Monthly Archives: October 2014

Friday Fundas

Creative Geography – How Aamir Khan went from Chicago to Switzerland within minutes

This week’s Friday Fundas covers yet another interesting editing technique in movies popularly known as Creative Geography.

Creative Geography is an artificial landscape that is created in movies. This technique was invented by Russian film maker Lev Kuleshov. You might also remember few weeks back I had covered another popular experiment called as Kuleshov’s effect in movies which was done by Lev Kuleshov. Creative Geography involves a subset of the montage in which various segments are shot at different locations. But in the way it gets assembled during editing, all these appear to be one continuous location.

Consider a shot involving a person walking into a big bungalow and then the next shot shows him walking into a large hall. These two locations could be entirely different and in fact miles apart. But in the way the editing is done it appears to be a continuous space for the viewers. The shot of the person entering the bungalow is shot first and then the next shot is shot entirely in a different location in a hall where the person is walking in. The costume of the artist is maintained the same for the sake of continuity.

Let us now look at some examples of this in Indian movies

Dhoom 3
Dhoom 3

In the recent Bollywood movie Dhoom 3 starring Aamir Khan, the entire story is based out of Chicago, Illinois in the United States. However the climax portion of the movie where Aamir Khan rides on the top of a bridge is shot in Contra Dam, Ticino, Switzerland. Actually he starts his bike in Chicago and within few minutes he is in Switzerland. In the movie the dam is shown as a location in the outskirts of Chicago. This is achieved through editing and thus it forms the creative geography for the movie.

Nayagan
Nayagan

Similarly in the Tamil Blockbuster Nayagan the entire movie is based out of Mumbai and follows the life of a Mumbai don. The climax portion of the movie is shot in College of Engineering, Guindy. The college in Guindy becomes part of the creative geography of Mumbai for the movie.

This is again an elementary technique used in movies and it is used by the film makers to achieve the desired outcome of the image they had while writing the script. Next time when you watch movies look out for its creative geography. You will start appreciating the amount of efforts the film makers undergo to give a visually compelling product.

Action, Can Skip it, Drama, Genre, Rating, Reviews, Tamil Movies

Poojai Review

Poojai Review – is a Tamil action drama released in 2014.  Thandavam a finance company head runs a huge network for contract killers. He is growing into a unstoppable force in the city. Vasu a local money lender crosses the way of Thandavam while trying to save a honest cop from his men. The life of Vasu is not the same any more as Thandavam vows to Vasu and his dear ones. Will Vasu be able to save his dear ones is the plot of Poojai.

Director Hari is still within his safe perimeter for the story line. Villain gets up taking bath in a temple pond, hero has to save his family from the villain, everyone in the heroes family rely upon him as the savior and dare devil who can with stand any opposition than any other law and order force. Hari should realize that his perimeter is a small one and there is only so much you could do within it to make a new story. Just by changing the lead actors cannot guarantee you a new film.

For Poojai, I guess Hari had run out of steam very quickly. For me the movie ended much before the interval block. But he had created a entire big family for the hero to move the story past interval block and make it a very tiring long movie. The villain doesn’t look fearsome at all. The reason is that Vishal is able to knock him down anytime he wants. I still didn’t understand why he forgives him every time till the climax.

Vishal is pivotal to the movie and he is comfortable in his home ground. Sathyaraj has performed his role well and the way he walks around in the police costume is very commendable. But he is underutilized in the movie due to the ensemble of star cast. Shruthi Hasan is there just to decorate the screen. She has to improvise on her dialogue delivery.

Yuvanshankar Raja’s music is forgettable. Very few positives in the movie the comedy track by Soori and Paandi combo trying to do a spoof of Koundamni and Senthil is enjoyable in parts. The stunt choreography is definitely good as in other Hari’s movies.
Overall Poojai is a mixture of Saamy, Singam, Arul and few other movies directed by Hari. It has nothing new to offer and the story definitely seem to be decade old.

Can Skip it

Friday Fundas

Diegetic and Non-Diegetic Sounds in movies

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Diegetic and Non-Diegetic Sounds in movies

When Resul Pookutty received the Academy Awards Awards for best sound mixing for his work in the movie Slumdog millionaire many of us came to know the existence of department of Sound mixing in movies and the background score is not just limited to background music but also includes sound mixing.

Resul Pookutty receiving academy award
Resul Pookutty receiving academy award

In this week’s Friday Fundas we will see one of the basic ways of classifying the sounds in movies. It is done in the following two ways

  1. Diegetic Sounds
  2. Non-Diegetic Sounds

Diegetic sound is basically the sound that arises from the elements of the surroundings. These are natural and realistic sounds of the particular scene. Often this is confused as recording the real sounds during shooting. Actually diegetic sound can be composed, mixed and recorded during the dubbing of the movie. But they would represent the typical sound that would arise in the scene. For example the character is sitting in the hall, reading a newspaper and sipping a cup of coffee. The ceiling fan is turned on. The sounds of a ceiling fan, turning pages of a newspaper and placing of the coffee cup onto the table are all diegetic sounds for this sequence. These sounds can be recorded live or created later in the studio.  These are sounds that can be heard by the characters on the screen. The opening scene in Slumdog millionaire where Jamal is interrogated by a police officer is an example of Diegetic sound. The sound you hear is from the police office blowing the smoke on Jamal’s face. In the Korean movie The Chaser diegetic sound is used predominantly to build the suspense of the scene.

Non-Diegetic sound arises from outside the story space. Usually this is used to create a specific mood to the scene. For instance in the above sequence where the character is reading a newspaper, he is seeing a news article that is shocking, now a background music conveying the shock of the character is added to the scene. This coupled with the reaction of the character helps in creating the mood for the scene. These are sounds that cannot be heard by the characters on screen. Other sound elements like narrators voice is also a non-diegetic sound in the context of the movie. In the Tamil movie 7G Rainbow Colony Yuvanshankar Raja composed a background music using a symphony orchestra that goes well with the mood of the scene. As director Selvaraghavan explains it, even if you are not watching the visual the background music would convey the mood of the film. This is an example of Non-diegetic sound.

Film is a visual media and to connect the audience to the images on the screen sound mixing plays a vital role. Diegetic sounds connect the audience to the environment of the scene while Non-diegetic sounds connect the audience to the mood of the film. Normally in a movie you would have a mix of diegetic and non-diegetic sounds.

Next time you watch a scene from a movie identify the diegetic and non-diegetic sounds.

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Action, Classic, Drama, Epic, Genre, Must Watch, Rating, Reviews, Tamil Movies

Thalapathi Review

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Thalapathi Review – Thalapathi is a Tamil action drama released in 1991. The movie is an adapted version of the mighty king and warrior Karna from the great Indian epic Mahabharata. Surya born as an illegitimate child is abandoned by his Mom and left on a basket in a goods train. He is then raised by lower caste people living by a river side. He grows up to become a loyal friend and henchman for gangster Devaraj. Both of them run parallel government in the city while the lawmen await an opportunity to take them down.

Diwali of 1991 is unforgettable for me. I was down with flu and was sad for not able to go out to watch the much awaited release of Thalapthi which went on to become a cult classic and a blockbuster. The movie’s release expectations soared sky high with Director Maniratnam and Rajinikanth coming together for the first time. Popular actors like Mamooty and Amrish Puri sharing screen space.  The soundtrack of the movie was already a super duper hit with the Ilayaraja’s violin orchestra starting off the ever famous “Raakamma Kaya Thattu” song which later went onto become the 4th most popular songs of all time in a BBC worldwide service poll across the world. The ticket reservations began a week ahead of the release and the tickets for the first time I had seen did not look like a movie ticket but looked like a mini poster with Rajinikanth and Sonu walia’s dancing still. Finally once I got well I couldn’t wait but rushed to the theater to watch movie which was already declared to be a hit with repeat audience thronging the theaters.

Director Maniratnam is a brilliant story teller. He has taken the story of Karna and made it into a cult classic. Although the movie has been told so many times as part of the epic but still Thalapathi was a very compelling watch for the screenplay, the treatment, acting performances, star cast, music, cinematography and direction. Everything was set so perfectly for this movie that made it an evergreen hit. For the first time the Tamil audience saw a very different performance from Rajinikanth. Although the story had much of the commercial elements that you would want in a Rajini movie, this one had everything in a very convincing fashion and the scenes brought out various emotions from Rajini. Be it fighting with rage, shouting out emotionally to his girlfriend, caring for his best friend, melting for his mother’s love Maniratnam got the best out of Rajinikanth after K.Balachander. He rediscovered the actor who was lost in the color of commercial cinema. The dialogues of the movie are of top notch. The sequence where there is meeting between the collector, SP, Devaraj and Surya is impact full with circular tracking shot. The movie released in 70mm which made everything on the screen look magnificent. There is never a dull moment in the movie.

Overall the movie is a feast for all movie lovers and still stands the test of time.

Must Watch – Epic

Action, Genre, Rating, Reviews, Suspense, Tamil Movies, Thriller, Wait for DVD/TV

Aal Review

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Aal Review – Aal is a Tamil action thriller released in 2014. This movie is an adaptation of the Hindi movie Aamir released in 2008. Amir is settled well in his life happily. But one day he finds his family held as a hostage and he would need to follow instructions from some unknown person on phone to save them.

The movie states itself to be an adaptation of the Bollywood movie which is good and if you have seen the original you know what to expect from this movie. However there have been some minor variations in this script. The plot of the movie itself would connect only to a niche audience. If you see from the plot perspective and how the movie is executed it has been done well. Debutant director Aanand Krishna has done a good job with the adaptation. The most striking feature of the movie is the environment in which it is shot. It covers many of the below poverty line locality where the meaning of life is much different than the one you see in the middle class or upper middle class locality. This is very apt to suit the mood of both the movie and the main protagonist who is a middle class person. The movie opens at Elephant Gate (Yaanai Kavuni) in Chennai where a chase sequence is shown. This is done very well. So is the entire Chennai portion of the movie which is covered in similar areas.

Vidharth has done justice to his character. He looks stylish in this movie and as the movie builds up his character transforms into a desperate, confused individual. Songs are few in this movie and good that they haven’t used it during the main portion of the movie which otherwise would have been a major distraction. The love angle to Vidharth doesn’t seem to fit very well and barely has a significant connect to the plot. The dialogues are just about average. For a script of this stature some powerful dialogues could have proved to be a plus point.

Overall Aal is a decent adaptation of its original. But for a few flaws the movie is definitely gripping and the way the environment itself is used as a character in the movie is very good. You can watch this one at home.

Wait for DVD/TV

Drama, Genre, Malayalam Movies, Rating, Reviews, Worth a Watch

Vellimoonga Review

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Vellimoonga Review – Vellimoonga (Barn Owl) is a Malayalam political drama released in 2014. The movie revolves around the life of a middle aged man Mamachen who is still single and actively involved in politics. He aspires to setup his family and also rise up in politics but it is not easy as people who are jealous of him try to play spoilsport.

The movie had released without making much noise and is a very engaging drama. There is no unnecessary song and dance in the movie. It is filled with some neat performances, humor and dialogues. As the plot is drawn on a political canvas every character in the movie talks a lot. Hardly will you find any silent sequence in the movie. Biju Menon is a great choice for the role and he has carried out his role with perfection. His acting and his unique mannerisms would make Mamachen character loved by the audience. The way he always finds a way to ride in the front seat of the jeep, never pays for his ride  and his mom says that he never travels in an auto as it does not allow him to sit in the front are great examples to develop a character. Aju Varghese is very successful in making us laugh yet again. The rest of the characters in the movie are also developed well and help in moving the story along. Director Jibu Jacob has presented an engaging political drama that is fresh and satisfying. The election preparations and processions have been done well. He has also very well portrayed how the meaning of Khadi clothes has changed over time from Gandhiji to the current politicians. It has now become a trademark of Indian politics. Usually for political drama Chanakya would be used as a symbolism, but the use of Barn Owl as a symbolism in the movie is very creative.

Overall the movie is a very enjoyable affair. If you like movies with political background you would definitely enjoy Vellimoonga. There is never a dull moment in the movie and it entertains you throughout.

Watchable

Friday Fundas

Kuleshov Effect or How Hitchcock turned a kind gentleman to a dirty old man

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Kuleshov Effect 

In the last Friday Fundas section I had covered one of the basic units of film grammar Reaction Shot. In this week’s Friday Fundas I am going to cover a related topic called as Kuleshov Effect.

Russian filmmaker Lev Kuleshov demonstrated a very powerful editing technique in cinema during the 1920s. His experiment involved shooting 4 different shots.

1. Face of an actor with a neutral expression

2. A bowl of soup

3. A dead girl in a coffin

4. A hot woman on a divan

Now he created three films out of these shots. In the first film he alternated between the face of the actor and the bowl of soup. In the second film he alternated between the face of the actor and the dead girl in the coffin. In the third film he alternated between the face of the actor and the hot woman on the divan. He now showed this to three different set of audience. The audience who watched the first film said he had an expression of hunger. The audience who watched the second film said he had an expression of grief. The audience who watched the third film said he had an expression of lust.  Many of them also complimented the acting performance of the actor. But in reality the expression of the character was the same shot. Kuleshov proved that audience when watching a film bring in their emotional reactions to the shot. This would mean that two unrelated shots in reality can be assembled together to create a new meaning. This is the power of editing in films.

An editor should be able to define the meaning the film wants to convey by arranging the shots in a specific order.

In one of his famous interviews Alfred Hitchcock explains the importance of Kuleshov’s effect. He calls it the pure technique of assembling the shots in cinema.

He shows the shot of him squinting, followed by a shot of a woman with a baby playing in the park. Then there is a shot of him smiling. He represents a kind gentleman who loves babies. Now he replaces the shot of the woman and the baby with a shot of a woman in a bikini. You see him squinting at something, then the woman in a bikini is shown and then the shot of him smiling is shown. The whole meaning of the scene changes now. He suddenly becomes a dirty old man.

Watch the video here.

Thus is the power of Kuleshov effect. The power of editing involves assembling of shots to evoke the desired emotions from the audience.

Isn’t it amazing that most of us emote the same way to a particular scene? The magic of cinema continues…

Related Articles: Reaction Shot  | Over the shoulder Shot | Types of Shots | Breaking the 4th Wall

Action, Genre, Heist, Korean Movies, Must Watch, Rating, Reviews

The Thieves Review

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The Thieves Review – The Thieves is a South Korean heist movie released in 2012. A group of thieves come together in Macau to rob one of the most precious jewelry from a Casino.

Before I review this let me get a perception out of the way. The poster and the plot involving casino would remind you of the Hollywood blockbuster Ocean’s Eleven.  But this one according to me is manifold of the Hollywood movie.  This one is lot different. Imagine if Ocean’s team did not work for Ocean and every one of them had an individual plan. Sounds complicated right… then that is The Thieves for you. Anything more I say here would become a spoiler.

Now that the perception is out of the way let me cover the review of the movie. The movie has a star studded cast. Even though I haven’t watched a lot of Korean movies the entire screen looks sparkling with all the cast. The movie is very stylish as it goes with any heist movie. As I had mentioned the plot is very complicated. As the movie progresses the knots get even more complicated and until the end you keep guessing as to what would happen. Almost every scene of the movie would spring upon a surprise to you. There is a sequence in which two of the thieves try to steal the access key from the manager. They plan that the lady would seduce the manager and the guy would steal the card. But it turns out the manager is gay and shows interest in the guy. It is hilarious and brilliant screenplay. So is the entire flavor of the movie. Director Choi hong-don should be credited for the brilliant screenplay and how he has managed to make this with a large ensemble of cast. The climax fight scene on the ropes around the hotel is a treat to watch. Although the entire fight sequence is close to 15 minutes long it is still very enjoyable. Kim Yeon-seok has delivered a very nice performance. So are the other actors.

The way every character is built up is enjoyable to watch. It is not an easy job to create a screenplay with so many characters and have unique voice for each of them.

Overall this one would top the list of my favorite heist movies. If you are a fan of heist movies then this one would be a treat for you.

Must Watch

You might also like:    Now You See Me  | American Hustle

 

Crime, Genre, Thriller

Nee Naan Nizhal Review

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Nee Naan Nizhal Review – Nee Naan Nizhal is a Tamil crime thriller released in 2014.  A serial killing of five Indian origin people in Malaysia starts of a investigation by the Malaysian police.  The five murdered individuals do not have anything in common but for a common facebook friend.

The movie definitely has a strong plot and an underlying social message around cyber-crime. This is the first movie for director John Robinson and kudos to him for taking up a good plot. The first half of the movie is very sluggish. The songs could have been avoided as they slow down the pace of the movie. The entire Coimbatore episode surrounding the five friends seems out of place for the movie.  The forced comedy sequences involving MS Bhaskar does not make you laugh. The director could have used this time and space to increase the complexity of the knot.  For any investigative thriller to be very effective it is very important to build knots and making the case look unsolvable leading up to the climax where the knot is removed and the surprise is revealed. Nee Naan Nizhal has missed out on this despite having a great potential for a gripping thriller. The story picks up from the interval block. Sarathkumar and Manoj K Jayan are good choice for the supporting roles. Again building on their characterization would have made it even more interesting. The use of comic style animation to narrate the flashback is very effective. This is now been adopted by many of the new age film makers. Given the restrictions of the Indian censor board this definitely is a very effective alternate medium for conveying the intensity of the problem.

If you are able to sit through the sluggish first half of the movie you might enjoy the second half which forms the meat of the story. Overall the movie is watchable at home for its plot.

Wait for DVD/TV – for its plot

Genre, Korean Movies, Rating, Reviews, Thriller, Worth a Watch

The Chaser Review

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The Chaser Review – The Chaser is a South Korean psycho thriller released in 2008. Eom Joong-Ho is a corrupt ex detective turned pimp. He is worried as two of his women have gone missing. He thinks someone is selling them and tries to track him down as he send one of his women Mi-jin to the customer who was the last to see the other two missing women.

The Chaser is yet another brilliant psycho thriller that is engaging throughout. Director Na Hong-jin has narrated a story that has a strong take on the corrupt politics in South Korea. The scene in which the Mayor comes out of the hospital and complaints why there is no press and then run away seeing an injured men walking towards the hospital is very cleverly done. The characterization is done very well, as per the theme of the story every character in the movie has their negative shade. Kim Yoon-seok has performed very well in the role of a corrupt ex-detective and a money minded pimp. The sound engineering for the movie is very well done. Not using background score but the use natural sounds from the surrounding is very effective in keeping the thriller on. Overall if you have enjoyed movies like Old Boy and I Saw the Devil you would like this one too.

Watchable

Can Skip it, Comedy, Genre, Horror, Rating, Reviews, Tamil Movies

Aranmanai Review

Aranmanai Review – Aranmanai is a Tamil horror comedy released in 2014. The owners of a old palace get together in the palace after many years to sell the palace. But things go awry when they encounter an evil spirit in the palace that kills people.

Off late the genre of comedy horror is becoming popular in Tamil Cinema. Movies like Yaamirukka Bayamey did well in the box office. However Aranmanai fails to capitalize on this as it is caught somewhere between a comedy and a serious horror drama. It neither gives you the chills and the thrills not it makes you laugh. The overload of cast and characters leave very less scope for many of them. Only the three leading ladies and Sundar C has some role to perform in the movie. The movie employs plots that would have worked well in the 80s and 90s. Also the length of the movie is very long and makes you very tired and exhausted. If the director had cut down the length, few characters and stayed away from the clichés of age old formula the movie might have been a decent one.

Overall it seems to be a mash up of Sundar C and Rama Narayanan’s movie that may not work well for the present time.

Can skip it

Action, Can Skip it, Genre, Rating, Reviews, Tamil Movies, Thriller

Yaan Review

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Yaan Review – is a Tamil action thriller released in 2014. Chandru is happily unemployed and enjoys life. When he meets Sreela he immediately falls in love with her, but is forced to find a job if he has to marry her. The job Chandru takes puts him into a life threatening situation. Will he be able to come out of the situation and marry Sreela is the plot of Yaan.

Well Yaan has good casting, brilliant cinematography, great stunts, decent plot but the thread that connects all these together in the form of screenplay and characterization is missing. It takes more than half the movie for the audience to figure out what the conflict is. And still at the end of the movie I was left wondering if it was love or drug trafficking.  The climax is absolutely ridiculous. Cinematographer turned director Ravi K. Chandran has a lot potential to make some visually stunning movies. If he partners with some good screen writers he would be able to make very good movies. Some of the visual sequences you would love in the movie are the initial fight sequence, the way the hero recreates his encounter with the heroine, the song sequences and the stunt choreography.

Overall if you are seeing sequences from Yaan in isolation it looks good but when put together in a product it would make you yawn. If you are a fan of stunning visuals and stunts watch this at home or else you would not miss much.

Can Skip it