Will Virtual Production Take Over Indian Cinema?

I바카라�m standing near a gas station in the American countryside. Small triangular flags, hung from the ceiling, flutter. The alphabet 바카라�E바카라� in the glowing sign 바카라�Golden바카라� flickers on the rooftop. The tube lights below it turn on and off. Across the highway, tall cacti dot the landscape. A mountain lounges afar, soaking the magic hour. It is serene, inviting, beautiful바카라�and eternal.

Because this magic hour will remain forever. So will anything (and everything) else. I can shrink the mountain, brighten the sun, whip the wind. I can make the cacti eucalyptus, the golden sky blue, and the triangular flags rectangular. My fingers can tame time and modify nature. How? Two words: virtual production. Because I바카라�m neither in America nor at a gas station. Heck, I바카라�m not even outdoors. I바카라�m in Annapurna Studios, Hyderabad, marvelling at a curved 60-by-20-feet LED wall.

Even though this technology hasn바카라�t dominated Indian cinema yet, it바카라�s become a potent force in Hollywood, marking such films and web series as The Mandalorian (2019), Avengers: Endgame (2019), The Fabelmans (2022), and many others. A study by Grand View Research, excerpted in Bloomberg in March 2023, estimates the global virtual production market swelling from $2.1 billion in 2023 to $6.78 billion by 2030. Grand View Research바카라�s October 2023 report stated that India바카라�s virtual production market will grow at 22%, reaching $507.1 million by 2030.

COVID-19 accelerated that demand as this technology, capturing any setting on an LED wall, circumvents the hassles of shooting on locations. It바카라�s evident in the virtual production studios popping up in the country in the last few years, such as Chennai-based Stage Unreal and DB Productions. In Mumbai, K Sera Sera바카라�s virtual production portfolio includes such Bollywood dramas as Judaa Hoke Bhi (2022), Bholaa (2023), and Ganapath (2023). Annapurna Studios and Qube Cinema, a firm providing digital cinema technology and solutions, partnered to open a virtual production studio in June 2023, where a Telugu feature film, Miss Shetty Mr Polishetty (2023), and some ads, including one for Rado starring Katrina Kaif, have been shot.

But is the essence of virtual production바카라�blending pre-filmed footage in the background with the physical set in the foreground바카라�new to cinema? No. It stretches as far back as the 1930s. By projecting a desired backdrop on a screen via a projector behind it, the rear projection technique enabled directors to shoot scenes featuring cars, flights, and monsters, resolving the roadblocks of recording dialogues in noisy settings and executing risky sequences. Remember the iconic shot from North by Northwest (1959), where Cary Grant ducks on the road to evade a crop duster plane? Rear projection.

But it also produced a synthetic-looking background that contradicted the foreground. Then came front projection where a projector, in front of the background screen and performers, projected footage on a two-way mirror, tilted at 45°, which reflected it to the screen behind the actor(s), producing a much sharper and saturated image. It was followed by chroma keying, whose popularity exploded in the 바카라�80s with affordable computer graphics. As the technology took rapid leaps, enabling realistic and complex visuals, chroma keying became the dominant visual-effects technique. Unlike the front or rear projections, it required actors to perform against a green (or a blue) screen which, through Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI), transformed into an appropriate backdrop바카라�say, flying weapons in a thunderstruck-sky in a superhero spectacle.

In virtual production, though, the actors don바카라�t need to imagine the background, as they바카라�re literally in front of it. It바카라�s often said that 바카라�acting is reacting바카라�바카라�a quote so popular it바카라�s attributed to multiple sources바카라�which reveals an immediate advantage of virtual production over the green screen. Virtual production바카라�s photorealistic background helps cinematographers, too, in framing and lighting because, like actors, they don바카라�t have to imagine anything. The LED walls also emit realistic colours and reflections, mitigating the 바카라�green screen spill바카라� (the green light reflecting on the actors that must be removed in post-production to make the scene look natural).

By matching the pre-recorded footage on the LED walls with the real-world foreground, virtual production completes the illusion of a continuous image. It can slash travel costs, logistical issues, and unexpected delays. It can also nullify the inconveniences of filming a star in remote or crowded locations or in settings where permissions are difficult to procure. So for a song shot in virtual production where Shah Rukh Khan extends his arms in the Swiss Alps, the makers will just have to ensure that everything captured by the camera outside the LED screen바카라�or on the physical stage바카라�must be covered in snow as well. Besides, the readymade backgrounds바카라�edited and replaced with ease바카라�enable astounding globe-trotting possibilities. 8 am, Kashmir; 4 pm, Eiffel Tower; 10 pm, Antarctica. Lockdown바카라�what lockdown?

In chroma keying, most visual effects are done in post-production, where the final scene bears little resemblance to the one being shot. But in virtual production, where most visual effects are captured while filming, the post-production work largely shifts to the pre-production stage. As a result, it compels filmmakers to prepare and plan for weeks, if not months, in advance. Let바카라�s consider a director who, wanting to shoot a four-minute scene in virtual production, has prepared a script and a storyboard. The next step? Previs (or pre-visualisation): an animated rendition of the scene capturing the setting, actors, and actions. 바카라�When you바카라�re doing previs you suddenly think of shots that you had otherwise not conceived바카라�if you came directly to the studio,바카라� says Jayendra Panchapakesan, Qube Cinema바카라�s co-founder. 바카라�So I can say, 바카라�I want to do this crazy camera movement, is it possible?바카라� And it will be possible. But how to make it happen?바카라�

The answer: techvis, or tech visualisation, the animated version of the same scene incorporating varied technical details, such as the lens type, the camera movement, and the dimensions of the real and the virtual set. The definition of a camera lens in a virtual production scene, much like in a regular movie, largely remains the same, adds Panchapakesan바카라�for instance, a tight close-up for a dramatic scene, a wide shot for a vast terrain. But virtual production also imposes a crucial restriction. 바카라�Since the wall바카라�s length is fixed,바카라� he says, 바카라�depending on your lens, how much of the wall you see will change. Let바카라�s say, I place the actor 100 feet in front [of the screen], and I바카라�m using a 24 [mm] lens바카라�my lens will see beyond the wall. So I need to know how much of the physical world I can see.바카라� Sometimes the director may want more of the physical world in a scene, which needs to be scanned and put into the virtual world. 바카라�So the techviz is essentially placing the camera, deciding the lens, seeing the world, and fixing the wall. All of it will finally tell me which elements will stay in the real world and which in the virtual.바카라�

Virtual production also changes the composition of the film crew. A cinematographer who has only shot on real location will most likely not know the intricacies of this technology. That바카라�s where a virtual cinematographer comes in바카라�a nodal point between the real and the virtual world. Jagadeesh Bommisetti at Annapurna Studios is one such professional who, before working on virtual production, had shot a few Telugu films. 바카라�As a cinematographer,바카라� he says, 바카라�you need an additional step here: matching the background digital lighting and the foreground physical lighting.바카라� While building 바카라�digital assets바카라�바카라�all the elements on the LED wall, including, if any, meta-humans바카라�the cinematographer can inform the 바카라�VAD [Virtual and Art Department]바카라� on how he wants to 바카라�light the scene바카라�, which does 바카라�not happen in regular shoots바카라�.

A director used to working with a green screen, remembers Annapurna Studio바카라�s Chief Technical Officer, C V Rao, was floored by virtual production바카라�s possibilities: 바카라�Sir, it feels like I바카라�m flying. I can see my final output. I can adjust my lighting. This is really crazy.바카라� But the 바카라�main problem,바카라� he adds, is that 바카라�many directors whom we meet바카라�and I바카라�m not blaming them; that바카라�s how we바카라�ve worked바카라�don바카라�t prepare well before the shoot, and they바카라�re not ready to prepare.바카라� Besides, the LED screen can sometimes interact with another device, the movie camera, in unpleasant ways. So, if a cinematographer focuses her camera directly on the LED wall, it produces an interference pattern바카라�comprising repetitive lines, dots, and colour바카라�that ruins the final image. A problem so pervasive it even has a name: the Moiré pattern. Want to see it live? Take a phone camera and record something on TV. 바카라�It바카라�s a virtually insurmountable problem,바카라� says Qube바카라�s co-founder, Senthil Kumar, 바카라�that will never go away.바카라� It does have a simple solution though, he adds, 바카라�the camera just needs to be slightly off-focus.바카라� But it also compromises the depth of field, which 바카라�cannot be infinite, only slight, so that the foreground is more focused and the background is slightly off.바카라� Which means it바카라�s difficult to capture a vast landscape in deep focus바카라�unlike a scene shot on location.

The Moiré pattern can also appear when the camera is too close to the LED wall. What determines the ideal distance? The pixel pitch바카라�the distance between the two pixels on the LED panels. The lower its value, the higher the screen resolution, and the closer the camera can be to the screen. 바카라�Sometimes clients ask, 바카라�No, sir, we want to keep the subject a little closer,바카라�바카라� says Rao, 바카라�to get the proper scaling. If it is far from the wall, my perspective is not correct.바카라� But because of the Moiré pattern you need to keep your subject at least 10 or 15 feet away from the wall.바카라�

Virtual production also runs into another problem: this time, natural. The walls excel at emitting soft, diffused light, but struggle to replicate the direct sunlight and its attendant shadows and contrasts. How did the skies, then, look like in the first two seasons of The Mandalorian? Overcast. Or, as its director, Jon Faverou, put it: 바카라�Hard daylight is best done in hard daylight.바카라� And even though virtual production can capture sunset, there바카라�s nuance within nuance. The inverse square law says that the intensity from a light source is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from it. But unlike the (natural) sun, the LED wall is not an infinite distance away. 바카라�So the [light] fall-off from the LED screen will be different than it바카라�d be if the sunset were, you know, how many million miles away the sun is,바카라� said Academy Award-winning cinematographer Roger Deakins to Greig Fraser, who shot The Mandalorian, on a podcast.

The LED wall is not infinitely long either. 바카라�Let바카라�s say you want an extra-wide shot of a castle, something like Baahubali,바카라� says Panchapakesan. 바카라�We obviously can바카라�t do that. We바카라�ve to do a green screen of that on the wall itself and then do a set extension in post [production].바카라� Deakins highlights another limitation. 바카라�If you바카라�re shooting a film totally on stage with sets, you still can바카라�t have a guy run 100 yards. There바카라�s no way of tracking behind them.바카라� To which Panchapakesan has at least a partial, if not the whole, solution: 바카라�Use a treadmill.바카라�

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Across cultures and countries and decades, we바카라�ve watched movies carrying an implicit assumption of an intricate relationship between the real world, the filmmaking crew, and the audiences. If the makers saw an awe-inducing visual while shooting then, we assumed, it awed them first. Or they designed elaborate sets to create meanings and elicit feelings바카라�a real, textured, tactile world.

When Madhubala lip-syncs Chhupna sakega ishq humaara/ Chaaron taraf hai unka nazaara in Mughal-E-Azam (1960), and the camera cuts to her defiant dance form split into a dozen square mirrors on the ceiling, isn바카라�t her rebellion heightened by the precise, lived-in set design? 바카라�I바카라�ll give you another example: the song Thare Rahiyo from Pakeezah,바카라� says art critic and academic Karthik Kalyanaraman who curated the world바카라�s first AI art exhibition in Delhi in 2018. 바카라�At one point, she goes to a pond, and the moon is shining on it바카라�it바카라�s a set바카라�and there바카라�s a split moment where she turns, and there바카라�s just a flicker of disgust on her face. If that would have been in virtual [production], it바카라�d have completely destroyed it.바카라� Or take Shah Rukh Khan, doused in manic energy, dancing against the backdrop of majestic mountains in Satrangi Re, as the camera swirls around him. An actor in front of nature, an actor subsumed by nature, unfurling his dual passion바카라�real yet mystical, tangible yet invisible바카라�an example of what we risk to lose, the visceral vitality of shooting on location, if virtual production vanquishes the very thought of makers and actors being humbled by the real world?

바카라�I don바카라�t agree in the slightest that AI will reduce the charm of filmmaking,바카라� says filmmaker Anand Gandhi who has increasingly relied on virtual production for his next ambitious project. 바카라�We could just go back and make cave paintings, then, because that바카라�s extremely charming. Human aspiration has been to constantly replicate and record reality and simulate potential futures and allegories and metaphors to a high degree of realism and fidelity so that they become immersive, true, and believable.바카라� It바카라�s why, he adds, viewers prefer a medium of 바카라�higher fidelity바카라�바카라�a sharper technology바카라�바카라�so we go from VHS to DVD to BluRay. You try showing VHS to people today.바카라� AI hasn바카라�t just changed the possibilities of moviemaking but, given its humongous scope and merits, also encouraged directors to redefine it in the manner that feels most natural, most true, to them. Moving beyond the realms of tech, it바카라�s acquired an ideological and philosophical tenor. 바카라�Art is not just about recording our environment or simulating futures or dreams or nightmares in high fidelity,바카라� says Gandhi. 바카라�It바카라�s also about capturing the invisible and simulating the translucent바카라�unclear ideas simmering beneath the zeitgeist. And art doesn바카라�t disappear just because fidelity increases. In fact, it challenges the artist who was busy getting lost in creating the legwork of fidelity.바카라�

바카라�Imagine this,바카라� says Panchapakesan, 바카라�if in [a movie on the scale of] Lawrence of Arabia, I only do the master and the extra-wide shots on location and come back. So instead of 10 days, I spend one day [on location], reduce my production costs, and do the rest here. Like, you use jimmy jib바카라�바카라�an affordable and versatile camera crane바카라�바카라�for a particular scene, likewise, you pick and choose which part of the film you want to shoot in virtual production. People won바카라�t shoot their entire films on it.바카라� The technology, however, says Kalyanaraman, 바카라�might become so cheap and effective바카라�바카라�say, 바카라�one-tenth of its current cost in the next two years바카라�바카라�that it may lure more directors to shoot a large portion of their movies on virtual production. 바카라�Two years ago, nobody could have predicted AI would reach where it is today. Not even the AI experts.바카라�

And this could reshape, if not irreversibly alter, directors바카라� attitude towards the medium itself. 바카라�I바카라�m worried that those filmmakers바카라�바카라�especially the young, independent ones바카라�바카라�who could have explored real space and locations will be tempted to go this route,바카라� says Kalyanaraman. Some big budget films have 바카라�already gone this route바카라�, but if the indies also start to emerge (primarily) from the sea of pixels then, he fears, 바카라�this increasingly unreal world바카라� will lose another 바카라�sense of reality바카라�. Just consider the world we inhabit: we Zomato our food, Dunzo our groceries, Netflix our films. Even before the COVID-induced lockdown, we had been living in digital prisons for long. Tech overtaking remnants of real-life in cinema could elongate our digital incarcerations바카라�or make them permanent.

바카라�Virtual production would first affect [Indian cinema] bit by bit and then it바카라�d grow very fast,바카라� says production designer Aradhana Seth, who has worked on such movies as The Sky is Pink (2018), Angry Indian Goddesses (2015), and Don (2006). 바카라�Earlier only the big budget films were using it but now even the smaller ones can use it once the tech is in place.바카라� The major action sequences in the Netflix series Trial by Fire (2023)바카라�recreating the 1997 Uphaar cinema tragedy바카라�were first conceptualised on a green screen. 바카라�But as the idea kept evolving,바카라� says its production designer, Angelica Monica Bhowmick, 바카라�and as they wanted the fluidity and flexibility, and since we had so many actors on set, it kept leaning more and more towards real locations.바카라� Virtual production demands precise planning at the pre-production stage, she adds, 바카라�which reduces the level of flexibility. It바카라�s something that can work in your favour, or not, depending on your working environment.바카라� Admiring the way tech has evolved, Seth admits that it also encourages a 바카라�standardised way of thinking바카라�바카라�a sameness of process바카라�바카라�so it바카라�s got both good and bad바카라�.

바카라�What바카라�s essential to cinema?바카라� asks actor-director Rajat Kapoor. 바카라�It바카라�s the sum total of all the accidents that happen in front of the camera, such as sunlight, clouds, rain, snowfall, or something that happened three kilometres away from the camera, but you can still see it.바카라� It바카라�s those accidents, he says, that make the shot. Such an image바카라�바카라�which you can바카라�t manufacture바카라�바카라�바카라�happens to you바카라� while 바카라�shooting on a given location바카라� on a particular day. 바카라�It바카라�s not about filming Paris at 10 am and Trivandrum at 10 pm. It holds no excitement for me. I바카라�d rather go to Paris and spend a week there, looking at the light before I take my camera out.바카라�

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By reproducing a desired setting바카라�which, earlier, either needed to be visited or created바카라�virtual production also prompts a crucial concern. 바카라�People who build the sets will obviously be used less,바카라� says Kumar. In the long run, he adds, there will be 바카라�less and less jobs for any [filmmaking] department바카라� because of AI. 바카라�So it바카라�s a much bigger debate about how we compensate people. Maybe a universal basic income is the only solution, so that people can have the comfort of a base to work on things they love or excel in areas where they make more money.바카라�

After a virtual production shoot at Annapurna Studios, an assistant set director, remembers Rao, asked him, 바카라�What is our future, sir? We did small work in the foreground, and you extended it on the wall. We won바카라�t have any work.바카라� Rao disagrees, saying virtual production바카라�s use will only be 바카라�minimal바카라�, restricted to a few scenes. 바카라�Has VFX replaced 100% of filmmaking? It has not.바카라� He does agree, though, that there will be 바카라�some deviation바카라� in the future. But once the genie is out of the bottle바카라�broadcasting the technology바카라�s benefits바카라� it바카라�ll serve not one but many masters. A process already underway with an entire Bollywood movie, Judaa Hoke Bhi바카라�made by a mainstream director, Vikram Bhatt, for a big production house바카라�made on virtual production. Nothing rings as loud in the Indian film industries as a successful trend바카라�or actors바카라� diktats. So if a few star vehicles, featuring extensive use of virtual production, can hit the box-office jackpot, then this technological tsunami can drown out conventional filmmaking.

바카라�Production designers will also evolve,바카라� says Bhowmick, 바카라�something that바카라�s already begun to happen. Basically, we are designing. So we바카라�ll continue to design whether it바카라�s for a physical or a virtual set, although with slightly different skill sets.바카라� Virtual production, however, will certainly have a much bigger impact on the lower echelon workers, she adds, 바카라�the construction supervisors, the carpenters, the painters바카라�. Seth echoes that point, saying the 바카라�[production] dadas바카라�바카라�the below-the-line workers바카라�바카라�have already dwindled바카라�. The Indian filmmaking economics, says Bhowmick, also 바카라�works in such a way that it바카라�s still cheaper to hire those professionals as compared to churning out productions on computers.바카라� So in this country 바카라�both will co-exist바카라�바카라�the traditional and the modern바카라�바카라�like everything else, like you바카라�ve a bail-gaadi [bullock cart] and a Chandrayaan바카라�.

Bhowmick isn바카라�t antagonistic to virtual production, much like Seth (and Kalyanaraman who, at best, remains 바카라�ambiguous바카라� about it), but she does cite a few examples that add more nuance to this debate. 바카라�In Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye!, Paresh Rawal plays three different characters바카라�바카라�symbolising the hero바카라�s father figures바카라�바카라�and he had said in a behind the scenes interview that, 바카라�When I바카라�d turn up for the shoot, all the three sets were so different that I used to feel like a different person.바카라� Now how would an actor do that if you put him on a green screen?바카라� These elements add an extra 바카라�rasa [flavour],바카라� she adds, complemented by an additional factor, which comes with its own 바카라�incalculable variety바카라� and 바카라�indiscipline바카라� and 바카라�madness바카라�: our country itself.

While shooting Aadhaar (2019) in Jamua, a village in Jharkhand, she encountered 바카라�many potent and nice surprises바카라� that deserved to be a part of the film. 바카라�So we바카라�d see one guy selling jhaalmudi [spicy puffed rice], and it바카라�d be like everyone is doing their stuff and there바카라�s so much chaos, but this guy is just busy making his jhaalmudi. And we thought, you know, he should be in the background. So how do you plan these things?바카라�

During the election campaign sequence in Newton (2017), she says, the team 바카라�pulled so many things바카라� from the actual settings, 바카라�the special gaadis they campaigned in, for example, because our locations are so rich.바카라� A man in a Chhattisgarh village 바카라�roamed around in a weird cowboy outfit바카라�바카라�lost in 바카라�his own trip바카라�바카라�leaving her amused. 바카라�So we put him among the campaigning bunch. It바카라�s these little things that make our films so memorable. Kaise, matlab [I mean...] How can you capture and encapsulate the whole of India into pre-production?바카라�

(This appeared in the print as 'Digitial Dreamscapes')