Zam in the bot: No, this is not any deep homage to Ghost in the Machine. Zam is Zameer Hussain, the compositor extraordinaire who has worked on some amazing shows, and is well regarded as an active mentor to many. bot is, of course, bot vfx. Zameer joined the bot clan in late July as its Creative Head and, more informally, as its creative evangelist.
Zameer brings both the creative depth that comes with personally delivering shots on countless shows, and nuanced leadership from managing ever-growing legions of artists on the perpetual march towards show deliveries and deadlines. “Zameer has a reputation of having a strong command of his craft and of being a selfless mentor to artists – regardless of where they work or come from. This combination is somewhat rare, so we were eager to have him among our ranks,” says Hitesh Shah, Head bot.
His command of the craft is witnessed not only by the kinds of shows he’s worked on, like The Dark Tower, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, and X-Men: Apocalypse (among countless others), but also by the highly regarded VFX companies he’s been affiliated with, including ILM, Iloura, Double Negative, and MPC.
Zameer’s leadership approach challenges staid old stereotypes that define creative supervision to be a left-brain-dominated activity. His methodical dissection of problems and his bias towards structure and processes demonstrate that effective creative leadership is a Zen-like art of applying both halves of the mind in symphony.
“When we announced internally about Zameer joining us, we were delighted to find that many of our team members were as enthusiastic as we were because they either personally knew him or know someone else who does,” noted Deepak Bohra, Head of Business Affairs. “This reaffirmed our goal of bringing him on the team to help us drive further bot‘s core vision and mission – the continued development of our artists and innovation in our pipeline.”
BOT’s continual efforts to nurture existing client relations and build new ones face to face took Studio Co-Founder Sreyans Bardia and Senior Producer Frederick Lissau all the way to Europe’s VFX centre – er…center – London, in the month of June.
While in Germany it was all about planes, trains and automobiles; BOT’s latest travel was through London’s famous Tube.
“From Hammersmith and City to Bakerloo to Central to Victoria to Piccadilly to Jubilee and District & Circle – I think we rode through them all during our week long stay!” mused Frederick, who is very familiar with the city, having spent some years (2006 -2008) in London while doing a film for Universal.
Reflecting on the trip, Frederick further added that, “The industry here is just in a state of continuous growth as films, TV series and commercials continue to use London as a hub for their biggest and most complex works.” As they continue to expand and build relationships with clients in the UK, BOTs feel immensely excited about the immense possibilities London has in store for them. Frederick continued, “The breadth of talent in this city is simply staggering. We were very grateful that many clients and friends took time out of their hectic schedules to meet with us and exchange ideas!”
“It is always a pleasure to meet up with our old and existing clients & partners and engage with new ones. There’s always something new to learn from them on what works, what doesn’t and what we need to do to make it work, which is always great!”, gushed Sreyans, who spent his sabbatical in London in 2008, and has subsequently often visited the city as a part of BOT over the past few years.
The wise words of good old Paddington Bear come to mind – “In London, everyone is different, and that means anyone can fit in”. Well, BOTs have already carved a little space for themselves in this city! Thanks to all the love the client’s shower on them.
The responsibility of saving the world from a resurgent alien threat is thrust upon five teenage outcasts with an attitude. Together they must fulfill their destiny under the guidance of a mysterious alien mentor. Sounds familiar? Yep. It’s the Power Rangers in a brand new contemporary makeover! Directed by Dean Israelite, the film boasts a stellar cast, with Elizabeth Banks taking on the role of Rita Repulsa, Bryan Cranston as Zordon and Bill Hader as Alpha 5.
Multiple Academy Awards winner Digital Domain roped in BOT VFX to help with look enhancement, replacing the green suit stunt doubles with CG characters and prosthetic cleanup on characters.
The Power Rangers’ suits come equipped with wiring called Energy Lines. BOT’s Roto team’s main task was to provide Rotoscopy for all of those lines which were then used to generate glowing and pulsing energy that flowed through each suit. They used 3D tracks to stabilize the camera movement. They then used 2D tracking and frame by frame manual roto in both Silhouette and Nuke on the more complex shots. With some of the shots being as long as 2000 frames, this was a particularly challenging project. Production Coordinator Anand Ramesh explains, “It seems simple in theory, but most of the shots were complicated by heavy action, what with the characters constantly running, flying, flipping and performing crazy acrobatics.”
Things were equally grueling for the Paint team as well. The major task was to paint out the stunt doubles from the original plates of some of the highest-octane shots. They would later be replaced with CG characters. The work was not straightforward Anand explains, “We had to work on slow motion shots and recreate the background with very limited source to go on.” However, armed with clean plates for objects in different depths, the 3D camera track and set geometry from Digital Domain, the team set out to do what it does best. 2D Supervisor Srikanth Srinivasan elaborates, “Some of the trickier shots included those of the characters Zordon and Rita. Since the actors wore prosthetic suits, the main challenge before the team was to fix the obvious wrinkles and cracks that made the prosthetic makeup look artificial.” This called for meticulous paint work, which wasn’t exactly a straightforward job due to subtle muscle and skin movements. Digging into Nuke’s expansive toolset the team was able to track the subtle movements at pixel level, which helped achieve the desired results.
Finally, three whirlwind months later, BOTs delivered over a hundred shots.
“The kind of work this project entailed, it needed the Roto and Paint teams to work in super-efficient tandem. We wouldn’t have made half the progress we did, if it wasn’t for everyone’s proactive and meticulous planning. That is what made this project a truly rewarding experience”, smiles Srikanth.
If there’s anything that gets the BOT team going with superhuman efficiency, it’s projects like these that bring out the collaborative spirit in everyone. As the Red Ranger would say, “It’s morphin’ time!”
Saban’s Power Rangers will be out on Digital HD June 13th and 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray Combo Pack and DVD on June 27th.
When you think of traveling to Europe, you have grand thoughts of enjoying quiet afternoons sipping a latte at a street-side cafe table, strolling lush gardens, visiting museums, or having a plate of a thousand different types of cheeses – what you don’t expect is a whirlwind of Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
BOT founder and CEO Hitesh Shah and Senior Producer Frederick Lissau set out on BOT’s annual sojourn to Germany the first week in May with the goal of visiting BOT’s many Clients there – in addition to taking part in the yearly FMX Conference. FMX – www.fmx.de – brings together thousands of professionals from VFX, Animation, VR and Games from across the EU to Stuttgart, Germany.
“We knew it was going to be a challenge to see everyone, but we made it a point to see all of our Clients, no matter which city they were in,” affirmed Shah.
This inspired the team to do some sophisticated logistics planning to navigate to clients in Frankfurt, Munich, Hamburg, Berlin and Stuttgart.
“It was great having the chance to see everyone face to face and have some truly in-depth conversations. We made some really great human level connections that you simply can’t manage through calls, Skype sessions, emails and texts,” Lissau recalled about the trip. “The warm reception by our clients and the brief immersion into German culture more than made up for the absence of quiet street-side cafe moments.”
BOT VFX added a dash of their digital magic to the extreme skydiving, jetskiing, fistfighting action in xXx: Return of Xander Cage through their work on over 80 visual effects shots. Third in the xXx series, xXx: Return of Xander Cage follows (obviously) Xander Cage (Vin Diesel), in his adventures as a criminal turned government secret agent. Cage in this outing gathers a team of equally badass cohorts in order to rescue a stolen government super weapon, from villain Xiang (Donnie Yen).
Working with Academy Award winning VFX shop PIXOMONDO, BOT VFX assisted in two challenging sequences. The first was a fight sequence inside a cargo plane and the following sequence where Cage plummets to the earth sans parachute.
In the fight sequence BOT’s artists were tasked with removing the rigs and stunt harnesses attached to each actor using digital paint, in order to make the characters appear to be in freefall inside the plane. While painting out the rigs, the artists ran into obstacles in matching the grain. To overcome this BOT developed an in-house tool in Nuke to match the grain with the plate, which was essential for delivering on time. Adding to the complexity was the clothing itself. Maintaining the intricate camouflage patterns of soldiers and Cage’s jacket was a difficult and time consuming experience.
In the following sequence Cage jumps out of the jet holding a crate containing a parachute, BOT had the challenge of matching greenscreen shots with stunt worked filmed thousands of feet above. BOT artists successfully overcame this challenge as they meticulously painted out the stunt rigs and harnesses in each frame and applied rotoscopy on Cage himself extracting him from the greenscreen.
The team solely used the Foundry’s Nuke for Rotoscopy, using it to match motion blurs and defocus edges on the mattes. Photoshop was used in digital paint shots that required frame by frame attention while Nuke and Mocha Pro were used on more procedural tracking shots.
Department Head, Saravanan Sala, stated that “while facing challenges with matching perspective and parallax for the show; our creative team gained confidence handling the large amount of shots recreating the actors amongst all their rigging.”
BOT VFX is proud of their part in helping to create the world of Xander Cage in his latest frenetic action adventure film and is looking forward to another sequel.
Leaping beyond the confines of a comic book panel can be a tricky task, especially when trying to establish a believable world that movie theatre audiences have never seen. The ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe took on this challenge with 2016’s Dr. Strange. Directed by Scott Derrickson, it’s not a story of just another city-saving reluctant hero in a cape (actually, in this story even the cape was a hero). Starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the titular hero, the film is nothing short of a hallucinatory head-trip.
Luma Pictures was responsible for some of the most difficult VFX shots in the film. Not surprisingly, Vince Cirelli of Luma Pictures was one of the nominees for Best Visual Effects in a Motion Picture at this year’s Academy Awards. Vince and his team at Luma leaned on BOT’s expertise and capacity to assist with some complicated and painstaking work to help Luma’s compositors seamlessly integrate CG elements into the live action plates.
BOTs were tasked with assisting on two of the most mind-bending parts of the film, totalling over 150 shots: the opening sequence starring Tilda Swinton (The Ancient One) and Mads Mikkelsen (Kaecilius), and the climactic battle between Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange) and an uncredited Benedict Cumberbatch playing an other-worldly villain (Dormammu). Over the course of 3 months, a team of over 30 BOTs was led by Srikanth S. on the rotoscopy and paint front and Govardhan A.B. on the matchmove front.
The most challenging of the BOTs’ tasks was the removal of complicated stunt rigs and wires. To help create a level of realism in the unreal world of the story, plates were shot with intricate camera moves along with changing lighting conditions. Using tools like Foundry’s Nuke, the team used a combination of procedural techniques, frame-by-frame manual painting, and a hybrid approach combining the two. The artists and the Supervisor relied on their experience to judge case by case, shot by shot, which approaches would be most efficient and effective.
Multiple deadlines and clashing deliveries were met with meticulous planning, scheduling, and collaborating. The team came through in true superhero spirit.
As 3D Supervisor Govardhan A.B. puts it, “The timeline towards the end was very tight. The minutest of details had to be worked on in an extremely short timespan, but the team’s support was phenomenal.”
BOT’s goal was to deliver exceptional work on time and budget. After successfully racing to the finish line, BOT VFX Executive Producer Hetal Jain gushed, “Working with Vince and his team at Luma is always an enriching experience for BOT; we’re glad to be associated with a film that’s an Oscar nominee.”
Exactly a week after I joined as a ‘Bot’, Deepak – the CalmBot’ – messaged me, regarding a guest speaker coming over at the office at 11 a.m. I thought to myself…
“Hmm… Guest speaker? Must be someone from the industry like an Art director or Creative person or maybe even an Actor (Robert Downing Jr.? Wink wink 😉
For the past week I have been trying to get in the groove of the work culture at BotVFX. Every day, I expect the monotony of familiarity to seep in, and every day I’m left a little more amazed. Here’s one of the reasons why.
At about 11 a.m. we get a brief about the speaker, Mr. Nipun Mehta – who is also Hitesh aka SuperBot’s friend. I quickly glance through his profile, and I’m instantly in awe of him. You’d be too if you found out that you were going to meet someone who’s received the Dalai Lama’s Unsung Hero of Compassion award. He’s also been on President Barack Obama’s council to reduce Poverty and Inequality. I’ll admit, I was a fanboy already. I head over to the conference room, where I instantly realize I’m not the only one who got the brief.
Dressed in plain clothes paired with ordinary ‘chappals’ was a young yet not so young gentleman sitting across the room.
Preconceived notions had me paint a mental picture of this guy dressed to the nines – tailor-made 3-piece suit, matching tie, Italian leather shoes, the complete jazz. Oh and of course, the American accent.
Cut to reality. I’m looking at this man, and am thrown fully off my train of thought. Introductions are made. Nipun takes a look at all the Hollywood movie posters hanging on the walls. He stops at Invictus and stares at it intently. He asks us if we did any work on this film (yes, we did). Nipun is impressed. He then goes on to talk about how the film, based on Nelson Mandela and François Pienaar, shows a nation brought together in times of intense racial tension by a sport. And how potentially vicious issues were easily resolved due to Mandela’s humility.
Nipun is reminded of his own personal experience – he was inspired by none other than Gandhiji to leave behind all his belongings in the USA and start a pilgrimage march in Gujarat. One anecdote led to another, and I just marveled at the way his words managed to strike the right chords, making the brain ponder on thoughts often looked over, giving a whole new perspective on things.
DANCING WITH THE STARS
When Nipun left all his comforts in Sillicon Valley, USA, he knew that his true calling was volunteering. But, if it really was as easy, we’d have made Florence Nightingales out of everyone. Leaving everything actually meant EVERYTHING. No cheat codes, no hacks, NOTHING.
He recalls one incident where he was offered dinner by an elderly lady. Her husband asked from where he had started. Nipun replied, “Ahmadabad”. The old man repeated “Oh, Memdavad”. Nipun corrected him “No, no! Ahmadabad, dada!”. The old man again said, “Haan, Memdavad” to which Nipun corrected him again. This correction-tennis went on for a few minutes. Convinced that the old man was hard of hearing, Nipun finally said, “Ahmadabad, dada, Ahmadabad! 127km from here, AHMADABAD!”. The old man softly said, “You have not truly left behind everything, because in your head you are still keeping track how much distance you have covered”. The depth of these words hit Nipun like a rock hurtling towards earth like the asteroid in Armageddon. What happened next was what we called “An Epiphany”. He realized that he was going to have to leave a lot more than just money and material comforts to really get a deeper understanding of life.
He then correlated this anecdote with Giving & Receiving vs Dancing. Giving and Receiving are transactional acts. There is an exchange between 2 people. You give something only because you want to receive something.
Dancing on the other hand is not transactional and is best enjoyed when you don’t care who is looking, who is judging, without anyone keeping a minute to minute track of your steps, letting yourself loose – Basically, you do it for the pure love of it and nothing else.
CORPORATE ECOLOGY – GIVERS | MATCHERS | TAKERS
In a case study of an organization, employees were all placed at the same level and could work their way to the top. They were also grouped under 3 categories.
Givers – Generous people who place the needs of others above their own. The ones who only give and give and give – a fountain of generosity. Takers – Selfish people whose number one (and perhaps only) priority is their own self. Life is an all-you-can-eat buffet, and these folks are here for it. Matchers – Those who give as much as they take or vice versa. They know that you can only rightfully take stuff when you’ve given stuff in exchange in the first place.
At the start of the study, Takers were at the top, Matchers in the middle and Givers at the bottom. However towards the end of the study there were a quite a few Givers at the top and Takers at the bottom. The study proved that even Givers could make it to the top (defying the notion that Givers are the literal and figurative Losers). Similarly, a Taker could end up at the bottom. Matchers on the other hand saw that giving would transform into receiving more hence they would adapt themselves to be Givers.
Hence a total win-win for the organization.
BORN BANKRUPT, DIE RICH
When on topic of his pilgrimage, Nipun recalls the many days he spent hungry and thirsty. Earning needn’t necessarily mean asking for money.
Once, he asked an elderly person if he could assist the person in carrying his haystack back for nothing. The old man thought Nipun must be asking money to do the deed. However, Nipun clarified that there were no strings attached, and that he would really do it for free. The old mad, though bewildered, agreed.
When the old man and Nipun (holding the haystack on his head) came back to the village everyone wondered who was this new guy helping out this old man? The old man who was now having a 56-inch proud chest replied to all, “Someone was willing to help me without any reason – Godsent in the truest sense!”.
That day Nipun may not have earned anything monetary but he earned goodwill – forming a relationship with the old man. There’s no currency for that sort of stuff.
Nipun’s anecdote brings out the true meaning of life.
When we are born we are born with nothing. When we die, we die with nothing. But, it’s the period in-between that matters and determines what we leave behind.
It really is about the legacy you leave behind for generations to come, for strangers everywhere. You don’t have to reach the saintly level of Nelson Mandela. You can be a hero in your own little pond. The beauty is in taking the first step, and then repeating that over and over. Some people choose to do nothing, and are, thus, ultimately forgotten.
Don’t be one of those “some people”. There are already far too many of those.
There is this lazy, mistaken notion that you earn virtue just by signed a cheque to some NGO. If wishes were horses, am I right?
In simple mathematical terms: IF to be a Good person = Donate money We know Time = Money Replacing Money we can say a Good person is also one who Donates TIME
GIFT HAPPINESS
Once in a company there was a soft drink vending machine. One day an employee decided that he would treat the next person to a free can of Coke. He put up a note on the machine saying that ‘Enjoy your drink, its on me’. He did this everyday. Soon this became an office sensation. Everyone in office was curious who was this mystery Coke can gifter. When the mystery unraveled and the true perpetrator brought to question, he simply said that he just wanted to gift happiness… to anyone.
The joy of receiving a gift is surpassed only by the joy of giving, because the happiness is actually doubled once it serves its purpose.
Youtube it!
Key and Peele – Can you be too nice at the office?
Vinoba Bhave was one such person who believed that ‘Helping Helps Helpers’. People adopted him as their son and gave 1/6th of their land to him. He in turn donated all the land received to the homeless, poor and landless. He helped more than 1000 villages by way of such help and countless lives were benefited solely because of him.
Nipun then went on to explain a corollary that read something to the effect of, “Only Hurt People Hurt Others”, which actually makes a lot of sense. Think about it. Nobody is born a villain. Nor does anybody intentionally want to hurt anyone. A pertinent question we should be asking ourselves is that should we restrict kindness only to selected people? No.
Take the 21 day kindness challenge and see an intrinsic difference! Everyday make it a priority to fulfill one random act of kindness. Kindness can be in any form. Take someone out, write a note to someone, bring a cupcake, teach a topic – Anything!
Key Take aways and 2017 goals
Give > Receive
Dance with humility
Earn relationships
Spend Love
Help others
Accept challenges
Stay Positive
Spread Kindness
Laugh more
Smile
And so Nipun left us with a barn full of fodder for the mind. True to his word he made sure none of us left empty-handed as he ensured he ‘gave’ a powerful hug to every person in the room.
“We ride not to escape life, but for life to not escape us.”
After a whole year of dreaming, planning and deliberating, and six months of mapping out my epic road trip to the magical lands of Leh-Ladakh, I finally hopped onto the train from Chennai to Delhi on the 21st of August, 2016. Choosing the places I would cover on my route was fairly easy, although the North East does spoil you for choices when it comes to views. I shortlisted places based on accessibility by bike, their historic importance, and the fact that many of these places cannot be visited all year.
My roadmap was something like this.
22nd August, 2016 Rode from Rupnagar to Manali
23rd August, 2016 Made my way from Manali to Keylong
24th August, 2016 Onwards from Keylong to Pang
25th August, 2016 From Pang, I moved towards Leh
26th August, 2016 Spent the day exploring and traveling within Leh
27th August, 2016 Continued my journey from Leh to Diskit
28th August, 2016 Headed from Diskit to Turtuk
29th August, 2016 Rode from Turtuk to Pangong Lake
30th August, 2016 Rode back from Pangong Lake to Leh
31st August, 2016 From Leh to Sonmarg
1st September, 2016 Biked my way to Patnitop
2nd September, 2016 Entered Ludhiana
3rd September, 2016 Made my way back from Ludhiana to Delhi
4th September, 2016 Stayed the day in Delhi, before taking the train back to Chennai
Although, by this point in time Leh-Ladakh has earned for itself some “mainstream” popularity, no amount of Instagram pictures and Go-Pro videos can prepare you for the real deal. Everywhere you turn to look in this pristine land, you will find a view that’s nothing short of an artist’s favourite masterpiece, created to take your breath away.
My seemingly endless series of gasps and sighs began at Keylong, to which I rode from Manali on my trusted Mahindra Mojo. Keylong (pronounced kelaang) is a lovely little place of untouched beauty located in the Lahaul-Spiti region. Although people only pass through Keylong in the dark of the night while on their way to Ladakh, staying back and watching daylight descend on this sleepy town will reward you with breathtaking views of luciously green mountains, historic Buddhist monasteries and a laidback vibe that’s typical of small sleepy towns forgotten by the ravages of time.
Next stop, Pang Valley. I was only passing through Pang en route Leh, but I couldn’t help but stop and stare at the sheer magnanimity of the natural beauty all around me. From the plains of Pang, you can catch a glimpse of the Himalayan peaks. This glimpse into the overwhelming beauty that lay ahead of me, made me nervous and breathless with anticipation. With this restless feeling, I rode on to Leh.
Perched at a dizzying height of 11,400 feet, safely tucked away like precious treasure from prying eyes, Leh is a place that, as soon as you catch your breath and acclimitise to the thin air, will make you ask yourself some serious questions about life and the universe. But, more than anything it’ll humble you. Mountains loom over the Old Town like proud but indulgent parents watching over their precious child. Traditional Ladakhi homes and hotels whimsically woven with gushing streams, narrow lanes, pristine landscapes and heart-warming people will charm you into staying here forever. I, with a heavy heart, instead moved on to Diskit, after spending a whole day exploring.
Thankfully, the glorious Nubra Valley continued casting its spells of enchantment with every town I entered. Diskit was an experience unto itself. Located some 120 kms from Leh, this town is the headquarters of Nubra Valley, which also makes it a favourite among many backpackers and road trippers. It’s easy to see why. Diskit is home to the largest and the oldest Buddha statue in the valley, is dotted with apricot plantations, pristine streams, looming mountains and the languid and brilliantly turquoise Shyok River.
So engrossed was I in taking pictures and gawking at the vistas, I left behind my camera bag loaded with valuables and original Ids, and obliviously rode on to Hunder. When realisation hit me, I rode back about a 100 kms, to find the bag there untouched, in the exact place I left it. Without wasting another heartbeat, I zipped forward to Hunder village. Hunder is bursting with fascinating sights – from the two-humped Bactrian camels, who were initially native to Mongolia, but found their way into Nubra Valley during the era of silk route trade; to the magical silver-grey sand dunes; to the Leh Berry. Hunder stands like an oasis – a mirage – in the middle of an otherwise barren and imposing landscape.
From Hunder, I rode through a landscape that seemed to be turning whiter by the minute. Here I was in Turtuk – quietly nestled in the Nubra Valley, on the edge of the Shyok desert. Turtuk – the last village on the Indo-Pak border. A place straight out of an adventure picture book. A land whose name you’ll seek delight in rolling off your tongue over and over again. Turtuk is the last village Indians are allowed to enter, and was initally a part of Baltistan, which was once under Pakistan’s control. It became a part of India only in 1971, while Indians were allowed to enter only after 2010. Turtuk is home to the Balti people, who with their high cheekbones and tall, well-built frames stand in stark contrast to the Ladakhis. Apricots grow with wild abandon in Turtuk, and serve as the village’s main source of income. Wild colourful flowers and verdant green grass cover this village like nature’s favourite blanket. Turtuk’s locals are an amazingly artistic bunch – they’re known for their walking sticks and sculptures carved from the horns of an Ibex, pressure cookers made out of stone, bronze utensils, and so much more. The villagers are eager and earnest folks, happily letting you into their lives, even if it’s for a short while.
Although reluctant to leave this slice of heaven behind, I rode further on to Pangong Lake and its unmissable prayer flags. Pangong Lake is located at a height of 14,200 feet above sea level, and its 134 kilometre long shore extends from India, all the way to China. There’s a sense of surreal stillness when you’re standing by the banks of Pangong Lake – the sheet of vivid blue, held in an embrace of majestic mountains and white sand. If you hold still for a minute, you can hear the winds whisper and the mountains sigh, a song only they know.
I made my way back to Leh from Pangong. From Leh I rode to Sonmarg (which translates to Meadow of Gold) and further on to Patnitop – a little hill station that looks like it’s straight out of postcard. Patnitop is surrounded by a dense fence of lush green Pine trees, like solemn soldiers guarding a treasure. From Patnitop I rode to Ludhiana, and before I knew it, I was on the train back to Chennai.
They say the farther you move away from the mainland of the country, the finer the line between life and death gets. Everyday is a battle for survival. Electricity merely lasts a few hours each day. Cell phone reception is borderline non-existent. There are no ATMs. Exotic cuisines and fine dining is unheard of. The bathroom is all but a hole in the floor. And amidst this, live these weather-hardened folks with the softest hearts and warmest hearths.
If you ask me for travel advice, I would just tell you this: stop dreaming, start moving, make new friends, embrace new cultures. You can’t do that from your office desk, you can’t experience that rush via Facebook. My 15-day long adventure felt like a lifetime filled with unforgettable views, humbling moments of self-reflection and the realisation that there is no greater artist than Mother Nature, and we still have much to learn. Nothing changes in these cruel terrains, except those who dare to seek them.
Chennai, the city where BOT has its production operation, has been hit by a cyclone on Monday with major repercussions for the city and BOT’s own operations. Cyclone Vardah, as it’s called, tore through the city with winds upwards of 120 kph and torrential rains that have downed many trees and tree limbs. So far the death count is at 10, along with many injuries throughout the city. We are fortunate in that none of our team and their families have been hurt in any way and have not sustained major personal property damage.
Chennai Impact On Monday and much of Tuesday, many parts of the city sustained power loss, partial loss of mobile networks, and loss of internet resulting from the fallen trees and debris. However, as of Wednesday much of the power issues had been resolved, though some areas and buildings continue to have power issues. Major internet service providers say the cyclone has affected undersea digital cables, which has severely constrained the bandwidth accessible to the businesses in the city. They expect it to take a while to restore the expected service level.
BOT Impact As of Wednesday evening, BOT’s main production facility is restored with power. Our high bandwidth connection (100 Mbps) is also non-functional at this time; we only have a basic level of internet service to sustain email and low volume content. The artist and support team members are, for the most part, able to continue work, but our ability to upload deliveries and download new work is severely hampered. We are resorting to temporary solutions for delivery in extremely urgent situations.
We ask our clients to please bear with us as we work through a situation created by the forces of nature. We are trying our utmost to ensure your timelines are not adversely affected and your BOT producers will keep you posted on progress. We expect at this moment to be more or less back fully operational by this weekend.
The Undersea Cables / Region impacted because of Cyclone ‘Vardah’ Dec 2016 | Source: India Today
Presenting to you one of BOT VFX’s proudest moments ever – Our 1st special internship batch for the hearing and speech challenged has just been completed! Thanks to some amazing hard work put in by them coupled with the support from all the other BOTs – this batch has now hit the production floor. We are looking to spread this happiness even more & invite applications for the 2nd Internship for the hearing and speech challenged. Batch begins Jan/Feb 2017. Please spread and share the message and help us reach more such wonderful artists!
