DARIUSH ASADI's FILM BLOG
STORYTELLER , STORY LOVER
My Own Work
Spirit of London
The goal of the project was to use poetic documentary formats (inspired particularly by Godfrey Reggio’s Koyaanisqatsi) to show the diversity of London, and how it can simultaneously act as an idyllic and colourful destination, as well as a dirty, cold and crime-ridden city. This is reflected on by the voices heard throughout the piece, mostly taken from asking real London citizens what they think is ‘the spirit of London’. The film ends with a short epilogue making clear that although the city is full of differing elements and people, they all act together under the one name: London.
The group was made up of Andrei Cojocaru (Shooting assistant and Critical feedback), Bobby Smith (Location help and Shooting assistant), myself, Dariush Asadi (Photographer, Director of shooting and Editing) and Nick Boreham (Photographer, Editor, Narrator and Writer). The song used in the first half of the piece is ‘Dreams Made True’ by Seastock and was purchased for non-monetised use in this film from Jamendo Licensing. Although the small amount of pre-production and shooting time resulted in a few flaws such as unnecessarily shaky cameras and the themes being rather unclear (hence the epilogue narration and closing quote to emphasise the point), all of us in the group are very happy with the outcome.
Here is my own work which consists of short films, writing or other projects of which I have participated in. Below, I explain the process in creating the video, what was my intention or what I was aiming for, and my reaction towards the outcome of what I have achieved.
The Clay People Ep. 6 -
STABBED IN THE BACK
Here is a short stop motion claymation animated film that I wrote. I collaborated with animator Youtuber Aaron Garza on the sixth episode of his series called, The Clay People - a sketch show about clay figures and their everyday random hijinks on a table.
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The story takes place where two clay figures called Clyde and Frank stand on a table. Frank, whom is holding a plastic knife posing as an assassin, tells a bewildered Clyde that he is hired to exterminate an individual. Clyde is then literally "stabbed in the back" as Frank reveals that he is the individual. Then a teleportation man and a real assassin arrive and kill Clyde. The film ends with Frank being recruited as an assassin.
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The thought process of writing this was honestly not a lot, considering it's about random clay figures. It's all pure randomness and not much any characters or any coherent story. This was all nothing but simplicity and fun plus it suited his animation style and what the animator was expecting.
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My only criticism of this was that I originally wrote for the Teleportation Man to come alone and kill Clyde instead of two people arriving and the film to end with the Teleportation Man to lift up his arms and say "just grab onto my pits and I will show you the ways, my son." I know, really random and weird! I wanted this to add to the randomness and weirdness of the skit. Plus when Clyde is shot there is no sound effect.
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However, I am really pleased with this overall. I am more than proud to say that I have officially wrote a screenplay for an animated film and collaborated with an animator. This shows what I aspire to be, an writer and storyteller for film and to bring my characters to life. I really relish in the joy of doing that, especially through animation because through that medium you can unleash the goofiness in them at their full potential.
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The Clay People Ep. 5 - Movie Criticism
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Before writing with Aaron Garza, I voiced one of his characters in an episode of his series called, 'The Clay People.'
This episode was about a clay person who wanted to make a movie called, 'Attack of The Giant Blue Man.' In the end, he kills himself due to harsh negative criticism.
My character was a pompous Movie Critic on social media who rips the movie apart. My character appears on 1:04 in the film. My intention was to make fun of all the critics who shamelessly bash on bad films and act as if their opinion should matter more than the public, whom they are addressing to. I tend to make it blatantly obvious of how satirical my character is, right from the beginning to the end.
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The process of this was that Aaron wanted me to say anything a harsh movie critic would say just as long as I said the name of the film and that my thoughts were completely negative and harsh. I scripted everything I said but made sure I sent the lines to Aaron before recording, so that he would be okay with it. There was one line that needed to be cut out which was, "be sure to tune in next time, 'cause my next review is going to be 50 Shades of Clay," because he wanted his film to be age appropriate, which was understandable.
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From this experience, I had tons of fun. Voicing an animated character is my life long dream and thanks to my immensely talented friend, Aaron, I finally achieved that. I hope to write/collaborate with him again one day and help him create and develop more of his projects.
Assignment 5 -
Somewhere Only I Know
For my Assignment 5, I had to do a Short Drama. I was the Director and Writer of the film Somewhere Only I Know. It tells the story of girl called Sasha who spends most of her time in a park sketching in her book and being alone with her art and in her own little world, to escape from the stress of her abusive family.
This film is about escapism from stress, gaining the courage to be yourself through artistic expression and finding friendship with those who share interests. This work was to empathise with people like Sasha who go through the same thing. They look for a place to escape the stress in their lives, and just be themselves. It is their Sanctuary.
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The inspiration I got for this story was When Marnie Was There where the protagonist, Anna is a shy, timid person who prefers to be left alone in her own world and loves to sketch. In the end of Somewhere Only I Know, Sasha finds a friend whereas Anna finds Marnie, a mysterious figure she just met.
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I was very lucky to have such a dedicated crew whom were Rohan Reddy, DOP who helped me achieve the vision I was hoping for since he saw When Marnie Was There as well and knew what I wanted, Cloe Peker for graciously being our Actor and playing Sasha and at the same time, was our producer, and Candido Tarallo, our Assistant Producer who got us the locations.
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Directing this film was a real challenge but I managed to succeed and I am overall proud of our film.
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