Why did Avatar (the first part) become the world's number 1 box office topper and still remains in that position 13 years later?
Why do people still buy theatrical sound systems for their living room?
I can only speak for myself: it's experiencing real world "environments" through cinematic sound.
And for me, Avatar's tree felling scene still remains like no other.
The late James Horner's score (he who won the Oscar for Titanic's score) accompanied with Mauro Fiore's Oscar-winning cinematography (for Avatar part 1) with skillful editing, all orchestrated the scene of the destruction of the home tree to make it, in my view, the apocalyptic magnum opus of Canadian director James Cameron's action scenes which even surpasses the 15-minute "death of Titanic" in Titanic's sinking sequence.
More than a decade later, when Cameron re-released Avatar last year in preparation for the release of its first sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water, I again went to Schwack Cinema in Hulhumale, just to watch that tree felling scene.
Unfortunately, it was only for just one show, because there were no repeat screenings as happened during my trip to India's Bengaluru (Bangalore) where I watched Avatar (part 1) 3 times back to back! Yet still, I am grateful for everyone who have made it possible for all of us to enjoy cinema in the form of Schwack Cinema's two halls - one in the capital island of Maldives, Male', and the other in its suburban island Hulhumale.
"Aslu lavai ge haibathu engenee loud speaker un adu ahaaleema, dho."
That was my immediate reaction, in Maldives' native Dhivehi language to a Maldivian movie buff, saying something to the effect that a song's "awesomeness" can be gauged after listening from a "loud speaker".
That thought arose in my mind because I listened to British music band Coldplay's collaboration with US music band The Chainsmokers on the song "Something just like this" which I listened to on my Xemal speakers and I realized just how awesome the beats and drums and bass are - whatever those technical-sounding things mean as you should excuse me because I know nothing about music theory except that sounds coming from the bass and tweeter should sound pleasing to my ears! It makes the over all song so much the better - for me personally at least!!
I guess, then, that there is a good reason why this song has 2.2 billion (with a "b") views on YouTube!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM7MFYoylVs
The friend, who is heavily involved in audio, video, and written productions, obviously has a similar opinion as me with regard to sound been a key factor for the "real world experience".
He said: "Yeah. I always thought we deserve better than the in built sound and encourage people to get external speakers. It makes a world of difference. That's indeed how you're meant to enjoy audio."
But this is in contrast to the opinion of two of my relatives who said that they prefer watching movies that are "quiet", i.e., "human dramas which involve only talking" and not the heart-shattering sounds of explosions such as in the Mission Impossible franchise.
These two relatives' view aligns with a Maldives lawyer friend's who once told me he "hates" the bass sound which he says he has to "omit" when listening to music or watching movies.
In contrast, a Maldivian web and graphics designer friend said he thought the bass was the actual driving force of the melody and the rhythm of any song or music piece. He actually plays bass guitar quite skillfully.
An old colleague of mine, from my days in the Maldives' civil service, told me she doesn't go to the cinema because the sounds are too "loud" for her; I wondered whether she was talking about the either much-loved or much-hated bass sound because the bass seems the only thing that's missing from headphones, earbuds, and inbuilt teeny tiny speakers.
The external speakers usually come with woofers, subwoofers, and tweeters which can give an overall stereo or 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound that could well result in an enhanced theatrical or cinematic experience of music just as movies. For example, one of my relatives' favorite pieces is Paul Mauriat's "El bimbo", a purely instrumental masterpiece from 1974 - one year before I was born.
For me, no bass means no music.
Another relative of mine is also of the same view. During his heydays, he had a big lava jahaa setu (a cassette player speaker system). The bass "shatters my chest", as was written on the box of my Xemal speakers, and I guess I could say that was the start of my realization that it is the bass that makes me feel the real world enacted through theatrically and cinematically with the employment of external speaker systems.
When I told this to another relative of mine, he said if he wanted to experience a tree felling scene like in Avatar, he would physically visit a place where lumbering is conducted. Well, good for him, if he prefers to go to another country like I did go to India at a time when no foreign films, including 3D versions, were screened in any cinemas of Maldives when Avatar was released in 2009.
No comments:
Post a Comment