Keep going

November 14, 2015

I looked at more cloth that could make for an interesting river background. I had figured out the mechanics for the design that I thought would work.

Reflection

November 13, 2015

Having seen the video folks that same friend recommended, I don’t see how I would have fared better with his audio friends. People have all the answers when they are not actually doing the work.

pound of flesh

November 11, 2015

It is a tough decision to switch paths, but you can’t just run down a road because you are on it.

To become that which you hate

November 10, 2015

Once again, I looked back at a lot of my experience working with different artists on this project and the conversation just made me revisit every person who pushed to get a little more of a bite out of me. If I was going to do this project with these people, I needed to push back and get just as cut throat.

Reconfigure

November 10, 2015

It is tough to keep on task when there are so many things to figure out and a lot of uncertainty, but with any production, you have to keep moving forward.

Bring to a boil

November 8, 2015

Once again, I considered the very real possibility that I needed to pull the plug on this project, instead of continuing to do the work I was trying to finish. I sent a few messages and made a few calls to see if there were options. People encouraged me to stay and finish the project.

Cracking

November 8, 2015

Somehow, my mood was just sour. I walked up and down the street and though I was hungry, I did not want to deal with, see or eat any of it. I just did not feel a thing for any of my surroundings. The things I appreciate about being in Lahore, all seemed to just turn to ash and none of it mattered one bit to me.

Goodbye Multan

November 7, 2015

After a tiring 6 hour ride, I was back in Lahore. It was dark and I needed to drag my bags to the metro station to get the rest of the way back.

Rehearsing puppeteers

November 6, 2015

I was very glad to see them take that initiative and with my blessings to adjust the strings and figure out new ideas, they ran with it. We figured out that certain movements will require multiple people to manipulate a single puppet.

Meeting more puppeteers

November 4, 2015

So here he was, sitting at this table, a quiet older man along with some more worn, emaciated puppeteers.

Multan once again

November 3, 2015

I head out early in the morning and hopped on a Daewoo bus to Multan.

Prepping for Multan

November 2, 2015

I need to keep tabs on all the people involved as well as to do way more tasks myself than I really should be doing, but that is the nature of my resources.

Phool Patti in Lahore and Evernew Studios

November 1, 2015

I can’t just dwell on the obstacles if I am going to bring all these elements together and make this film happen.

Anything can and does happen

October 31, 2015

Certainly, anything can happen to anyone, but once we lock shoot dates, it is not an option to not show up, and can I get these puppeteers to show up for all the days of the shoot?

Perhaps tomorrow

October 30, 2015

It’s not much of a life, but the work looks very good. Each day I think, well tomorrow some of these meetings will actually happen and I we can move forward, and I can have some ice cream.

In search of X-Ray Paper

October 29, 2015

Umar and I went out to look for some material that could be used inside of some cloth huts we are making, to keep their shape.

Wandering Gulberg

October 28, 2015

I ended up walking around afterwards just to clear my head and be out for a while.

So much cloth

October 27, 2015

Things were crazy and busy in the market. Just as I was purchasing some cloth, I got a call from Khurshid “Sadar” who is a storyteller during puppet shows. He introduced me to several puppeteers when I went to Multan.

Sohni break

October 26, 2015

I worked on some more storyboards for “Sohni”. The pieces are coming together. I feel tired though.

Qing Qi to Landa

October 25, 2015

So, Umar and I walked through the crowded market and picked up seven dollars worth of cloth, that should help us create a river bank, decorate a king’s court and provide huts for villager puppets.