Bollywood is using technology in more and more ways to shoot innovative scenes which would almost be impossible to shoot otherwise.
Depending on the kind of technology related work that an IT company does, a company may make about $10 million to $15 million or more for the special effects in a movie. Then there are companies like IBM that provide back-end support, which it did for production houses like Toonz Animation .
After creating the cartoon and computer images, adding colour and doing the 3D modelling requires huge compute power and capacity.
For Hanuman, IBM provided 5 high-end workstations for partial animation, 5 high-end workstations for compositing and 25 high-end workstations for 2D ink and print. Most applications are built on Linux platforms.
A motion picture animator prefers Linux as most of the everyday tools are already available on that platform, and the number being produced specifically for Linux is increasing at a remarkable rate.
Special effects constitute about 5% to 10% of a total movie structure. A complete animated movie is more complex to create and has additional technology needs. IBM is also associated with Hollywood movies, Happy Feet and Lord of the Rings, to name a few.
Its a niche segment in India , but is seeing tremendous potential and growth. For movies Jodhaa Akbar, Dhoom and Rang De Basanti, Tata Elxsi has worked on the visual effects. Taking live shots of an Air Force base or of a MiG 21 plane is prohibited making it impossible to shoot the scenes with proper action.
So, for Rang De Basanti, the company used drawings of MiG 21 and created 3D models of the plane on the computer, a process that took a couple of weeks. On the other side, shots of the four actors running towards a building were taken separately.
Combining the computer image of the plane flying off and the boys running, the final scene was created on the computer, in all the process taking about 5 to 6 weeks.
As you can see, using technology, a director can easily shoot sequences that would otherwise be impossible to shoot.
