The making of mythical magic

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It's got an Oscar nomination for its visual effects. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, directed by Andrew Adamson and produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media, has also enchanted audiences across the globe.

As audiences are led into the fantasy world of Narnia by the visuals created by LA-based Rhythm and Hues Studios (R&H), few know that a considerable part of the movie's visual effects were done in India.

Though a lot of animation studios in India are working for overseas animation projects, in terms of visual effects, the country is still at a nascent stage. The contribution made by R&H India in Mumbai is a first for a high profile, complex and large-scale Hollywood project.

Set up in 2001, R&H India is the only other office of R&H Studios, LA. "We picked India for its large group of talented, educated and English speaking people along with the cost competitiveness offered by the country," says Prashant Buyyala, managing director, R&H India.

The subsidiary in India was set up with the idea of addressing the visual effects needs of Bollywood productions.

But as Bollywood proves stingy with budgets for high-end visual effects services, R&H India has been working on animation and visuals for some 20 Hollywood films "" the small but significant contributions to Narnia being the most complex.

It's high-skill work, says Buyyala. "It has taken us four years of training in our India office to reach the level of being able to contribute to the complex computer generated visuals for Narnia."

In constant co-ordination with the LA office for 18 months, as many as 60 people in Mumbai worked on Narnia "" in the compositing, camera tracking and character match-moving sections. In compositing shots, an example is the work done on the centaurs (with horse legs and human upper halves).

As the original images were shot with riders on the horses, the compositors in India had to remove the riders' legs and horse heads from the live action, and integrate this with human upper halves.

The final battle sequences in Narnia are another example where live action and virtual cameras needed a realistic integration of the large number of computer generated characters that populated the battle field.

Even a slight mismatch would be visible. With 24 frames per second, "frame to frame perfection is required and blending in a highly artistic endeavour along with the support of technology", says Buyyala, adding that "a four-second shot could take four to six weeks".

Along with Garfield 2,for which the overall animation and visual effects will be done by R&H India, other Hollywood films like Superman Returns, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and The Charlotte's Web are also in its kitty.

Buyyala is confident of getting even more business. "But Indian companies are getting there slowly," says Buyyala, who sees R&H India as just one among many animation houses in India in the years to come.