Magic in Movie-land

Remember the scene in the film Ghulam in which Aamir Khan races towards a

speeding train? That was not a stunt artist doubling up for the film star and

no, Aamir did not volunteer to do it himself. Actually, Aamir was running

against a static wall and the camera merely captured his action. Later, this

shot was edited digitally and superimposed against the image of a running train

moving in the opposite direction. A fairly unexciting action-less shooting

schedule, did result in a nail biting finish ultimately.

The possibilities of deploying technology in films are infinite and the

industry is excited. Yet, technology deployment in the film industry is largely

restricted to the post-production stage. This is primarily due to the industry’s

resistance to change but the invasion of new technology is inevitable and Indian

filmmakers will soon have to adopt digital technology in other areas as well.

Change is inevitable



But the film industry has already experienced the rumblings of change. The

quality of Indian films has improved a lot since the 1990s. This was the time

when newer technology became available to Indian filmmakers. "Prior to

that, the industry had been using older technology developed in the 1940s,"

says filmmaker Ketan Mehta.

"The most heartening change in the Indian film industry is that the IT

division is finally being acknowledged as an integral part of a film unit.

Earlier, having IT professionals in the unit was more an aberration than a

norm," says Biju D, vice president, Maya Entertainment, a company providing

high-end post-production facilities to the film industry.

More and more filmmakers are using IT in editing their films. The process

currently in use, however, is quite cumbersome. The shooting is in analog form,

is converted to digital for editing and back into analog to be screened across

cinema halls. A couple of years ago, even rudimentary skills for creating

special effects were not available in the country. For instance, during the

making of Maya Memsaab, Ketan Mehta had to go all the way to Hong Kong to

produce the last scene. Says Mehta, "Despite repeated attempts, we could

not get the desired effect in the last shot where Maya drinks the magic portion

and disappears. So, we decided to go to Hong Kong to get the last bit

done." The decision resulted in a huge escalation of the cost of the

project. It also made Mehta realize the paucity of suitable infrastructure in

the country at that time.

Today, it is a different story with at least five or six Indian studios

offering excellent quality post-production work. "Audiences today expect

high quality films, making digital tech deployment a foregone conclusion. There

is a world of difference in the results of digital color correction and digital

special effects as against existing technology," says film actress and Maya

Entertainment CEO Deepa Sahi.

Another compelling reason to adopt digital technology is that the

international market has become a significant revenue earner for the Indian film

industry. And therefore, films catering to the sensibilities of international

audiences’ particularly the NRI audience, have to be made.

Predicting an increased usage of technology, Mehta says, "IT will change

the entire face of Indian entertainment. Five years ago, only 2% of Indian films

used digital content. Today, more than 20% of films produced in India use some

kind of digital content." Earlier, the use of digital technology was

restricted to the display of film titles and credits.

Where’s the tech in films today?



Today, the most common deployment of digital technology in Indian films is

in the stunt and action scenes. Most of the stunts in Indian films these days

are ‘digital visual effects’. The action is shot first, the background is

created separately and at the editing stage both are put together. So, does this

make the stunt man redundant? "No what digital technology has done is

remove the limits of the imagination. Earlier, a director could only plan a

scene within the limits of what a human being, however talented, could do. With

technology, imagination can take flight," says Mehta.

But the biggest impact of digital technology has been in the ability to

visualize scenes. "A scene is now conceptualized digitally. What are the

different elements in a scene, how do they impact each other and what would be

the overall effect…all these things are worked out on the computer,"

explains Sahi. This helps in cutting down the production cycle and thereby, the

costs. Directors can plan scenes exactly as they want and execute them with

precision with minimal retakes.

Color correction is another application, which has huge potential in the

industry. The only deterrent here is the high costs involved. Color correction

can go a long way in enhancing the quality of films. For instance, a romantic

scene requires beautiful balmy weather, which may not always exist during the

shooting schedule. But the director can continue shooting and bring about the

desired background at the post-production stage digitally.

Another widely used technology is morphing. Filmmakers can use images of the

body and face of different people to create fantastic results. Morphing has been

recently used in the movie December 16 where Gulshan Grover, who plays the

villain is given a fresher, younger look. This technique is particularly useful

to film makers in the advertising world in order to create the visual impact so

necessary for promotion of products.

But technology deployment will happen in a big way when filmmakers turn to

digital film shooting. Digital shooting is cheap, fast and gives superior

output. It does not need an elaborate shooting unit and the need for an army of

lightmen, cameramen and set boys may just not exist. Besides, a lot of special

effects, including the creation of virtual sets can be achieved digitally.

"Digital movie making has a lot of advantages like easy storage,

retrieval and distribution. It cuts down on piracy, which is the bane of the

film industry today. Most of the piracy takes place during distribution. Digital

film distribution would cut down the scope of piracy drastically," says Pia

Singh, CEO of Digital Talkies, a Delhi-based production house specializing in

digital movie-making. Piracy today costs the film industry losses to the tune of

Rs 400 crore annually.

The opportunity for India



Emerging technology has created a huge opportunity for Indian film studios.

When Ketan Mehta got the last scene in Maya Memsahib done in Hong Kong, it not

only shot up costs but made him realize the demand that such work could have in

the domestic as well as the overseas market. Mehta estimates that

post-production work in India could be at least 50% cheaper than getting the

same work done in the US, including overhead costs like travelling etc. Taiwan

and China could offer rates 40% cheaper than US.

Mehta estimates that the size of the outsourced market would be at least $400

million with Germany being the most attractive market. Indian companies like

Pentamedia, UTV and Crest Communications are already engaged in working for

Hollywood movies. A large part of the special effects in the award winning film

Titanic was from the Pentamedia stables.

Maya Entertainment is also gearing up to address this segment of the market.

It has launched a nation wide training initiative that would tap the talent

across the country and create a pool of trained professionals in animation and

post-production work. So we can now brace ourselves for unlimited action on this

front.

Balaka Baruah Aggarwal in New Delhi