The team of Salim-Sulaiman has a new song called Beech raaste in which two characters — Ady and Ada – go on a joyride in a futuristic world. The song’s (by Armaan Malik and Nikhita Gandhi) peppy quotient is given a fun twist by the technology that has gone into the video — Ady and Ada are Memojis, a technology that Apple has spent a considerable time on. We spoke to Salim Merchant, who is not just amazed by the technology but by all things Apple.

File picture of Salim-Sulainman Sourced by the Telegraph

An Apple man forever…

I have been a Logic user… the music software… since 1999. It’s been 21 years. I remember it was on an Apple (iMac) G3. Then the G4 came out, which was a big thing. The software which I was using… back then was from Emagic (was bought over by Apple in 2002)…. So Emagic was this German company which made some amazing software. Logic is a very professional music software. So from G3 I went to G4 to G5… I was using Logic Pro 7. I kept upgrading and soon found myself with Logic Pro X. So I have been using Apple for decades.

From buttons to touch

I was once a Nokia user and had the Nokia Communicator. Then moved to Blackberry. My brother, who is more of a tech geek than I am, told me to move to Apple. I told him that I wasn’t very sure of the touch phone concept. I considered myself a buttons person. It took me about a year to move from Blackberry to Apple. I had an Apple phone but once I started using it, I was hooked. The thing is, in the last 20 years I have had a @mac.com email ID. And I have found the syncing between devices to be incredible… files to photos. Each time Apple releases something, be it an iPhone or a Watch or an iPad, I act like a little boy… to have one of those. Not just have it but use it very well. I started editing videos, using the software, editing pictures, using the Apple Pencil to draw things… I definitely learned to use the gear really well.

Enter Memoji

This Memoji technology has always fascinated me. I don’t know why, but I have always wanted to make a full-fledged video with it. I wanted to experiment and take people to a different world. We have created these two characters called Ady and Ada… two Memoji characters. Then we got Armaan (Malik) and Nikhita (Gandhi) to sing and act as Ady and Ada. It was shot using a green screen and then we took Ady and Ada on a joyride in a car through a futuristic world. The entire thing has been completely shot using iPhones and the video has turned out very well. One of the best parts of the technology is that the lip-syncing is perfect and every detail — including the eye shadow — comes out very well. It was a difficult video to execute as the entire world is futuristic.

Armaan Malik and Nikhita Gandhi have sung Beech raaste Sourced by the Telegraph

Apple India has been very supportive in whatever creators do. They really push singers, filmmakers and photographers to do well. They have great regard for creative people. A good tech company shouldn’t be just about making and selling products, but also supporting the creative part of it. If you visit an Apple store, there is something or the other going on, like a music lesson.

Life after lockdown

For creators like myself, we are somewhat struck. We can’t really choose the way one would like to shoot because of the lockdown. I felt like it was best to take advantage of the situation and do something incredibly creative.

What is happening is that people are using gadgets to communicate and connect with the world. If I have to do a meeting with someone who lives an hour away, I would probably think of doing a Zoom meeting. This will continue even when things go back to normal. You don’t want to waste time travelling. Using technology to communicate is a positive change. It’s about using great apps; it saves a lot of time.

Similarly, for creators, we find ourselves in a creative space. See the video and it will bring a smile on your face. It’s innovative and different from real-life shooting. I see more and more people use Apple’s Memoji technology to create interesting videos. It is easy to shoot it. Make your avatar and go for it.

Here’s how to create your own Memoji

• You can create a Memoji sticker on any device with iOS 13 or iPadOS, but you need an iPhone X or later, iPad Pro 11-inch (1st generation and later), or iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation and later) to create and use an animated Memoji.
• Open Messages and tap the Compose button to start a new message. Or go to an existing conversation.
• Tap the Animoji button, then swipe right and tap the New Memoji button.
• Customise the features of your Memoji — like skintone, hairstyle, eyes and more.
• Tap Done.

Tech jugaad for D’Evil Sourced by the Telegraph

Rapper D’Evil, who’s part of Divine’s Gully Gang label, recently discovered Memoji magic and decided to go with it in his new video for Mumbai darshan.

Discovering Memoji

One of my friends, Mohit (Mukhi), who also directed the music video… he showed me this feature on his iPhone. He then made my avatar, my 3D model… I was like wow and had so much playing with it. Any expression I would make, the Memoji would copy it. So we thought why we couldn’t use this in a music video. I realised if I lip-sync, it would lip-sync with us, which made the whole thing very easy because we didn’t have to make a 3D model of me.
Memoji jugaad

The song speaks about the spirit of Mumbai. The way one survives in Mumbai is through jugaad. Memoji for me was jugaad. It was like a lifehack. I didn’t know how to come up with an interesting video (during lockdown) but the Memoji really helped. The song came about in a songwriting camp… Karan Kanchan and I were there. We were outside Mumbai and was missing the city. That’s how the song came about.

The iPhone and the iPad are great for all artistes. I wish I had an iPad during the lockdown, it would have helped me record some songs. Once my friend showed me Memoji, I wish I knew about it before and that way I could have done something creative earlier.