TECHNOLOGY ... to the fore!

The Post Production Industry has suffered something of a crisis over the last year, following a severe dip in Advertising expenses across the globe and in virtually every media that is in some way connected with the Ad World. The recessions and the September 11 crisis are generally blamed for the lull; these do not fully explain the difficulties faced by some of the companies. This is a fundamental problem because the technology that could earlier be afforded only by huge corporations with big pockets is now within reach of comparatively smaller firms. Smaller or bigger the firm, the quality standards should not be scaled with costs.

Though this has affected every facet of the media world, Famous Studios located at Mahalaxmi, continues to provide the best of facilities and services at most acceptable and competitive rates to every filmmaker - whether Ad-films or Feature-Films – and to every quality conscious producer.

According to Mr. Arun Roongta, Director, Famous Studios, today Famous contributes in one or more ways to 9 out of 10 ad films and big banner feature films being made in Mumbai. From rentals of basics like lights & cameras to providing ultra-modern editing equipment like Smoke and Flame, Telecine facility equipped with a state-of-the-art ITK Millennium Lite with HD, Avid Editing Suites, Sound Recording studios, DVD Authoring facility & 8 Shooting floors/Studios of different sizes. Famous is truly a one-stop shop for any filmmaker.

One of Famous Studios’ enterprising achievements in the recent years has been their House Of Animation, headed by E. Suresh (Creative Director), a graduate from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. He says, “Our highly talented animation department draws inspiration from the life around the studio and even beyond. The environment is so fresh, energized and inspirational at Famous Studios, which is rare for a Production or Post-Production Facility… that’s probably because each and every artist or a technical expert has something special to contribute. Our House of Animation is a treasure house of probably the best talent and expertise that the country has to offer. We undertake animation in the latest forms, which can compete with the best in the world. Be it Clay animation, computer generated 3D animation or the traditional Cel animation. The facilities that are available in our other departments like sound recording, editing, telecine etc gives us a lot of possibilities to experiment and therefore excel in our work ”

The Animation Department has produced and co-produced some highflying animation that has been acclaimed at various stages. One of their animation ID’s “Simpu Kids Menu” won the Silver for Best Out-Of-House Station Promo for Channel [V] Star India Pvt. Ltd. at the PROMAX Awards Asia 2001, which also won the Silver at the PROMAX & BDA Awards 2002, where another 2 “Simpu” ID’s won the Bronze in two different categories. Famous also won the Grand Prize at the India South East Asia Animation (INSEA) Film Festival 2000 for their animation work in ‘The Freedom Song’, won the Golden Conch for the same at the Mumbai International Film Festival and the Best Animation Film at the Japan Wildlife Film Festival last year. Another one of their animation works won the Best Animated Commercial at the India South East Asia Animation (INSEA) Film Festival last year for ‘MTV Poga’ which was also declared the joint winner for Best 3D Animation at the 2nd Asian Television Technical & Creative Awards 2002. Some of the recent and most popular animated commercial campaigns like Smirnoff Zone, Titan Edge and Amaron Batteries have all been produced at Famous Studios - House Of Animation.

Famous Studios have recently upgraded to the new HD ITK Millennium Lite Telecine bringing in the latest technology in processing, helping filmmakers save time and money and giving them value-for their money in terms of quality. They also have an experienced colorist Mr. Paul Byrne from Ireland, a friendly young man who has a brilliant understanding of colours. Almost 70 - 75% of all Ad Films are processed at Famous. Providing top most quality and dependability. As DVD technology spreads to Publishing, Corporate and Personal arenas, Famous set up a DVD authoring facility within Famous that features MPEG 2 VBR for encoding and decoding, real time synthesizing of audio and picture and real time encoding to 6 channels of Dolby Digital Sound (AC3).

Famous’ top of the line facilities for editing and special effects using Smoke, Flame and Avid Media Composer, for both online as well as offline work is spearheaded by Sabu Jose. To blend the best of editing and special effects and create linear and non-compressed digital products they have recently upgraded to OCTANE II, which is capable of High Definition, which will work by facilitating Data transfer on a backdrop system so that all the output can be directly taken from the telecine to the respective editing suits to avoid any quality loss or generation loss. A well-equipped Control room for Tape transfers in PAL / NTSC / Digital / Analog / VHS / Umatic high-band or low-band for Masters or Preview copies is also available.

Famous Studios’ Galactica – sound-recording studios has a galaxy of facilities providing the most modern music recording and post-production facilities, headed by Farhad K. Dadyburjor. “Galactica A” has been designed by, Munro & Munro Associates, a renowned acoustic consultancy firm from U.K. The studio has been set up by following all the rules laid down by sound technologists and is based on detailed acoustic predictions. The Control rooms boast of integral subwoofers and custom designed Dynaudio monitoring systems. A large screen projection and picture lock facility with the world-renowned Euphonix mixing console with Fairlight for 48-track recording is available. “Galactica B” the second sound recording studio is equipped with a Yamaha mixing console and a Fairlight 16 Track recording facility with Andy Munro’s Sound Acoustic to complement. In short, an ideal place to record Albums and music for Feature Films.

Famous has recently upgraded their Film-Projection room which is now equipped with the latest Christie projectors & Dolby Ex-surround with DTS for previews. This facility can accommodate a total of 60 persons.

Famous Studios make an ideal location for indoor shoots where you have an option of choosing from a range of 8 floors based on their sizes. Ideal for product shoots and video tests, crowd shoots and even hosting live shows. All the studios and make-up rooms at Famous are air-conditioned. Famous also provides support equipment like Arri 435 cameras for films, Sony Digibeta with a portable recorder, lights and a movie-tech-dolly with remote control for indoor and outdoor locations on rentals.

When the competition increases, quality standards are affected, the lull gets even worse and bigger problems might arise for those not in quality business. Is there any solution to this?? Yes, I suggest we compete in terms of quality, not cost. Let’s not make hay only when the sun shines, but at all times.

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