LIA – Lab Inter Arts, (based at the University Mozarteum Salzburg, Austria), is a performance-oriented workshop headed by Prof. Helmi Vent, in which projects on various themes are developed together with the participants on location through improvisational processes. When the group took their performance work to India recently, they faced more than one or two challenges.
From the outset they knew that financial resources for the documentary would be limited and coupled with environmental issues (monsoon season); it was not going to be a straightforward project. The story of this documentary is enlightening in every sense of the word and we asked Martin Gerhard Hantich, the Technical Director at LIA, how Magic Bullet Looks gave definition to some of the more color challenging shots.
Martin told us: “We had to travel light (in overly crowded trains), so there were no lights, bouncers or a larger crew; it was me together with an Indian camera assistant who had a lot of other duties to handle, like discussing with officials or translating. I was capturing sound and video material at the same time while chasing our performers through the crowded streets of Mumbai. The relatively high humidity and heat, coupled with the spontaneous nature of the project, made it quite a challenge.
“Most activities were chosen on a day-to-day schedule at many different locations, so there was hardly any time for thorough planning, manual white-balance or all of the other amenities you have when you’re shooting feature or in a more ‘controlled’ environment. It was more like ‘this performer will start the performance there and whatever will happen – we’ll see’.
“I knew from the beginning that this rather ‘instantaneous’ way of working will require some adjustment in the post, also because the light situation at that time of the year in Mumbai was far from ideal with a hazy smog dome covering the city most of the time.
An example of the footage before and after Magic Bullet Looks
“Red Giant Magic Bullet Looks gave me the power to easily adjust the overall look and give the documentary the ’16mm’ appearance I wanted, set highlights where there were none and tweak the entire picture. Without Looks, it would have been way harder to achieve all of that while maintaining a small production budget.”
Before Magic Bullet Looks
After Magic Bullet Looks
Learn more about the documentary HERE.
