Last month, I directed my first music video for Tabbara Inc. production company. The band is called Pandamonia and song entitled ‘Needle in the Vein’. This was filmed last month north of Toronto and downtown Toronto over the course of two days.

Despite production hiccups, we completed this on time. I finally had a chance to edit the video and is now online. Enjoy the video below.

Needle in the Vein - Pandamonia - blog.jawadmir.com from Jawad Mir on Vimeo.

Hello everyone. I just wanted to take few moments to let everyone know that I will be updating my blog on more regular basis starting Sunday. Why? Well production season is getting off the ground once again. This Sunday, I will be filming first of many weddings in 2009 followed by a music video scheduled for 17th and 18th of February.

In most cases, I will be taking pictures at the events this year and posting them on facebook directly and in some cases, I will wait a day until post them. So hang on and wait for some pictures of the wedding upcoming in few days.

That’s right. Two weeks ago Information Week reported that Apple has applied for Storyboard Patent in order to make Final Cut Pro user’s work a bit more easy. Below is the excerpt but you can read the full article here

The Apple storyboarding application described provides a way for film and video directors or producers to designate the placement of cameras and actors that integrates with the script. Thus, rather than being a purely visual aid for those behind the lens, the storyboards Apple has in mind could serve both crew and actors. The patent explains that storyboards “may be distributed to actors and crew in advance of production to aid in preparation.”

I have been a film score and classical music fan almost 15 years now. Although my library is pretty huge, it isn’t as big as many of you think.

Back in 1992, I saw an independent film from India called Parinda from director Vidu Vinod Chopra. Notice I didn’t say bollywood. That’s because it wasn’t your typical bollywood film and by those days standards, it was one of the most brilliant story with brilliant performances and outstanding direction. The film’s subject line was relationship beween two brothers and one of his girlfriends relation with the mafia world. Without saying much, the film opened up with this classical piece which I am sure you have heard of many times.

It’s called Fanfare of the Comman Man by Aaron Copland

Get the Flash Player to see the wordTube Media Player.

Although, there are many great foreign films out there but while back I had the pleasure of watching an Iranian Film which was nominated for Best Foreign Picture in 1999. The film was called ‘The Color of Paradise’.

I have seen this film twice in the past 5 years and everytime I see it, it just gets to me. I don’t want to giveaway anything and the trailer doesn’t either but it’s a powerful story of a young boy and his family. It will get to you at several occasions.

Watch the trailer below and get it from your local library or video store. It’s worth the search.

As most of you guys know, I am a pretty big Apple product user. From my Mac Pro to Mac Book Pro to iPhone and AppleTV, I have made sure that everything I use for professional and entertainment purposes is Apple. One reason is simply because I am an Apple Fan and second because I like to keep everything including movies, bookmarks, music, trailers, calendar in sync.

In any case, I am here to briefly talk about Apple TV. What are it’s advantages. Well for starter, you can wireless connect your Apple TV to any of your Mac and simply throw in mpgs, mp3s on your ITunes and then it syncs to your ATV. You can also rent or buy movies and tv shows that are either new on DVD or something that aired on TV last night.

Now if you want to use it for more reasons, you can either install XMBC and Couchsurfer to watch everything from AVIs, DVDs, listen to music and even surf the web. Although, there are quite a few free hacks available, one of the best ones that has a little price tag attached to it is “aTV Flash”.

Basically, your ATV is built around Mac OS Tiger system. So all you have to do is install this “aTV Flash” for $49.95 and you can play everything. Let’s say your Apple TV is connected to your home theatre and all your mp3 files are on an external hard drive. Either you can upload those files to Apple TV by remotely connecting to it or hook it up to your Wireless Airport and you can listen to all your music in your living room while your computer is upstairs or in the basement.

You can even surf the web using Apple’s Safari either with a remote or by hooking up a keyboard or a mouse. Your choice. Not to mention, by default you can simply watch anything from YouTube on Apple TV. I am a huge fan of Apple TV especially, if I need to watch something on YouTube, I use it. Watching trailers, listening to music, watching movies and even surfing the web is something I love doing. Why should I use my DVDs all the time and scratch them when I really watch them through Apple TV.

Get your Apple TV at Apple’s Website and aTV Flash on their website.

For those who haven’t seen the new full trailer of Will Ferrell’s action adventure comedy ‘Land of the Lost’, be sure to check it out. Not only it has exciting FX, some old time humour (thanks to no crude humour) and tons of action but believe it or not it also pokes fun at NBC Today’s Matt Lauer interview with Tom Cruise. See for yourself.

That’s right. I am already in process on working on at least 2 music videos for two artists here in Canada. That number can change to 4 later in Spring.

If all goes to plan, I will be directing a music group in two weeks time for my first ever music video. I will be sharing more on that once we do the 2 day filming in mid-February but until then stay tuned.

Yes I know, I didn’t make ‘Revolutionary Road’ but considering it’s a film by one of the most amazing storyteller out there, I couldn’t resist but to share this story. Directed by Sam Mendes (American Beauty), ‘Revolutionary Road’ is based on Richard Yates’ 1961 novel, the novel and the film take an in depth look at a bad marriage of Frank (Di Caprio) and April (Winslet).

The latest issue of American Cinematographer interviews director Sam Mendes and cinematographer Roger Deakin. Both talk about how they used simplicity to tackle this couple’s sadistic tale of marriage. Having seen this incredible film, I did notice the simplicity of shot compositions as well as in editing this film that brought me closer to the characters. As filmmakers, I think many of us try to get stylish shots but we must first understand the story and the characters and then film it accordingly.

Below is an excerpt from the article but you can read it in entirety over here.

On Revolutionary Road, the requirements of the story, and Mendes’ desire to tell it in an “unadorned” style, led to a visual approach Deakins calls “very straightforward.” The cinematographer notes, “It’s a film about a marriage falling apart in this supposedly idyllic suburbia, and when you’ve got two great actors in a story like that, you don’t want to do much with the camera. You just want to photograph it as best you can to let the audience see the characters and the performances that give you the characters.” The close focus on Frank and April also led Mendes and Deakins to make decisions about shots only after the director had thoroughly rehearsed DiCaprio and Winslet in the space at hand. “It wasn’t like working with the Coen brothers, who decide in advance exactly how something will be staged and shot,” says Deakins. “This wasn’t the kind of film where you were going to impose anything, really, on what the actors were going to do.”

Adobe confirmed yesterday at the Flash On The Beach (FOTB) conference in Brighton, UK that it is finally developing a Flash Player for the iPhone. But don’t hold your breath. You won’t be able to see it at least in the first half of 2009.

Nevertheless, this is big news for everyone who like to watch flash videos other than Youtube on their iPhone.