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The last time Ajay Devgn stepped behind a camera was way back in 2008, when he directed the critically-acclaimed romantic drama, ‘U, Me aur Hum’. Eight years later he is back in the director’s chair with his ambitious action-drama ‘Shivaay’, starring himself as the eponymous lead, Erika Kaar and Sayesha Saigal. Shivaay is a story of a mountaineer who must overcome severe challenges in order to protect his family.Prime Focus World is delighted to have delivered camera equipment and Digital Intermediate services for the 170 minute film.
Since a major portion of ‘Shivaay’ is set in snow-clad mountains, a cold, bluish treatment was decided on for the film. Ajay had in fact pre-conceived this look right from the pre-production stage itself, and the art direction and costumes were designed accordingly. Shooting in the scenic locales of Bulgaria in freezing conditions and over multiple days presented the DI team with a host of challenges to overcome during the grading process. While the environment remained sunny and lit on some days, it turned cloudy and dense on others, leading to inconsistent lighting conditions. Color grading was crucial in this respect as it helped to maintain the overall tonality of the sequence. Another tough task for the colorist was to maintain the bluish look while sun shone brightly in some of the day shots and when it produced golden light during the magic hour. The team ensured the continuity by adjusting the colour temperature from warmer to colder while also matching the color of shadows on snow to reflect the exact time during the day.
Many of the VFX sequences in the film were shot against green screen in different locations and irregular brightness. The DI team was tasked with making the shots look authentic by matching the lighting, contrast and movement in the foreground to the background. To ensure a realistic grade for both the live action and the CG elements in the film, the colorist pre-graded the visual effects plates before they went to the VFX vendors. The shots were balanced and graded in advance so that the visual effects artists could supply matching effects shots back to the DI team during the finishing process. The colorist then matched the gamma values, colour temperatures and exposure values of the original footage with the final VFX shots to ensure that the plates sat together seamlessly and that no sections were overprocessed or quality lost.
The entire film was shot with multi–camera setups, which gave the editing team large amounts of footage to work with. The final edit had many such shots from different angles intercut between sequences which required each frame to be graded separately and then matched seamlessly with the rest of the shots. The biggest challenge faced by the DI team during the grading process came during the climax sequence of the film wherein the protagonist and the villain are seen indulging in a hand-to-hand combat while falling off a cliff.
“The challenge was to maintain a radiant skin tone for the characters as they are falling off a CG mountain. Different areas of the skin were required to be enhanced and then matched with the cold, saturated environment” explained Ashirwad Hadkar, Prime Focus Colorist.“The film itself is visually stunning and Aseem Bajaj’s brilliant camera work has helped create an immersive, surreal experience that instantly draws viewers into the story.”
Talking about how color grading helped correct some of the shots in the film, DoP Aseem Bajaj said, “There was a brothel sequence we shot in Bulgaria which didn’t turn out as per our expectations. The intensity of the neon lights did not match the foreground lighting making the frame look bleak and flat. During the grade, Ajay & I briefed Ashirwad about how we wanted everything in the environment to pop up with the neon look. To achieve this look we initially isolated the highlights and by careful modulation of exposure, contrast and shadows we eventually arrived at the desired effect.” Aseem also added, “Prime Focus has the finest color grading facility in the country with some of the top colorists like Ashirwad working for them. I was extremely delighted by the end result we were able to achieve on Shivaay and will soon be collaborating with them again on my next project.”
In addition to DI, Prime Focus also supplied equipments including Arri Alexa XT along with Cooke S5i and Angenieux Optimo Zoom lens for the movie.
Produced under the banner of Ajay Devgn FFilms and Pen India Limited, Shivaay released worldwide on 28th October 2016 and has already grossed ₹ 56.96 crore at the Indian Box Office.
Credits
Project – Shivaay
Production House – Ajay Devgn FFilms, Pen India Limited.
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