Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Horror Movies Demystified

The other day I was watching Narnia on TV. Because I received a phone call, I put the TV on mute and did something which is not a good practice. Instead of focusing on the conversation I started watching the movie.

It was the scene where Lucy Pevensie discovers the wardrobe! The gateway to the Kingdom of Narnia.

With the voice on mute, I felt that that scene could have easily fit into a horror movie. It had everything that would make it to that genre.

The Valiant Queen discovering Narnia through the wardrobe and Carolyn Perron in Conjuring encountering a ghost inside the wardrobe are pretty much the same. If you have the inclination, resources and time, do compare those scenes. Either watch them on mute or with the same background music.

Of course, the context is set even before we watch a movie. And, the cast and cinematography plays an important role in shaping our experience. While the smile in the little girls face gives us reassurance, the context in horror movies make us think otherwise for the similar expressions. You expect something horrifying in Conjuring when the mother, who is blindfolded, searches the wardrobe.

When an unknown entity turns positive, it becomes fantasy. But on the other hand if that turns evil, it becomes horror. The common denominator is the unknown! 

For someone who hadn't really give much thought to background music, watching Narnia in mute, conjured respect in me for this element of movies.

Do you know what casting can do to movies? Read here

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Kolaveri Di: Innovation in Tamil Cinema


Tamil Film industry, just sometime back, was dominated by a family and their media groups. Almost every other movie was either nephew's or elder son's son or the younger one's. As the regime changed, that seemed to have changed.

Thankfully, I am not writing about politics in the industry. In that regime, the marketing of movies was high decibel campaigns in the TV and FM channels belonging to the family. Everything seemed to be just the same.

In that sense, Kolaveri Di is an innovation in movie marketing. Of course, it is a good product if not great. The music is catchy, the lyrics are easy to understand. It is not a Tamil song, just Tamil in thought. Of course, some may say that there is hardly anything in the song, but maybe that is the reason why it is so successful.

Mani could re-learn about segmenting the market. Despite the fact that the channel chosen by the Kolaveri team was Internet, it certainly was first aimed for Tamilians. The sales team includes Super Star's daughter &  son-in-law, and Kamal Hasan's daughter, faces that every Tamilian recognizes and adores. The song has successfully managed to cross the chasm of cultural barrier and has become a phenomenon.

As a Tamilian, it does feel proud that the song is a national favorite. And, of course, we might in the coming days, see more innovations in film marketing as Kolaveri Di has set a new benchmark in promoting movies.