Action packed realism - Kodak

Volume 8
FOREWORD
Issue 3, 2011
Cinema began as a black and white medium and has remained so
for some decades. . One of the key issues with color film is that of
consistency. DoPs constantly face the challenging task of
balancing color effectively, as despite their best efforts, there are
still minor variations due to various reasons – exposure,
processing among others.
The advent of the DI process makes it possible to carry out color
corrections with more precision and to impart a distinct look and
feel to a film and thereby create a mood for the audiences.
Colorists are the handful of men and women who work with the
complex system of colors in a film. They carefully iron out the
tiniest variation in colors from shot to shot - over 3,000 individual
shots and 2,00,000 frames that make up a commercial Indian
feature film.
At the heart of a good film lies the raw material which has been
used to shoot it on. This dictates the future of the final film and its
look and speaking with leading technicians and colorists in this
issue stands testimony to the fact that Kodak film offers best
results under all circumstances and is reliable in providing the
right latitude, exposure, saturation and density.
It has been unanimously agreed that film has more latitude and
richness and grading is more precise than using digitally shot
footage. Generally all Colorist's prefer film footage as it enables
them to get a larger berth to accommodate the DoPs and
Director’s visions and make prints as per their approvals on the
grading system reproduced accurately back on print.
There is also a difference in terms of grain structure and here is
where Kodak emerges as the preferred choice. So as we move into
digital, time again it has been proven that the industry choice is
film and that too Kodak! Happy reading!
Suresh S Iyer
Country Business Manager
Entertainment Imaging
Printed and Published by Suresh Iyer on behalf of Kodak India Private Limited, at Mumbai
Action packed
Realism
DoP Dudley creates an
enjoyable piece of cinema in
Singham.
Celluloid Painter
DoP Kabir Lal, says, "A film is
painting with celluloid and light".
Cross Currents
Vijay Arora, DoP believes in the
total composition of all the
elements of a shot including
actors.
Celluloid Lyric
Sanjay Memane, works on a
personal agenda to make every
frame of his speak.
Visual Appeal
Veteran DoP Gourang Saha does
not believe in copying any one
blindly.
Film Loyalist
DoP Krishnasamy loves to
capture the beauty of 'real'
colors through his work.
Thrilling Effects
Dasaradhi Sivendra, enjoys the
play between light and shade to
create highly dramatic magic
moments of cinema.
No Short Cut
Dil Raju puts his life and soul
into every movie of his.
Natural Born
Film maker
Dasari Sreenivas Rao believes
true success lies in working
within the parameters to do
something different rather than
breaking rules just for the sake
of it.
Eloquent Shadows
DoP Soumik Haldar feels to be
able to capture the mood of the
story on screen from script is
what cinematography is all
about.
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The Right Angle
DoP Shaji puts tremendous
amount of hard work into
making each film a success.
True Colour
A profile of colourists from post
production studio - Prime Focus
Young Guns
INSIDE
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11
13
15
17
19
21
Tanveer Mir, Nikhil Arolkar and
Siddhartha Jatla are all young
and raring to go.
Breaking Rules
K.G. Soman, Dean of Film at FTII
and Head of the Department of
Cinematography encourages to
break out from the set practices.
Creating Images
At the L.V. Prasad Academy, the
approach to cinema is holistic -
says R. Narayan Kumar - Head
of the Department of
Cinematography.
NID Workshop
Conducted by Partha
Chakraborty, ex-NID alumni had
eminent DoP Kamal Negi as the
main faculty.
Maestros at Work
Kodak Masterclass with
legendary cinematographer
Vilmos Zsigmond, ASC.
Managing Editor:
Suresh Iyer
Editor:
Chesta Shah Sengupta
Contributors:
Jayanti Sen, Manju Latha Kalanidhi,
Vijay George and P Murali Krishna
Design and layout:
Roopak Graphics, Mumbai
Printing:
Printania, Mumbai
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This is an independent magazine.
Do write in with ideas, suggestions, Views comments expressed to kodakimages@rediffmail.com
in the articles are those of authors alone.
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Singham
Action Packed
Cover Story
Director Rohit Shetty with DoP Dudley has created a piece of
cinema in Singham which is not only enjoyable for its strong
storyline, but has been shot on a massive scale using large
crowds and the entire state of Maharashtra as its real locations.
Realism has rarely been used in mainstream cinema. But
Dudley has created a completely different look in this film
where the realistic touches used by him include unusual
camera angles and dramatic lighting.
REALISM
A strict and honest police officer Bajirao Singham lodges an all out
fight against corruption. This finally leads him to a clash with a
Photo Credits: Avinash Gupta
dangerous ruffian, who is committed to annihilate Bajirao. It is this
intense struggle that forms the backbone of Rohit Shetty's film Singham.
And this action-packed thriller is shot with great drama by DoP Dudley.
From the conceptual stages of the film director Shetty and Dudley
worked very closely together. "My approach to the camera work, which
was also the director's aim, was to take a raw, realistic style, with no
colors practically. I wanted to create realistic stuff that would hit the
audience hard. For this we used all real locations, in fact ninety percent
of the film we have used real locations, moving through the length and
breadth of the Maharashtra border and Goa," says Dudley. "We have
given two particular tones in the film, one in a series of scenes before the
titles appear on screen, and the other is after the titles.”
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Photo Credits: Avinash Gupta