Allan Stratton's Blog, page 8

CHANDA'S SECRETS FILM: MEANWHILE, OFF CAMERA...

It's lunch break, and the Three Musketeers, aka Iris, Esther and Soly, are enjoying the time off in pink bathrobes. Barbecue sauce and ice cream have a habit of ending up on costumes. Wardrobe thinks of everything!

Meanwhile, Martin Hamer stands on the road outside Chanda's house:



Martin is a little bit crazy. Well, a lot crazy. If he weren't so tall he'd be an elf. If he weren't so young he'd be Gandulf. The lunatic gleam in his eye is because he's the line producer. That means he's responsi...

CHANDA FILM: MEANWHILE, OFF CAMERA...

It's lunch break, and the Three Musketeers, aka Iris, Esther and Soly, are enjoying the time off in pink bathrobes. Barbecue sauce and ice cream have a habit of ending up on costumes. Wardrobe thinks of everything!

Meanwhile, Martin Hamer stands on the road outside Chanda's house:



Martin is a little bit crazy. Well, a lot crazy. If he weren't so tall he'd be an elf. If he weren't so young he'd be Gandulf. The lunatic gleam in his eye is because he's the line producer. That means he's responsi...

CHANDA'S SECRETS FILM: LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION

Deciding to shoot Chanda's Secrets on location was a gutsy move by the producers. Take financing. Even though South Africa is a relatively stable and prosperous country, the word 'Africa' makes bankers twitch: They don't seem to understand that Africa is a continent, like Europe and North America, and that countries within the continent can be doing just fine, thank you very much.

But shooting a film in rural SubSahara has other headaches besides financing. There are electrical outages. Heat a...

CHANDA'S SECRETS FILM: "I'M READY FOR MY CLOSEUP, MR. DeMILLE"

This is one of Chanda's roosters (chickens?). I'm afraid I'm no good at figuring out the gender of barnyard animals, except for the ones with horns and obvious extra bits. Which, considering my grandparents and uncle were farmers is pretty embarrassing. (Hmmm, I'm thinking maybe that red thing on top means he's a rooster.) Whatever, he's got attitude. Fortunately, he's about the only one who does, which on a film set is remarkable.

For sure, Oliver (Schmitz), the director, is attitude free. He...

CHANDA'S SECRETS FILM: TAKE ONE

Arriving on set was a blast. Everywhere I looked I saw the characters from Chanda's Secrets come to life. In all cases, their spirit was what I'd imagined. In other cases, the actors even looked as I'd pictured them. I'll leave those of you who know the book to tell me which actors you think most closely match their characters. (I'd really love to hear your impressions.)

But first, here's the director, Oliver Schmitz, an ex-pat South African living in Germany. (He fled to avoid the aparthei...

FILMING CHANDA'S SECRETS: ON LOCATION AT LAST

So this is the place where the production company has set me up for the week. It's a country lodge called The Guinea Feather, about a fifteen-minute drive to the town where they shoot the Chanda and Mrs. Tafa home and street scenes. So peaceful. Here's another shot, this time from the top deck of the outdoor dining room.



Daniela Ramin, the Producer's Assistant, flew into Jo'burg last night by way of Turkey. Sam Radebe the production driver, and I picked her up at the airport, and then the thre...

"GETTING THERE IS HALF THE FUN"

GETTING THERE IS HALF THE FUN

This is the cover of the Dutch edition of Chanda's Wars, out this January from Van Goor. I've included it here because I'm currently in the Amsterdam airport. I left home June 4 at 2:00 p.m., arrived here at 7:00 a.m. June 5, and am waiting for a fourteen-hour flight at 10:30 that'll get me into my hotel in Jo'burg by the wee hours of June 6. (I love the cover it mixes cultures of dream and reality; how the landscape suggests the bush and danger, and the red, bloo...

MY EDITORS

By the time you hear from me next -- Monday or Tuesday -- I'll be in South Africa.

In the meantime, I thought you might like to meet my editors, Soly and Misha. They're one and a half. It's nice to have editors so young, because at that age they can't read much less write editorial letters.

Soly is the Abby. He's named after Chanda's little brother in Chanda's Secrets and Chanda's Wars. I've always had a soft spot for Soly (the character) because he's so shy and vulnerable. I have a soft spot f...

A BLOG VIRGIN NO MORE!

I swore I'd never do this. That I'd stay pure. That I'd save my writing for my books.
"Everyone's doing it," my editor coaxed.
"But once I've done it, I'll have to keep on doing it," I said. "My friends who blog do it two or three times a week. They've addicts."
"But it's fun," my web mistress winked. "You'll like it," (Her name is Christine, but I call her Madame and she calls me Sir, and she helps me with everything to do with technology, because I'm basically terrified of anything with stra...