To increase visibility Hallmark tries unconventionality
(Posted
on 26 September 2001, 7:40 pm)
Hallmark,
which claims a viewership base of 8.2 million in India, is pushing
hard to become the channel that the whole family can enjoy. Hallmark
is different from the other English movie channels Star Movies,
HBO and Zee MGM because a lot of programming is aimed at children.
Besides Hallmark's mini-series and movies are quite unique.
It's new show Star Trek Voyager will premier on 30 September
at 8 p.m. The target audience is science fiction and action fans
who like mystery, adventure and thrills and have no difficulty
suspending their disbelief. In one of the episodes the Federation
starship USS Voyager hunt down Maquis rebels, enters the dangerous
space nebula known as the Badlands. Both ships are taken to the
Delta Quadrant, which is 75,000 light-years from Federation space.
Then at 9 p.m. you can enjoy the movie The Yearling about
a 12-year-old boy who learns the meaning of life, shouldering
responsibility through his relationship with an orphaned fawn.
The
channel will spend Rs 10 million to promote and advertise this
show as well as Sliders in India. Sliders is being pushed through
the print medium, billboards and hoardings. The hoardings are
quite mischievously misleading. At Borivali there is one which
claims that one has reached Worli. The ads are quite zany and
eccentric whether it describes objects in an inaccurate manner
'The pyramid is a square', or misreporting an important news item
of the past 'Princess Diana survives car crash'. Sliders deals
with four people who travel through the time dimension zigging
and zagging so much that a time comes when they are not sure what
is real anymore. Advertising major Leo Burnett's campaign tempts
viewers with a teaser "What is your reality?"
As far as movies are concerned the channel this month has been
showing successful adaptations of classic novels under the heading
From Page to Screen. Tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. the channel
is showing the 'Infinite Worlds of HG Wells". It is an interesting
fictionalised account of author HG Wells and how he was inspired
to write novels like 'The Time Machine'.
The
channel also harbours ambitious desires of rising to the next
level by extending the concept of the fairy tale to adult audiences.
Next month on the 27th and 28th at 9 p.m, Storybook scandals
will see the channel present two classic fairy tales where the
end is not soppy and feel good. The first tale is the Grimm Brothers
Snow White. It has state-of-the-art special effects not
seen in previous versions. Starring Oscar nominated Brit Miranda
Richardson (Tom And Viv) the wicked queen tries to kill Snow White
and succeeds inspite of the best attempts of the seven Dwarfs
to save the heroine.
The
second is Prince Charming where the Prince, due to a curse
becomes a frog. He can only change back is if he is kissed by
a woman. This happens 500 years later in Manhattan but when he
finds her he falls for another woman. Luck could run out as far
as he is concerned.
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