Maniratinam... a musing on his style...

I was reading about Maniratnam today (again)... he really has achieved something! I really wonder how he developed his unique style. What inspired him to settle on that dialogue style? I would really love to ask him how he developed it. I think his screen plays carry his unique style. Every one of his move is a master piece - am sure most of you will agree.

He brought together the dream team... P.C. Sriram, Sujatha (of course not introduced to movies by Mani - but his story and Maniratinam's direction is a blazing combination), A.R.Rahman and of course Aravind Swamy and Mathavan! BGM of Illayaraja was good but somehow the chemistry didn't work out and ARR really rose to the occasion. Anyway, I want to ask him how he breaks down the screenplay... does he observe certain people/elements in real life and incorporates them in his films? Or are they purely imaginary? May be he observed little kids growing up. Who? Where?

Another question: is he able to envision the end product even when he is penning the script? I have heard that the mark of a good director is to envision the final product. But I that that is truly an impossible aspect.

All these questions just let me linger in the void... I really had wanted to ask Steve Jobs how he developed his unique insights into product design, but couldn't. The closest I could learn was that he used to walk in the parking lot observing the cars he liked and stool thinking, trying to understand what aspects appealed to him. How does one develop such unique style? Do you know how anyone famous developed their style? Oh well...

After musing for quite a while, I searched for the BMW film series The Hire and found these - enjoy!

Tools for zero budget film making

This is cool! These are nice tools .
Check it out: http://www.raindance.org/zero-budget-software-suite-for-filmmakers/

Looks like Daz 3D is another free software!
And there is Source Filmmaker (http://www.sourcefilmmaker.com/) too! (Here is a write up on SFM and link to some tutorials.)

You would need CrazyBump to create realistic textures (see this tutorial)...

(Not related to the ones above, but here is a bunch of tutorials: http://www.digitaltutors.com/11/index.php)

Check them out...

Introduction to 3D Modeling

As I started playing with the free version of Hitfilm 4 Express and after watching Simon's tutorials on Aeroplane and Atomic Particle Titles I was intrigued to try it myself. (Here are their other tutorials). But those features are not available in the free version and so I started to look for alternatives. Seems like good old Blender is the only capable tool and now I want to learn it...
Here is a wonderful tutorial by Jason Welsh that I found. Here is an article that highly appreciates this tutorial. Let me know if you know of any better tools or tutorials.

Here is another set of tutorials: http://www.creativebloq.com/3d-tips/blender-tutorials-1232739

3D Models for Compositing

Here are a few websites  from where you can get your 3D models:

• http://tf3dm.com/
• http://www.turbosquid.com/
• http://foundation3d.com/

You can find great stock pictures (still pictures) here:

• http://thestocks.im
• http://unsplash.com
• http://littlevisuals.co

Here is something totally different. Green screen plates:

• http://www.hollywoodcamerawork.com/
• http://www.hollywoodcamerawork.com/greenscreenplates.html

Enjoy!
I am not associated with any of these companies.

From Good to Great...

Now that you have written your screen play or story how would you make it great? Read though Donald Maass's Writing the Breakout Novel. It gave me a few ideas to improve my script.
Here is a short summary from Amanda: http://amandabarratt.blogspot.com/2011/11/writing-breakout-novel-five-things-ive.html

From Web Developer's Bookmarks

A lot of innovative tools have been cropping around. I know you all would have used some of these at some point.The following are a few interesting tools:

• Use jsfiddle.net if you want to write a small snippet and ask a question based on it - say for example you need to show others the JavaScipt that is misbehaving you can use this.
• browser-sync is a tool that aids rapid development. Open sublimetext and type away your HTML, CSS and JavaScript and then view the output on the browser window of BrowserSync. Of course you need to have node.js and npm to install browser sync.

browser-sync start --server . --directory -files "*"

• codepen.io is similar to JSFiddle but have a few more features. 
• Of course here are some cool stuff... css-ticks.com
• If at somepoint you are wondering which feature is supported by which browser, then go to caniuse.com to findout.
• Here is a validatior validator.w3.org to verify if your HTML is ... well... valid.

Not so useful as the above but still...here is a site that shows which browser is popular.

• w2schools.com/browsers/browser_stats.app

Let me know if you have used any useful tools.

Movies... movies...

The other day I was searching for something and stumble don these. These are ways to view movies online.
http://www.killthecablebill.com

http://www.rainiertamayo.com
I want to see if these can be viewed through a Roku box...