Sente Sente -- a film by AJ Brooks & Ken Kupelian

Hawk Teflon said:
Did you have a translator there? Was it hard finding actors? I can't even find people to help in Oklahoma City, I can't imagine flying to Uganda and trying to get help.
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Morgan (the main actor) was a pretty impressive producer and all around renaissance man. Acting as translator and body guard. Many Ugandans speak English but he translated my direction for the most part.

He was able to figure out how to get the locations that we wanted and somehow managed to get all the actors in place at the right times. He was so nonchalant I was worried things wouldn't be ready, but he made it all happen!

It was actually quite freeing being "an outsider," it was like we were free of having the responsibility to know where we were or how to get a hold of people. I would just say, "Hey Morgan, can we get two boda's (motorcycles) over here?" and he'd make it happen.

And everyone involved was just thrilled to be a part of it. We all fed off that energy. Truly a great experience.
 
Updated with poster and cast/crew.

Composer Randin Graves is finalizing the score, sound designer Alex Donkle is working away at the mammoth amount of work I've thrown at him last minute.

Color corrected. Just waiting on sound.
 
AJ Brooks said:
Morgan (the main actor) was a pretty impressive producer and all around renaissance man. Acting as translator and body guard. Many Ugandans speak English but he translated my direction for the most part.

He was able to figure out how to get the locations that we wanted and somehow managed to get all the actors in place at the right times. He was so nonchalant I was worried things wouldn't be ready, but he made it all happen!

It was actually quite freeing being "an outsider," it was like we were free of having the responsibility to know where we were or how to get a hold of people. I would just say, "Hey Morgan, can we get two boda's (motorcycles) over here?" and he'd make it happen.

And everyone involved was just thrilled to be a part of it. We all fed off that energy. Truly a great experience.
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Yeah, serious props to Morgan for helping make this happen. Like AJ said, whatever we wanted, he was able to get for us and make it happen. Most everyone was wonderful and very excited to help us out any chance they could. We definitely fed off that energy and we were able to stick to our schedule pretty closely... sometimes even finishing scenes early. It was a great experience shooting over there and it really spoiled us... it makes me want to shoot everything in Uganda from now on. ;)
 
Great for you to chime in Ken!

Sente Sente uploaded. This might be the first time I've submitted an entry hours before the deadline. :)
 
Aj, great video. I had no idea what to expect when I started watching this piece. Decided to watch the BTS after the video. Nicely done. Great job taking advantage of your journey overseas.
 
I love the look of your film. The locations are awesome. I especially love the way you use and integrate with the environment. Everything felt so textured and real. That opening fight is wonderful.

The chase scene is equally wonderful. The music in particular (with the percussion) is awesome in that section.

Your actors are great too, expressing raw emotion with little or no dialogue.

However, I feel a bit dumb, I'm not sure if I completely understand the ending. I think the man (in yellow) finally gets his money back and dies in the end, but before he does he gives the money to the boy (who originally took it from him) and that boy grows up to use the money to go to school. If that's the case, it's a very deep ending and I like the way it resonates.

Overall, having seen your BTS and imagining what it must of been like to shoot there and throw this production together, I am very very impressed. Well done.
 
Chris Messineo said:
The chase scene is equally wonderful. The music in particular (with the percussion) is awesome in that section.
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Thanks for that, Chris. I am wondering though if you're being specific about that percussive music being good because you thought the other parts weren't as effective, or if you just like that part in particular. Just in case there's some useful feedback there. :)
 
randin said:
Thanks for that, Chris. I am wondering though if you're being specific about that percussive music being good because you thought the other parts weren't as effective, or if you just like that part in particular. Just in case there's some useful feedback there. :)
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You're most welcome.

As for your question, I thought all the music was great, but I truly LOVED that section. It was some of my favorite scoring from the whole fest and I thought that drum beat not only added to the action, but it captured the flavor of the world. Really awesome work!
 
Cool, thanks much. AJ had the concept pretty well there in temp music, but yeah, I took it a step or two further in the switch from an "authentic" to a more contemporary sound for the action in the building, while trying not to take it so far as to be ungrounded from the place.
 
AJ - how amazing to be able to shoot in such a rich location. I was very impressed with the number of people and various locations you were able to muster. The crowd in the fight seemed legit and the fight was well done. I assume they weren't really street boxing, but it looked visceral and real. My only other feedback is I thought the fight scene went on a bit long and the McGuffin and the backpack was fun but not totally clear to me at first. Looks like you had a blast.
 
This was great. What an opportunity and you took great advantage of it. You need a better steady cam though.

My downloads have been weird, so I'm not sure I got the whole film. Did it end with a still shot close up on a persons face?
 
Yeah, you should try downloading/viewing it again.

Without giving spoilers, there are credits at the very end.
 
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