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CINEMA: PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES
Lights, Action Hitech!
Bollywood Incorporated is replacing disorganised filmmaking
methods with professional managers and sophisticated gadgets
By Sandeep Unnithan with Shuchi Sinha
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GIZMO HAPPY: The Phoenix crane (above) costs Rs 1 crore,
but zooms up to 42 ft, swivels 360 degrees and is controlled from
the ground.
A digital editing studio (below) simplifies post-production colour
correction and sound grading.
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So you thought super-sharp
camerawork, electrifying sound and larger-than-life publicity could only
be in that mecca of dreambucks and Dreamworks called Hollywood? Suddenly,
mainstream Hindi cinema has found the dreams and the money to make the
popular but patronising label "Bollywood" less ironic; the latest
gizmos, professional management and slick advertising are the trends.
And the success of films made with these concepts-Lagaan, Gadar, Mujhe
Kuchh Kehna Hai and Dil Chahta Hai, to name a few-has made the industry
sit up and take notice. The new mantra for ambitious filmmakers is to
be contemporary, use good technology and save time.
It makes sound business sense since a producer
can finish more films in a year for faster returns on investment. The
youngsters began it but even veterans like Yash Chopra, Vashu Bhagnani,
Boney Kapoor and Subhash Ghai now have at least four films on the floor.
This guarantees profits every quarter. Corporate buzzwords like "returns
on investment" and "brand recall" are beginning to figure
in an industry once driven by a rambling shoot-it-and-can-it method.
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The Arri camera is noiselessly efficient and captures sequences
that normally take three days in a single day.
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Script Selection: When director Anil Sharma
walked into the office of PFH Entertainment Limited (owned by garment
maker Pantaloon Fashions) with his newest subject a few weeks ago, he
was taken to meet their script committee. Asked for a detailed script
presentation, Sharma, used to Bollywood's ten-minute story telling tradition,
thought it a joke. On realising they were serious, he confessed he wasn't
prepared. He should have known better. The past few years have seen the
entry of at least 20 corporates like Pantaloon into the film industry
who make films with a keen eye on the profit charts. Many have special
script teams. PFH's eyebrow-raising script committee is headed by trade
analyst Komal Nahata as it expertly scouts for fresh stories.
Corporate code: A new code built around
film insurance, cheque payments, call sheets and start-to-finish schedules
is steadily emerging. Sharma's latest film, Gadar, was produced by Zee
Telefilms and was Indian cinema's first white corporate film for which
lead stars and spotboys alike were paid by cheque. And its success is
set to change the ways of the once chaotic industry. PFH has audit-world
biggie Ernst and Young making sure their finances are transparent. While
Ghai's Yaadein was the first Hindi film to be insured, PFH has insured
its under-production Hrithik Roshan-Esha Deol starrer Na Tum Jaano Na
Hum for Rs 11 crore. Much of this corporate interest is linked to forecasts.
The Rs 2,000 crore Indian film industry could grow to a mammoth Rs 34,000
crore by 2005, says consultancy firm Arthur Andersen.
Shooting schedules: Many film shoots
now follow the lead of Lagaan and Dil Chahta Hai. Call sheets laying down
strict timings are given to each crew member as the four-films-a-year
formula will not work if one film takes years.
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SO WHAT'S NEW?
PLANNING: Meticulous
to a fault
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Instead of 10-minute storytelling sessions producers
now want detailed presentations. Production houses have script
committees to scrutinise fresh stories.
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FINANCING: greater transparency
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Producers want transparency in money matters. All
actors may soon be paid by cheque. Films like Yaadein have set the
trend for movies getting insured.
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PRODUCTION: Cut Time and Costs
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Use of sensitive microphones and advanced noiseless
cameras on sets saves up to three months on dubbing. Shots which
took three days can be canned in a day.
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PROMOTION: aggressive marketing
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and contests on TV to wean couch potatoes from their staple diet of
soaps. Caps, umbrellas, T-shirts, even classy books on the film to
ensure brand recall. |
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Smart cameras and cranes: Good technology
certainly helps to speed up the process while spiffing up the end product.
Veteran cinematographer Kamlakar Rao recalls the deafening whir of the
older cameras, some dating to World War II: "We had to rely on dialogue
sheets to know what the actors were saying." Today, the noiselessly
efficient Arri 535 camera, standard issue in Hollywood, is becoming common,
even though each Arri 535 costs Rs 1 crore. Ghai's Mukta Arts has invested
over Rs 15 crore importing new equipment including camera cranes, dubbing
equipment and lights, while Dreamz Unlimited (jointly run by Shah Rukh
Khan, Juhi Chawla and Aziz Mirza) has spent Rs 5 crore on gadgetry like
the 40-ft high Akela crane, used for Asoka's sweeping battle scenes. One
of the most-talked about toys in tinseltown is Ghai's Phoenix crane with
an attached camera that can telescope up to the height of a five-storeyed
building and swivel 360 degrees. All these movements are remote controlled
by the cameraman watching a monitor. Shots that earlier took up to three
days to shoot with the manually operated giraffe cranes can now be canned
in a day. The Phoenix costs Rs 1 crore and its smaller cousin, the Jimmy
Jib, costs around Rs 50 lakh. "Now we can experiment with new camera
angles, the only limit is our imagination," says director Satish
Kaushik. He is digitising his upcoming Awaara Paagal Deewana, transferring
the negatives onto a computer hard disk. "It makes post-production
colour correction and sound grading far easier," he says. In Kutumb,
a Godfather remake, he can make mob patriarch Amitabh Bachchan look sinister
by simply darkening the shadows with a few clicks on the mouse. The Bobby
Deol starrer Ajnabee owed its glossy look to colour correction methods
in the editing room.
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