Demo

Shrugging off the irrelevant thoughts, Navruz refocused on his buddy. Max, seeing that, was quick to oblige, "So by going for a mile, I meant that we have to put disproportionately more effort into our bid than our competitors. As I told before, they are incentivised to just wait for a random pick, and they also have the initial advantage. The electronics company wouldn't pay due respect to us. We have to earn it. And we can only earn it by showing enough sincerity. So here is why 'Going for a mile to get an inch'."

Navruz tried to put himself in the department head's shoes, and he had to agree that he wouldn't have paid proper attention to a no-name such as himself, "Yes, there must be some 'WoW' factor." After saying that, Navruz went into thinking mode. He tried to find some references in his head. If there were any applicable ones, he would see whether to use them as a guide.

Several minutes had passed, yet none of the dudes, slurping on the Czech, felt uncomfortable with that. Those two simply didn't have the normal conventions of what was awkward and what was not.

Suddenly, Navruz became enlivened as he took the glass of beer, and after he bottomed it out, he went into his version 2.71828, "Have you ever watched "Sin City"? Buh, it doesn't matter. What actually matters is that "Sin City" is a comic book adaption, the author being Frank Miller, who was known then for being reticent. That bloke Frank was afraid that the movie adaptation would bring shame to the 'child' of his. And so he refused directors and producers alike, left and right, including Robert Rodriguez. If you watched the movie, you would know that the latter is exactly the guy who ended up directing it. Ask me how."

Navruz wanted to solicit the fake curiosity from his friend, to which Max could only reluctantly react by saying, "How?"

As all the successful greasy salesmen do, Navruz continued by quickly rubbing his hand in the motion of creating fire, his eyes projecting hypnotic rays, "Simple, my little friend. He won Frank Miller's trust by making a demo. Yep, some of the iconic scenes that you saw in the movie, were actually were first shot in the demo, all relying on out-of-the-pocket expenses. Though the video clip that he got was rough compared to the future movie, it was more than enough to convince the old bloke."

Navruz was definitely glad that he found this story in the dark corners of his memory. It was indeed a good reference.

Well, Max, being more practical of the two, was quick to cool down the initial excitement, "It is good and all, but we have to think of other solutions as well. Maybe what you are proposing is not the best thing to do. Yes, it is the best for the time being, but we have to look somewhere else as well."

Navruz, a little disgruntled at the almost indifferent reaction of his friend, still had to reluctantly agree with the dude.

They tried to further brainstorm, but because Max lacked expertise in filming, and Navruz was still holding onto his genius idea, also, the keg of Czech wasn't really a good teammate to begin with, so they didn't really come up with anything decent. They could only settle on making a demo.

"Yes, lets book the latest interview, it will buy us enough time, while also giving us the advantage of showing up last." With that, Max concluded their beer collaboration.

Before Max parted with his friend, they agreed to meet up early in the morning to execute their plan and not waste the already limited time.

And so they did, "Good morning, mate. I did some mental gymnastics after getting sober. So here is the deal: we need mass, preferably slightly overweight adults, but otherwise it doesn't really matter; we need equipment, digital cameras, lighting, reflectors and tripods, maybe stabilizers as well, but the latter might probably end up being redundant; we need a shooting set and we also need to scout for some places outdoors. The first one should be easy to accomplish - we can just rally a bunch of neighbors." Having said that, Navruz started habitually biting his nails while staring with dilated pupils somewhere left to Max.

Thinking about something for a moment, Navruz finally opened his mouth, "If we rally our neighbors, we will mostly be dealing with dudes such as ourselves, if not younger. In my vision, most of the mass actors should be overweight adults. It will add to the campiness. Of course we are doing just a demo, but it will be way more impactful this way. Max, you know that I don't have relatives, nor a big network of acquaintances...."

Only Navruz wanted to say what he was intending to say as Max abruptly interrupted him, "Don't worry, big 'choyxona' uncles and overly 'housewifish' aunties, you name it. Not a big deal, just several calls."

"Ok, so on this front we have no problems. I think we can deal with second and third points comprehensively. Have I ever told you that I worked for some time as a wedding filmmaker. The filmmaking studio that once employed me can actually lend us a hand.... or at least their equipment. Let me make the call."

And so he did. Max, watching his friend talk in that bullshitty manner, realized that it may be easier than he expected, since Navruz talked this way only when he was comfortable with someone and that indicated that the boss of the studio or whoever was on the other end, was really a homie of his.

After sending some kisses and smooches through the phone, the dude finally put away the Nokia brick and looked up at his friend, "Everything should be fine, but I may have to slave away myself for ten wedding sessions in the future. The equipment and the studio are on them. We are fortunate that tomorrow is a slack day, so the studio will be freed up by then, but we have to film outdoor scenes before we go to the set."

Those outdoor scenes weren't really complicated, and since the duo didn't have access to powerful lighting, they had to rely on natural light. This limited their location choice, and if you add the need for relatively deserted places, then their hands got even more tied. Yet, that wasn't really bad news since 'limit' in directors' circle also meant 'focus'. Max and Navruz were easily able to picture what they wanted and where those wants could be satisfied. Or else, do you think why there are no cool low budget epic movies, because budget restrains directors and give them only few options that they could work with. Christopher Nolan's "Following" with its 6k budget is a clear example of this. Once he got money, he started to film something really grand.

Max and Navruz collectively came up with suitable locations. One was Max' short route for his Elementary School. He vividly remembered where the shadow hung at exactly what time, and it was important since Navruz said that he needed the light to hit subjects from a specific angle. Navruz also remembered one spot for the second mass run, and that was metallic sheds in his neighborhood that once formed enigmatic adventure scape for his former childhood self.

If they do two cuts for each location and combine it with indoor shooting material, then that was it. The demo would be ready.

Rallying up all the bored dudes they could rally, they went to the sheds, but before that they went to say hello to the wedding studio boss, and more importantly, to take the spare equipment. The idiosyncratic duo got light meter and Canon EOS 5D mark ii on their hands. Sure, the camera was five years old already, but many insiders still considered it relevant. Looking at the price-performance ratio, it was really good for amateurs. For the demo, it was more than enough.

Now, armed with that splendid camera indeed, and with the mass already in place, they only needed the sun to position itself in the right spot, but since none of the blokes had supernatural abilities that would allow them to move celestial bodies on a whim, they could only patiently wait.

During the wait, they instructed the mass on what to do. Not all the of the rallied force were required to take part in, because they were either too young or too thin, or both. 'Choyxona' uncles were more than welcome. Imagining them desperately running for the new conditioner, it was silly indeed.

After several rehearsals, the sun finally stopped being capricious and did its job. Max watched the whole charade on the sidelines. It was hard for him to picture in the final product because all he saw was overweight dudes scrambling somewhere in unison. Some of them even flashed their beer bellies through the light t-shirts. It was a hella fun sight to behold. He also saw how Navruz operated the camera. They didn't use tripods, all in order to achieve a shaky-cam effect. It wasn't nauseatingly shaky, Max could tell it from the hand movements of his friend. If the camera was a point in the plane, it would've described short and intense waves.

After they had done shooting at the sheds, they flew to the location found by Max. Twenty perspiring dudes surprisingly quickly caught the much needed taxis one after another, and it was judging by the standards of Tashkent, where you just have to stand by the road doing nothing, and you still will be hit up by countless informal Pacmans.

It was all going smoothly indeed.