Whether it is the launch or the release of a film, a lot of hype is created with wall posters, invites and brochures. But what occupies a major part of them are still photographs, which need to be attractive so as to stay in the readers' mind for a long time.While most of these promotional materials use stills from the film, these days the trend is to use exclusive still photographs that do not find a place in the actual film.
“This trend has been there for the past seven to eight years and was started by Bollywood director Boney Kapoor,” says G Venket Ram, a city-based photographer who did the promotional stills for Kandasamy.
Filmmakers have made it man datory to shoot exclusive promotional stills once they are done with the basic script.
“It is to create a bit of a noise among the people that a particular movie is going to be launched or released,” says Sakkarakatti director Kalaprabhu.
This was the only reason, few years back. Today, using such still photographs is part of a major marketing strategy, adopted to get better investments.
“The stills are taken, keeping in mind the design of the brochures,” says Antony Sridhar, another popular still photographer in Kollywood. Brochures with such exclusive photographs are then sent to all the important people in the film fraternity . This way it helps to promote the film and also gets more investments.
The promotional stills are these days taken even before the film's shooting begins, a sea change from yesteryears when these photographs were taken only in-between shots.
“The director and producer approach us with the basic thread of the storyline,” says Venket Ram.
With inputs from the stylist, costume designer, make-up artist, producer and director, the photographer decides on the look of the main characters in a film.
The look of the hero, heroine, villain and others becomes uniform from then onwards till the end of the film.
These exclusive shoots, which are done only for high budget films, can cost anywhere between Rs 1 to 10 lakh. Such shoots can consume one hour to four days of the technicians' time. “It is the planning that takes more time,” says Anthony Sridhar.
“We do take pictures during the production of a film. But it is done to help the director check the continuity between shots,” says Kalaprabhu. More than that, shoots done before production bring out better results in terms of quality, which can help in blowing them up for publicity needs.
Photographs like the profile shots of AR Rahman taken for Sillunu Oru Kadhal is also part of the trend. “It was to promote AR Rahman's association with the film, as he is an icon and many will notice it,” says Venket Ram.
Though latest techniques and equipments are used, it is ultimately the planning and creativity of the photographer that matters. “The subjects' emotions and expressions are also very important to get the best output,” adds Venket Ram.
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