The secret of cinematic success Published: 24 May 2007 The Independent 2007

The secret of cinematic success
A slew of courses are available for budding directors. Hazel Davis finds out about life behind the lens
Published: 24 May 2007 The Independent 2007
As the Cannes Film Festival celebrates its 60th birthday, someone's career will be made, some unknown will win the Palme D'Or and still others will have their dreams dashed by a room full of critics.
We all know what we like and don't like in a film, but how easy is it to make a living as a film-maker?
British film-maker Aneel Ahmad has just completed Boot Polish, a short film that he hopes to screen at festivals around the world. It's part of the UK Film Council and North West Vision's Digital scheme, which encourages new film-makers.
But Ahmad's path to critical success, including a Unicef award, hasn't been smooth. He fell in love with film when he was at school in Manchester. " I started making zombie films on VHS and entered a competition for 10-minute documentaries," he explains. "My friend and I wrote a synopsis and it actually got short-listed." Despite his young age, he went on to produce another short film, which was screened on Channel 4. "My friend later went on to film school," he says, "but I haven't any academic qualifications so I couldn't, even though it was something I really wanted to do."
Ahmad describes "being broke, working in crappy jobs to support myself" and fighting an "institutionalised industry". But his advice to aspiring film-makers is: "Don't give up hope. Yes, get upset if you get rejected from a film body or network, but do it yourself, make it for yourself even if it's a film of three minutes. Believe in yourself and people will believe in you. It has taken me 10 years for anyone to believe in me and my work."
This might seem a little disheartening, says Ahmad, but there is nothing better than getting your film made: "There's a romance to it. If I make a film and someone likes it or can relate to it, then that makes me happy."
Ahmad loves the filmmaking process, but he is also drawn to the idea of making a difference. "My inspiration is the vast amount of stories that have yet to be told. I want to make powerful movies."
Many film-makers, such as Ahmad, make their mark without qualifications but there are increasing numbers of UK film courses.
The BBC Centre for Broadcast Skills Training (www.bbctraining. com) lists courses and contacts on its website.
Skillset (www.skillset.org) is the national training body for the audio-visual industries. Visit the website for details of funding or course information.
Other useful sites
http://www.aneelahmad.co.uk/, http://www.northwestvision.co.uk/, http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/

ANEEL AHMAD’S AWARD-WINNING SHORTS SAVED FOR THE NATION

MovieScope Magazine 2008

Written by James MacGregor
Thursday, 03 January 2008

Two award-winning short films from Manchester-based director Aneel Ahmad are to be preserved for the nation by the British Film Institute. His documentary about the street children of Lahore in Pakistan, Waiting For Sunrise, is to be preserved in the BFI national archive along with the short fiction film Boot Polish, that the documentary inspired.
The archive contains more than 50,000 fiction films, over 100,000 non-fiction titles and around 625,000 television programmes. Ahmad’s films will join those which feature key British actors and the work of British directors, alongside significant material of every genre from silent newsreels to CinemaScope epics, home movies to avant-garde experiments and classic documentaries through to vintage television.
Aneel Ahmad was thrilled to learn that his films will soon form part of the British national archive: “This is a great honour for me, the best thing that has happened to me this year, because if I die tomorrow at least I know someone, somewhere will have access to at least two of my films.”
His comment seems almost jocular, but it is also a reflection of concerns surrounding the growing culture of street violence, including the area where he lives. The filmmaker grew up in Longsight, one of Mancheter’s toughest neighbourhoods. He almost lost a close friend recently, stabbed seven times in an apparently racially-motivated attack in which the victim lost.......

YOU CAN READ THE FULL ARTICLE LOGGING ONTO Link BELOW

http://www.moviescopemag.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=402&Itemid=10046

TUPAC SHAKUR, One of the main Pioneers for leading BLACK ARTISTS and HIP/HOP GANGSTER THUG LIFE CULTURE

Tupac Shakur, One of the main Pioneers for leading BLACK ARTISTS and HIP/HOP GANGSTER THUG LIFE CULTURE back in 1995. This IS DUE to the Social & economical deprivation within the black 'depressed' areas such as LA and New York!



Not to PROMOTE violence, HATRED or Racial tension. A GENUINE TRUE ROLE MODEL!


THESIS ON - THUG LIFE BRITISH IDENTITY & CHAVS....BABY!:) by aneel ahmad. In the early 1990's The UK first experienced a wave of Gangster Rap from the US. These Rappers (such as 2pac, Ice T, Biggie Smalls, Ice cube, Dr Dre etc) utilised explicit language lyrics to express their views on social and economical deprivation within the black 'depressed' areas such as LA and New York. This was their way to communicate with the Media, and the American government on the racial tensions between White and Black people. As a teenager living in Longsight (Manchester) in the mid 1990's, I noticed that most Black & Asian people adopted this culture/music and 'Thug Life' style.

I lived in one of the poorest districts in Longsight where Crime & Violence was at its peak. When HIP HOP culture arrived Minority groups felt they could relate to the issues these rappers were addressing in their music, I.e. racial differences between white and black people. These second generation youths generally came from labour backgrounds, and pretty much lived in poor inner city areas all across the UK. Growing up as a child in the 80's and youth in the 90's, most Black and Asian people experienced a high proportion of racial discrimination.



This forced them to rebel and not remain victims of racial discrimination Hence; living the Thug life, Gangster. Thug Life - Gangster' firstly we need to understand what Thug life is NOT!

A)Wear a baseball cap and look menacing.

B)Scare little kids on street corners.

C)Smoke or drink all day

D)A pram pusher who has a baby by the time they are 16 or younger. (in order to claim benefits from the government)

E)No education

F)Claiming benefits from the government, so they don't have to work (as mentioned above)

G)Wear fake designer clothes to look 'cool'

H)Speak in an Ali G type of language.

I)Wear fake gold to look as if the individual has plenty of money.

J)Spend half their time in a catatonic state; due to alcohol or drug abuse.



I could probably go on all day, and I'm sure most of you could contribute to the list (above). As you have probably noticed the above comments sounds more like a 'Chav' or 'Scally' list. Over the years this 'thug life' style has been watered down with people (We now call Chav's) trying to emulate this life style. Some being White Middle Class youths.

Others are under the illusion that they look cool and appear intimidating. Maybe, it's a sign of their own insecurities. What baffles me is how can someone be proud of being poor, living in a shi**y area, and are lacking a good education? thug life is usually; or posses the following



A)Education (doesn't have to be academic)

B)Educate (their kids)

C)Understands their Business & Market

D)Makes their own opportunities.

E)Accumulates, Expands.

F)Well presented, Polite, respectful.

G)Is well off and probably drives a nice car and lives in a nice house.

In summary don't confuse a wannabe to Thug Life, Gangster. Why, because a real gangster doesn't want to attract attention! And probably lives next door to a well represented person in your community!

Merchant Ivory Productions Bombay Talkies & Cross Genre Indian Movies/Richard O'Sullivan British forgotten Actors

Merchant Ivory Productions Bombay Talkies & Cross Genre Indian Movies


Ok My Pedigree Chums, people are always asking me on how did I get the Idea of making a cross genre BRIT/PAK film, And why didn't I follow the usual route of making Boot Polish into a GRITTY social film about real poverty and life! - Like I said BP is about escapism and to all you film Buffs out there!

You dudes will realise that I am DEFO not the first or will be the last to make them!
BP just only seems to be original in the way that Ive constructed it for this day and age (decade!!!!)

The first ever experience of crossgenre films I saw, were the early workings of Merchant Ivory Productions! The great psychedelic shite lol 70's stuff!

Years back C4 or was it the BBC? run a season of MIP films, I was never into period dramas or anything like that, but then I was like wow this shit is actually really GOOD!! LOL:() They screened a lot of work and I thought wow from Mixed Bollywood to Oscar Winning Period Dramas!!!

Shot entirely on location in and around the city of its title, Bombay Talkie is one of Merchant Ivory's most distinctive films, at once a psychological drama and a parodic homage to the Indian film scene of the late 1960s and early 1970s. MIP have just released a fantastic DOCO!

HELEN - Famous Bollywood Dancer of the 70's stared in the Biggest Bollywood film ever SHOLAY!

This wonderful (though too short) half-hour 1973 documentary written by James Ivory is included by Merchant Ivory Productions along with the DVD of Bombay Talkie.
It opens with a mention of item girl, and dancer par excellence, Helen’s 500-film milestone. Over the next 30 minutes we hear narrator Anthony Korner solemnly intone about the significance of dance numbers in Hindi films (”…vicarious luxury”,”…make do for love scenes”, “…puritanical censorship rules”) as we witness the always upbeat Helen in a black bodysuit and tights doing her daily yoga routine and applying her green glitter maker-up for the typewriter dance number with Shashi Kapoor in Bombay Talkie. She is asked about retiring and says that she has a boutique opening up soon in the Sheraton where she’d like to do “something nice and groovy”, but admits that “once you put make-up on, you can’t leave this line.”



A scene from Merchant Ivory Productions first film Shakespeare Wallah (1965)

But the real treat of film is Helen herself, in the many snippets from her many films, doing what she does best: dancing and vamping it up on screen, surrounded by such interesting elements as a caged ”savage” in blackface and gold hoop earrings, Easter Island-like giant idols with lights blinking where their eyes would be, and Shashi Kapoor in canary yellow cuban-heeled boots hopping about on the keys of a giant typewriter.

From the opening credits sequence (probably the most original of any Merchant Ivory film) to the films within the film (the musical, the Indian western), Bombay Talkie claims a unique place in Ivory's work for its elements of meta-film -- a film about film, in which the viewer is at once involved in what is on-screen and aware of the medium. Yet there are also those familiar elements of uprooted persons and cultural difference that characterize both the earliest and the most recent films of Merchant Ivory. Lucia, late in Bombay Talkie, tries on one of Mala's saris and Vikram explains to the uninformed Englishwoman that it is his wife's wedding sari. Just then, Mala enters to see her husband's lover dressed in her own wedding clothes: as in many of Merchant and Ivory's films, cultural misunderstanding leads to human drama of the most visceral and affecting kind.
Felicity Kendal as Barbara Wood in The Good Life -1970's BBC sit com - a huge TV hit at the time.

As I have always said I am always interested and influenced by many Films & Directors, stories and its always good to experiment different types of Cinema when your making shorts. The only advice I give new filmmakers (like myself) is try and be original in your time-day and age!
Don't follow the prescribed path, some people may hate your films F*** em, one thing ive learned is that people will appreciate your originality and your ART!
Boot Polish is an amalgamation of many different forms of ART & Cinema - A mixture of Bollywood Cinema with Art House as well as keeping it real with certain OLD skool European influences



British FORGOTTEN Actors of Yester-years!! What ever happened to Richard O Sullivan?
Mr O'Sullivan with Paula Wilcox in Man About the House

Recently ive been watching 70's - 80s British TV comedies on Late night Cable. 'George and Mildred' and 'Robin's Nest, Man about the House'
I am a fan of Richard O'Sullivan and as a child of the 80's like so many I love all the re-run shows!

Researching the Internet -
Mr O'Sullivan disappeared from the public eye and was believed to be living a reclusive life. His last appearance on television was as a guest on an episode of This Is Your Life
O'Sullivan fell ill late in 2003. He is now living in Brinsworth House, a retirement home for actors and performers in England, run by the Entertainment Artistes Benevolent Fund In 2006. Man isn't it a shame that dudes like him are forgotten!! I think the British TV industry should remember their good ole ACTORS! Especially the ones that gave us so much cheer & laughter as well!! I know we have our Ronnie Barkers of the TV industry!
Lets RAISE a GLASS - One for the road for Mr O'Sullivan, man he should get an O.B.E for his services in TV!!!

Lets BIG up the TV Sitcom Hero's of the PAST!

Mr O'Sullivan and those fabulous, now unseen but never forgotten, entertainers, dudes from the past who put the celebrity culture of today to shame.

Man he's pretty cool DUDE!!! Watch the RE-RUNS on Cable lol.........

A Tribute to Guru Dutt - Great Indian Directors

A Tribute to GURU DUTT One of the all time GREAT INDIAN FILM DIRECTORS

Ok Dudes, when Western eyes fall upon biggin up Indian directors
The names that always come to mind are the likes of Shekar Kapoor & Satyajit Ray.
But if you ever get a chance to watch this directors work please do!
His Name is Mr Guru Dutt and in my opinion he is also one of the best film directors of Bollywood Cinema.
He should also be remembered as one of the pioneering great directors of Indian Cinema.

I get loads of emails about where do I all the info about directors and films lol:() Most i watch on DVD or on TV. I came across Guru Dutts work from a Indian musician friend of mine a couple of years ago, he gave me the film Kagaz Ke Phool (Paper Flower) Personally this is my fav of all his films.
Wow this film moved me. Below is a clip from his film on youtube please watch.

GURU DUTT-KAAGAZ KE PHOOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6JOR6o1Cto

This clip is the final scene, Sinha, remembering his glorious past, dies in the empty film studio in the director's chair, a lonely and forgotten man

The film tells, in flashback, the story of Suresh Sinha (Guru Dutt), a famous film director. His marriage to Bina (Veena) is on the rocks because her wealthy family sees filmmaking as a job lacking in social status. He is also denied access to his daughter Pammi (Naaz) who is sent to a private boarding school.
On a rainy night Sinha meets a woman Shanti (Waheeda Rehman) and gives her his coat. She comes to the film studio to return the coat, unintentionally disrupting the shooting by walking in front of the camera. While reviewing the rushes, Sinha recognises her potential as a star in the making and casts her as Paro in Devdas. Shanti goes on to become an acclaimed star. Shanti and Suresh, two lonely people, come together. Their liaison is hotly debated in gossip columns and results in Pammi's friends tormenting her in school. Pammi pleads with Shanti to leave Sinha's life and allow her parent’s marriage another chance. Moved by Pammi’s plea Shanti throws away her career and becomes a school teacher in a small village. Shanti’s departure drives Suresh to alcohol, a downhill slide in his career and consequent decline in his fortunes. Shanti is forced to return to films since she has a contract with the studio.
Eventually he gets a chance to make a comeback film only if it stars Shanti; but by then she is unable to help him, as he is too far-gone for redemption. In the final scene, Sinha, remembering his glorious past, dies in the empty film studio in the director's chair, a lonely and forgotten man.

Guru Dutt in Pyaasa (1957)

1959 Kaagaz Ke Phool . Mr Guru Dutt invested a great deal of love, money, and energy in this film, which was a self-absorbed tale of a famous director (played by Guru Dutt) who falls in love with an actress (played by Waheeda Rehman, Dutt's real-life love interest). Kaagaz Ke Phool failed at the box office and Dutt was devastated.

On October 10, 1964, Guru Dutt was found dead in his bed in his rented apartment at Pedder Road in Mumbai. He is said to have been mixing alcohol and sleeping pills. His death may have been suicide, or just an accidental overdose.

Guru Dutt was at first mourned as a matinee idol but as the years passed, it became ever clearer that it was as a director that he would be remembered. Starting in 1973, his films were shown at film festivals throughout India and the rest of the world. Despite being a commercial director, he appealed to the same intelligentsia who made Satyajit Ray an international favourite. He also has a place in the hearts of many ordinary Indians for his song picturisations and the many vivid characters sketched in his films.


WOMAN IN BLACK TV DRAMA
written by Susan Hill
http://www.susan-hill.com/

Man I watched this film back in 1994 on C4 it was really really good.
One of my all time TOP Horror films ever! The Novel written by the wonderful Susan Hill.
Actually the Novel is worth a buy! I DON'T have any personal affiliation with Susan but above is her website.



Ok Dudes now this is in my opinon one of the most scariest films made and it was made for TV lol:()
The WIB is a beautifully photographed film & It doesnt have fancy ass special effects etc etc. Just good ole story telling.


The story centres around a young solicitor, Arthur Kidd, who is sent by his superior, Mr Sweetman, to Crythin Gifford, a small market town on the East Coast of Britain, to attend to the funeral of Mrs Alice Drablow, an elderly widow who lived alone in seclusion at Eel Marsh House.

According to local tales, seeing the Woman in Black meant that the death of a child would follow. After the affair is settled, Arthur Kipps returns to London, marries and has a child of his own. At a fair, while his wife and child are enjoying a carriage ride, Kipps suddenly sees the Woman in Black once more. She steps out in front of the horse pulling the carriage and startles it so that it gallops away, killing the child and fatally injuring Kipps' wife. The Woman in Black has had her vengeance.

Me being me!!! You can watch it on YOU TUBE if you search lol :()

WOMAN IN BLACK bed horror - the clip is scary so be warned!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRpBdYgh4cA&feature=related

It was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on ITV on Christmas Eve 1989 (repeated only once by Channel 4 over Christmas 1994). Overall the TV adaptation stayed reasonably faithful to the original novel, although some of the changes angered the author Susan Hill. the TV rights are now owned by someone else. Apparently the rights have been purchased twice and currently reside with the U.S. studio Universal As a result of this there will probably be no further TV broadcasts of the TV movie or any further DVD releases.

Satyajit Ray The Hall of FAME greatest Indian Directors

The THREE AMIGO'S
SATYAJIT RAY, GURU DUTT, RAJ KAPOOR
The Hall of FAME greatest Indian Directors.(In my opinion)




Ok my Pedigree Chums - Now I know I have kinda been introducing ya dudes to Indian/Bollywood Cinema and ya guys have been asking me about some of my inspiration (I.E Satyajit Ray) and on making Boot Polish. But i really dont know a great deal about Ray as i just watch his films lol:()

Most of you dudes mention his great film Pather Panchali (1955) and the APU Trilogy, and yeah the films perhaps to this day are the best of his work. But What Western dudes perhaps seem to forget is that Mr Ray was not just a one trick pony.

He also had the ability to make Cross Genre films similar to Raj Kapoor & Guru Dutt. Ok they were not as commercially successful in India compared to the Mr Dutt, or Mr Kapoor Films. But my inspiration was not from Pathar Panchali lol.

It was from another film (Below) The Chess Players, perhaps is one of the best structured and beautiful films that Mr Ray made in the 70's. The set design and colour was really really impressive and from what I have learned is that the URDU in the film was accurate and TOP DOG, which is important if you are to depict a film such as this. So dudes Bollywood has a lot of dimensions and its creative! LOL:()


(The Chess Players) Shatranj Ke Khilari (1977)



Wonderful Classical Song by Birju Maharaj. Excellent Performance by Saswati Sen.This song is from Shatranj ke Khilari directed by Satyajit Ray.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZ7KYyg3gEo

I also wanted to include another scene from Satyajit Rays work From Pather Panchali man its emotional lol! Yes im a soft-hearted F***** in real life, but don't tell anyone it ruin my image lol:() The Scene is when the Father comes home and finds out his Daughter had died. It may seem a bit slow lol, but stick with it dudes stick with it. The music and emotions are fantastic - Music score by Ravi Shankar!

Its a beautiful film! Ill try find subtitles as EVEN I cant understand this lol I'm not Bengali lol! But with Ray's work ya dont really need subtitles!
He talks with image and emotion! Enjoy well...... not to enjoy lol CRY!!! :()

Pather Panchali

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEjyozAWTWQ&feature=related

WINKY DINKY DOGGG MORE BLACK PLEASE WE'RE BRITISH

WINKY DINKY DOGGG MORE BLACK PLEASE WE'RE BRITISH By aneel ahmad

Recently I was excavating through My VHS compilation and I discovererd a movie, that for me transformed the significance for more BLACK cinema in America.
Hollywood Shuffle (1987) was the directorial debut of Actor/ Director Robert Townsend. His self financed film Hollywood SHUFFLE pokes fun at the struggles many black actors face whilst looking for an acting career in Hollywood. It's sad as well because many of these stereotypes are still true to this day. While progress has been made in the American Movie Industry, those dudes still need to make more changes. This film showed people how the Movie making business handles the majority of young black actors who are trying to make it in the movies.
There was one scene that ive linked here on YOUTUBE that truly made me chuckle and remorseful at the same time. I wont give details for the scene, I suggest you just watch it. WATCH IT!!!! Educate yourselves!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFrcEGlON-g

(GANG FIGHT HOLLYWOOD SHUFFLE 1997)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3NQB3i_MSQ
Hollywood Shuffle - Black Acting 101
Its funny how Mel Brooks was voted with Blazing Saddles (A good Movie) as one of the best comedies ever on C4, (Yet a Black Director) mirroring the same prejudices within the industry, is not even mentioned or even appreciated?
Mr Townsend, bro I got ya back dude! C4 should screen this movie!
Post-9/11, television, film makers, editors have been attempting to unearth stories from inside the Asian inner city community. Topics on racism, culture, diversity. Yes I know…. The industry's conquered by the white middle class. But we NOW more than ever, really need to create awareness and make a change within our own british film & Tv industry.
British Film & Television in my humble (overconfident) judgment is still institutionalised. If you are Black and you want to knock together a film ie on a cultural topic, then you are more than often sidelined (By white middle class editors) and the project shrugged off as 'Its all been done before". Yet Most Movies that have of late been completed have been redesigned films of the 80's – by British White filmmakers Love & Hate, Bullet Boy, A fond Kiss, Brick Lane, This is England. All Respectable Movies by worthy white filmmakers. But when one queries production companies, "where are all the individual voices exemplifying black stories?" Then in one form or another these very films are marketed as the authentic voices of Diverse Britian! (Which I'm sorry to say is total bull shit!)
To cut a long yarn short… Watch the clips, regardless of what colour or social status you are dudes. If one has a brain, they will figure out what and why ive post this paper. We need to revolutionise the industry for potential black filmmakers. So they don't have to put up with the bull shit that we second generation filmmakers have had to endure.
ITS 2007 we should all create an allegiance and set a target 2017. Industry professionals, governing bodies, media watchdogs. Production companies, Networks to demand diversity and authenticity. Give Black writers the chance of fulfilling their expectations, filmmakers of Colour & New emerging talented actors to blossom, so they don't have to be subjecting themselves in only being cast to play old Patel in the corner shop.
Coolio aneel x