Aqeel Ahmed | Film & Video Director

Bowza – Ride With Me Freestyle

Aqeel — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:34:05 +0000

I’ve been busy planning my business, Ahmco. Although it’s a creative video agency, the business/legal side of things got me feeling a bit creatively drained.
I had recently got back in contact with an old school friend, who is now a rapper going by the name of Bowza. He asked if I could direct a music video for him for any track of my choice from his mixtape. The only restriction: it’s zero budget.

One of my philosophies, and something that is a part of Ahmco’s manifesto, is that we make videos and films of the highest quality with the least amount of resources. That doesn’t mean deliberately limit yourself or try to build a skyscraper for a penny. However, just throwing money on expensive cameras, effects and other resources doesn’t necessarily make something good (the Transformers movies, anyone?).

I thought it would be a great creative challenge — just me armed with my Canon 5D, a tripod, a track and a reflector. Making do with whatever light, people and locations we had available.

The music video is currently being edited, but here’s a little video of a freestyle Bowza did on the side while we were shooting:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Watch on YouTube: http://ahm.co/bzf1

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Shattered Pieces on Vimeo and Ahmco

Aqeel — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 14:52:26 +0000

Many people have (or more like had) been requesting Shattered Pieces on Vimeo. I’ve finally got round to doing it. Those that wanted it probably don’t care anymore or have watched it on YouTube already. Sorry!

I’ve uploaded a higher quality video compared to the YouTube version. It took FOREVER to upload. That along with Vimeo’s super quality — watch it again if you already have!
Check it out here: http://vimeo.com/ahmco/sp

Also, you might have noticed the new logo at the start. What is Ahmco? Well, Ahmco is my new film and video production business.

It was getting confusing having Aqeel Ahmed the Person (me!) and Aqeel Ahmed the Brand, so I’ve decided to split them up, and work under the name of the production business, Ahmco.
We’ll be providing services such as TV commercials, music videos, corporate videos, films and animation. It’s basically “Aqeel: The company”
Check out the website with showreel: http://ahm.co

This also means that this website will now become more personal and less about work. We’ll see if I can keep it to myself!

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W.A.N.T.

Aqeel — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 19:52:04 +0000

Two weeks ago, I participated in the Sci-Fi London 48 Hour Film Challenge, where you have to make a film in (you’ve guessed it) 48 hours.

I was in Team Bower Rangers, led by director Josh Bower. I served as VFX guy and graphic design (logo and posters that appear in the film).

It was a great experience trying to come up with a story, shoot it and edit it all within such a small space of time.

The brief was to include the following (random) things:

Title: W.A.N.T.

Dialogue: “I put whiskey in my milk to kill the germs.”

Props: A white mug with a broken handle containing a blue/purple liquid, into which a character puts powder (or granules)

And, here’s the final film: http://aql.tv/WANT

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Shattered Pieces at East End Film Festival

Aqeel — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 17:03:48 +0000

I’ve got great news! Oh wait, you’ve just read the title of this post, haven’t you? Darn. Anyway, yes, Shattered Pieces is going to be screened at East End Film Festival 2011. It’s extra special as it’s a great festival and it’s finally going to be shown in the place I call home; London’s East End.

UPDATE:

The festival will be from 27 April to 2 May 2011. Shattered Pieces will be shown at 20:30 on Friday 29 April at Genesis Cinema (on Mile End Road, Whitechapel). Tickets will be available from 30 March on their website.

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Fish Fingers Spec Commercial

Aqeel — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 18:41:29 +0000

I made this a few weeks ago but couldn’t post it because it was for a competition and was still being judged. It was shortlisted for MOFILM’s January 2011 competition, but unfortunately didn’t win! Ah well!

It’s a commercial for Young’s Omega 3 Fish Fingers. Shot on a Canon 5d mk2 and audio recorded on a Zoom H4n, in about 6 hours. This was my first time working with children. The kids (obviously) aren’t actors, but both were amazing and cute.
Everybody involved did a great job. I’ve included their links so do check them out!

Starring:
Wendy MacLennan as Mum
Harvey Rhodes-Vaughan as Andy
Matilda Welsh as Kellie

DoP: Jim Dinsdale
AD: Josh Bower
Director: Me, Aqeel Ahmed

Big thank you to:
Howard Berry for all the help given, even though extremely busy!
The Khan family for letting me use their kitchen.
Andrew Ormes for helping at auditions.

Short URL to the YouTube video (although I can’t imagine this one being a popular one): http://aql.tv/fish

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Alienated on YouTube Front Page

Aqeel — Sat, 22 Jan 2011 18:59:04 +0000

Looking through my mentions on Twitter, I saw I had a tweet from @MoslehChowdhury telling me that he saw my student short, Alienated, on the front page of YouTube in their spotlight.

Even though Alienated is on my old YouTube account, people are still finding their way to AqeelTV and most importantly, Shattered Pieces. Thank you to everybody that has watched (any of) my films, and an even bigger thank you to all those that are sharing and commenting. I feel so positive and it’s only just the start of 2011! I will definitely be making loads of new videos this year, including some tips and lessons on filmmaking.

Stay tuned/connected! <3

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CG Artists: Win Unlimited Rendering with Render Rocket

Aqeel — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 00:46:02 +0000

When I was making Alienated, my VFX degree film, a problem that became apparent early on in pre-production was that the rendering of the film would almost be impossible with the (very few) resources I had available. I knew I had to find a way to be able to render demanding 3D scenes quickly and efficiently, while still being able to work on other scenes.

That’s when I found out about Render Rocket, an online render farm service, and (cheekily) asked if they could “sponsor” my rendering. To my surprise, they said ‘Yes’, and I was able to finish my film and… the rest is history!

Now, two years later, I’d like to return the favour by making people aware of this amazing company. So I’ve teamed up with Render Rocket to bring a special promotion; A competition giving you the chance to win free rendering time on Render Rocket.

Prize? 1 of 4 chances to win Two weeks of unlimited “economy level” render time. You will get access to all Render Rocket’s extra render power 24/7 for two weeks, right behind the power users.

When? Starting now! A winner will be picked at random every Wednesday at 3:55pm (PST)/11:55pm (GMT) for FOUR weeks, with the first being on 8th December.

How? Do one of the following. The more you do, the more chances you have of winning. Your entry will be included in every week, so if you didn’t win in week 1, you will still be entered in the next 3 draws. However, if you do keep retweeting and sharing, it won’t hurt your chances. To enter:

On Twitter

Tweet & do the following:

“CG Artists: Follow @AqeelAhmed & @RenderRocket and RT this for a chance to win unlimited rendering. Check out: http://t.co/RUEN97X“

On Facebook

Like Render Rocket’s page and comment on their page.

On YouTube

Subscribe to AqeelTV and comment mentioning “Render Rocket” in the channel’s comments

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Shattered Pieces subtitles & Japanese blog

Aqeel — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 21:30:23 +0000

After many requests, Shattered Pieces now has subtitles. A great feature on YouTube is the “translated” subtitles option. It uses the same technology as Google translate, so sometimes there are some hilarious results, but mostly it’s great for those whose first language isn’t English. Watch it now: Shattered Pieces

Talking about languages, I’ve got a new Japanese language blog. It is basically more like a diary, for me to practice Japanese but if any of you use Ameba and Ameblo too, follow me: www.aqeel.jp

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Lord Mayor’s Show 2010

Aqeel — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 20:21:22 +0000

Yesterday, I met up with a friend to take some photographs of buildings and stuff in London. We decided to meet at Bank tube station. What we forgot was that it was the Lord Mayor of London’s show; and it was all happening/ending at Bank! It was good luck.
Here’s some photographs I took there and of St Paul’s Cathedral afterwards. I took these on a Canon 5D Mark II. I did take some videos but haven’t had the chance to go through them.

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OK! I’m Re-Branded! (Aqeel-co’s Way)

Aqeel — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 18:20:50 +0000

A new domain, a new design, same Aqeel. Errr…

Yep, this is my brand-new old-paper website. Still not quite sure on what direction to go with, as the original purpose of the blog was a production diary for Shattered Pieces. Oh, and yes, Shattered Pieces is now online and remastered in HD 1080p, if you don’t already know. Check it out in films or on the film’s official site: ShatteredPieces.com

If you haven’t already, please redirect all your bookmarks and stuff to the new domain: aqeel.co

OK, this is just a quick post for now while I do a few tweaks. Thanks goes to Scott Coello for putting together the WordPress theme for me. He’s awesome so check out his site.

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