As celebratory milestones go, ten is an important one. It sets the base for many more significant ones to come. And as Chennai Times turns 10, today, we take a leap of another 10 years, this time to the year 2028. We ask experts across various fields how Chennai will fare in a decade’s time when it comes to films, food, culture, medical services, politics, spirituality, environment, transportation, architecture, and partying. Through the next 10 days, we will take you on this crystal-ball-gazing trip, one journey at a time. And of course, dear readers, we hope you will travel with us over many multiples of ten years.
The future is always exciting. For, it offers the thrill of the unknown. When it comes to filmmaking, a decade can mean far-reaching changes, thanks to advancement in technology and evolution of society. In the past decade, we saw technological changes like the re-emergence of 3D and the introduction of Dolby Atmos, while story-telling became universal and new-age-y. So, what do the next 10 years hold? We asked Pushkar, of the filmmaking duo Pushkar-Gayatri, who gave one of 2017’s successful films, Vikram Vedha, one of our promising young filmmakers, Vignesh ShivN, and National Award-winning director Seenu Ramasamy to do some future-gazing for us and tell us what we can expect from Tamil cinema in the coming decade...
THE STREAMING BOOM
Web content will start becoming popular, feels Pushkar. But the challenge, for filmmakers and writers, will be to adapt to the serialised form of storytelling, he says. “So far, we have been writing stories for a two-hour format, so writing content as an eight-hour format will require a different skillset. The online medium will give us space for telling stories that we cannot tell in theatres, not just because of censorship or the preconceived notion of how a movie should be,” he says.
In the next two to three years,filmmakers will have to decide on what kind of stories are going to be shown in the theatres, and what will be made for consumption at home.Vignesh ShivN sees this as a threat. He explains, “Today, it has become difficult to release a small film in theatre,so these streaming sites buy such films and release them on their platforms. While it does help small films in one way, it also robs such films of the chance to become a sleeper hit, like a Subramaniapuram or a Aruvi. It is only now that our audiences have started according respect to content-driven films, giving us all hope for the future.But streaming will change that mindset. Like in the US, people will then start watching series and come to the theatres only for the films of big heroes, choosing to see the other films in their homes.”
However,Pushkar assures,“One bright side is that for the audience, Tamil cinema and Indian cinema, in general, is not just about going and watching a content. Movie-going,for us,is like a carnival.So,unlike in western countries,where cinema isn’t growing majorly, save for blockbusters like the superhero films, our situation will not be not bleak. Namma cinema will exist.”
INTERESTING FILMS WILL WORK
“2017 was a really good year for content. We had a whole bunch of films like Aruvi and Maanagaram that were unique — and the audience accepted them. That is a very encouraging thing because it did not happen in Hindi last year. In Malayalam, too, people accepted a certain kind of content in 2016 and 2017. But we go through such phases. So, in the next five years, we will see a lot of interesting small films which have a unique voice and will also work on a larger scale as well,” he says.
HOLOGRAPHIC MOVIES IN 10 YEARS?
Seenu Ramasamy feels that formula will become passe. “World cinema’s impact is felt even in the villages today, because of internet. So, I think there will be a change in the mindset of audience, forcing filmmakers to move away from formulaic films, and following a trend. There will be space for all genres to co-exist and people will expect filmmakers to stay true to the genre of their film instead of trying to add on multiple, unnecessary elements to satisfy all sections of the audience,” he explains.
STORYTELLING WILL REMAIN ROOTED
Storytelling is culture-specific, opines Pushkar. “It will change, revert; in fact, there were edgier films being made in the late 70s and early 80s compared to now. But this follows the pattern of the society. We will still be telling Tamil stories, but the craft has to match up to what people see from other industries,” he says. Songs, which are an integral part of our Indian films, will become an element that drives the narrative of the film, believes Seenu. “Also, the practise of lip-syncing to a song or cutting to a foreign location for a song will come down,” he says. He also says that there will also be more women-centric films, like how it has been happening in Hindi cinema in the recent years.
TECHNIQUE WILL BE THE DIFFERENTIATOR
We are now in competition with the other industries, and this is something we have to accept. Audiences have access to everything from across the world, so we have to update ourselves and work on how we tell OUR stories. The technique that goes behind telling the story, the use of colours, and so on will have to match up to an international level. This has already begun to happen. The chief technicians of our films — the cinematographers, the editors and music directors — are doing work that is on par with what is being done in the rest of the world. Cost will always be a factor, for we are operating at one hundredth the budget of a Hollywood film, but we have the ability.
FILMMAKING WILL BECOME MUCH EASIER
“People are already shooting on 5D cameras, and soon, they will be able to shoot movies on their phone in great quality. There will be a lot of content as people will look at filmmaking like a hobby. This will also make it challenging for those working in the mainstream, especially in terms of coming up with content,” feels Vignesh ShivN.
Starting with the script getting locked, to the production breakdown, like locking down locations... we will be seeing planned productions, says Pushkar. As for post-production, the mix cost, or the DI cost... they are all at reasonable level now compared to when we were working on film or even when digital was introduced.
STAR SYSTEM WILL STAY
The star system will exist, but the kind of scripts they take up will make or break them, says Seenu. “Stars will be forced to take up diverse scripts and prove themselves as actors, too,” he states.
Pushkar admits that in the past five years, the industry has gone a little astray in how much it spends on a film, but refuses to blame stars’ salaries for it. “A star’s salary is not the anchor to everything. Budget must be rational, and based on transparent reporting of collection, that can be done,” he feels.
The next decade also holds the prospect of Tamil cinema without Rajinikanthand Kamal Haasan, who have indicated that they will become full-time politicians, but Seenu believes “their places will be taken up by a new set of stars.”
3D WILL HAVE TO IMPROVE
Even though 3D started out as THE thing that will bring back people to the theatres and keep them coming, Pushkar finds it to be one of those technologies that hasn’t taken off as well as people expected it to. “3D is not perfect yet. There are a lot of glitches. Even in the best of 3D films, you will find ghosting happening when you have high-contrast images. So, there is still huge scope for improvement,” he says.
8K, HDR AND DOLBY ATMOS WILL BE BIG
He is more kicked about moving to 8K projection facilities and HDR (High-Dynamic Range) in the next five years. “Ironically, 8K will mean shifting closer to what film can do, as the understanding is that 8K resolution is the equivalent of the quality you get on film. The increase in resolution will be a big thing,” he says. HDR will result in richness in the detail in visuals, he says. “Dolby Vision, a technology which is equivalent of HDR, but affects on a scene-by-scene basis, is again an interesting technology that will become much more popular. Right now, HDR is mainly happening in the mastering process, but we will see that in projection also,” he adds.
Similarly, he feels that the refinement of Dolby Atmos and how that can be delivered at home will be interesting change to look forward to.
The future is always exciting. For, it offers the thrill of the unknown. When it comes to filmmaking, a decade can mean far-reaching changes, thanks to advancement in technology and evolution of society. In the past decade, we saw technological changes like the re-emergence of 3D and the introduction of Dolby Atmos, while story-telling became universal and new-age-y. So, what do the next 10 years hold? We asked Pushkar, of the filmmaking duo Pushkar-Gayatri, who gave one of 2017’s successful films, Vikram Vedha, one of our promising young filmmakers, Vignesh ShivN, and National Award-winning director Seenu Ramasamy to do some future-gazing for us and tell us what we can expect from Tamil cinema in the coming decade...
THE STREAMING BOOM
Web content will start becoming popular, feels Pushkar. But the challenge, for filmmakers and writers, will be to adapt to the serialised form of storytelling, he says. “So far, we have been writing stories for a two-hour format, so writing content as an eight-hour format will require a different skillset. The online medium will give us space for telling stories that we cannot tell in theatres, not just because of censorship or the preconceived notion of how a movie should be,” he says.
In the next two to three years,filmmakers will have to decide on what kind of stories are going to be shown in the theatres, and what will be made for consumption at home.Vignesh ShivN sees this as a threat. He explains, “Today, it has become difficult to release a small film in theatre,so these streaming sites buy such films and release them on their platforms. While it does help small films in one way, it also robs such films of the chance to become a sleeper hit, like a Subramaniapuram or a Aruvi. It is only now that our audiences have started according respect to content-driven films, giving us all hope for the future.But streaming will change that mindset. Like in the US, people will then start watching series and come to the theatres only for the films of big heroes, choosing to see the other films in their homes.”
However,Pushkar assures,“One bright side is that for the audience, Tamil cinema and Indian cinema, in general, is not just about going and watching a content. Movie-going,for us,is like a carnival.So,unlike in western countries,where cinema isn’t growing majorly, save for blockbusters like the superhero films, our situation will not be not bleak. Namma cinema will exist.”
INTERESTING FILMS WILL WORK
“2017 was a really good year for content. We had a whole bunch of films like Aruvi and Maanagaram that were unique — and the audience accepted them. That is a very encouraging thing because it did not happen in Hindi last year. In Malayalam, too, people accepted a certain kind of content in 2016 and 2017. But we go through such phases. So, in the next five years, we will see a lot of interesting small films which have a unique voice and will also work on a larger scale as well,” he says.
HOLOGRAPHIC MOVIES IN 10 YEARS?
Seenu Ramasamy feels that formula will become passe. “World cinema’s impact is felt even in the villages today, because of internet. So, I think there will be a change in the mindset of audience, forcing filmmakers to move away from formulaic films, and following a trend. There will be space for all genres to co-exist and people will expect filmmakers to stay true to the genre of their film instead of trying to add on multiple, unnecessary elements to satisfy all sections of the audience,” he explains.
STORYTELLING WILL REMAIN ROOTED
Storytelling is culture-specific, opines Pushkar. “It will change, revert; in fact, there were edgier films being made in the late 70s and early 80s compared to now. But this follows the pattern of the society. We will still be telling Tamil stories, but the craft has to match up to what people see from other industries,” he says. Songs, which are an integral part of our Indian films, will become an element that drives the narrative of the film, believes Seenu. “Also, the practise of lip-syncing to a song or cutting to a foreign location for a song will come down,” he says. He also says that there will also be more women-centric films, like how it has been happening in Hindi cinema in the recent years.
TECHNIQUE WILL BE THE DIFFERENTIATOR
We are now in competition with the other industries, and this is something we have to accept. Audiences have access to everything from across the world, so we have to update ourselves and work on how we tell OUR stories. The technique that goes behind telling the story, the use of colours, and so on will have to match up to an international level. This has already begun to happen. The chief technicians of our films — the cinematographers, the editors and music directors — are doing work that is on par with what is being done in the rest of the world. Cost will always be a factor, for we are operating at one hundredth the budget of a Hollywood film, but we have the ability.
FILMMAKING WILL BECOME MUCH EASIER
“People are already shooting on 5D cameras, and soon, they will be able to shoot movies on their phone in great quality. There will be a lot of content as people will look at filmmaking like a hobby. This will also make it challenging for those working in the mainstream, especially in terms of coming up with content,” feels Vignesh ShivN.
Starting with the script getting locked, to the production breakdown, like locking down locations... we will be seeing planned productions, says Pushkar. As for post-production, the mix cost, or the DI cost... they are all at reasonable level now compared to when we were working on film or even when digital was introduced.
STAR SYSTEM WILL STAY
The star system will exist, but the kind of scripts they take up will make or break them, says Seenu. “Stars will be forced to take up diverse scripts and prove themselves as actors, too,” he states.
Pushkar admits that in the past five years, the industry has gone a little astray in how much it spends on a film, but refuses to blame stars’ salaries for it. “A star’s salary is not the anchor to everything. Budget must be rational, and based on transparent reporting of collection, that can be done,” he feels.
The next decade also holds the prospect of Tamil cinema without Rajinikanthand Kamal Haasan, who have indicated that they will become full-time politicians, but Seenu believes “their places will be taken up by a new set of stars.”
3D WILL HAVE TO IMPROVE
Even though 3D started out as THE thing that will bring back people to the theatres and keep them coming, Pushkar finds it to be one of those technologies that hasn’t taken off as well as people expected it to. “3D is not perfect yet. There are a lot of glitches. Even in the best of 3D films, you will find ghosting happening when you have high-contrast images. So, there is still huge scope for improvement,” he says.
8K, HDR AND DOLBY ATMOS WILL BE BIG
He is more kicked about moving to 8K projection facilities and HDR (High-Dynamic Range) in the next five years. “Ironically, 8K will mean shifting closer to what film can do, as the understanding is that 8K resolution is the equivalent of the quality you get on film. The increase in resolution will be a big thing,” he says. HDR will result in richness in the detail in visuals, he says. “Dolby Vision, a technology which is equivalent of HDR, but affects on a scene-by-scene basis, is again an interesting technology that will become much more popular. Right now, HDR is mainly happening in the mastering process, but we will see that in projection also,” he adds.
Similarly, he feels that the refinement of Dolby Atmos and how that can be delivered at home will be interesting change to look forward to.
SMALLER CAMERAS WILL MAKE FILMMAKING EASIER
The way films are shot will change, informs Pushkar. “We shoot much of our films on cameras like Alexa and Red, which are quite bulky, primarily, and use a small camera like Go-Pro for select scenes or shots. But there are developments that indicate these smaller cameras will, in the future, match up to the visual quality that the bigger cameras offer. This will enable an independent filmmaker to shoot a film right in the middle of Ranganathan Street without any fuss,” he explains
VR WILL BECOME MAINSTREAM IN GAMING BUT NOT IN MOVIES
He has lesser hopes for virtual reality in moviemaking. “The very factor that you have to wear a cumbersome headset to get into VR has proved to be a challenge. In filmmaking, VR will continue to exist only on an alternate platform — as a special attraction. I don’t see VR taking over narrative filmmaking as such. In narrative filmmaking, we, filmmakers, make our audience focus onto something. The very idea of VR goes against that, so it will need a radically different kind of storytelling that is interactive, which is what games do. For example, in a first-person shooter game, you get a 360-degree view, so that you can see all around and can shoot a monster that is approaching from behind. I am a gamer, so I’m seeing huge possibility for VR in gaming. It will go mainstream in the coming years,” he elaborates.
“All these changes offer only a degree of difference in technology; they are not fundamental shifts, like how it was when we went from film to digital or from black-and-white to colour or from silent to talkie. Those changes redefined the way we look at storytelling. Such changes happen suddenly, and often you don’t even see them coming over the horizon. Right now, for the next decade or so, I’m not seeing anything that ground-breaking. The next evolution would perhaps be holographic projection. True 3D will happen when holographic movie-making happens as that will give us a feel of watching almost on location. But as of it is only a pipe dream,” he concludes.
The way films are shot will change, informs Pushkar. “We shoot much of our films on cameras like Alexa and Red, which are quite bulky, primarily, and use a small camera like Go-Pro for select scenes or shots. But there are developments that indicate these smaller cameras will, in the future, match up to the visual quality that the bigger cameras offer. This will enable an independent filmmaker to shoot a film right in the middle of Ranganathan Street without any fuss,” he explains
VR WILL BECOME MAINSTREAM IN GAMING BUT NOT IN MOVIES
He has lesser hopes for virtual reality in moviemaking. “The very factor that you have to wear a cumbersome headset to get into VR has proved to be a challenge. In filmmaking, VR will continue to exist only on an alternate platform — as a special attraction. I don’t see VR taking over narrative filmmaking as such. In narrative filmmaking, we, filmmakers, make our audience focus onto something. The very idea of VR goes against that, so it will need a radically different kind of storytelling that is interactive, which is what games do. For example, in a first-person shooter game, you get a 360-degree view, so that you can see all around and can shoot a monster that is approaching from behind. I am a gamer, so I’m seeing huge possibility for VR in gaming. It will go mainstream in the coming years,” he elaborates.
“All these changes offer only a degree of difference in technology; they are not fundamental shifts, like how it was when we went from film to digital or from black-and-white to colour or from silent to talkie. Those changes redefined the way we look at storytelling. Such changes happen suddenly, and often you don’t even see them coming over the horizon. Right now, for the next decade or so, I’m not seeing anything that ground-breaking. The next evolution would perhaps be holographic projection. True 3D will happen when holographic movie-making happens as that will give us a feel of watching almost on location. But as of it is only a pipe dream,” he concludes.
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