Two issues that any Indian film industry has to deal with are creativity and technology. You might have the technology but you still need creativity to make effects look convincing. In other areas like streaming & broadcasting, the technology needs catching up. World-over, Technology is changing/becoming better quite rapidly, especially in the area of entertainment. The good thing is that tech companies in India are making all attempts to bridge the gap.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai is among the latest Indian-origin executives to take over the reigns of a huge global tech company. While most of these IT companies primarily operate in the IT segment or cater to other sectors such as telecom, retail, FMCG sectors, several IT companies have been developing tech products to cater to Bollywood/regional film industries as well.
With hundreds of television channels, several millions of pay-TV households, hundreds of newspaper publications that deliver millions of copies all over India, and over thousand films produced annually in India, there’s lot to be excited about India’s media and entertainment industry. Its good to know that several Indian Tech companies , who are primarily known for their services offering are also making tech products for the entertainment industry in India.
Various Areas Where Innovative Technologies Are Being Used
Besides the more commonly known areas, such as vfx & animation (which many are usually aware of), tech companies are actively working with the Indian film industries in other areas like:
- Production /Post-production: Better tools for editing, color correction, vfx, animation, storage & backup
- Cinema: Deliver the ‘wow’ kind of experiences to the audiences (who know what the best in cinema look & hear like) while maintaining / lowering the overall costs.
- Broadcasting: Deliver Exceptional broadcast (imaging and sound) experiences to Consumers
- Content Streaming: Make sure the best quality pictures & movies are delivered to the end-users, irrespective of the screen size
- Content Creation & Services: Provide tools, technologies, and support to create better Content for Artists, Developers, and Sound Engineers
- Game Development: Create video games with dazzling game graphics complemented by spectacular soundtracks, widely used for film promotions and to earn more revenue
- PC and Mobile: End users expect better audio & video quality from PCs, tablets, and smartphones. Newer Technologies help your products stand out by improving in these areas. These areas are widely used in film promotion.
Also Read: Bollywood Catching Up On Technology with Hollywood
Graphics & Innovation Booming
The market for Graphics & Animation in India is booming. A forecast says that in one year 70 animation films will be released with Indian content based solely on the mythological stories such as Ramayan and Mahabharat.
However, for good animation effects, you need good graphics and color composition. Graphics and computing power often forms the heart of special effects.
The good thing is that IT companies are now providing their proprietary products such as developing CPUs that work well for high-end graphic capability and effects. These can handle a range of complex algorithms better than the general-purpose CPUs can. In the song ‘Dhoom Taana’ in Om Shanti Om, Deepika Padukone was made to dance around statues with a plain background. Then shots of the likes of Rajesh Khanna, Sunil Dutt and Jeetendra from old movies were selected and these were composited with Deepika’s dance to produce the song.
These are just some of the instances where technology was used to seamlessly integrate two distinct shots and to make the overall scene better. But the trend is visible to everybody now and technology is only going to play a major role going forward.
Tech companies have been playing an active role in movie distribution as well, DOLBY being one such example. For those who make films, distribute or exhibit movies, Dolby helps deliver the best in sound technology for audiences who watch movies in theaters.
Road Ahead
Digital content creation has grown three-fold in the last few years and there’s plenty of opportunities available in this field. However, government rules for local contribution to movies need to be sorted out for it to grow without any hitch and that includes tax benefits for local studios to do better work and see growth.
