Kolkata: The state govt has decided to reinstate the previous practice of watching cinematic content on the big screen before official screenings. This custom was prevalent in Bengal throughout the celluloid era when each studio maintained a preview theatre. The practice discontinued with the advent of the digital age. With the govt issuing an order, the preview theatre at Radha Studio will be operational soon.
New Theatres, Technicians' Studio, and Film Services used to have these preview theatres in the celluloid era. After the digital era, everyone started checking the cuts on the monitor.
"One can never judge if the edit was done correctly on the monitor. One or two frames extra can make so much of a difference to a film. When the Cinema Centenary Building was made, I wanted to use the auditorium there as a preview theatre for screening in all formats. Minister Aroop Biswas suggested that this auditorium be used as a public theatre. Radha Studio has become extremely popular now. My proposal for the preview theatre finally got accepted, and the slot between 10 am and 12.30 pm has been kept for preview," said eminent filmmaker Goutam Ghosh, who is the chairman of the Technical Advisory Committee for Digitization, Restoration, and Preservation of Cinematographic Films at the West Bengal Film Archive (Cinema Centenary Building), Radha Studio.
The existing infrastructure, including 152 seats at Radha Studio, used for daily movie commercial screening, will be used for the preview purpose. The duration of the preview shows should not be more than 150 minutes. The rent for hiring the theatre has been fixed at Rs 2,000 per show per film. The booking will be under the supervision of the executive officer of the Cinema Centenary Building.
"To avoid any glitches, the rough cut, final cut, dubbing track, and the final output content (censored/uncensored) with 2K open DCP format will be received physically through CRU (casing) media hard drive at Radha Studio a day prior to screening. Also, the content should be given in a virus-free hard disk drive or any good quality virus-free high-capacity USB pen drive with MP4 format. It will be verified at Radha Studio in the presence of those who are making the bookings. The preview of films at Radha Studio should begin before the first week of April," said Rabindranath Dash, maintenance engineer cum chief manager (lab) at the West Bengal Film Archive (Radha Studio) and West Bengal Film Development Corporation Ltd.
Not just Kolkata, this move is expected to benefit the whole of eastern India.
"One can show the final content and also check rough cuts and dubbing tracks. It is important for the industry to come out of the culture of checking films only on monitors," Ghosh added.
Kolkata: The state govt has decided to reinstate the previous practice of watching cinematic content on the big screen before official screenings. This custom was prevalent in Bengal throughout the celluloid era when each studio maintained a preview theatre. The practice discontinued with the advent of the digital age. With the govt issuing an order, the preview theatre at Radha Studio will be operational soon.
New Theatres, Technicians' Studio, and Film Services used to have these preview theatres in the celluloid era. After the digital era, everyone started checking the cuts on the monitor.
"One can never judge if the edit was done correctly on the monitor. One or two frames extra can make so much of a difference to a film. When the Cinema Centenary Building was made, I wanted to use the auditorium there as a preview theatre for screening in all formats. Minister Aroop Biswas suggested that this auditorium be used as a public theatre. Radha Studio has become extremely popular now. My proposal for the preview theatre finally got accepted, and the slot between 10 am and 12.30 pm has been kept for preview," said eminent filmmaker Goutam Ghosh, who is the chairman of the Technical Advisory Committee for Digitization, Restoration, and Preservation of Cinematographic Films at the West Bengal Film Archive (Cinema Centenary Building), Radha Studio.
The existing infrastructure, including 152 seats at Radha Studio, used for daily movie commercial screening, will be used for the preview purpose. The duration of the preview shows should not be more than 150 minutes. The rent for hiring the theatre has been fixed at Rs 2,000 per show per film. The booking will be under the supervision of the executive officer of the Cinema Centenary Building.
"To avoid any glitches, the rough cut, final cut, dubbing track, and the final output content (censored/uncensored) with 2K open DCP format will be received physically through CRU (casing) media hard drive at Radha Studio a day prior to screening. Also, the content should be given in a virus-free hard disk drive or any good quality virus-free high-capacity USB pen drive with MP4 format. It will be verified at Radha Studio in the presence of those who are making the bookings. The preview of films at Radha Studio should begin before the first week of April," said Rabindranath Dash, maintenance engineer cum chief manager (lab) at the West Bengal Film Archive (Radha Studio) and West Bengal Film Development Corporation Ltd.
Not just Kolkata, this move is expected to benefit the whole of eastern India.
"One can show the final content and also check rough cuts and dubbing tracks. It is important for the industry to come out of the culture of checking films only on monitors," Ghosh added.