The Hindu Business Line : On a digital roll

TECHNOLOGY has been reshaping the process of making films, reducing the reliance on conventional film and promoting the use of digital storage formats.

Indian cinema is catching up with global changes. Take, for instance, Hindi film Vaah Life Ho Toh Aisi, the first Bollywood commercial film to be completely shot in digital format while doing away with the traditional film.

Vaah Life Ho Toh Aisi was shot using High Definition (HD) technology, a high-resolution video format. Prime Focus, a post-production company, was involved in making the film and co-produced it using the HD kit, from Autodesk.

Pankaj Kedia, Regional Sales Manager, South-East Asia and India, Autodesk Media and Entertainment, shares his views on the Indian film industry going the digital way. Excerpts:

Is Vaah Life Ho Toh Aisi the first film to be completely shot in digital mode?

Yes, it is the first Bollywood commercial film to be shot completely digitally. There was no film involved in the shooting or acquisition/production stage. However, Indian cinema is still largely film projector-based and hence the digital format needs to be printed back on to film for projection on the big screen.

However, with the advent of digital cinema, the likes of Ad Labs and multiplexes, this is changing fast. Also, globally home entertainment sales for movie content is gaining market share in the form of DVD sales. Since these are digital formats, shooting in HD is advantageous as no conversion to film is required.

How is it shooting on HD?

Shooting on HD is particularly advantageous when the movie is heavy on visual effects. The Hindi movie was a fantasy and magical film where one needed to depict cars and children flying. It, therefore, used a lot of visual effects.

When shooting on celluloid, one needs to scan the film into digital format and then add in the visual effects. This is time-consuming and often cumbersome. However, with HD, the movie is already in digital format. It, therefore, is time-saving technology.

Additionally, high-end visual effects are made easier when movies are shot digitally. Autodesk's systems such as Lustre, Inferno, Flame, Flint, Smoke and Fire support uncompressed high-definition formats. Since there is no processing stage involved to develop the print using HD, it allows the film director to immediately review a shot rather than wait to develop it.

Is it something like shooting images with a digital camera?

Yes. It is much like shooting still images with a digital camera where one does not need to develop the film to view the photographs.

Making multiple copies is quicker as the lab process is not involved. Transportation is easier as one hour of footage can be stored on one HD tape whereas the same amount of footage on film would involve many thousands of feet of film.

Is this the start of a digital trend in the Indian movie industry? But how many theatres in India are equipped for digital change?

According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, the Indian film industry is fast going digital. With more than 100 digital cinemas in the country today, it is believed that digital projection will significantly lower the cost of distributing films to theatres, which, in turn, will boost box-office revenues.

What is the global scene in this sector?

Globally, digitisation is taking place at three levels, namely acquisition/production, post-production and distribution. Post-production has been the first to adopt digital technology. Although primarily in the sphere of video, digital film post-production is catching up very fast. In the acquisition and distribution stages, the adoption of digital technology is evolving parallel to the development of the technology itself. The adoption of digital technology differs from country to country.

For example, in the US, the adoption has been greater in the acquisition stage whereas this is still evolving in India. However, we believe that at some stage in the future, the entire content-creation chain will become digital.

What about the cost of shooting the film in digital form?

It is hard to put an exact cost figure on shooting a film digitally as it would depend on many factors. However, shooting digitally can help cut costs by almost 30-40 per cent in the acquisition stage.

Going forward, what sort of trends are we going to see in Indian feature films?

We are seeing a distinct trend driving filmmakers to create products that are slick and have an international look and feel.

Story-based Indian films are adopting technologies such as Digital Intermediate (DI) where the effects add to the film's narrative through the look that they lend. In 2003, only two films went through the DI process. This number increased to about 17 in 2004 and 2005 is expected to close at 60.

India is yet to create a Matrix or Star Wars of its own. However, special effects are fast making their presence felt with films such as Vaah Life Ho Toh Aisi. Kris, the sequel to Koi Mil Gaya is also expected to be extremely heavy on visual effects. This trend is what will drive the usage of HD in India as well. Post-production houses such as Prime Focus are leading the charge with this technology.

raja@thehindu.co.in