Salman or Aamir on the right track?

While it’s still impossible to foretellthe fate of a film or its opening weekend numbers (the biggest aspect that makesor breaks a movie these days), one tool helps a filmmaker gauge if he’s onthe right path to box-office success – organised tracking.A common feature in Hollywood, tracking has now come to Bollywood too. This is basically a statistical and scientific technique which tracks the buzz about a film and predicts if it will translate into footfall.Twelve-16 weeks before afilm is released, the PR machinery gets into action. Tracking analyses whetherthis buzz – promos, songs, posters, media coverage etc – is actuallyclicking with the audience. Is the movie-goer impressed enough with the campaignto spend his money on a ticket?And in a day and age when themarketing budget of a film ranges from Rs 4 crore to Rs 12 crore, such insightcan change the fortune of a film. Also, this technique tests the creativematerials – trailers and film posters – before it goes for publicconsumption. “The data thus provides a ready reckoner on whether themakers have been able to communicate effectively to the masses,” says Dr CR Sridhar, IIT-alumnus and a director of 4Sight, a recently set-up film trackingcompany.Tracking is different from focus group discussions, apopular tool with the likes of Aamir Khan and Karan Johar who use it extensivelyto know audience reaction before a film releases so that necessary changes canbe incorporated. “Focus group is qualitative but tracking gives you themetrics,” says Sridhar, a pioneer in film tracking inIndia.The advantage to a filmmaker is obvious. Based on the input,he can change his pitch to the audience which might impact a film’sinitial.Themethod is very scientific and quantitative. A database of one lakh movie goersacross 22 towns has been created. A sample group is chosen and sent aquestionnaire based on five parameters.• Awareness about thefilm • Source of awareness (TV, Newspapers, Radio, Net...)• Desire to see the film • The urgency– will it be watched first day first show or would the viewer rather waitfor the DVD? • What are the drivers – songs, action,dialogue, stars etc. The data is then fed into Film Track AnalyticalEngine (FTAE), an indigenously developed engine by Sridhar and the report isout. The results point out to the perception of the film in the public’smind. 4Sight shares with Mirror their analysis of the campaigns and mood aboutfive forthcoming films that will hit the screens in the next fewweeks.The film track data for the week August 13-20 shows that Dabangg istracking quite well with a 17% unaided recall – the highest among all fivemovies. That is, it is uppermost on a movie-goer’s mind. Sallu seems to beon a winning track.Following closely is Anjaana Anjaani with a 10 %spontaneous recall. Not bad considering the film is still a few weeks away fromrelease (generally, the closer the release date, the more is therecall).We Are Family, surprisingly, is average considering itsstellar cast and banner, but might pick up next week. But Aashayein, the nextimmediate release, with less than 10 % spontaneous recall is low. HimeshReshammiya needs to pull up his socks as Kajraare has spontaneous recall ofonly 2.8%.Mere awareness isn’t enough, it needs to convert toviewing also. Here again Dabangg scores high at about 90%.Among allfilms it’s the promos of Dabangg and Anjaana Anjaani and to some extent WeAre Family that have aroused curiosity.Follow us on Twitter for more stories