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Aamir Khan starrer Ghajini,
remake of the popular eponymous Tamil film, released at theatres
across India on December 25, 2008. Directed by AR Murugadoss
(who also helmed the Tamil version) the film also features
Asin and Jiah Khan. Despite a few pre-release hiccups, it
has received a good opening allover.
What added punch to the movie
was visual effects work (close to 300 shots) done by Mumbai-based
post production major Prime Focus. AnimationXpress.com
spoke to Merzin Tavaria, Creative Head Vfx,
Prime Focus and Vfx supervisor for Ghajini, who shed light
on all the behind-the-scenes action, and recounted a few challenging
shots. Here's how some of them were perfected:
Tale
of six Aamirs
In the song 'Behka', Aamir Khan dons six different looks and
all of them in one frame! This song was shot by Prime Focus'
own motion control rig 'milo'. Also featuring female lead
Asin, this sequence was one of the most challenging ones.
The shot has six Aamir doppelgangers,
interacting and dancing, but at the same time avoiding and
jumping over each other. The sequence needs to be credited
to Aamir since it is possible only by a meticulous actor like
him. Ravi K Chandran, the director of photography worked hard
on this sequence too. Each of these dance sequences were shot
separately in chroma and then the different layers were composited.
Aamir had to dance the whole song six times over, remember
the positions, and also do the lip syncing. As the Vfx supervisor,
Merzin composited and checked each layer on set to make sure
all was ok. Live compositing was also used.
Here is how it was done: first,
the sequence of Aamir at the back was shot on set. Asin and
other Aamirs were then shot separately. Since all six doppelgangers
had to avoid and jump over each other, Aamir had to remember
all positions while dancing. He also had to make eye contact
with Asin in each of his positions. The timing of the shot
where he stands on a chair and forces the chair down with
his feet - just after Asin passes by - was managed exceptionally.
Thereafter,
the Prime Focus team painstakingly worked on the positions and shadows, delivering
the final composite. Dance
in unison:
Next up is the sequence
where six Aamirs shake a leg together, doing the same steps in unison. Aamir himself
put in a lot of hard work to make it a perfect shot. He had to repeat the same
dance steps in six different positions. The lip sync on all of them were all spot
on. The shots were shot separately
with a green matte and later composited. Care was taken to make each dance marginally
different from each other, as they had to represent different personalities.
Aamir
with Asin:
Aamir has done an excellent job in this sequence, where Asin
walks past his dopplegangers. He had to keep in mind the right expressions and
movements every time, since each of the sequences were shot separately. He
had to keep in mind Asin’s height and the exact position from where she signals
‘Hi’, and then react accordingly. The background and properties in the
shot were all worked on during the post production.
Up
close:
The primary (central)
shot was filmed first. Then his height, shoulder and position
were measured and marked. Using a stand as a reference, Aamir
did his dance steps a second and a third time.
Skull model:
A 3D model of Aamir Khan's head was made by Prime Focus for
this particular shot. Though the model was used only for a
few seconds in the film, the amount of work put into it is
enormous, said Merzin Tavaria.
Made on Maya with a high poly
count, great care was to taken to make the model look exactly
like Aamir, whatever the angle. Aamir's photographs, taken
from various perspectives, aided the process. The textures
were touched up by hand.
In
the film, the model is used in a sequence where the doctor explains the case history
of Sanjay (Aamir) to the students. The original shot used a green matte over the
monitor screen, and animation of the model was later composited onto the screen.
Song
and dance:
For the song 'Lattu',
Jiah Khan was shot with the help of a chroma screen and ropes, while the dance
crew was shot separately in a specially built set. The chroma background had a
huge number of tracking points to key it out perfectly. This
song was difficult to handle in post production, since it involved a lot of costume
movements and Jiah’s long hair, which had to be retained while keying out
the background. The Prime Focus team did a good job, as reflections of the lights
and its effect on Jiah Khan’s eyes were managed with perfection. The light
on her hair in the close-up shots are also done well.
Matte painting- Fly in:
A number of shots in the film required matte painting in
the post production stage. The airport scene was shot in a deserted location and
had to be made into Mumbai. But since the background in the original shot didn't
look like Mumbai, instead of just adding in buildings the team finally landed
up replacing the complete background leaving just the aircraft in some shots giving
the shot a more city-like feel. The plane alone was cut out by rotoscopy. Aircraft
pullout is another key sequence. The scene was shot with a rough cut-out of an
aircraft with green part over exterior with Aamir in the frame of the window.
The shot was tracked in boujou and a CG aircraft was composited onto that. Merzin
Tavaria added, "The tricky part was doing the night sky as in the night you
don't really see anything, but for me that's not beautiful. You need to see just
that much, just enough of detail in the clouds. The team did a great job in putting
it together."
Matte painting-Buildings
and Hoardings:
The original shot had only the buildings
on the right of the frame (Interestingly, they are from Nariman Point, Mumbai).
The plane panning is a combination of matte painting and 3D. The buildings on
the left and the hoardings were all created later by matte painting and composited
with the original shots in different layers.
Wet tarmac:
During the top angle shot of the flight coming to a halt, it stopped
raining. Since the earlier shots had wet ground, this one was worked upon in post
production. The ground was given a wet and slick look and the surroundings were
also matte painted. Another sequence
is the maple leaves sequence where the scene required maple leaves to be added
to make it look romantic. "No one will ever know the thought and pain gone
into that. But that's the best part as it needs to be blended in perfectly,"
said Merzin.
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