Just finished off uploading my first proper timelapse short, with footage from Manali, Ladakh and Kashmir. These are truly amazing places, Ladakh in particular is simply breathtaking. Called the Moonland, the feature thumbnail of the video is also from Ladakh overlooking the Indus Valley.
Planing to write more on the travels to India and also on time-lapse videos on some later posts. Hope you will enjoy the video, feel free to let me know your feedback.
Came across this amazing 20 minute documentary produced for Aisan Human Rights Commission, which i think every Sri Lankan regardless of their own opinion about human rights should have a look at. The documentary is deeply disturbing and takes a very insightful look at the "torture epidemic" that has gripped the Sri Lankan Police system.
Mr.Basil Fernando of Aisan Human Rights Commission rightly puts it, this is not something the international community will understand properly, and the change should come within from our society itself. Community awareness and strong advocacy against police torture is needed. When you look at the video you will notice several torture victims who have gone through much trauma due to these activities, and today it may be them but tomorrow it can very well be you or one of your loved ones? Have a look share your thoughts and spread the word.
In this episode of Idea Pettiya we were able to have a brief chat with Mithila Somasiri who is one of the major contributors and founding memebers of Sri Lankan nature and travel site Lakdasun.org
The website is a thriving virtual community of people who share similar interests in travel and exploring Sri Lankan nature and wildlife. The website has now become a great destination for users to obtain free information about places to explore, get advise and share their own travel experiences. The website contains highly detailed trip reports, information about attractions and amazing trekking routes in the heart of Sri Lanka. Their ever active forum has become a great place to seek advise and share information.
We spoke to Mithila about his inspiration behind the website and his thoughts about conservation of Sri Lankan wildlife.
You could visit Lakdasun for more information at :http://www.lakdasun.org/
Its been sometime since Drg and I did our first feature documentary with four Sri Lankan metal bands called Arise. When we decided that we wanted to do this documentary we hardly had any material to work with, even though the Sri Lankan metal scene has been alive and kicking (at least in a very smaller scale) for so many years there was hardly any live footage to be found. In fact for certain bands even though they had been playing for more than five years they only had a few band pics and some live photographs to share with us.
This was indeed a tragedy, but of course when looking at the number of people who were coming to local gigs, supporting and encouraging the metal movement this was hardly a surprise. So in order to create the documentary apart from band interviews we traveled between Colombo and Kandy recording a number of gigs within a span of around one year. The footage we got were of very low quality, gigs were recorded off a Panasonic DV cam which was very bad in low light conditions and did not have a lasting battery. However once I was able to afford a decent camera I started recording off more gigs and band performances. Not to mention that these also have the shaky camera movements and some times bad low lights, but still within the span of last 1 1/2 years we have been able to slowly document most of the bands in the Sri Lankan metal scene on video.
As most would agreed the best feeling of a metal track would be to listen to it live. As of late with help of several friends we have started to use dual cameras for gig recording. This is no way an easy task, since we are not using any professional cameras, additional equipment or live editing. The hardest part comes at the editing sessions where footage from the two cameras needs to be synchronized and edited. Also the audio tracks on most of these gigs are not professionally recorded so we are ended up with the audio feed picked up by the camera itself. However once an edit is completed and when you go through the footage several times, the satisfaction you get is unmatched.
Of course we got a long way to go in terms of videoing gigs professionally though this can be taken as the first few steps in that direction. And kudos to everyone who are attending gigs and making it possible for bands to perform and supporting in any way they can.
This video was taken from behind the stage, its shaky and not of the best quality at all, but still love this. Capturing that performance and the crowds reaction was just epic!
Our latest dual camera experiment featuring WLG, an upcomming metalcore act from Kurunagala.
Well you could find more videos of lesser and better quality than these at our youtube channel along with live performances of a number of well known local metal bands, check them all out at http://www.youtube.com/mathawaada
First episode of our Tube talk show Idea Pettiya is now live!!
We spoke with Anjula Rasanga, who is a independent filmmaker and a cartoonist who recently screened his first feature documentary "Angam". The documentary goes in depth into the Sri Lankan traditional martial arts called "Angam Pora", so in this episode we discuss what inspired him to make this movie, how he went ahead with it and his insights and experiences on film-making in Sri Lanka.
One interesting point he brought forward was the use of the so called "new media" as a young film-maker to promote his work. It was indeed an interesting chat we had with him, hope it would be the same for you.
The episode is in Sinhala with English subtitles (make sure to tun that on by clicking the "CC" button on the video)
Tune in for more episodes very soon, meanwhile click here to subscribe to our YouTube or visit the below link
Paranoid Earthling is one of the most prominent and well known Rock/Grunge acts i Sri Lanka. Few week back they put up an electric performance at Aphrodisiac at their self-titled concert "Paranoid Earthling Live". There were also performances by Nevi'im; an exciting new act by Dhas brothers as well as well known experimental stoner rock band Karmic Sulphur.
With all the footage gathered I was able to create a small playlist, but of course the adrenaline rush and the thrill that was unleashed at the audience is noway justified in these videos. But of course if you like any of the bands don't forget to check them out and be there at their next performance.
Note that I have kept the videos in order of performance you could always skip through as you wish from the list you would get below once you click the play button.
