Laith Majali, one of the most creative people that I have a personal knowledge of, was kind enough to invite me for a little visit on the set location of the huge Jordanian feature film;
Captain Abu Raed.
After the warm greeting from Laith, we both walked into the set which lies in a beautiful 2-building palace. The house (which is quite unfair to call it so) is located in Elweibdeh, and my oh my I've never seen such beautiful "house"
Regardless to that, the amount of crew moving around on set, the huge 18k light placed, the big white reflector stretched outdoors were enough to get me a hell more excited. Almost all members of the crew had on their little headsets, dark t-shirts and a waistline full of gadget goodies. And what's funny is that the Artists, or actors tend to really stand out in such crowd, I thought it was pretty interesting.
After getting deeper into the location, Laith decided to show me the amount and how highly equipped this movie is. And believe you me, It is! From a number of 4 massive trucks fully loaded with gear that probably had its first "visit" to Amman - to the little bags and details spread around that makes you feel like saying "this is a mess I could live in". And then I got to witness a little sneak peek to a bit of the film that's just been shot on the yummy mobile 100+ GB video storage device.
Inside this truck, Laith and I walk in and stare at a blank widescreen. First I see the blare and suddenly this beautiful scene of Rana Sultan getting ready for the shot. The lights, the colours, the crispness, the depth of focus could seriously get me to faint. And this has totally turned my previously created image on how the film is going to "look like".
Then, I asked if it's possible to actually see them inside filming one of the scenes. After a less than 1 minute wait we get the ok to walk into one of the houses on set and I could hear the distinctive voice of Amin speaking Arabisi and giving instructions. Stood there for a bit, and then the usual call out was done and so we seal our lips. I don't know why, but this moment of silence with all the eyes observing the young talent Hussein as Murad came off really special and had its own ambiance.
Proceeding inside, crossing the mid hall with the skylight to walk into a darkened dining area. There I walked in to see Rana sitting on a chair with headphones on - a little smile and a greeting from her part and so from mine. Then to turn behind the dining table, try to find a place to sit down and see what is being filmed. The sound manager shouted out something in French, which got me and Laith smiling though we had no idea what the hell is he saying (so much for my DELF). Then I got to watch on a screen the other take of Hussein for the scene.
Walking back outside, Laith asked if I met Amin before and I nayed, but we walked up to him and I got to introduce myself and Amin broke the ice through a couple of random jokes pretending to know me since childhood. I was then introduced to even more people - Some I knew through deviantART or Flickr (
Mohammad,
Sabri,
Bassel) and others just met for the first time, such as Bridget, Fuzzy and Walid. Apparently in Laith's little magical vest lies a lot of interesting stuff, and they all can be consumed in order for Laith to 'function' through the day. From the pocket that hides Roasted seeds, to the other that has chocolate waffer.
Then darkness started to fall, witnessing a cute little chihuahua running around, visiting the pool side, being silenced a lot of times, meeting big-shot David who happens to be fond of either imposing embarrassing questions to women or doing homo jokes to others. Then I had to leave, carrying with me on the way out a great memory of visiting the first Jordanian feature film set and also meeting all these creative powers.
Sorry I bored you with details, ta-ta for now :)
Labels: art, jordan
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