For the upcoming fantasy film, Aalambana, actor Vaibhav had to shoot many scenes in front of the green screen. “Shooting with a green or blue screen background takes time to get used to. We had to visualise a lot more than usual and remember to look in the right direction where visual effects would be added later. Director Pari K Vijay made sure that a few CG technicians were present on the sets to help us out,” says Vaibhav.
Another different aspect of the shooting was the usage of all the extra lights. “Typically, for a normal scene, one or two lights are used. CG scenes, however, demand the use of over 20 lights; due to this, shooting indoors became difficult as we found it nearly impossible to accommodate all the lights. In fact, the art director, who designed the set of the housing board apartments, made sure to create room for the lights.”
Naturally, the lights radiated a lot of heat and left the actors sweating. “So, the shoot was held mainly on air-conditioned floors. But the outdoor shoot was quite difficult.” Vaibhav shares that actor Munishkanth, in particular, bore the brunt of the shoot, being an instrumental part of the VFX sequences. “He had to keep moving, while dressed in a heavy costume. He suffered more than we did.”
A portion of the film was shot during the lockdown and that was quite a challenge too, he adds. “We underwent umpteen tests, precautions, and safety protocols while shooting. Though crowds would gather to watch us from a distance, we were not allowed to meet fans. We missed all the freedom we used to have in the pre-covid era.”