FDC goes high-tech

Age-old equipment are still being used at the Film Development Corporation (FDC) studios. PHOTO: Syed Zakir Hossain

Approved on December 6 by the Executive Committee of National Economic Council, the project was scheduled to run three years up to June 2006.

The Tk 19.6 crore project to be funded by the government will spend Tk 11.15 crore on the import of digital equipment and has earmarked the rest of the funds for construction of a building to house the equipment.

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"It's not possible to produce quality movies with current analogue equipment. There is scope for a market for quality Bangla movies at home and abroad," an FDC high official said.

The FDC listed DTS Dolby sound system, computerised editing panel and telecine and subtitling machines for import.

Computerised editing will reduce production cost, as it will take less time and fewer personnel than analogue editing. Digital editing panel will enhance the quality of production in terms of effects and finish and minimise cellular damage.

Telecine machine will be used to convert the films to compact discs (CDs) and video formats, which will stop the sending of films to India or any other country for quality conversion.

"The demand for Bangla movies on CDs and videos is high in foreign countries and our producers spend a lot of money on conversion," a producer said.

With subtitling machine, the FDC will be able to subtitle the films in different languages demanded by other countries.

As technicians were not well trained, the equipment brought in from abroad by the FDC could not be put to maximum use -- as seen in the past -- the reason the project included both home and overseas training for technicians to man the new digital equipment efficiently.

About Tk 50 lakh has been estimated to be spent on training, with 50 percent on overseas and as much on local training.

One of the drawbacks facing the viewers to see the enhanced quality of digital movies is the lack of digital sound system in cinema halls and only Modhumita Movies and Balaka Cinema Hall have these facilities.

The FDC did not include digital cameras in the project.

"We could not include cameras in our plan because of fund constraints. We will introduce digital cameras later," an FDC engineer said.