Entertainment

The importance of technical expertise in filmmaking is only too obvious. That is what makes a film like ‘Independence Day’, though fictitious, so natural and watchable and Nepali films so made-up and unnatural. Nonetheless, the Nepali film industry has, over the years, seen big time improvement in technical skill as it has been able to realize quite significant investments in the field. Here we look at how important technical expertise really is.

Once the financier and producer (and may be even the director) have got together and worked out details of the film, the first step, usually, is to record the songs which, without saying, is an integral part of Nepali films. Of course, some filmmakers choose to shoot other scenes of the film, but the on-going trend is to do the songs first.

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Equipment for converting a
celluloid film into video system

Earlier, Nepali filmmakers had to go to either Bombay or Calcutta for song recording purposes. But the birth of Ratna Recording Corporation eliminated the trouble. It also marked the beginning of a trend – opening up recording studios with a commercial perspective. Today, recording studios are doing rapid business. Moreover, studios have sprouted around not only in the capital but in other towns of the country as well.

Next in line is the shooting which is a very technical aspect. So is the purchase and sale of films and negatives. At the moment, eighty percent of Nepali movies or all film markers that depend on the Nepal Film Development Company (NFDC) for technical support, use Kodak film products.

Film-makers these days use 16 mm films. While the price of a single can of Kodak brand of negatives is around Rs. 6,200, a film normally requires between 60 and 90 cans of negatives.

After completion of the shooting, preparing the rush print is a key aspect. Getting ready the negative of a film is quite similar to that of preparing negative from an ordinary film.

There is only one lab – which is made available by the Nepali Film Development Company – that prepares the negatives. Says the company’s technician Bhim Rana, "The lab has done a lot for film-making in Nepal." Setting up a lab calls for huge investment which is perhaps why a second lab has not been able to be developed in the country.

Besides NFDC, Prime Broadcasting System also carries out activities that are necessary after the print has been prepared. The first step is to edit the rush print. The two entities, NFDC and Prime Broadcasting, use different editing techniques. While NFDC takes the help of its stain-back machines which directly cut the negatives, Prime Broadcasting uses the ABID technique under which the negatives are first transferred into video and then edited with the help of a computer.

The editing stage is followed by dubbing. Both NFDC and Prime Broadcasting are equipped with a dubbing studio. Here, the characters of the film have to dub dialogues that they had delivered during the film’s shooting. This stage requires expert recordist who is able to see that the two dialogue deliveries coincide perfectly.

This phase is called mixing and also includes, for example, placing appropriately other sounds such as the cries of birds in the jungle. This activity could be carried out here in Nepal since only very recently. Till date, only about a dozen Nepali films have used the mixing studio at NFDC. Filmmakers prefer going to India, probably because of availability of better trained manpower.

The completion of dubbing brings the film to its last stage – preparing the final print. Usually, filmmakers prepare five prints of a film. A print costs about Rs. 2,50,000. Films that have opted to go to Prime Broadcasting for various activities are required to visit Bombay for the print.

It is now time for publicity. For this, songs and important scenes are converted into telecines so that they can be run on TV. Until very recently, there was only one telecine machine in Nepal, owned by Nepal Television. As a result, one had to get in queue to get the telecine ready. But that is no more the case now since NFDC and Prime Broadcasting have installed a telecine machine each. A new telecine machine costs around Rs. 10 million.

Translated by Navin

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Technical Part of Cinema

By Ananta Wagle

Translated by Navin

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		Vol. 2 :: No. 12 November, 2000 (Kartik-Mangsir)
Entertainment