QUBE ROOT

QUBE ROOT

Published on Sunday, April 16, 2017

From setting up a post-production facility to changing movie distribution globally, Senthil Kumar and Jayendra Panchapakesan have brought Qube Cinema Technologies a long way.

DigitalStudioIndia.com

Chennai-based Senthil Kumar was fascinated by technology even when as a youngster. It was no wonder then that he was amongst the very first batch of students who enrolled to study computer science at Trichy's Regional Engineering College in 1982. Around that time, his father, Arun Veerappan, who owned AVM Studios, was directing a movie and Kumar got interested in the technical aspect of filmmaking, specifically sound.

I felt the sound technology used in moviemaking in those days was rather primitive. This was the pre-internet era so I started reading as many books and magazines as I could lay my hands on to learn about the latest audio technology, Kumar reminisced.

Armed with enough knowledge, in 1986, he started Media Artists as a film, audio, and video post-production facility. He invested about INR 7 lakh and took a loan of around INR 30 lakh and set up the studio on land that he owned. He also recruited a couple of people and imported some machines from the US and Europe.

Media Artists was the first studio situated away from Kodambakkom and did multi-track recording, which was not done elsewhere in India. It recorded dialogues, music, and film mixing, with premium sound quality, which was lacking in the industry till then. Some projects that Media Artists worked on included Doctor Narendranin Vinodha Vazhakku (The Strange Trial of Dr. Narendran) and En Iniya Endira (My Sweet Robot) - which were voted Best TV Serial of the Year - as well as Kanda Puranam (The Legend of Lord Kanda), Oli Mayamaana Ethirkaalam (A Bright Future), Gramathu Salangai (Village Arts), Iruttai Virattum Velichangal (The Light that Dispels Darkness), and Oru Naal Poduma (Is a Day Enough?).

RISING FROM THE ASHES

A fire gutted the building that housed the studio in 1991. Luckily, since the facility was insured, partial investment was recovered.

Media Artists continued to carry on its work and collaborated with brands like Buena Vista International for dubbing several Walt Disney features and TV programs into Indian languages, including animated films like Aladdin and Lion King. It recently dubbed Richard Attenborough's Gandhi in Tamil, which is also the first DTS Digital version of the film.

Even as Media Artists continued its business in the 90s, Kumar trained his sights on newer pastures. His friend, Jijo, was making Bible ki Kahaniyan TV series for Doordarshan and needed help, especially with the post-production. Computer-based nonlinear editing was just beginning and I looked around for the best option. From the two-three choices available, I settled on US-based Avid, since it looked most promising, Kumar stated.

Jijo's company, Navodaya, which was producing the TV series, bought an Avid system and Kumar helped set it up and trained the staff on it. Avid's representative, who came to Chennai a couple of months later, was surprised that the system was up and running and that the company was busy editing the serial. He asked Kumar whether he would like to promote the technology in India. He grabbed the opportunity and along with Jayendra Panchapakesan, set up Real Image Media Technologies to sell Avid in India - a partnership that continues till date. Incidentally, Panchapakesan started his career in advertising and later set up JS Films that went on to produce and direct over 600 TV commercials.

THE EPIC JOURNEY

The two founders took a bank loan to import the first Avid demonstration unit, which cost about INR 20 lakh back then. Initially, their customers were ad makers, followed by filmmakers. Our first customer from the film industry was Kamal Hassan, Panchapakesan proudly recalled.

While the staff strength was modest in the beginning, today Real Image's Tech Marketing team, which sells the broadcast and audio products, is 50-member strong. This team had a tough job on their hands, because it was difficult convincing the film industry to shift to Avid as most editors in the early 90s were not from a film school but had learned their trade through apprenticeship. They barely knew how to use a computer, so we had to teach them how to use a mouse. We succeeded in gradually teaching them to edit on Avid, which they began enjoying, he added.

Slowly, the company started targeting broadcasting companies and met with success in this domain as well. One company, which has been associated with Real Image for 12 years, is TV18 Broadcast, starting with Avid's production asset management, newsroom computer systems, MAM and Pro tools implementation project - all of which were Real Image's expertise in India. Rajesh Sharma, VP-Broadcast Operations for TV18 Broadcast said, Since the first project with the company, it has been a wonderful experience. The Real Image team always went beyond the call of duty whenever required. There have been numerous instances where we received exceptional services and support from them.

Real Image also has an established relationship of 18 years with NDTV, where it initially worked on small projects like providing Avid's standalone non-linear editing station media composer followed by Softimage.

K Yegneshwara Iyer, Times Television Network's technology head - technical and broadcast operations, who was the erstwhile CIO at NDTV, recalled working with Real Image in late 2002 to early 2003, I am not sure if there are many companies that go to the extent that Real Image does to support their clients. During the launch of NDTV's news channels, it was Real Image's founder and I who cracked how to use Avid iNews. Their founder was up with us for many days and nights during that project.

LINK:	http://qubecinema.com/events/news/2017/qube-root...
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