Mission Mangal, the first space film of India used cloud rendering service provided by Fox Renderfarm, is based on true events of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launching the Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan), making it the least expensive mission to Mars.
Famulus Media & Entertainment, the VFX-producing firm of Mission Mangal, is an entertainment company delivering excellence in Creative Design, Animation and Visual Effects Development.
Fox Renderfarm is proud to partner with Famulus Media & Entertainment who was associated with Hope Productions, Cape of Good Films & Fox Star Studios, to present the first ever space film, high end, space CGI/VFX coming out of Bollywood. Famulus's VFX is top class without which the long climax would not have worked so well.
It’s our honour to have an interview with Asif Sayed, the Vice President Operations at Famulus Media & Entertainment, who share the behind-the-scenes story of filmmaking.
Here’s the interview between Asif Sayed and Fox Renderfarm.
Fox Renderfarm: Hi Asif, would you please give a brief introduction about yourself and Famulus Media & Entertainment?
Asif: As Famulus we have been creating High-end CGI and VFX visuals for Movies, Games, Theme Parks, AR/ VR and Experientials. I, Asif Sayed, function as the Vice President Operations at Famulus M&E. I have a collective experience of 17 years of CG industry spanning over US, Europe, Middle East and India.
Fox Renderfarm: Mission Mangal is a significant sci-fi film, what do you think about the story? Have you ever made movies about aviation like Mission Mangal before?
Asif: This movie is a remarkable feat in the Indian Film Industry. Moreover it rings in a sense of pride and patriotism as its based on real life events which made our country the first to send a satellite to Mars in the first attempt and at 1/10 the cost of NASA.
Fox Renderfarm: How long did it take your team to finish the works?
Asif: Around 9 months, from 2D storyboarding to final Comp.
Fox Renderfarm: What's the most satisfying or unforgettable thing during the film production?
Asif: This is the first space film made out of India and we are the creators of these visuals.
Fox Renderfarm: You used GPU rendering or CPU in the film? What software, renderers and plugins are used?
Asif: We used CPU rendering. Maya software was used with Arnold shading.
Fox Renderfarm: How much of the movie uses special effects? What's the percentage of VFX shots in the entire movie length?
Asif: About 25% of the movie has used VFX and CGI.
Fox Renderfarm: Can you share with us the VFX highlights of this film?
Asif: As this movie is about the satellite launch towards Mars, all the rocketeering and the space sections were created purely in CGI. The hanger-rooms, the stations where the scientists create the Rocket, satellites and their various experiments were all created in CGI for VFX integration.
Fox Renderfarm: Did you meet any difficulties when making the film? And how did you solve it?
Asif: The nature of this job always has its set of challenges, but the team had foreseen most of the concerns that generally crop and contingency plans were in place.
Fox Renderfarm: Would you share your experience about rendering with Fox Renderfarm?
Asif: It’s been a breeze having Fox Renderfarm as render partner. The service has always been very prompt on the requirements. However I wish we were always given an average of higher number of blades.
Fox Renderfarm: And what's your expectation about Mission Mangal?
Asif: This is the first Indian movie which will be covering a rocket launch and space travel in great detail. We are expecting to showcase our talent utilizing this opportunity.
As the render partner of Famulus Media and Entertainment, Fox Renderfarm hopes Mission Mangal will be accepted wholeheartedly by the audiences and does well at the box office.