Random Talk : Kochadiiyaan - My Thoughts on last time...

Hey guys!! So I have been getting a lot of bad reviews on my review of Vallavanuku Pullum Ayidhyum. Mostly because I took a swipe at Rajinikanth’s Kochadiiiyaan. Three of my friends in particular have been punishing me badly and there is a lot of bad blood going on between me and a lot of hardcore Rajini fans. Well this is my point of view on why I took a bite at the film trailer.

First off, I want to say that I respect Rajinikanth’s acting ability and also think he is a legendary actor. So let me make my stand clear. The movie looks bad. I do not hate Rajinikanth. What I am saying is that just because Rajinikanth is in it doesn’t make the movie great.

Now, back to the topic. Kochadiiyaan is the first motion capture film made in India. Before I go on a rant, which some of you have had fun reading, I have to lay down the facts about this method of film making.

This method of film making involves placing sensors on specific parts of the body to mimic and capture realistic movement. This is generally used to capture emotions in the face. This technology has been used in the film industry since 2006. Its first prominent use was in the animation film The Polar express, where Tom Hanks’ facial expressions were captured. Now, we all know that Avatar revolutionized this method of filmmaking and went on to become the highest grossing film in the world. Now this technology is being used more frequently, to make giant creatures and aliens move more realistically. The latest use of it was in the movie Godzilla 2014, which by the way was really good. I will write a review of it as soon as I can. So the technology has been here for around 9 years. Now, that’s a really long time….

In 2007 Rajinakanth's daughter started the production of a film titled Sultan the warrior king under the banner Ocher Picture Productions. This has gone on to be renamed Raana and they said that Raana is the sequel to Kochadiiyaan but in my honest opinion the footage shot before appears to have been used in Kochadiiyaan. Essentially Kochadiiyaan has been in production for seven and a half years, give or take.

In my previous article I had stated that we have the talent and equipment. What I mean by the first sentence is that we have a lot of talent. Some Indian animators have worked on avatar. Some have done water effects for movies. If you think that it is easy, try drawing a realistic looking glass of water. Animating it is a thousand times tougher. So we have a lot of talent in India.

Let me rephrase the second sentence: we have the money to buy the equipment. An alleged budget of around 20 million dollars has been spent collectively between 2007 and 2014. Wow. I don’t know where that money went. But it went somewhere, alright. Now why am I apprehensive about that, because I know Avatar cost more to make. But before you think of the previous statement as a sign of defeat, Avatar had lesser time to be made. Started production in 2007 and released in 2009. Two years.

Motion capture has not only been used in movies, but also in video games. The game studio ‘Quantic Dream’ has a lot of awesome games, but I will address only two in this article: ‘Heavy Rain’ and ‘Beyond: Two Souls’. They both prominently feature motion capture. You might even recognize William Dafoe in ‘Beyond: Two Souls’. He is the guy who plays the Green Goblin in the first Spiderman movie. If you are a real movie buff, or if you saw X-Men –The Last Stand, you may also notice Ellen Page as the protagonist for the game. Now you might counter me and say that they are PS3 exclusives and as a reply I will show you three games, one of which I reviewed: ‘Tomb Raider’, which features a lot of motion capture. The next two are also available for PC and have not yet been released, but I will link the trailers below. They are Assassin’s Creed - Unity and The Witcher 3: Wild hunt. The footage shown is actually  ‘game play footage’, which means that you will be controlling the character in those scenes and it is not like watching a video and requires a lot of computing power by your computer. You may think “What is this guy getting at?”

The answer is simple. The Witcher 3 has a budget of 2.8 million. Assassin’s creed has a budget of around 4.5 million dollars. Which is pretty less, when compared to 20 million. And what I am really getting at is that, you are CONTROLLING the character. You can do anything you want whenever you want. Jump off a cliff; impale a guy, get drunk (it is possible in Assassins creed) and a lot of other things. And in a movie it is just a set of motions. It doesn’t change as per the viewer’s wishes.

When there is so much level of detail throughout the hundred hours you are going to spend in The Witcher 3 becoming the greatest warrior in the world, why can’t there be more than that in a three hour long (maximum) movie? And I haven’t even gotten to the punch yet. All this level of detail through 100 hours can take place on your own desk. And you do them. So money-visuals-wise games win.

Here are my major concerns about the visual aspect of the film. The whole environment looks barren. I re-watched the trailer in HD and I almost felt bad because I spotted two lines of texture copy and paste over the rock surfaces, at the 56 seconds mark on the EROS international trailer, which immediately took the realism out of it. And the textures were not as detailed as they could have been.  All the shots in the trailer have this feeling of blandness. The environment is a part of our everyday life and it is not pitch perfect. It is not clean. It is made of stuff that moves when characters touch them. There are fine particles of dust. There are clouds, there are shadows. The environment is almost a living breathing thing. Water, is almost magical. Fine details like sparks from flames, dust particles and smoke. It is as important as any character. They seem a bit off in the trailer. But there is one thing I have to give them props to and that is hair effects especially on the hair of Rajinikanth. Good job there, but you dropped the ball everywhere else….

The other thing I noticed is that there appears to be the lack of a proper ‘physics engine’. Things appear to float a bit, especially in the scene where the glass is thrown and the war scene. People look a bit floaty and crowds looked awkward. And finally the faces. They look hideous. Come on, put creases and add imperfections. Imperfections make us human. The facial hair looks fused together, and the upper facial muscles are weak. All in all it could use an improvement.

           

I hope that this post explains why I did not like the Kochadiiyaan trailer. This may not have cleared all the objections that people have for me but I think that this post covers most of them. In this post I also want to say that, I don’t do my reviews or rants, on assumptions on my part. I take pains to do a lot of ground work before. And I want to stress on the fact that what I say is my opinion and not criticism.

I don’t consider myself to be a critic. I just say the things that I like and don’t like about films. And in this case, I don’t like a lot of things. I don’t claim to be above all mortal feelings and I really don’t want to rip apart all the films I see. I just want to be that guy, to which everyone who is a casual moviegoer will relate to. Who will watch Pacific Rim and not compare the sophistication of the story with the story of The Godfather. I enjoy all types of films. But I do have to draw a line somewhere. I loved ‘12 Years a slave’. It was, for the lack of a better word, powerful. But I don’t expect all films to be like it. It would get boring. But when a, top starrer movie like Kochadiiyaan with high expectations, looks so bad, I feel bad. Given the right treatment and a little more working time, this movie may have been truly phenomenal. I know how much work has gone into this film. As much as I want that to pay off, I hope that this doesn’t become the standard.

I am an Indian and I want to see Indian movies reach worldwide critical acclaim. But to do that there is a lot of work to be done. I will see Kochadiiyaan with a clear mind, without comparing it to anything else, but it is difficult to do that when everything else is so good. I hope that the next time, Indian film makers get to make a motion capture film, they do a better job. But as the saying goes….. You gotta start somewhere. I sincerely hope the story will add some flavor to this film. Fingers crossed. I want to see filmmakers take this to the next level. I want to end this article on an important note. This is a note to the general audience. Do not be satisfied with this. Ask for more. Only then, will quality filmmaking be delivered. We deserve it…..

The Assassin's Creed Unity trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQng7EkJHOI

The Witcher 3: Wild hunt trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOkP7C0WrkU

I have also added the video which shows the use of motion capture in Tomb Raider 2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXD6VRSrUxQ

If you Read till here, you are Awesome!!!