“It has been a very conscientious decision on our part to focus more on Marathi Cinema”

JIMMY THOMAS

Jimmy Thomas, M. Ravichandran Thevar,Prasad Kadam and Neville Mehta , the Junkies behind the formulae for super-hit movies  discuss with Jyothi Venkatesh their strategies to promote films digitally

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What according to you is your corer task as a designer?

Connecting a movie with its audience is the main motto of any filmmaker and the producer. In the Marathi film industry more than 100 films gets released in a year. Not every movie gets the tag of a super hit. But if a film gets a Superhit tag, what is the formula behind that? As we all say that there is no sure-shot formula, but it is extremely important how the First Look of a film will be and will it be able to make the audience fall in love with the movie? Is there a creative framework for a movie to reach out to their audiences? We at Vizual Junkies comprising of Jimmy Thomas, the ace cinematographer M. Ravichandran Thevar, Prasad Kadam, and Neville Mehta set out to answer these questions creatively.

Which are the films for which your team has designed the posters as well as digital strategy?

Starting with designing the movie posters and the movie’s digital strategy, Vizual Junkies teams work has been appreciated by the Marathi film industry. We have designed the posters of films like  Elizabeth Ekadashi, Chaurya, , Ekk Albela Jaundya Na Balasaheb. We have also done the digital promotions for super hit films like  Sairat, Lai Bhaari, Timepass 2, Killa, Natsamrat, Double Seat, Katyar Kaljat Ghusali, Half Ticket, YZ, One Way Ticket and Jaundya Na Balasaheb.

Have you made your foray into regional films other than Marathi?

Yes. We have also done the poster designs for the award winning Kannada film Thithi, the movie which won a National Award in 2016.

Which are your forthcoming films in the pipeline as far as Marathi is concerned?

The next in line up are two big projects – Priyanka Chopra’s first Marathi produced film Ventilator starring Ashutosh Gowarikar and an array of brilliant actors and Sachin Kundalkar’s Vazandar, starring Sai Tamhankar and Priya Bapat among others.

Which was your first assignment for Vizual Junkies?

Our first work was for Elizabeth Ekadashi Movie, for which we had to create basic VFX & Poster in a very short period, as director Paresh Mokashi wanted to get the work completed within 2 Days. When everyone mocked at the idea and said that it was difficult to do the complete work in just two days, we stepped in and when we presented our work to The Zee Studios team, the entire team appreciated our work. Zee Studios then asked whether we can do their next film Lai Bhari film’s Digital Promotion. The overall digital work got Viral.

Killa movie Stop Motion Poster was the very first ever attempt in Marathi films. Isn’t it?

An eye pleasing poster is always a big blessing for any film. The Killa movie Stop motion poster was the first Motion Poster designed in the Marathi film Industry. And later on, we created the Motion Poster for Elizabeth Ekadashi. Not even that, we firstly bought the Motion teaser Concept in Marathi film Industry.

Why do you concentrate more on Marathi than Hindi films?

It has been a very conscientious decision on our part to concentrate and focus more on Marathi because we find that the Marathi space isn’t cluttered like in Hindi. We want to focus on one at a time. It isn’t that we have not done digital promotion for Hindi films. We worked on the poster and digital for Chauranga and Island City and are now working on Wishing Tree

 How tough or easy is it to design a poster for a film?

For making any film poster we first need to watch the film as every film has its own soul, own essence, thinking and characters. Next is to map out all the creative thoughts together and define the Creative Poster. Before we set out to do digital promotions we firstly understand the movie and decide what we can do in it to connect with audience digitally. We make a proper chart and write down what would elements of the movie will be loved by the audience and how they will get attracted towards it. By doing this kind of research we make the movie’s Creative designs. How our Campaign will hit the platform and how we would reach maximum audiences in less cost comprises the digital campaign.

Do you think that digital is the most effective medium today?

In today’s world, digital is one of the most effective media. Not only youngsters but every generation is connected with the digital media which is more helpful for us in promoting our films. For today’s generation, digital medium has replaced TV as it is considered just an idiot box. So Marathi movies should also be extensively promoted on the Digital platform, but it is sad that many filmmakers don’t know the power of digital media. Filmmakers should understand that just creating a face book page is not a digital promotion; it is much more than that. That’s why we create a digital framework for every film and use the most effective digital mediums for each movie to reach out to maximum audiences.