and bunches of leg room. These could be very dangerous for people who sometimes nod off if the movie slows down. The price of these outrageously comfy chairs? 300 rupees. Just about 6 bucks. That's for an Imax 3D movie to boot. The basic ticket price is 150 rupees which is about 3 dollars. Not bad. Titanic was just 150 rupees even though it was in 3D. Such a deal. I usually like to be a little closer to the screen, but since it was 3D I decided to get a little distance, which meant the hike up to the back row. These cinemas are seriously big. The ones I've seen anyway. They have a lot of seats, they are very wide and when they say stadium seating they mean the upper tier of a Major League ballpark stadium seating. It's nose bleed time. Tickets are all reserved, so make sure you like the seat you pick out. There are usually open seats, but you never know which ones will stay open until the movie really gets going. See, the movies generally start right on time so people tend to wander in during the first 5 or 10 minutes of the film. Indian ideas of punctuality are a topic for another blog, but let's just say it extends to attending movies as well as just about everything else. It's best to just stick with your assigned seats. If you really decide you hate them you can always move during intermission. Yes they have intermissions during the film. It's a chance to stretch your legs, take a potty break, which I appreciated on Titanic, or get some snacks. You can go out and get them or you can order something from one of the theatre staff. You might have to pay a little extra or tip though, so if you're cheap just go get it yourself. Lot's of neat stuff to snack on. They have the usual popcorn and sodas and candy, but they also have more substantial fare. How about a chicken burger? Want some tandoori chicken. How about Pizza in a Cup. I kid you not. The theatre I went to today had a Pizza in a Cup stand and it was pretty busy. Alright, back to the movie and we pick up right where left off in the middle of a chase. Really? You're going to stop the movie in the middle of a chase. In 2 cases yes. For John Carter and The Hunger Games they stopped the movie dead in the middle of a chase sequence. The lights come up, the movie stops and for 15 or 20 minutes our hero ( or heroine as the car may be) hangs out, mid stride waiting to get on with it. Everyone places there orders, trots of to the concession stand then sit back down as the lights come up and the movie picks up exactly where it left off. Hilarious. They handled it much better in Titanic, though. They paused for intermission just as the iceberg was spotted. That's a natural break in the film and worked well. They even wound back a minute or so to play the lead in to the sighting. From there on out it's pretty much like any other movie until the end. Then we get a little different again. Like American audiences,most people don't stick around for the credits. Unlike an American theater, however, the instant the credits start to roll the lights come full up. It's makes sense I suppose, what with the steep stairs and all, but it makes it kind of impossible for anyone who does want to see the credits. So everyone shuffles out and goes on their merry way.
And that's my cinema experience in India. I can see I've left out a lot of stuff. No mention of the commercials and trailers that run before the movie, keeping in mind that the movies start right on time so all of that stuff runs in the 20 or so minutes before the film start. Nothing about the smart phone that light up with annoying frequency during the screening and no one seems to mind. Except me. I wanted to punch out the guy next to me today. Instead I kept my eyes shielded and tried to enjoy the film.
All in all I enjoy going to the movies here. The crowds are pretty good and they seem to laugh at all the same things I do, so it's fun. Not like the time I saw Die Hard in Japan. But that's a story for another time.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Sunday, March 18, 2012
A Holiday and the Big 5 O
It's been a busy couple of weeks, so it's catch up time.
March 8th was Holi. It's a national holiday the celebrates the triumph of good over evil. It's also called the festival of colors. "The Festival of Colors? Why do they call it that," you ask. An excellent question with a simple answer. They spend the day throwing colored powder on each other and spraying each other with colored water with squirt guns. We celebrated the day before at work and this was the result.
The next day was even more fun.
The next Tuesday was my 50th birthday. If you had asked the list the places I had imagined spending my 50th birthday, India wouldn't have made the to 100. But here I was. I turned out to be a pretty good day. Dilip, the production manager on Dragons, came into the office and asked me if I wanted to join the team for dailies. I grunted something affirmative and followed him up. Dailies at Crest isn't like dailies at other studios Ive worked at. They don't look at shots, they go over the schedule. Ick! So I usually don't go to dailies. But he asked so I went. I followed him into the conference room and got a huge "Happy Birthday" followed by a decent rendition of Happy Birthday to You. There was a crazy huge flower arrangement and a cake.
Oh, and one more thing.
Yes that's icing on my face. I got the gentle version of the custom. They usually shove a whole piece of cake in your face and smear it all over.
There's something at work in this. Something in the culture. I just haven't figured what it is. Not that it matters. I had a great time both days.
March 8th was Holi. It's a national holiday the celebrates the triumph of good over evil. It's also called the festival of colors. "The Festival of Colors? Why do they call it that," you ask. An excellent question with a simple answer. They spend the day throwing colored powder on each other and spraying each other with colored water with squirt guns. We celebrated the day before at work and this was the result.
The next day was even more fun.
The next Tuesday was my 50th birthday. If you had asked the list the places I had imagined spending my 50th birthday, India wouldn't have made the to 100. But here I was. I turned out to be a pretty good day. Dilip, the production manager on Dragons, came into the office and asked me if I wanted to join the team for dailies. I grunted something affirmative and followed him up. Dailies at Crest isn't like dailies at other studios Ive worked at. They don't look at shots, they go over the schedule. Ick! So I usually don't go to dailies. But he asked so I went. I followed him into the conference room and got a huge "Happy Birthday" followed by a decent rendition of Happy Birthday to You. There was a crazy huge flower arrangement and a cake.
Oh, and one more thing.
Yes that's icing on my face. I got the gentle version of the custom. They usually shove a whole piece of cake in your face and smear it all over.
There's something at work in this. Something in the culture. I just haven't figured what it is. Not that it matters. I had a great time both days.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Moooo!
I saw my first cow on the drive to work this morning. It was on one of the less crowded roads we take on our route to the studio. The cow was just hanging out on the side of the road, nudging a pile of trash with it's nose. I image it was looking for something to eat. We went by so quickly that I couldn't get my camera out. I should have it ready all the time, but I just feel like a rube doing that. I guess I am a rube, come to think of it.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
The Following Film Has Been Edited For Television
I watched American Pie 2 on Indian tv this weekend. Kind of a sad way to spend my first weekend in Mumbai, but don't fret. I got out and saw the sights and got the sunburn. Last night I was just feeling a little worn out so I flipped on the set and there it was. I've seen it a few times already, so it was like a comfortable old friend. Just what I needed.
The interesting part was the way it was edited for tv over here. Parts of the movie I thought mostly harmless were completely cut out. Some of the more outrageous stuff made it through without a single trim. Occasionally, throughout the movie, a banner would scroll across the bottom of the screen telling you where to write and complain if something in the movie offended you.
The real mystery to me was how they handled the language. The f word was right out. No bleeps, jut cut out of the dialog. So were a few other words that would seem to be pretty obvious choices. The word that confused me was 'shit'. It's used in movies a lot these days from PG films on up to NC17 and beyond. There is a veritable fountain of shit pouring from the mouths of Hollywood's actors. Take that as you will.
When they broadcast American films in English here they subtitle them, which makes sense. But they subtitle them in English, which doesn't really makes sense to me, but whatever. This is where more editing comes in, albeit a different, and to my mind, bizarre form of editing. They replace some words in the subtitles. Not in the actual dialog, mind you, just in the subtitles. An onscreen damn becomes darn in the subtitles. Shit becomes crap. In the American Pie movies every tenth work is shit, so that's a lot of crap.
Now we finally come to the point. One of the characters in the movie is occasionally referred to as Shitbrick. How did they handle it in the subtitles? Wrong! They used Shitbrick. Wha-? I had always thought of it as two words, but they wrote it as one here and capitalized it, so that's what I'm going with. And maybe that's why they got away with it. Because it's used as a name instead of a swear word. I dunno. All I can say is, the next time I'm watching a movie in the US and I'm trying to fathom how the hell the MPAA came up with the rating, I'll just think of Shitbrick and smile.
The interesting part was the way it was edited for tv over here. Parts of the movie I thought mostly harmless were completely cut out. Some of the more outrageous stuff made it through without a single trim. Occasionally, throughout the movie, a banner would scroll across the bottom of the screen telling you where to write and complain if something in the movie offended you.
The real mystery to me was how they handled the language. The f word was right out. No bleeps, jut cut out of the dialog. So were a few other words that would seem to be pretty obvious choices. The word that confused me was 'shit'. It's used in movies a lot these days from PG films on up to NC17 and beyond. There is a veritable fountain of shit pouring from the mouths of Hollywood's actors. Take that as you will.
When they broadcast American films in English here they subtitle them, which makes sense. But they subtitle them in English, which doesn't really makes sense to me, but whatever. This is where more editing comes in, albeit a different, and to my mind, bizarre form of editing. They replace some words in the subtitles. Not in the actual dialog, mind you, just in the subtitles. An onscreen damn becomes darn in the subtitles. Shit becomes crap. In the American Pie movies every tenth work is shit, so that's a lot of crap.
Now we finally come to the point. One of the characters in the movie is occasionally referred to as Shitbrick. How did they handle it in the subtitles? Wrong! They used Shitbrick. Wha-? I had always thought of it as two words, but they wrote it as one here and capitalized it, so that's what I'm going with. And maybe that's why they got away with it. Because it's used as a name instead of a swear word. I dunno. All I can say is, the next time I'm watching a movie in the US and I'm trying to fathom how the hell the MPAA came up with the rating, I'll just think of Shitbrick and smile.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
A Night Out
Milind, Dilip and Vinod took me out for drinks and a bite to eat after work on Friday. When they asked me what I wanted to eat, I put my self in their hands. I told them I was up for anything. After the lunch we had, I was curious what Indian culinary wonders might await. What mysteries would be revealed? What do people in India do to unwind on Friday night? Apparently they go to Chili's. That's where we went. And it was only 2 blocks from my hotel. It was packed and people were waiting to get in. The Rolling Stones were playing in the background and sports were on the big screen TVs. It was...Chili's.
Not all was what it appeared to be, however. The sports, Cricket. The burgers, veggie. The queso and chips was good. The hot wings were okay if a little blah, surprising in a country that thrives on outrageously spicy cuisine. The nachos were frankly weird, covered in odd spices with, a bizarrely formal presentation. But the drinks were excellent and the company even better. We talked about things completely unrelated to work and an odd fork in the conversation led to a plan for Dilip and I to catch a Bollywood movie sometime after work next week. Score!
The evening ended fairly early, which was fine with me. It had been a long week and I was tired. 7 days earlier I had been in LA being told that my flight for Mumbai was leaving in 7 hours.
Not all was what it appeared to be, however. The sports, Cricket. The burgers, veggie. The queso and chips was good. The hot wings were okay if a little blah, surprising in a country that thrives on outrageously spicy cuisine. The nachos were frankly weird, covered in odd spices with, a bizarrely formal presentation. But the drinks were excellent and the company even better. We talked about things completely unrelated to work and an odd fork in the conversation led to a plan for Dilip and I to catch a Bollywood movie sometime after work next week. Score!
The evening ended fairly early, which was fine with me. It had been a long week and I was tired. 7 days earlier I had been in LA being told that my flight for Mumbai was leaving in 7 hours.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Ratatouille
I had my first meal in a nice India restaurant near the studio. Up to now I've been eating at the studio or at the hotel buffet. I was enjoying both, but now I may be ruined. It was the best Indian food I've ever had.
I was taken to lunch by 3 guys from the studio. Vinod, and Dilip both work at Crest. Milind actually works for Dreamworks in Bangalore. We had a grilled chicken appetizer followed by chicken tikka masala and shrimp tikka masala and shrimp fried rice. They call the shrimp prawns here by the way. I had naan with mine. The rest of the guys had roti. The food was amazing, but it was the little interlude we had during the meal that really made it for me.
We were eating when suddenly we heard some shouts and shrieks from the table next to us, which was big group. One guy jumped up and a waiter rushed over. They scrambled around a bit. Milind turned around to look and very casually said, "Is it a ratatouille?" Yes it was a little rat running around. They tried to catch it but it got away. Most of the other guests just glanced over the went back to their meals. No big deal. I laughed out loud. "Ratatouille?" I asked still chuckling. It turns out that Pixar's Ratatouille was very popular here so rats in restaurants are now sometimes called Ratatouille.
Keep in mind this was a nice place. Yet here we are, a little rat running around and a waiter and one of the guests trying to track it down.
Yes, I'm in India.
I was taken to lunch by 3 guys from the studio. Vinod, and Dilip both work at Crest. Milind actually works for Dreamworks in Bangalore. We had a grilled chicken appetizer followed by chicken tikka masala and shrimp tikka masala and shrimp fried rice. They call the shrimp prawns here by the way. I had naan with mine. The rest of the guys had roti. The food was amazing, but it was the little interlude we had during the meal that really made it for me.
We were eating when suddenly we heard some shouts and shrieks from the table next to us, which was big group. One guy jumped up and a waiter rushed over. They scrambled around a bit. Milind turned around to look and very casually said, "Is it a ratatouille?" Yes it was a little rat running around. They tried to catch it but it got away. Most of the other guests just glanced over the went back to their meals. No big deal. I laughed out loud. "Ratatouille?" I asked still chuckling. It turns out that Pixar's Ratatouille was very popular here so rats in restaurants are now sometimes called Ratatouille.
Keep in mind this was a nice place. Yet here we are, a little rat running around and a waiter and one of the guests trying to track it down.
Yes, I'm in India.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Near Death Experience
I had my first near death experience in India last night. It wasn't trying to cross the street in the frenetic Mumbai traffic. It wasn't a deranged mugger. It wasn't even a mad bombing terrorist. It was a salad at the hotel restaurant.
A little back ground.
The first hotel I stayed at was nice, but in a rough area. Inside the gated compound was lovely. Two hotels and a convention center, a gym, a huge swimming pool. Very nice. Outside was a fairly run down industrial area. I was trapped. The studio here, Crest Animation, found me a great place in Hiranandani, much closer to the studio and in a lovely area. So yesterday I moved to the new hotel.
I'd been eating the buffet at the old place, which was very good, but decided to try something off the menu at the new place. I ordered a mixed greens salad and a toasted sandwich. When the salad came it was a little different that I had expected. A tiny little bit of lettuce in the middle o the plate surrounded by varieties of stick salad, carrots, celery, cucmber etc., arranged like the spokes on a wheel. I looked at it for a moment then said, what the heck and dugion. Now here's the good bit. It didn't really resemble anything I would have called a mixed green salad, so when I saw what looked like a single green bean nestled in the center of the lettuce I didn't give it a single though. I popped it into my mouth and started chomping away. Okay. Okay, yes, it's funny. Alright. I'll just sit here until you stop laughing.
All better now? Yes. It was a blisteringly hot green chilli disguised as a green bean. I should have known better. I'm in India. They like hot stuff here. Hottest thing Ive ever eaten in my life. I nearly passed out. I went through a giant bottle of water and the waiter brought me a glass of milk. After I had recovered somewhat I explained what had happened and he graciously brought me a nice plate of lettuce that I drowned in blue cheese dressing. I assume it was blue cheese, I couldn't really taste anything. The sandwich seemed okay. Again, I couldn't really taste it. Maybe tonight I'll stick with the buffet.
A little back ground.
The first hotel I stayed at was nice, but in a rough area. Inside the gated compound was lovely. Two hotels and a convention center, a gym, a huge swimming pool. Very nice. Outside was a fairly run down industrial area. I was trapped. The studio here, Crest Animation, found me a great place in Hiranandani, much closer to the studio and in a lovely area. So yesterday I moved to the new hotel.
I'd been eating the buffet at the old place, which was very good, but decided to try something off the menu at the new place. I ordered a mixed greens salad and a toasted sandwich. When the salad came it was a little different that I had expected. A tiny little bit of lettuce in the middle o the plate surrounded by varieties of stick salad, carrots, celery, cucmber etc., arranged like the spokes on a wheel. I looked at it for a moment then said, what the heck and dugion. Now here's the good bit. It didn't really resemble anything I would have called a mixed green salad, so when I saw what looked like a single green bean nestled in the center of the lettuce I didn't give it a single though. I popped it into my mouth and started chomping away. Okay. Okay, yes, it's funny. Alright. I'll just sit here until you stop laughing.
All better now? Yes. It was a blisteringly hot green chilli disguised as a green bean. I should have known better. I'm in India. They like hot stuff here. Hottest thing Ive ever eaten in my life. I nearly passed out. I went through a giant bottle of water and the waiter brought me a glass of milk. After I had recovered somewhat I explained what had happened and he graciously brought me a nice plate of lettuce that I drowned in blue cheese dressing. I assume it was blue cheese, I couldn't really taste anything. The sandwich seemed okay. Again, I couldn't really taste it. Maybe tonight I'll stick with the buffet.
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