Established in 1962, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) is one of the medical and research institutions of Asia, situated in Chandigarh, India.
PGIMER delivers postgraduate medical training in numerous areas. Also, it is a working hospital that furnishes medical care.
All set to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Academy, PGIMER with Dr. Gaurav Chhabra, a Chandigarh based Independent Film Maker, creator of The Mud Cake, Taste of Berry & Green Warriors of Chandi’s Fortress & Ritesh Varma an Animator, VFX degree holder from Jhansi with their team have created a Documentary including the paper-cut stop motion technique of Animation on the 8 Yr Old Cancer Patient Aditya & his challenging fight with the disease as well as the development of PGIMER over the 50 years.
Speaking on the film, Gaurav Chhabra, shared, “Initially when I came across this project, I thought it would be a typical organizational video documenting the history and infrastructure of the institute in a typical way. But later, when I interacted with PGIMER, they were open to creative ideas. As the Motto is PGIMER is “Service to the community.” I thought to keep this as the main focus for this film. Continuing with my style of filmmaking, I wanted this film to include a wave of emotions touching one’s heart. Hence we zeroed in on an 8 year old cancer patient Aditya, whose story we are inter-spreading in the story about institute.”
I’ve always found documentaries and organizational videos boring due to the lack of visual stimulation or monotonous imagery. So, to keep the audience engrossed with something different I decided to include Animation for this documentary.
This 20 minute long documentary includes 4 animated scenes, each covering the essential aspects of PGIMER. The first scene expresses the division of India and Pakistan followed by the formation of Chandigarh & PGIMER. Following with second scene shows the PGI LOGO animation, which will tell us about the history and the components of the logo. The third is the paper cut building animation, which will show the advancement of the new departments and buildings developed in past years. And the last scene is a typography kind of motion graphic animation of the 50 years PGI logo.
Elaborating more on the Paper-Cut Stop Technique of Animation, Ritesh Varma, stated, “Paper is something very close to my heart. For a good thinking, we need a brain, to express our thoughts, we need words, but to present it we need a Paper. You can turn a paper, paint it, cut it to any shape and animate it without any hassle. As I had to make the buildings of PGIMER, It would have been quite tricky to collect the blueprints of all the buildings and then build it on 3D with the accurate measurements. But, even after putting so many efforts the output would have come out to be the common sophisticated estate walkthrough. Hence, to add a fun element and to give it a funky look I used paper cut animation.
Plentiful research and analysis had to be executed for making the documentary.
& Gaurav & his team researched on 60 + Departments of PGIMER and then started with their shooting process. The team shot 20 hours footage spread over 20 days.
Putting more light on the making of this movie, Gaurav Chhabra shared, “After completing the shoot, I previewed the whole footage and took screen shots of the selected clips which I will print out and arrange manually in the form of a diary to make the screenplay. The saddest & challenging part I feel was shooting at pediatrics department where kids who even haven’t opened there eyes are seen being treated for complex diseases.On the day we shot Aditya’s part, he has gone for a surgery to remove his tumour with radiotherapy. The entire making of this documentary was a learning curve and an emotional journey.”
The screening of this yet untitled Documentary is slated on the 7th of July’12 at PGIMER. The movie will be screened to an audience of 1000+ doctors including staff & other guests and will be screened at various conferences taking place throughout this year.
Extensive Research on Visual Stylization was given crucial importance while working on the 3d Area. The culmination of the entire animation took around 20 days. The Animated Shots of PGIMER’S documentary is achieved with varied kinds of Animation Techniques.
Speaking about the Technical Details of the documentary, Ritesh added, “In the Indo – Pak division shot, the director wanted the shot be in 2D, but the shot was very dynamic and included lots of camera movements and animation, so it could have been time taking consuming process to make the whole scene in 2D.Hence, to make it simpler, I made the scene in 3D and then rendered it with Autodesk Maya’s Toon Shader with hand painted textures and with some color corrections and by compositing in NUKE, I achieved the 2D look. In each shot many techniques were blended together to accomplish the desired output, but the major medium used was 3D Animation including VRAY was used.”
The documentary is directed by Gaurav Chhabra, Animated by Ritesh Varma, The Camera work is done by Gaurav & Rahul Saharan, Editing is handled by Naveen Arora, its music is set by Siddhartha Sharma [Stereo Buddha] & the Photography Cell of PGIMER has constantly backed the team by co-coordinating with all the departments of PGIMER for scheduling the shoot timings.
Informing about the idea behind the documentary, Prof.S.K.Jindal, Chairman, Golden Jubilee Celebrations and Head, Department of Pulmonary Medicine, PGIMER, shared, “This documentary, an attempt to summarize & give prominence to the flashback of achievements that have taken place in the 50 year timeline of the PGIMER,is a tribute to all who toil for a great purpose.”
