A Kannada web series that is technically on par with global experiments

It didn’t take long for Carpool Karaoke — a segment on the Late Late Show with James Corden, in which host James invites famous personalities as he drives on a planned route in Los Angeles — to become popular the world over. Inspired by the show, RJ, host and producer Pradeepa, under his

Sakkath Studios

, has so far shot three episodes of a Kannada version of the show — titled Caraoke — in which Kannada music directors and singers are driven for an hour around Bengaluru by RJ and musician Mayuraa Raghavendra, who engages them in candid conversations. While this may sound simple enough, ensuring that the output is high in quality is anything but simple. It took

Pradeepa

and his team three months to figure out how many cameras they would need, where they would need to be placed inside the car so that they capture all the angles but are not in-your-face, and how best to capture sound inside the car by cutting out the traffic noise. All this had to be just right, because each episode is canned in a single take.

NINE-CAMERA SETUP
Explaining the technology behind the show, Pradeepa says, “There are many versions of Carpool Karaoke, but most of them only have around 1-2 cameras. We have nine cameras — four inside the car, three outside, one drone that follows the car and an

Osmo

camera for follow shots. So, there are nine angles in one journey, which is canned in a single shot. In the original show, the car is not always being driven and is pulled on a pulley. But in our show, the car is moving throughout — Mayuraa is driving it for the entire hour. Technically, we wanted to ensure that we are on par with global experiments.” And a two-month dry run, during which they shot and edited a couple of episodes, ensured just that.

TACKLING CHALLENGES
Speaking about some of the other technical challenges, Pradeepa adds, “We had to ensure that the celebrity guests are not conscious of the presence of so many cameras in the car. For this, we chose the smallest of cameras — GoPro. Fitting the cameras into the car in a way that they aren’t seen, but still capture the video clearly, was another challenge. The guests sing in the car, so we had to ensure that we cut out the outside noise, which was another task. We recorded the sound and video separately and synced it later in editing to ensure the best quality.”

SOME THINGS PLANNED, SOME NOT SO MUCH
The team has shot three episodes so far — with Charan Raj, Chandan Shetty and Gurukiran. They plan the route beforehand and shoot between 3 pm and 5 pm, before peak traffic hours. And they take a different route each time. “We drove Charan around his house. For Chandan, we went to Nagarabhavi and Gurukiran wanted a drive in the Bangalore University campus. When we shot Chandan’s episode, there were a lot of people following the car, so we had to stop so that he could take selfies with his fans. All this is part of the episode,” says Pradeepa.

ONE EPISODE EVERY 15 DAYS
The show is a musical journey that is dedicated to music directors and singers. There will be a total of seven episodes in the first season, which began yesterday with Charan. One episode will be uploaded online every 15 days. What makes each episode unique is that the team has stayed away from the regular host-guest format. “We have tried to make the conversation as candid as possible. Mayuraa doesn’t ask the usual questions and makes each guest as comfortable as possible. It is actually like going on a long casual drive and having a conversation with a friend. So, the one hour is filled with a lot of questions and singing. Each music director has his/her own taste in music, which is different from what they compose. Audiences will get to know their personal likes through this show. Since Mayuraa is also a musician, he shares a good relationship with the guests, so the mood is friendly and upbeat,” says Pradeepa.