Hollywood has always used the backdrop of grey and black garages and parking lots for action sequences and creepy horror movie effects but Bollywood seems reluctant. I recall how Feroz Khan destroys a Mercedes owned by his rival in a home production that seemed inspired by the West. A few decades onwards and we are still creatively handicapped in using our over-stuffed and sometimes shockingly empty parking lots into the narrative. Why?
Hollywood scripts have been rather generous with using the parking lot background and the reasons are not difficult to understand. These places are big with plenty of empty spaces. The lighting is usually not bright and there are plenty of pillars that provide the perfect opportunity for creepsters to startle you. Directors in Hindi-land don’t seem to like the fact that the parking lots have everything needed to create a situation that keeps the movie-watcher engaged. From empty drums to electrical connections, from statue-like cars to almost vacant cabins, from plenty of zero-personnel spaces to those corners where the lighting does not seem to have penetrated at all – the parking lot can be your movie-making landscape!
I would say that shooting a song sequence too makes sense. We are no longer in the era of high-velocity winds blowing away the dresses of an actress. All you need is some digital effects and a troop of backdrop dancers and a parking lot can accommodate all of them. If the movie calls for sordid, grey-market deals, massive underground parking zones seem safe and logical.
If the plot needs a car chase scene, it can end or start from the parking floor. If an action sequence needs cars to be blow apart, what better option than a location that is overflowing with cars, the retired and the most recent ones? Even for the Insidious type of scene, there is a high propensity of disturbing man-animal-devil forms emanating from the walled enclosures. Even a romantic comedy with the latest Kapoor girls or Alia can be shot here as the parking lot provides so many reasons for people to interact including must-have guy tries picking up the girl sequences with the lady trying to tiptoe herself to the car, juggling too many purchases from the mall.
The parking lot needs to be explored more by Bollywood and Amazon TV series directors churning out content for the Indian audience. Whether it is the ghoulish creations or zombies and mob hits, the parking lot landscape is perfect to hide, attack, and unleash something demonic. It can be the perfect place to create the match of edgy, dark corners and shadows that together create that eerie feeling. I have been watching Penny Dreadful on Netflix these days and some of the dark colors and Gothic undertones have been beautifully matched with a Greater London picturization that is not happy or ecstatic about its riches. The dark characters of Penny Dreadful really benefit from the manner in which the surroundings have been presented - somber, almost saying to you that this TV series is not meant to put a smile on your face.
Hollywood scripts have been rather generous with using the parking lot background and the reasons are not difficult to understand. These places are big with plenty of empty spaces. The lighting is usually not bright and there are plenty of pillars that provide the perfect opportunity for creepsters to startle you. Directors in Hindi-land don’t seem to like the fact that the parking lots have everything needed to create a situation that keeps the movie-watcher engaged. From empty drums to electrical connections, from statue-like cars to almost vacant cabins, from plenty of zero-personnel spaces to those corners where the lighting does not seem to have penetrated at all – the parking lot can be your movie-making landscape!
Shooting Locations that Need More Exposure
If the plot needs a car chase scene, it can end or start from the parking floor. If an action sequence needs cars to be blow apart, what better option than a location that is overflowing with cars, the retired and the most recent ones? Even for the Insidious type of scene, there is a high propensity of disturbing man-animal-devil forms emanating from the walled enclosures. Even a romantic comedy with the latest Kapoor girls or Alia can be shot here as the parking lot provides so many reasons for people to interact including must-have guy tries picking up the girl sequences with the lady trying to tiptoe herself to the car, juggling too many purchases from the mall.
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