Kerala Tourism will soon roll out micro videos of expressions from traditional art performances that can replace emoticons in the digital media.
Expressions, the mobile application (App) of the micro videos of ten seconds to one mega byte duration is aimed at promoting the art forms as part of increasing the footfalls to the God’s Own Country during Kerala Visit Year.
The 106 micro-videos depicting the visual expressions from Mohiniyattom, Ottan Thullal, Seethankan Thullal, Chakyarkoothu, Kathakali and Koodiyattom are used for those looking for a ‘Kerala brand’ in place of the emoticons. On the lines of the emoticons used to express everything from love to anger to downright disgust, the app has 62 gestures to convey – ‘good morning, happy, really super, what a wonder, how are you, excellent, shy, secret, hungry, laughter and feeling sleepy’. More gestures can be added to the list in the app.
While mudras and facial expressions are used to convey ‘welcome’ using Mohiniyattom, sound and facial expressions are used to convey the same through Chakkyarkoothu and Kathakali.
Reputed artistes like Kalamandalam Sivan Namboodiri, Kalamandalam Geethanandan, Margi Sajeev and Smitha Rajan have presented the gestures and the mudras that have been exclusively shot for the project. Holidayers and the citizens can soon respond with the micro videos of expressions such as love, laughter, happiness, shock, sadness and anger during the shorter conversations and shorter writings such as e-mails and texts. Designed and developed by Kerala Tourism’s IT solution provider Invis Multimedia, the app is the brain child of Secretary, Tourism, G. Kamalavaradhana Rao. “It is part of the effort to tap the digital media for the hassle-free visit of the tourists to the State and to provide information at the finger tips,” Mr. Rao told The Hindu on Sunday.
The app will be made available by Kerala Tourism within one week. After the launch, it will be available in Google Playstore andwww.keralatourism.org/
expressions.
The Kerala brand of emoticons to use expressions from Mohiniyattom, Ottan Thullal, Seethankan Thullal, Chakyarkoothu, Kathakali and Koodiyattom.
