Flying high

Shooting an action scene with a helicam

Shooting in Sundarbans, one of the most dangerous and mysterious locations in the world was a challenge for the team of Roar: Tigers Of The Sundarbans. Translating the beauty and danger of this place on to the big screen is a task that producer Abis Rizvi and director Kamal Sadanah achieved using new technology, which included using a helicam— a remote-controlled mini helicopter used to obtain still or motion aerial image. Aerial cinematographers Ville Hyvönen and Kristjan Tiimus were specially flown down from Helsinki for the film.
The aerial rig was used to film master shots for not just the action sequences but some dramatic scenes as well. One of the most noteworthy shots to be filmed by the helicam was a ‘time slice’ or frozen moment with a few elements moving in the background.
“The scene in question was the boat attack, where the tigers leap on a boat in their signature move. It was one of the most important sequences in the film. Generally a time slice shot is done with about 90 cameras all triggered in the system simultaneously resulting in a number of images of the subject from different points of view— all taken at the same moment in time. Since we couldn’t take such a big rig into the water, we manipulated the speed of our camera, designed the movement in a particular fashion and made the actors react in a way to get that specific shot,” explained Sadanah.
Roar… releases on October 31.