Produced By - Insight #30 - Neha Lalani: Inspiring Story of a Successful Short Film With Highly Limited Resources

Episode Date: November 10, 2023

Neha Lalani is a film graduate from Dubai, currently working as a digital experience associate at Informa Connect Middle East. Although Neha is of Pakistani descent, she has lived her entire life in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where she grew up and found her love of films. This passion was ignited after watching Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin and persisted since then. Neha decided to do media studies before enrolling in university, and in her spare time, continued to hone her film-related skills. The global pandemic affected her academic experience, but in spite of that, her final short film found some success at film festivals throughout the world and continues competing. After her graduation, Neha joined Informa, where she now works as a digital experience associate creating various forms of online content. Along with some helpful advice, we also talk about Neha's future plans, favourite projects as well as artists and her own online content. Listen to this episode to discover more about life in Dubai and the United Arab Emirates, get inspired by Neha's keen enthusiasm for exploring different kinds of art and learn more about how her work was shown on the tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa.   Boost your creative career by joining our new Skillshare course at https://skl.sh/3Rh7ZtY and don’t forget to let us know how you liked it!   Connect with Neha: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/neha-lalani/⁠ ⁠https://www.youtube.com/c/NehaLalani⁠ ⁠https://www.instagram.com/lonelyleitmotif/⁠ Short film: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ3iMzS0px8&ab_channel=NehaLalani⁠    Episode quotes: “I was so surprised with how real that looks and that kind of was the start of, oh wow, there's this whole world of film, content, media and all that. So that was when I decided I wanted to make movies when I was 11.” “Not to put me on a high horse, but I was the director, the writer, the editor, the colourist, the music composer. And also I played the music and I acted in it which is horrible.” “A lot of the times I've heard that people have actually cried at the end of the movie after they've seen it. Because it is an emotional film and it doesn't end happily. It ends on a sad note.“ “Sometimes they have the light show, which is the fountain show and it's choreographed with the Burj Khalifa as well so the projection kind of matches. And they had a New Year's Eve video advertisement and I got a chance to edit that advertisement which they put up on.”   Connect with the podcaster: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://tomasloucky.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomasloucky/⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/thisistommen/⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://twitter.com/TomasLoucky⁠     Follow the podcast: 🌐 Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://produced-by-podcast.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ 🔗 Links: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/produced_by⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠   💬 Contact: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://produced-by-podcast.com/contact⁠⁠⁠ 📷 Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://instagram.com/produced_by_podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  🎥 YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT5LHnM6YCaeVzIr0WatOsw⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  🎵 TikTok: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@producedbypodcast⁠  👾 Discord: ⁠⁠https://discord.gg/8j3zNzwqJg⁠ ⁠ ✉️ Email: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[e-mail]⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Spotify: ⁠https://lnkd.in/e5Y8Wscx⁠  Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/produced-by/id1684669642⁠⁠⁠⁠ 📨 Newsletter: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7092551882589528065 ⁠   If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting it on ⁠Patreon⁠. ❤️ 🤩 If you enjoy listening to the podcast, please, leave a review on your podcast app, subscribe or share it with your friends. You can also send us a message and share any feedback, advice and tips for guests. 📭 Subscribe at ⁠⁠⁠https://produced-by-podcast.com/subscribe⁠⁠⁠ so that you don't miss out!    #producedbypodcast #producedby #enterthespotlight     Enjoy! Connect with Tomas:X: https://x.com/TomasLoucky⁠⁠⁠Stan: https://stan.store/TommenLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomasloucky/⁠⁠Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisistommen/⁠⁠Unproduced:Newsletter: https://unproduced.substack.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@unproducednotesSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/033Ddo8ibDlLYoaP7FFLIWMore:Links: https://linktr.ee/produced_by⁠⁠⁠Newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://producednewsletter.substack.com/⁠The Podcast Club: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/25420030/Tools & gear that support the show:Metricool: https://f.mtr.cool/HRJBZKRiverside: https://riverside.sjv.io/vDnDodFavikon: https://www.favikon.com?fpr=tommenRa Optics: https://ra-optics.myshopify.com/discount/TOMMEN?rfsn=8803777.591d19JamX: https://jamx.ai/podcasters-offer?ref_id=e02d48af-ef66-4e76-b804-c2e8d282a8bfSome links are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. If you find them useful, using these links helps keep the podcast running. Thank you!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

But 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.

Really? 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.

Exactly, 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 them and 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,

okay, 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

maybe 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

and like we couldn't find another actor. So we were like, okay, fine, me and maybe and my producer were 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 cringe for the rest of our lives while we did this movie. this movie. You want to speak in role? Yes, it was.

Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah, I had a decent, okay, I wouldn't say decent screen time, but I had like about maybe a minute 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 the film. So the film's called Swan Song. And because this was my dissertation project and my last one 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.

Oh, 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 different inspiration. 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 value jobs that are in the media field or in art fields. And they'd be like, okay, pick something that's more serious and pick something that you'll be able to make money from. And they don't see these type of recreational courses as something that is of value. So the story is of this 14-year-old girl, Nina, who wants to pursue her passion for music. But her parents are very

conservative and they don't believe in her passion being something valuable. So they want 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.

But 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 versus reality of sorts. So it's a battle between what she wants to be and like her imagination and what her reality

is like. So we have a lot of scenes where she's playing the piano or she's like on stage and she's performing 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.

So we had to even DIY that. So we took my friend's dad's warehouse and we put like black cloth around and 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

inspired by Lala Land where Ryan Gawson's character plays the piano. There's a whole nice sequence. Some of the film is inspired by her, like the color and Joker as well, some parts of it is inspired by Black Swan. So there's like different things. So for one of the scenes where she's playing the piano in that warehouse now, because we wanted that like the spotlight type of effect 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.

Yeah. 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.

Yeah, 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,

and 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 everything and 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 cameras and we had to use a Sony A7 instead. Oh, yeah, that is sad.

Yeah, it was sad. Like, I can imagine if we used the 4K would 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.

Yeah, 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.