When Bollywood goes beyond 35mm
Earlier,the domain of documentary filmmakers,digital cinematography is being accepted into Bollywood.
Remember the mindblowing graphics from Avatar,or the graphics from the trailer of the upcoming second edition of the Transformers franchise? The colours and the shots look very real,because these films were not shot on the regular 35 mm film cameras,but on digital cameras. The idea of digital cinematography for filmmaking started with Star Wars:
Attack of the Clones in 2002. Now,many mainstream Bollywood films are jumping onto the bandwagon to make full-length feature films — Love Sex aur Dhokha,Ragini MMS and Stanley Ka Dabba are the most recent examples.
Tribhuvan Babu,cinematographer for Ragini MMS,explains,“To put it in modern terms,I call this as the
democratisation of Indian cinema. What digital cinematography has bought along with it is accessibility. More and more people can make films without worrying a lot about the budget and other hassles. Another important aspect is also the story. For instance,it depends a lot on the genre that a person is shooting his film for. Ragini MMS spoke about hidden cameras and MMS clips,so it was imperative that we shoot it on digital cameras. We used a Canon 7D to shoot it. Two main reasons — easy to hide and easy to manoeuver. It was in sync with the story.”
Interestingly,even major raw stock (film manufacturers) like Kodak and Fuji are now veering towards developing their own digital cameras that iron out the problems that are mainly associated with digital camera usage. Even with its growing popularity,Onir,director of the recently released film I Am,says that there are some inherent issues with shooting digital that need to be addressed.
“The most important one is that of lighting and the background getting burnt out. While digital does offer a lot of options as far as shooting styles are concerned,shooting landscapes is better with a film camera. Even major camera makers like ARRI and RED are now coming up with cameras that address these issues. It depends a lot on the skill of the cinematographer to compose and shoot with the light.”
And if one is inclined to believe that digital cinematography is the medium for budget filmmakers then that is really not the case,as Amol Gupta,DOP (Director of Photography) with Ram Gopal Verma,points out. “RGV loves to experiment with new mediums. I worked with him on Rakhtacharitra,which was completely shot on digital medium. It offers the freedom to play with light and also the surroundings. And even manipulate them according to the need of the shot,all the while not going overboard with the budget.”
Even upcoming films like Mausam,starring Shahid Kapoor,will be shot on digital. Senior cinematographers like Binod Pradhan and Jehangir Chaudhury,too,acknowledge the power of the medium so much so that they too have started buying out cameras like the RED or ARRI digital cameras.
Though old-school filmmakers argue that shooting with digital cameras is like posing in front of a toy camera for most actors,it has already found its way into mainstream Hollywood. “Change is always met with resistance,isn’t it?” argues Babu,adding,“Economic issues will force the 35 mm out eventually. It takes up a lot of space to store 250-500 cans of shot films,then there is the danger of exposure or fog accumulation happening. But a digital film takes up,maybe three,one-terabyte hard drives,that’s it.”
Space,money and time,all saved. This is what will eventually turn the tide in favour of digital cinematography in the years to come.
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