“Kochadaiiyaan Better Than Hollywood Motion Capture Films”

Chennai: Tamil superstar Rajinikanth’s magnum opus Kochadaiiyaan, which releases worldwide on Friday, is a lot better than several earlier films made using motion capture technology in the west, says Phil Stilgoe, founder of Centroid motion capture company, which worked on the movie.(Also read: Kochadaiiyaan Release Delayed Only due to Technical Reasons: Filmmakers)

Kochadaiiyaan, directed by Soundarya Rajinikanth Ashwin, is India’s first motion capture photo-realistic 3D animated film.

“I’ve been in this industry for nearly 15 years and I have seen the technology evolve. I can confidently say that Kochadaiiyaan is a lot better than several earlier films made using Motion Capture Technology in Hollywood,” Stilgoe told IANS in an exclusive interview.

“I’ve also heard some criticism about the film but it has to start somewhere. I’m more interested in how will this technology be in a decade from now and how India will use it to make it their own,” he said.

Stilgoe also says that the film should not be compared with any other film made using the same technology because the factors involved are different.

“It’s unfair to compare Kochadaiiyaan with other films because you’re talking different budgets, different time frames and different experiences. But I don’t think these comparisons will be there in five to 10 years time because people will realize they were wrong to jump to conclusions,” he added.

While Kochadaiiyaan was made on a budget of ₹ 125 crores, Stilgoe clarifies that not all motion capture films incur high costs.

“The perception that you need to have high budget to use motion capture technology is wrong. For instance, if you were to go to a location and need a crowd of thousand people, you can create that with just two people in a studio in a few hours using this technology and save a lot of money,” he said.

In that case, why did films like Avatar and Tin Tin, also made using the same technology, cost so much?

“Initially, it was for big budget films during the technology’s experimental phase. A film like Avatar was made on thousands of crores using this technology because it was during its nascent stage and the makers were exploring it,” added Stilgoe.

“The West invents new technology and works on it, so there’s also invention cost involved besides production cost. Whereas India wants to just use that technology to make some money,” he said.

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