Master illusion

Visual effects are being increasingly used to give Indian movies a graphic edge.

If you have watched Krrish and wondered how Hrithik Roshan manages to defy gravity (like Jackie Chan in The Medallion), look no further. These stunts are part of the visual effect (VFX) and content creation techniques called Digital Intermediate or DI.

Globally acclaimed movies like X-Men, Superman, Lord of Rings series, Pirates of the Carribean and The Chronicles of Narnia are some of the movies that used DI to create an out-of-this-world experience.

Indian films too are not lagging when technology is concerned, albeit a bit late, with movies like Rang de Basanti, Black, Parineeta, Lagaan and Taj Mahal.

"In simple terms DI cab be termed as digitalisation of movies, that converts conventional analogue films into digital content. DI converts analogue films to digital and then back to normal film for projection in theatres," explains Autodesk Media and Entertainment Regional Manager (South East Asia & India) Pankaj Kedia.

However, DI is an elaborate and time-consuming process and "� if it is not meticulously planned "� might even upset the release schedules of the movies. The process needs involvement of everything from on set production to delivery of content.

The importance of DI is growing among Indian movies, with 1,200 visual effect shots canned for Krrish, compared with 200 to 400 shots that is normally done for an Indian movie. Hollywood movies film around 1,000 to 2,000 shots for an average English movie.

Nasscom estimates the Indian visual effects (VFX) industry to contribute around Rs 580 million by way of revenue to the Indian animation industry. The VFX segment is estimated to grow by over 58 per cent by 2009.

Mohan Krishnan of Prasad EFX says DI is important as it helps in conversion of the master in to various storage and display modes like film, DVD, high definition (HD) projectors, digital tape, mobile phones, Internet and digital cameras among others. This helps the film to be released through multiple media, simultaneously along with the release of the movie. Prasad EFX is into DI and had worked on Krrish.

Digital content scores over analogue when it comes to duplication. In analogue, the signal becomes very weak when it is copied from version to version. However, even though there is a loss of signal, it is much on the lower side when movie is copied from a digital version.

For example, over 100 prints of a film has to be made for a nation-wide release, and a digital version would only lose minor signals if a copy were to be made from the 100th generation of the original.

Moreover, editing is also simple in the digital version as mistakes can be "undone" as in a text file and repeatedly done till the desired result emerges.