A sound designer from the Films and Television Institute of India, (FTII) Pune, Prince George, is hot property. And his films stand testimony to his talent. Allah is Great , a FTII Diploma film, screened at the International Film Festival of India this year won acclaim. The film was also nominated for the Student Oscar Awards and shown at festivals in Kyoto (Japan), Hong Kong, Florence and Jaipur. Prince has done the sound and the music design for this film.
Joining the FTII was Prince’s deliberate choice. Surprising as many expected he would go the music way especially after his good show in the reality show, Gandharva Sangeetham , 2003 edition. Prince had nine to 10 years of training in music. First, Carnatic classical under Lonappan Master at Koonamavu and then Hindustani by Kedarnath while pursuing his graduation in Coimbatore. “Music training did suffer when I joined FTII. But it helped me so much in my work. After my graduation, I even did a single titled Manzar,” informs Prince who now shuttles between Mumbai, his work place, and Angamaly, Kerala.
The 25-minute Allah is Great , directed by Andrea Iannetta, an Italian student of FTII, has sync-sound that blends amazingly with the stunning visuals and the whole film. The sound track goes beyond creating the atmosphere. “It was our diploma film and you can imagine the resources available with us. Yet we managed to do the sync-sound. Allah is Great is almost like a road movie so the biggest challenge was to get the sound of the car and everything that it passes by into the soundscape.”
“The film looks at terrorism through a different viewfinder. It is a dedication to friends who lost their lives in the German Bakery blast in Pune and the 26/11 attack in Mumbai,” he says.
Passing out of FTII, Prince has his hands full. He did the background score for the Omani feature film Azeel, which opened the Dubai International Film Festival. His work for Alexander Reinach’s Kids in Suits was noticed. This film was screened in 2011 in New York to rave reviews. “The 17-minute short film was shot in a three camera panoramic set up. Three cameras worked simultaneously and projected on three screens. The sound track actually decides where the audience should look, which screen they should look. Sound plays a very significant role. It knits the film as a whole and is the deciding factor. Kids in Suits has begun its journey on the festival circuit,” Prince says.
Advanced digital technology has made innovative collaborations easy. What’s sound design for him? “Each film should be taken as a prototype, fitting the entire sound process to it. I try to create the sounds the directors have in their minds. I try to use real sounds and get all I need directly during the recordings.”
Prince is currently working on a Portuguese film Hand Baggage , directed by Claude Alves on the Portuguese influence on India.
Prince has on the cards a Malayalam and Hindi feature film.
