Current project

WHAT

KARBALA- When Skies Wept Blood

A documentary film, which is based on the tragedy of Karbala.
It is a detailed explanation of events, from the deathbed of the Prophet, to the tragic massacre of Karbala.

for more information click here

WHERE

Made in London, but we aim to distribute around the globe!

WHEN

Started the project in late August, completed the project in January 5th 2007. Official launch was on the 22nd of January.

WHY

Its simple. The tragic story of Karbala, is one of the most influential and inspiring stories ever known to mankind.
We thought that by portraying the tragedy of Karbala in form of a documentary would be a great way of brining
non-muslims towards the truth, and to teach our own muslims about the story, in depth.

HOW

Planning
We had to design the structure of the documentary. (how do we start it, what comes in the middle...the end etc.)

Writing
We then had to form questions, that would be posed to the scholars. Easy as it may sound, it is difficult to
word questions in a manner where the interviewee gives an answer which is clear and makes sense.
(confused?....so were we!).

Interviewing
Then we had to find the scholars to interview. Book a date, time and venue to record.
Then record the interviews,(many times we had to record the same interviews more than once,
its never easy to spot mistakes first time round!).

Editing
Without a doubt the most strenuous and time consuming task. This is where it was decided, what goes in
and what goes out of the documentary. ( this involves analysing at least 20 hours of interview footage,
and trying to bring it down to 45 minutes!)

Digitizing and compiling
Once decided, what goes in, the interviews were digitally compiled (in other words, computer) in the proposed order.
The video clips were then placed in the correct places.

Video Clips
Then we had to think of possible video clips that we would include in the documentary.
This invloved us recording our own original footage, aswell as using footage from external sources.
(this is usuallly the part where the special effects work their magic on things).

Graphic Design and Special Effects
We then worked on a DVD cover design, this same design would be used on the posters and adverts etc. Special effects were created for all the video clips, to optimize them. Name banners for all the scholars were created, the title entry and all other minor/ major effects were applied.

Editing ptII
Re-editing, this invloved more vigorous filtering of what goes in and what goes out, & where video clips should
and shoudlnt be placed. (by now the team was under a great time pressure,
and as you can imagine we were only 1/3 the way!)

Narration
Then, the next step was to add in narration (usually to introduce new 'chapters' of the documentary),
and so the narrative script was written and narration was recorded.

Audio
During the earlier stages of the project audio files were compiled ( background music)-
once the narration, correct order of interviews and video clips was certain- We then had to layer the audio in the background.

Finally
Final touches were applied- the DVD was burnt. KARBALA- When Skies Wept Blood was finally complete!!!

 

Future project

We will continue to persue our aim to create distinct, professional and truthful media, which appeal to ALL.
We have a number of possible future project ideas that we would like to put into development, so watch this space!