Owing to several obvious advantages and benefits, the Digital Intermediate process is soon becoming a standard practice in Bollywood. And Indian post houses and DI facilities are all making investments in DI infrastructure to ensure that the practice is here to stay.
EFX, the visual effects, DI & Post Production arm of the Prasad Group recently installed a new Barco D Cine Premiere DP100 2K digital projection system at its DI facility in Mumbai. The projection system was inaugurated today at the hands of ‘Krrish‘ producer director Rakesh Roshan and will help Cinematographers, Directors and DI Specialists to enhance the accuracy and color calibration of their work.
Speaking at the inauguration Prasad Group MD A Ramesh shared “There is an upward trend in DI in India. Prasad wants to provide the best experience and service to its valued customers and the meticulously color calibrated environment here, ensures that what one can see in the new facility is exactly the same as what will be seen in Cinema theatres”
The inauguration was followed by a live demo of the projection system which was participated in by EFX Chief Colorist and DI Consultant Ken Metzker, Rakesh Roshan and Prasad Group‘s A Ramesh and Mohan Krishnan. Also present were EFX‘ Abraham Samuel and Rajiv Raghunathan as well as Cinematographer Sameer Arya who is currently working with Goldie Behl on Drona.
Metzker began by explaining about the evolution of Digital Intermediate and how much more detail and variation was now possible thanks to the process.
He also highlighted the advantages of the 2K projection system within the DI setup. Playing a few shots from Krrish, Metzker tweaked the system controls and illustrated to the audience how several details and subtle changes not visible on the monitor, immediately showed up on the large screen. “The Barco projection system will help ensure that What You See is What you Get” he shared.
A Ramesh shared that the industry needed more producers like Roshan. “Mr Roshan has involved the VFX and DI team right from the beginning and gave us an adequate amount of time frame to come up with world class work”
Between its Mumbai and Chennai facilities, EFX has a total of four DI systems. The studio is currently working on a whole range of DI and VFX intensive projects including Kamal Hassan‘s next as well as Goldie Behl‘s Drona.
Speaking to AnimationXpress.com, Cinematographer Sameer Arya shared, “Technological advancement is a constant process and Digital Intermediate is a welcome one. It is a really useful tool and helps take things to the next level. I am currently working with Goldie Behl (Producer, Director) on Drona and the movie has a lot of VFX (being done by VCL) and DI. I began coordinating with Ken at EFX three months prior to the beginning of the shoot so that we could make the most effective use of DI. I think this technology is here to stay”