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Researching movies, effective promos, and Cloverfield
January 20, 2008
I saw Cloverfield this weekend. All things considered, I was very impressed by the realness of it, especially the script (it seems like all “destruction” movies feel the need to bring on the cheese with the characters — I didn’t feel this went there), and would recommend catching it.
After seeing a movie in theaters, especially one I like, I habitually log on to the IMDB forums and spend a good amount of time searching through them to pick up any trivia that makes me go oooh. And then I call someone and make them talk to me about it. Even if they didn’t see it.
In this case, I found something very cool that fit very well with the feel of the movie.
That being said, if you haven’t seen Cloverfield, you may want to stop here, as 1) I may spoil it for you and 2) you probably won’t get what I’m talking about.
The official movie website is nothing more than a virtual stack of pictures. Upon leafing through them, someone noticed a name inscribed on one and MySpaced it. It turned out to be a girl named Jamie.
The profile looks standard. The key is further down, her friends, which coincidentally are the movie’s main characters.
They’re all linked to one another through their top friends. The movie relationships hold true. They write in each other’s comments.
Jason to Lily: “Hey who’s the hot guy in your profile pic? He looks like the coolest guy in the world.”
Rob to Beth: “Hey what are you doing this Friday? Hud and I were gonna go see Golden Compass and we’d feel a lot less lame if you came.”
etc.
Other unknown friends’ comments are thrown in. They wrote blog entries about beer and jobs that go back to at least June of 2006. Their profiles have absolutely nothing to do with the movie. There are no hidden trailers or plastered release dates. Their pictures are crude and commonplace. They maintain the messy, hard-to-read, glittery layouts that MySpace is famous for.
Hud’s About Me: “Howdy. I’m Hud. People tend to forget my name even though they named a river after me. I live in Manhattan. I am often complemented on my cologne, even though I never wear any. I’m a Bills fan, so I’ve had a tough life.”
Marlaina’s Blog Entry: “Lounge Agains the Machine just made my night. I seriously need to go to the Bowery more often, it’s always a good time.”
The comments have since stopped, and they haven’t logged in since January 18th, the movie’s release date.
Which, of course, would make sense.
I think this adds an intimate aspect to an already personal movie, and is a powerful way of saying, “Despite the outlandish circumstances, these were normal kids — people, like you — with a video camera.”
Categories: Daily
January 20th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
Well said. I love that sort of subliminal advertising.
January 20th, 2008 at 5:56 pm
I got so motion sick from this movie.
I thought there were a lot of things that made it unrealistic. Little tiny details though, like no girl would run around in 3 inch heels all night from a monster attack their city or did you notice there were no old people or children in the movie? Manhattan doesn’t have any, I guess. Someone else pointed out in my entry about it. Fancy huge apartment with graffiti all over the walls in the hallway? I dont know, those little things just bothered me!
I did think the whole myspace thing was pretty cool. They really got into it!
January 20th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Jamie - I would agree with the shoes thing, although I don’t really see them having time to change. Lily was barefoot by the time they reached Beth’s apartment, and bare feet in a demolished, on-fire city are still a pretty suck alternative to heels.
I don’t even remember the graffiti thing, but good point with the old people or children. I didn’t notice till you said that. Too hard for them to run, maybe?
January 20th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
You know, I agree with you.
Besides the whole motion-thing, which takes some getting used to, I felt this was very heartfelt and real.
I enjoyed it, and thought they did a pretty decent job.
And I loved Hud.
January 20th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
I can understand what people mean about the shoes thing, and maybe I’m just OK in heels..
but I think that if that kind of CRAZY shit was happening, I wouldn’t be thinking too much about my foot pain.
And running my bare toes through blood, broken glass, and lava-hot metal doesn’t sound too grand. You know, compared to heels.
But yeah, I remember seeing Lily without shoes by the time she’s on the roof.
January 21st, 2008 at 9:39 am
I love it when movie characters have real life portrayals. It makes it seem less intimidating that those ordinary people are really makes gobs of money!
January 21st, 2008 at 11:42 am
I am so behind in American culture right now. Help me!! (Keep in mind I’m living in a foreign country where everything is dubbed (DUBBED, no subtitles, just DUBBED) and movies/songs/etc that are currently mainstream in the U.S. take another six months to a year to get here. :P Bah.
January 21st, 2008 at 11:55 am
Yea, besides the shaky cam, I kinda loved it. I’ve heard there are lots of clues about where the monster came from and such in the background of the tape that got taped over. Of course I’d have to see it again to love it.
Also, there could totally be a sequel, with another person’s viewpoint, someone who survived so they could finally find out what exactly happened to the monster.
January 21st, 2008 at 5:33 pm
I haven’t seen Cloverfield, but I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to be a commentary on our citizen journalist generation, where anyone and everyone records everything they see and uploads it onto YouTube.
January 21st, 2008 at 8:29 pm
That movie is pretty much all that my colleagues at the university newspaper talked about this weekend. Frankly, the trailer for that movie made me kind of sea sick. How I got sea sick on land, I don’t know.
K.
January 21st, 2008 at 10:11 pm
That is cool as all hell! I enjoyed the movie - it scared me bunches and made me a bit dizzy at times, but it was quite good!
January 23rd, 2008 at 7:55 am
Alright, since seeing the movie on Sunday I’ve been totally obsessed. There is a website (cloverfieldclues) that explains where the monster came from and the whole lore behind that, and where to look in the film for clues on how maybe the monster got disturbed.
It’s wild and the marketing people were all geniuses.
As for running around in heels, I took it all as adrenalin rush - same reason why Beth was able to run around after having her shoulder speared. And Marlena…poor Marlena.
If I see it again, the only thing I’ll say is that i’ll sit in the very back row next time.
January 23rd, 2008 at 3:09 pm
I thoroughly enjoyed this film.
January 28th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
the myspace thing was very cool, except for the whole fact that it didnt fit into the timeline.. but still a cool touch, nonetheless… i thought this movie was great. i do the same imdb thing after every movie i watch :)