MAYABAZAR TECHNICAL BREAKDOWN
(ఈ విశ్లేషణ యొక్క తెలుగు అనువాదం పైన పోస్ట్ చేశాను.)
‘’Nothing in this movie is accidental.’’
- Fritz Lantz regarding the making of Metropolis (1927)
Disclaimer: This breakdown piece is exclusively for the filmmakers (or) for those who are keen to understand the tricks and techniques used to create the magic of Mayabazar.
Before I start describing anything here is an excerpt of Singeetam Srinivasa Rao gari’s interview from the book ‘Mayabazar Madhura Smruthulu’:
CINEMATOGRAPHY: In an interview Singeetam Srinivasa Rao garu (the assistant director of Maya Bazar) described how Marcus Bartley used to spend hours to pull off the loop light (a tiny little shadow of the nose being formed in the shape of an eclipse) for Sr. NTR garu maintaining the contrast ratios with the background and how he rigorously rehearsed with his camera to figure out the appropriate exposure for the shot featuring Savitri garu inside a mosquito mask in the song ‘’Nee kosame ne jeevinchunadhi.!’’ As far as the cinematography is concerned Mayabazar is pushed to the perfection with the help of its meticulous design.
Laahiri Laahirilo Song:
You might have heard the story of how the cinematographer Marcus Bartley cheated daylight for night within the camera for the song ‘’Laahiri Laahiri Laahirilo..’’
The wide landscape shots you see in the song were shot outdoor and then he matched its lighting pattern with that of the shots that were created inside a studio. (Trivia: Marcus Bartley achieved a similar feat in Pathala Bhairavi (1951), his previous collaboration with KV Reddy where he matched the outdoor forest shots with that of the indoor studio shots.) You may never notice which were shot outdoor and which were shot indoor until you see the background. The background of the studio shots is rear projection (background being projected on a screen behind the actors) and its movement is an illusion whereas the movement of the outdoor background is real. The outdoor shots were shot under an over-cast day so that the sky doesn’t blow up in the camera and an ND Filter was used to reduce to the exposure. An aluminum foil sheet was used to create the illusion of water reflection on the actors’ faces.
Here are some of the visual moments I like from the movie:
The Earthquake:
It was shot simply but with an incredible impact. They shook the camera, frequently turned the lights on and off like a flash and dropped the objects in the frame. All this accompanied with the sound effect of a wolf howl is all that was required to create this brilliant moment.
Trolley Push-in shots:
Crucial moments in the narrative were emphasized by the trolley push-in moves (if you have watched the movie I don’t need to explain why these moments are crucial.)
Lighting:
1. When Sasi Rekha is slapped by her mother she sees her mother shutting the room’s door symbolically conveying the meaning that her hope of marrying Abhimanyudu is gone. In the movie Sasi Rekha looks at herself and at Abhmanyudu in the mirrors. The mirror is the symbol of her desires and wishes. Now the same is being closed. In this scene Sasi Rekha is lit high-key all through but as this sad moment arrives she is lit low-key creating a harsh shadow on her face.
2. When Sakhuni manipulates Lakshmana Kumara into marrying Sasi Rekha, he is lit low-key creating odd shadows on his face.
3. When Subadhra Devi argues with his brother Balarama, he shows his darker sides to her. Look how evil is he looking in that thick shadow while the other people in the room are lit even and bright.
4. When Sakhuni shows his true dimensions to Pandavas, look how Kaurvas and Sakhuni are lit. The lights are placed under their feet in an angle creating thick, angled, raccoon shadows over their faces representing the evil in them:
5. Among the other shots in the entire movie, I particularly like the way the opening and the end shots of the songs ‘’Laahiri Laahiri Lahiri lo..’’ and ‘’Nee Kosamey Ney Jeevinchunadhi..’’ respectively:
6. For the opening shot of the song ‘’Laahiri Laahiri Lahiri lo..’’ the white colored plants were particularly brought in and were placed in front of the back-light source to create the beautiful moon light look.
7· The closing shot of the song ‘’ Nee Kosamey Ney Jeevinchunadhi..’’ is shot in the moon light scenery as well. A huge light source is placed on the one side of the actors a little above and the same light is reflected back onto them from the other-side, creating dramatic but not harsh shadows on their faces. Apparently a little bit of Vaseline is applied to the camera lens to create fake diffusion.
8. Light cookies and flags were used to create the shadows on the walls behind, to add dimension to the shots:
EDITING:
Intellectual Montage:
When a metaphorical image is shown in juxtaposition to the image from the narrative, it’s called intellectual montage. In the shot shown below Sasi Rekha’s happy dance is compared to the flowing sea tides.
Quick Cuts:
It’s rare to almost impossible to find quick cuts in the old black and white movies. In Maya Bazar when Sri Krishna opens Priya Darsini, Sakhuni appears in it in his evil attire, creating a tense moment among the characters. This is represented by the quick cuts among the characters.
Transition of Contrast Emotions:
Sasi Rekha’s mother slaps her and makes her cry. This sad moment is transitioned to the beautiful moon light creating a shift in the emotion from one scene to the other.
SPECIAL EFFECTS:
In this section I will try to understand how each and every special effect was achieved in Mayabazar with as much accuracy as possible. Let me remind you that in those days there weren’t any computers (or) optical printers so every little thing was achieved in-camera.
I would like to begin with the Miniature Shots. When large sets can’t be built due to the lack of budget, they build the miniature versions of those sets and shoot them to create the illusion of a big set. This tradition is still being continued in the major VFX movie all over the world. Here are a couple of shots featuring miniature sets from Mayabazar:
Singeeta Srinivasarao garu mentioned about hanging miniature shots in the book Mayabazar: Madhura Smruthulu. Hanging miniature shots are those shots in which some part of the frame is a miniature set and the other part is either another miniature set (or) a real location. The miniature is hanged in front of the camera and the other real location or miniature is placed behind it aligned well with it and vice-versa. In effect it creates 3D depth in the composition apart from saving the budget. Despite being told by Singeetam garu about the usage of hanging Miniatures I still can’t figure out where they are used in the movie.
Sasi Rekha Aging in a single shot:
The iconic Sasi Rekha’s aging in a single shot is achieved through a carefully planned slow dissolve transition between two separate shots. As the camera tilts down to the water from the young Sasi Rekha we stay for a while on it, now observe the flower buds in the water. They slowly get dissolved into the grown up flowers. This is the second shot which features Savitri garu, the grown up Sasi Rekha. The moving tides of the water deviate our attention in order to hide the cut.
Double Exposure:
Moving people appear inside the frame of Priya Darsini. This is achieved through a technique called Double exposure. In the days of shooting on film, they used to expose the film twice to achieve some effects. A part of the film gets exposed first while the other part of it is hid by a mat box and not exposed. Now the unexposed part of the film will be exposed in the second turn while the already-exposed film is hid by a mat box and not exposed. In Mayabazar, the Priya Darsini is shot first but the display part of it is not exposed. The unexposed part (display) is then exposed to the movement of the people creating the illusion that they are moving inside the display of Priya Darsini.
Jump Impact:
When Gatothkacha lands on the huge rock to fight with Abhimanyudu, his power is empathized by the shake of the rock and a part of it falling down. This is apparently shot inside the studio set. When SV Ranga Rao lands on the rock, the camera is shaken to create the effect of an earth shake and the small part of the rock which in real is a separate set piece that’s held by an assistant hiding behind the big rock thrown at the right time. His motion speed is increased by shooting it in low FPS.
Stop Motion:
(In case you don’t know what stop-motion is, kindly go through a YouTube tutorial about it as it’s hard to explain here.)
Gatothkacha’s assistant creates Maya Bazar (a market full of wonderful things created by magic). These shots were achieved by Stop Motion as well as the shots of the moving food plates in the song ‘’Vivaaha Bhojanambu’’.
Gatothkacha Transforming into a giant:
To understand the making of this effect I had to take the reference of an effect from George Millies’s shortfilm The Rubber Head in which a human head’s size increases as the wind is pumped into it. The increase in the size is achieved by using George sitting on wheel chair and then rolling back away from the camera. This then, brought into the reverse motion effect.
Similarly, SV Ranga Rao’s size is increased in a single shot by moving him towards the camera on a small rolling table (peeta). The rolling table is hid behind food tables.
Moving Laddus:
The Laddus voluntarily move into Gatothkacha’s mouth in the song ‘’Vivaaha Bhojanambu.’’ This effect is achieved by dropping down the Laddus through a transparent tube behind SV Ranga Rao and then it’s brought into reverse motion, creating the illusion of Laddus moving into his mouth. The motion blur of the Laddus validates this observation.
(Credit: This effect is decoded by a currently working make-up man from the film industry. It was mentioned by the interviewer Anji garu on his YouTube channel.)
Gimbali, Gilpam, Moving plate, Chappals and the flying stick:
Watch this video from 01:25 minutes:
Singeetam Srinivasa Rao revealed in the 60 years anniversary function of Mayabazar that the moving Gimbali (mat) is achieved by using a thin aluminum sheet which is covered by the mat. The aluminum sheet folds automatically. When it folds the shot is cut from a close-up to the long shot diverting our attention to the actors’ right in the center of the frame.
The Gilpam (bed) is apparently machine-made. It rotates the way we operate it.
The moving plate is dragged by a fine invisible thread that is used in magic tricks. So are the Chappals with a fine wire. In case the thread/wire gets visible to the human eye it is then painted like the background on the film.
In a friend’s opinion the flying stick effect is achieved by dangling them to the roof using a fishing wire and then the wires are painted. But I don’t know how much of it is accurate. What’s your opinion?
The Genius Stroke of KV Reddy and Marcus Bartley:
Watch this shot:
How do you think Nagesrwara Rao garu appears in the mirror without the camera being visible in the mirror? Simple. He is positioned outside the frame and the camera is placed 45 degrees away from him making it invisible. But that’s not at all genius you say!? Well watch the shot again. Whose shadow is it on the mirror? — Nageswara Rao garu’s. But isn’t it breaking the illusion? — It doesn’t. Because we are deceived into believing that it is the shadow of the walking Savitri garu!
(You can see her shadow on the pole behind her.)
THE END