Visuals effect a hit

With the film industry looking for more ingredients to pull the crowds, a new area of interest has emerged in the last three years - visual effects and colour grading.

Pankaj Kedia, regional manager (South East Asia and India), Autodesk Media and Entertainment, says there is a great demand for visual effects and colour grading using the digital intermediate process. About 30 movies have so far adopted the technology and 100 more are expected to adopt this technology this year.

In 2005, about 60 films used visual effects and colour grading technology, as against 19 during 2004, all of which were high-end movies or big budget films.

Hrithik Roshan starrer 'Krish', the sequel to 'Koi Mil Gaya', and 'Anniyan', directed by Shanker, incorporated a lot of visual effects. In case of colour grading, Sanjay Leela Bansali's 'Black' and the Tamil hit 'Pithamagan' made good use of the technology. In both these films, colour played a vital role in depicting the mood.

According to PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the Indian entertainment industry is one of the fastest growing sectors. It is valued at over $4.65 billion currently and is expected to grow at 18 per cent annually to touch $10.46 billion in 2009.

In recent times, digital intermediate process used in post production of film making has made rapid strides. It involves conversion of the film into high-resolution digital files and then back to film thus giving the film-makers greater control over colour manipulation and visual effects.

Kavitha Prasad, director of EFX Labs, says that the digital intermediate process is gaining acceptance among Indian movie makers as it provides them with greater control while enhancing creativity and cutting costs.

Kedia says visual effects need not be adopted for an entire movie. The director can go even for a single scene. The cost for adopting these technologies starts from Rs 40 lakh.