Monthly Archives: December 2013

Advertising, Mobile content, Online video

TV advertising is fiction.

Leave a comment

“Mobile is more flexible than TV, which makes it cheaper. What an advertiser spends per impression on mobile is much less than any other medium” Srikanth Kakani & Preetesh Chouhan of Vdopia

In monetising app of a TV show, the first area is acquisition of the app. This means not buying it but partnering with the content owner. Our partnership with the content owner goes before the TV show Comedy Nights with Kapil became popular. Second is the app developer world. We have developed solutions that go to a lot of app developer ecosystems across the world and we integrate at the source itself. To understand this, consider yourself as an app developer and who loves building games. Once you have built an app, go to our website and download our SDKs (software development kits) which are a bunch of codes for the app and put the app in an app store. As people start playing the game, the ads are served and the app developer starts earning. But why Comedy Nights with Kapil and not a movie? Because in mobile, TV content is more popular than movies.

Click here for complete article

 

1-By Laksh, ET, Movies

Venkatadri Express….

Leave a comment

Veteran director Kodi Ramakrishna (one of my father’s favorite directors) dished out quite a few blockbusters during his hey days. In a very old interview he compared a wholesome entertainer to a sumptuous meal. He observed that no matter how big the assortment of items, if you missed out on the essentials like  ‘Avakaya’ pickle Telugus would go unsatisfied.

The movie ‘Venkatadri Express’ is designed based on this principle and weaves a simple story into an engaging screenplay. While the movie resorts to a few scenes that manufacture comedy, the threads that move forward to logical conclusion keep the audience interested throughout the movie.

Predictable characters like a tough father, a good-at-heart and risking the danger of becoming a good-for-nothing son, devoted mother, drunkard accomplice, pelli kaani babai etc actually help the audience to savor the comedy that is woven around them. Popular themes like father-son relationship, hero and heroine’s serendipitous meeting and their journey together, youngest son saving the day for the family, Tirupathi connection etc  keep it simple for the audience and makes it for an easily digestible entertainer.

The producer (Gemini Kiran) deserves a special mention for backing a debutant director, selecting a seasoned yet progressive cinematographer like Chota K.Naidu (who is known for both his big budgeted and small films) and promoting the movie just enough before the word of mouth kicked in.

Director Gandhi’s directorial journey has a  fairy tale beginning, with decent theatre occupancies even in the third week of his movie’s release. Will his future trains make a stop at  ‘Cuddappah’ or ‘Araku’ or take off from  ‘Platform 9 3/4? 🙂

Some links

Director Gandhi’s short film

‘Khubsoorat’- First movie I watched with a disciplined parent as the protagonist 

My all time favorite drunkard’s scene

1-By Laksh, ET, Movies

The Hobbit: Desolation of Smuag…

Leave a comment

Peter Jackson got noticed when he made a film called ‘Bad Taste’. It’s about  group of aliens that chase human flesh for their intergalactic fast-food chain.

In the early 90s our local cable guy played this movie, that too during Diwali festival season. I confronted him later when he paid a visit to collect the monthly bill and asked him ‘why’…’WHY’ of all the movies he had to broadcast this movie, and that too during the festival season. Don’t quite recollect what he said other than his broad smile. I am sure, I will not pose the same question to him, had his choice were ‘Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’ now 🙂

Peter Jackson has come a long way from his amateurish, home-grown special effects laden films to blockbuster spectacles that have raised the bar in story-telling and audio-visual splendor. It’s an amazing journey for Peter Jackson, and so it is for the audience of his movies.

‘The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug’ is a delight for senses and a must watch for all movie lovers. The movie takes-off with a small back-story that connects to the prequel and moves ahead with break-neck speed. As the good and bad forces unite to battle it it out, The Hobbit and the dwarves march on to the lonely mountain to confront the dragon and make a claim on the dwarves’ fortune. Peter Jackson reserves the best to the last, and the scenes with the dragon are outstanding. The ending disappoints but the rest of the movie’s experience more than compensates for it and makes you wanting for more. (A third installment is on the anvil, of course).

It calls for a brilliant mix of art and craft to create a true blockbuster, that can be watched with family n’ friends. Peter Jackson and his home-grown Weta Digital are probably the best in this business right now. Hope he looks beyond and digs into old Telugu hits like ‘Patala Bhairavi’ or a few of the Vithalayacharya’s films and create ‘our’ heroes on the big screen 🙂