Special FX spell success

WE KNOW Oscar winner `Gladiator' used them.

So did Crouching Tiger, Matrix, Hollowman, M:I-2.

But did you know that about 10 per cent of our own desi films use Special effects?

Consider this:

- Media Dream's trilingual `Little John' releasing next month, has over 30 minutes of special effects.

- So does `Aala Vandhan' releasing next month, that pits Kamal versus Kamal.

- Shankar's next project, `Robot' that Media Dreams plans to release next year, is a science fiction flick that stars Kamal Hassan and special effects.

- About 20 per cent of `Mission Kashmir' had special effects: right from the first frame of the shikara explosion, the credits that go up in smoke to the tune of `Dhuan Dhuan', to the Hrithik falling into the blue waters in the climax sequence and the final duel between Sanjay Dutt and Hrithik.

- Raju Chacha went near broke with special effects costs running into crores.

- Remember the maple-leaf transitions in `Mohabbatien'? Or the `surya-namaskar' sequence with Amitabh Bachchan with a majestic glowing sun. If the sun shone brighter, it was only because it was man-made. Yes, that was special effects too.

- A movie like Shyam Benegal's `Zubeida', had 6-7 minutes of special effects! Would you believe that? Watch the plane sequences again and the aircrash in the end.

Examples are galore. But the fact is that special effects have to come to stay in Indian cinema. ``It's not special effects for the sake of special effects any more. We can just call it visual effects, digital manipulation of images to make even the unbelievable believable,'' as Pankaj Kedia, Manager of Advanced Systems of Discreet, a special effects software-creation company, puts it.

Sun TV, Sony TV, Star News, Zee Network are some of the channels that use the tools created by Discreet to generate graphics, promos, automated real-time graphics and montage sequences and a whole lot of other images packaging programming content, not just for effects, but even for editing, animation and broadcast.

The tools: There's 3-D Studio at the lowest level, the slightly higher level `Combustion', a desktop level product that can run on a PC/Mac platform, that costs dollars 3,500. And there are high end products like Flame and Inferno cost a hundred times more. Special effects creators generally use a combination of these tools.

Why is it that expensive? Here's a simple, but complex answer at the same time. ``One second of a film consists of 24 frames. And every frame occupies anywhere between 10-15 MB of data for a single layer. Now, when we are on effects, we are talking about not one, but many layers. So calculate the amount of data we are dealing with, even if it is just for a minute of visual effects,'' explains Pankaj.

``It's quite a different paradigm. Every shot has to be scanned with the highest and best resolution. There are elements which you can shoot, and elements that you have to create, generate through tools like 3- D.''

``The layers have to interact with each other, so there's so much of work that has to go in like intense colour correction and ensuring that artefacts look seamless, colour calibration etc. Once all elements are done, we use a product like Inferno and the final image is arrived at, using the film recorder,'' he continues.

If all this takes months, then you can well imagine, how much of work would go into making the tools that help you create these special effects. That's probably why there are few players in the market there. And why almost every other film made in the world is dependent on Discreet's products.

By Sudhish Kamath

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Section  : Entertainment