Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Register Log in
  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Daghwah - A Profession in Decline

Asif Limbada

Asif Limbada

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 13, 2011
Messages
632
Reaction score
0
Points
16
Location
Toronto

Daghwah is a traditional fishing method that is still being used by the locals of Kalba in the United Arab Emirates.

The documentary, narrated by fisherman Saif Matar, explains the process and highlights the challenges that have affected this method, especially in the wake of major developments around the area.

Director & Editor: Moe Najati
Producer: Menimienai Saifu
Director Of Photography: Asif Limbada

Music: Chris Elliott | Dominik Johnson | Alex Tschallener | Ed Watkins | Rob Lord
Sound Recordist: Kamran Kalson | Zeeshan Tahir

Color Grade: Azin Samar

Thanks:
Fisherman Saif Matar Al Za'abi and his team.
Umar Farooq
Tony Lehal
Filmmaster MEA
Essa Sheikh
Charbel Reaidy
Montage
 
Last edited:
Outstanding cinematography! Well done. There are so many great shots packed into the 10 or so minutes. Loved the look, angles, and perspective. Thanks for sharing.
 
Thanks Matt!! Wanted to show the different side of the Arab world than what is portrayed.
 
the full version is finally out, playable at the original link in the post. cheers.
 
This is interesting and very pretty to watch. My main issue is with the edit (ok...and the abundance of slow motion, but that's a discussion for another time). I know no one asked my opinion but I'm going to give it anyway. Sorry :-(

I'm seeing a lot of this style of short documentary (and "test footage" and demo reel) where the cuts fall on regular beats of the music. It's starting to drive me a little nuts.

Certain projects call for precise cuts on beats but they are usually designed that way from the start and the music is chosen for that express purpose. This doesn't strike me as one of those times.

Yeah, you want to hit certain beats for emphasis, but all the way through for almost every 4 or 8 bars starts to become monotonous and predictable.

I have to be careful of (and have been guilty of) this same thing when I compose and arrange music, and some of what I make is considered dance music, which is repetitive by nature.

In this case, I didn't notice it the first time around because I was reading the subtitles. When I watched it again to appreciate it as a whole, the regular edits stood out to me. This short has four main pieces of music (not counting the credits) and the beat-driven edits are maintained almost all the way through.

I don't mean to pick on this doc. As I've said, I see it all over the place. Given the score and the subject of fishing in the ocean, I think an opportunity was missed to make the edits more fluid (pun intended). Let them fall where they feel right and if they happen to land on a beat, great.

This trend in "editing" is uninspired, uninspiring and all too often used as a crutch, IMO.
 
Last edited:
Thanks Bobby.


Thanks Brian for your input. Trust me, I know you are not picking on this particular film.

However, it has become a "trend" to use slo-motion, but to us it was creative choice. As we felt that fishing itself is a very slow process and to have almost every facet of it in slo-mo would keep the audience as observant of the experience as we were observing it.

However, I will disagree with you that the editing was done to the beat. Some beauty sequences might have been cut according to the beat (not that the director and me discussed it to be that way, as when I saw the first rough edit, I knew it felt great and was brought the feeling of the experienced more amplified. We went with our gut feelings.

Hey who am I kidding, creativity is subjective. Just so you know we filmed it August 2014 and it was doing the round the festivals for almost a year. So lets put it this way, we filmed it the way we felt it, we were not following any trends.
 
Asif Limbada said:
However, it has become a "trend" to use slo-motion, but to us it was creative choice. As we felt that fishing itself is a very slow process and to have almost every facet of it in slo-mo would keep the audience as observant of the experience as we were observing it..
Click to expand...

I'll buy that.


However, I will disagree with you that the editing was done to the beat. Some beauty sequences might have been cut according to the beat (not that the director and me discussed it to be that way, as when I saw the first rough edit, I knew it felt great and was brought the feeling of the experienced more amplified. We went with our gut feelings.

Hey who am I kidding, creativity is subjective. Just so you know we filmed it August 2014 and it was doing the round the festivals for almost a year. So lets put it this way, we filmed it the way we felt it, we were not following any trends.
Click to expand...

I should've been clearer. I didn't mean to imply it was edited this way because you were deliberately following a trend or that the practice of cutting on regular beats could even be called trendy, only that I see it a lot in this style of filmmaking. Perhaps "trend" was the wrong word to use.

That the majority of this piece's edits fall on the beat isn't really a matter of opinion. This can be determined by simply watching and listening, especially during the last song before the credits. I get why some of the edits hit particular beats and I probably would've done them that way myself.

Maybe the edits felt right because the music, however unintentional, had a strong, subconscious influence on the editing choices.

I'm not saying it's a big deal or that it makes the doc bad in any way. I think it's good despite my pet peeve and acknowledge that it may go unnoticed by most who see it, or they notice it but don't mind it. I might just be overly sensitive to it.

Congrats on your festival run.
 
This why I love art, everyone have their own perspective. And yes you are being too sensitive...lol
 
I really enjoyed your work Asif, would also agree with your comments/reactions on editorial especially since there was no heavy percussion in this piece. Was curious as to whether there is/was room during your theatrical screenings for your subtitles to move down further on to black area below the screen? Obviously there is room to do that for VOD. Thanks for sharing! Impressive! :)
 
Thanks Mark, still looking at another visually interesting story to do next.

As for the subtitles, from what I remember the version for theatrical screenings had they were in the black area.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top