The film and media industry is not all about the glitz and glamour, it is about the collective of technical and artistic talents that are passionate about the process of film making. In recent years, the Malayalam film industry has evolved to shine the limelight on many of the talents behind the camera. Create Media Lounge is a group of friends and professionals from different areas of filmmaking. These talented individuals work towards providing the services of film production, from start to finish! The team has put out some amazing work and their recent project VEDHI, directed by Create Media’s Vinay S Kumar, has been getting raving reviews from the audience as well as film celebrities and it has gone over 50k views on YouTube within 3 days. In conversation with Team Create Media Lounge, we learn all about their story, their members and their goals for the future!
Give us a brief about Create Media Lounge
Create Media Lounge is film & media production enterprise based in Kochi started by a group of professionals working in film & media industry who provide from pre-production, production to post-production services. We are now currently a team of 12 members.
What made you start Create Media Lounge, what is the story behind it?
Before starting Create Media Lounge, we were all working in movies. That is when, Covid-19 hit and all the movie industry froze. The co-founders Abdulla who was previously working as Assistant Director and Vikaas who was working as Assistant Editor in Malayalam film industry, sat down to think of ways on how to turn those lemons that have been thrown at them into a lemonade. After many sessions of brainstorming, they came up with the idea of forming a wholesome team that can provide a client with a complete filmmaking service beginning from pre-production till post-production.
Tell us about yourself, your previous jobs / ventures
As we said, most of us were predominantly working in Malayalam film industry prior to beginning Create Media Lounge. Abdulla Kunhi Marakkar, who is one of the co-founders was working as Assistant Director lastly in an upcoming movie Higuita starring Suraj Venjaramoodu & Dhyan Sreenivasan. Vikaas Alphonse, who is also the co-founder has worked as Associate Editor in Jayasurya starrer Thrissur Pooram. Vinayak S Kumar who is the Chief Creative Director has worked as Assistant Director in Kappela starring Roshan Mathew, Sreenath Bhasi & Anna Ben. Shyam Subramoniam who is a cinematographer has done cinematography for many Kerala Tourism ad films as well as lastly he worked as Assistant Cinematographer in the movie Sleeplessly Yours starring Sudev Nair. Arshad FS who is our cinematographer has worked this month as Assistant Cinematographer for the Suraj Venjaramoodu starrer and upcoming movie Roy. The list goes on with the rest of our team members too. So everybody in our team has got the practical experience working in film shooting sets.
Where is your start-up based out of? Why do think that is the best place for you?
We do have an informal studio in Manjummel, Kochi where we do our post-production works together but as with today’s Covid-19 situation some of us working from home. Mostly, it all depends upon the kind of work we do. The shooting of course happens at the shooting location itself. .
What are the services you provide at Create Media Lounge?
We provide services in Corporate Videos, Ad Films, Music Videos, Movie / Event Promo Videos, Poster Designs, Animated Explainer Videos, right from the pre-production process to post-production process.
Could you tell us how the covid pandemic has affected people in media and film industry?
As we all know, the movie theatres have been shut down nation-wide for the past 6 months. In effect, the movies that were shot started piling up on the stack. Some of the big budget movies which started shooting had to halt it midway. Albeit, we are living in the times of adversities, the film and media industry is trying for sustainable methods to survive such as shooting low budget films and releasing movies on OTT platforms. The worst affected people in film industry are the film technicians who comprise the most of it and are actually the soul of film industry. Unfortunately, some of them had to take up alternate jobs for time being but ultimately this is a period for survival. So hold on, this too shall pass and we will again see the word ‘HOUSEFULL’ written in those bold & beautiful letters in front of box offices.
Tell us more about the film related educational content you provide through your social media platform?
One of the pivotal project which are we are working on is to bring a complete film education platform online in Malayalam. There are many online movie, news platforms where you can find gossips and vanity news about the glamour of Malayalam film industry but very seldom do we get to know the info about the technical side of it. In Hollywood, there are countless film educational resources such as American Cinematographer Magazine, online platforms like No Film School and Indie Wire if a film aspirant is interested to learn filmmaking but honestly there no such room here in Malayalam film industry. So, we are planning to build a complete online film education platform in Malayalam through structured online video courses, webinars, workshops, etc. Also, we will be frequently posting articles about filmmaking techniques, camera reviews, lighting equipment reviews, etc.
The media industry is challenging. How do you think you will make your mark?
Every industry has its own challenges. Let alone film & media industry. So, it’s important to build up your endurance and stay resilient to become successful in it. Just like the Hollywood filmmaker Woody Allen has said ‘Eighty percent of success is showing up’. So, even if you have all the creative talent in the world and if you don’t discipline it in a way that you can collaborate with other professionals in the film & media industry, then there is a chance that you may fall off your track. So, be consistent. Be collaborative. Be resilient. Be enduring. Finally, you will be able to make it just like anybody else.
Tell us about your team and how did you meet each other?
To have a friend circle in film industry is crucial to grow individually as well as collectively within the film industry. For instance, if we look at the all-time popular film collaborations such as the early Priyadarshan-Mohanlal team or the recent Vineeth Sreenivasan-Nivin Pauly-Aju Varghese team, it is very clear that they grew professionally by helping each other as friends and working collectively. So, apart from being team members of Create Media Lounge, we were all good friends from the beginning who could pool in their expertise in various departments such as Film Direction, Cinematography, Film Editing, Film Scoring, Acting, Photography and Visual Effects by forming a team that is self-sufficient to do a complete video production. Our team members are Abdulla Kunhi Marakkar, Vikaas Alphonse, Vishnu S Kumar, Lishoy Venugopal, Vinayak S Kumar, Libin Philip Mariam, Kishore Krishna, Yedhukrishnan, Arshad FS, Prabin Babu, Aryhan Anil & Mohammed Shabeer.
Abdulla Kunhi Marakkar 
Vikaas Alphonse
What are your plans for future? Where do you see Create Media Lounge in the next 5 years?
We do have a lot of plans for future. From starting our own camera & light equipment rental house to selling movie related merchandise such as t-shirts, hoodies, posters, mugs, etc. But our ultimate goal is to become a film production house that produces Malayalam feature films. As the Forrest Gump movie quote goes like ‘Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get’. So let us see how sweet is our box of chocolates going to be. 🙂
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