During serial binge watches, we hit it all the time.
Titles set the foundations of motion graphics, but we're impatient to dive into the movie and we ignore the artistry.
They come in the way and no matter how exquisite, they're the appetizers to be dispensed with.
In the darkness of a movie theater, they set the mood for the film.
Early on film makers knew that apart from providing information about the film plot and the production crew, title design helped to ease audiences into the flow.
The example of West Side Story with the titles scrawled in chalk on a wooden texture make the point perfectly.
There's a rough-hewn beauty to the way the camera zooms into each of the credits. Unusually, it starts off with the film director's name and the stars come at the end of the sequence.
It is set in a lower middle-class neighborhood and the world of gang warfare that seems to have sliced through every single generation.
In today's world of layered combinations, the sequence may seem absurdly simple.
But watch the title sequence of the film 'The Untouchables'. A percussion track plays with extended shadows across lines of light.
It's only when the final reveal happens that we see the light was coming from a 3D projection of the letters in the title.
On a big screen, it was riveting.
Today's audience sees the titles on everything from mobile screen to laptops and TVs. And that dilutes the thought. Another defining aspect of the early movies is now gone.
Open Sesame - when a stock value went ballistic
Back in 1978, a distributor bought 3500 shares in Mewar Oil and General Mills Ltd which amounted to 2.8% of the value of the company at the time.
And then, it went into safekeeping or wherever it is that people keep shares.
This was the 'material' phase where every share document had to be physically maintained.
The demat phase was a major transition and several people have made fortunes from long-forgotten share certificates.
But this one was tricky.
Decades later, Mewar Oil Company changed its name to PI Industries, became a listed company and was doing brilliantly, financially.
The original shareholder, checking on the documents he had forgotten, unearthed these shares in 2015.
He applied to convert the shares into a demat form but the agency handling the account asked him to contact the company directly.
It turned out that these shares had been sold and transferred without their knowledge and they no longer owned shares in the new entity.
According to the original shareholders, their share based on the transfer would work out to Rs. 1448 crores, a stupendous return on investment.
But there's many a slip between the cup and the lip.
Everything stays in a state of suspended animation as the company tries to negotiate, the shareholder does not budge, and the statutory entities ponder the question.
Now, it remains to be seen who will blink first and who has the most to lose.
Tailgate the fast movers in stock markets
What options do small investors have?
Read up on articles about investing, create a portfolio that builds up a tidy nest egg over decades?
Or follow what movers and shakers in the market do? Take a look at how the major mutual funds invest and do that same thing at one-millionth of the scale.
The risks you take in investing are entirely up to you.
No one is going to stand in your way. But no one is going to come to your rescue either when things go wrong.
There was complete chaos in the stock market because a new set of players from Robinhood swung into action and upset the calculations of investors who had made a bet on Game Stop. They collectively took the price to stratospheric heights and left some large firms badly bruised.
Now, TikTokers are following another strategy.
They are betting on the investment strategy of the US Members of Congress. Tailgating them and buying into everything that they invest in.
It's smart because the reasoning is that the guys in government know what's happening and may even be early to the market.
The logic is sound but is it simply another 'strategy' for those who go by what the whales do?
Possibly. The small investors have no way of doing the research or understanding complex balance sheets. So they do the next best thing.
Invest like those who can.
Who thought outsiders who swipe to watch videos will upset the applecart of cozy arrangements and agreements?
Every week, I'll plant a few ideas in your mind on branding, behavior and markets. Triggers for your thoughts. Spread the word to your friends. All you have to do is click the link and enter an email address.
Share this post