Digital Dreamscapes

last year

#OutlookMagazine | Virtual production has made a big impact on Hollywood. Will this technological tsunami also wash over Indian cinema, drowning out conventional filmmaking?

Tanul Thakur writes.

Listen to the excerpts from the latest issue of Outlook - only by Pragya Vats.

#VirtualProduction #Production #Films #Cinema #Filmmaking #Hollywood

Read more:
https://www.outlookindia.com/art-entertainment/will-virtual-production-take-over-indian-cinema--magazine-337408

Transcript

00:00 I am Pragya and I bring to you excerpts from the current issue of Outlook.

00:05 Outlook looks at two cover stories.

00:07 One, titled "Almost Real, But Not Quite".

00:11 Virtual production can make the filmmaking much cheaper and convenient.

00:16 But will the AI-powered tech also forever alter the essence of cinema itself?

00:22 Second, it's titled "Paradise Lost".

00:25 Can we row the Shikara Isles and have the heritage walks?

00:29 The cover carries the image and words from the visual artist Veer Munshi.

00:34 He says, "My installation depicts the fast-changing characteristics of Indian cities.

00:40 So I was wondering about the fate of our paradise on earth called Kashmir."

00:45 Digital Dreamscapes by Tanul Thakur from Outlook.

00:49 Virtual production has made a big impact on Hollywood.

00:53 Will this technological tsunami also wash over Indian cinema,

00:57 drowning out conventional filmmaking,

01:00 and standing near a gas station in the American countryside?

01:04 Small triangular flags hung from the ceiling flutter.

01:08 The alphabet E in the glowing sign "Golden" flickers on the rooftop.

01:14 And off.

01:18 Across the highway, tall cacti dot the landscape.

01:22 A mountain lounges afar, soaking the magic hour.

01:26 It is serene, inviting, beautiful, and eternal.

01:31 Because this magic hour will remain forever,

01:35 so will anything and everything else.

01:38 I can shrink the mountain, brighten the sun, whip the wind.

01:42 I can make the cacti eucalyptus,

01:45 the golden sky blue, and the triangular flags rectangular.

01:50 My fingers can tame time and modify nature.

01:53 How? Two words. Virtual production.

01:57 Because I'm neither in America nor at a gas station.

02:01 Heck, I'm not even outdoors.

02:03 I'm in Annapurna Studios, Hyderabad,

02:06 marvelling at a curved 60 by 20 feet LED wall.

02:10 Even though this technology hasn't dominated Indian cinema yet,

02:15 it's become a potent force in Hollywood,

02:18 marking such films and web series as The Mandalorian (2019),

02:24 Avengers The Endgame (2019),

02:27 The Fable Man's (2022) and many others.

02:31 A study by Grandview Research,

02:33 excerpted in Bloomberg in March 2023,

02:37 estimates the global virtual production market swelling

02:41 from $2.1 billion in 2023 to $6.78 billion by 2030.

02:50 Grandview Research's October 2023 report stated

02:54 that India's virtual production market will grow at 22%,

02:59 reaching $507.1 million by 2030.

03:04 COVID-19 accelerated that demand as this technology,

03:09 capturing any setting on an LED wall,

03:12 circumvents the hassles of shooting on locations.

03:16 It's evident in the virtual production studios

03:19 popping up in the country in the last few years,

03:22 such as Chennai-based Stage Unreal and DB Productions.

03:26 In Mumbai, K. Sarah Serra's virtual production portfolio

03:30 includes such Bollywood dramas as Juda Ho Ke Bhi (2022),

03:35 Kumbha (2023) and Ganpath (2023).

03:39 Annapurna Studios and Cube Cinema,

03:42 a firm providing digital cinema technology and solutions,

03:45 partnered to open virtual production studio in June 2023,

03:50 where a Telugu feature film Miss Shetty, Mr. Polly Shetty in 2023

03:55 and some ads, including one for Rado,

03:58 starring Katrina Kaif, have been shot.

04:00 But is the essence of virtual production,

04:03 blending pre-film footage in the background

04:05 with the physical set in the foreground, new to cinema?

04:09 No. It stretches as far back as the 1930s.

04:13 By projecting a desired backdrop on a screen via a projector behind it,

04:18 the rear projection technique enabled directors to shoot scenes

04:22 featuring cars, flights and monsters,

04:25 resolving the roadblock of recording dialogues in noisy settings

04:30 and executing risky sequences.

04:33 Remember the iconic shot from North by Northwest in 1959,

04:38 where Cary Grant ducks on the road to evade a crop duster plane?

04:43 Rear projection.

04:45 For this and more, read the current issue of Outlook.

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