The IIT Grad who changed Hollywood animation

August 8, 2018 Unknown Wizards Valli Sarvani No comments

Animation and special effects have only improved as time has gone on. An Indian man from Pune is one of the modern pioneers of new special effects technology. The work of Parag Havaldar has been seen in movies like Beowulf, The Amazing Spiderman, and Watchmen.

Havaldar is an alumnus of IIT-Kharagpur (Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur).

Today, he is one of the minds behinds some of the biggest blockbusters of the last two decades. He is also a winner of the Academy Award for Technical Achievement.

In 2017, Havaldar won the Oscar for Technical Achievement for his incredible developments in Computer Generated Imagery (CGI).

Havaldar spoke to the OC Register about his technology. He said how back in the early days of film, the Academy would award people for cameras and cinematography.

However, visual effects play a much bigger role in modern movies.

Therefore, the Academy is now awarding technical advancement in the field of special effects. Havaldar himself made advancements in CGI that can significantly bring down the production time of films that require animated facial performances.

He developed technology that can read and replicate facial performances based on a real face’s expressions. Havaldar’s technology combined solutions for tracking, solving, stabilization, and curve editing.

Beowulf, directed by Robert Zemeckis, was filmed with the help of Havaldar’s technology. Thanks to Havaldar’s facial performance technology, Beowulf could be filmed in only three weeks. The actors performed with sensors on their bodies.

The post-production of the movie took far longer than its actual production. Zemeckis only wanted performances for his movie. Everything else was done in post-production, including lighting, clothing, and makeup.

Havaldar’s revolutionary technology has also been used in several other visionary films.

His Oscar for Technical Achievement is certainly well-earned, since his technology has both improved and eased the production of animation-based films with a lot of facial expressions.