Insight #30 - Neha Lalani: Inspiring Story of a Successful Short Film With Highly Limited Resources
00:02But last year, I picked the practical project, which is the 10-minute short film that you have to make.Because some of my colleagues in my class, they got to pick the writing course instead.So they had to write a feature-length script.So I picked the short film.One, I was the director.Okay, so again, not going to put myself on a high horse, but I was the director, the writer, the editor, the editor, the colorist, the music composer.And I also, I played the music as well.and I acted in it which is horrible.
00:33Really?Yeah, and it's not great.I was going to say, tell us what you didn't do on that film.It's not because I wanted to be like, no, I can do everything.But it was because you're doing a student project.You can't have to wear a lot of hats.Because you said there were probably 15 people in your class,it sounds like the crew is not that big.
00:56Exactly, exactly.And because we had to kind of simultaneously do these projects.So we had, I think, four projects in total, the short films.So we had four short films.So each person was kind of working on all of themand helping each other out with different roles.And then we had to simultaneously help each other out.So we didn't really have the manpower to be like,
01:16okay, now you can edit and then you will do this and that, like the luxury.So it had to do a lot of things.But how did you manage everything?It's so much.Even acting, acting and directing.They're acting.I'm not an actor.at all. I keep telling myself and could
01:33maybe like, okay, maybe this time I'll be able to act.No, I'm not at all.But I had to just out of like,I was trying to be M. Knight Shyamalan, you know,and bake my cameo.Oh, okay, okay.But also it was more of like,I didn't have a choice and we needed a character
01:47and like we couldn't find another actor.So we were like, okay, fine, me and maybe and my producerwere both in one scene together as like extras of sorts.So we're like, okay, fine,we'll just show up in this and then cringefor the rest of our lives while we did this movie.this movie. You want to speak in role?Yes, it was.
02:04Oh, wow. Okay.Yeah, I had a decent, okay, I wouldn't say decent screen time, but I had like about maybe aminute of screen time. So how was the film Indian?Yeah, the film, the film turned out very nice. I'll give a bit of a background for thefilm. So the film's called Swan Song. And because this was my dissertation project and my lastone before I get out of uni, I wanted it to be a little bit of sentimental and special.So two things that I really value or like I'm passionate about.is film and then music. I love music. I love composing and writing songs. I play piano and guitars and sing also.
02:40Oh, you're also a singer. Yeah. I do sing. So yeah, I wanted to combine both of those. And, okay, so this movie has a lot of differentinspiration. So one thing that you find in this region, or like at least with South Asians, perhaps,you may find it everywhere in the world, but it's one thing where a lot of the families, I would say,It's not generalized, obviously, but a lot of the times you find that they don't really valuejobs that are in the media field or in art fields. And they'd be like, okay, pick somethingthat's more serious and pick something that you'll be able to make money from. And they don'tsee these type of recreational courses as something that is of value. So the story is of this14-year-old girl, Nina, who wants to pursue her passion for music. But her parents are very
03:25conservative and they don't believe in her passion being something valuable. So theywant to push her to just continue studying and get good grades because that's all that matters to them.So it's kind of like how she deals with that and like there's a whole story and all.I would recommend that you watch it.Yeah, I mean, I will get the link and we'll share it.Yeah, definitely.To your performance.Horrible.
03:50But yeah, it was a nice experience, very extremely DIY.It was a self-funded project.Me and my producer who's also one of my very close friends, self-funded it,very low-budget project.We filmed a lot of it in like either my house or my friend's house.So the movie is just a drama film, but it kind of jumps in and out of like Ream versusreality of sorts.So it's a battle between what she wants to be and like her imagination and what her reality
04:20is like.So we have a lot of scenes where she's playing the piano or she's like on stage and she'sperforming and all that.So we wanted to use schools, like our own school even, just.does like a nice tie-in together.But because of COVID, this is at the height of COVID,they had really strict guidelines.And they said, no, sorry, we will not let you use the school.
04:39So we had to even DIY that.So we took my friend's dad's warehouse and we put like black cloth aroundand we kind of simulated like an auditorium of sorts.She had a piano there already.So I know I'm jumping ahead of myself.But like the movie has a lot of different inspirations from other films.So one sequence, the one that's at the end,end with the film, I don't want to give any spoilers, but she's playing the piano. That one is
05:02inspired by Lala Land where Ryan Gawson's character plays the piano. There's a whole nicesequence. Some of the film is inspired by her, like the color and Joker as well, some partsof it is inspired by Black Swan. So there's like different things. So for one of the scenes where she'splaying the piano in that warehouse now, because we wanted that like the spotlight type ofeffect for the light, we had to get like some fog into it, but we didn't have a fog machine. So my friend,And he waved his lungs out trying to get folks.Oh, okay.That should have been written in a risk assessment via producer.
05:39Yeah.But like we didn't have a choice.It wasn't like we forced him.He said it's fine.That was one of them.And then one of the lights was about a fall over or burn and all that.So you have these type of situations, but everything was under control.But it seems like a fun production.
05:56Yeah, it was fun.It was fun.Like, one of the sad parts is because of COVID,they had really strict guidelines on, like, the equipment we could take out.We have a small film faculty.I don't know how it is in the UK campus,but because we have a small department,we don't have a lot of equipment,
06:11and we mainly use the black magic cinema cameras and the 4K ones.So at that time, because they had really strict guidelines on the equipment,they had these rules that they needed to sanitize everythingand then give it out to the next group.But our schedules kind of flashed.And so we didn't get to use the nice 4K camerasand we had to use a Sony A7 instead.Oh, yeah, that is sad.
06:35Yeah, it was sad.Like, I can imagine if we used the 4Kwould have looked really different.It would have looked more like a proper film,but it doesn't look that bad.Like the E7's green noise on the footage really helps, I guess.But it's impressive that despite the conditions,you still managed and, you know, didn't discourage you, didn't stop.
06:56Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I think everyone was really, like I'm thankful that the team and like my friends in class were all very like wanted to help each other out and like sincerely had their whole heart and every project that they were working on. So that really helped.
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