The Hindu Business Line : Telugu film makes waves with new colour tech

THE Telugu film industry has joined a select club of film industries worldwide using Digital Intermediary or Digital Grading, a colour correction technique used to capture the depth and brilliance of colours.

The technique, which is becoming popular in the film and TV production the world over, is not only used to fix miscoloured pictures and frames, but also to give new meaning and look to certain frames.

Sri Anjaneyam, a new Telugu film released last week, has become the third Indian film and first South Indian movie, to use the premium technology.

The technology, which has recently made its inroads into India, was used in four films so far. Though Kaante, directed by Sanjay Gupta, was the first ever Indian film to introduce the technology, colour grading was done in the US. Khaki, the Amitabh Bachan-starrer, and Lakshya were the first two films to get grading in India itself.

"Each colour will have a certain temperature to attain its full grace. If the temperature is more, the colour is worn out. If it is less, it looks pale," said Mr Krishna Vamsi, Producer-Director of Sri Anjaneyam.

"There are a few cinematographers who can capture these attributes correctly," he said.

Expert directors like Mani Ratnam know quite well that soft light in the early morning allows the cameraman to capture colours well. "That's why they prefer to shoot their films in the mornings."

"Digital Colour Correction provides efficient tools to meticulously safeguard and improve on colours," he said.

"Sometimes, the corrected parts will give you an output better than your imagination," Mr Krishna Vamsi said.

One can even focus on certain parts, which are ignored during the shoot. "You can increase light on those parts using the tools."

The technology, however, is a costly proposition, consisting of a significant chunk of the film budget.

The conversion needs some extra work and is a time consuming job. "It requires 45 days after completion of the shooting and the presence of a skilled technician and cinematographer."

Terming Indian film making as "guerrilla film making," he said the country lacked ideal conditions and a skilled workforce.

Explaining the reason behind his using the technology, he said he wanted to enhance the colours. "While the first two films (Khakhi and Lakshya) de-saturated colours, we over-saturated to make it more colourful," he said.

More Stories on : Cinema | Andhra Pradesh

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page