Viral Marketing of J.J. Abrams' Mysterious Flick, Cloverfield, Takes Over the Internet. Are Studios Getting Smarter?
How exactly do you build buzz for your movie?
Well, first of all, you could do everything but deny its very existence. You could refuse to give it a title. Then, to really get people going, you could launch a website that gives people very little clues as to what your movie is about and what little it does reveal has to be "earned" by solving puzzles.
At least that's what J.J. Abrams and his production company, Bad Robot, are doing with the film that has thus far been referred to as "Cloverfield."
The film's trailer first appeared before Transformers during its opening week, confusing those not already familiar with J.J. Abrams and either intriguing or annoying those who were. Supposedly about a group of people who experience a monster invasion of New York City, the film is shot handheld, ala "The Blair Witch Project," only with what seem to be much more advanced special effects.
The trailer opens up on the going away party of a character by the name of Rob. We're seeing the party through the eyes of an onlooker with a camcorder. It's a typical film party. Funny quips. Characters smirking into the camera lens. This could easily be the story of how a girl loves a boy that loves the idea of going away. You know the ones.
Until the lights flicker off and the air fills with an ominous sound, that is. We watch as party-goers crowd around a television set where a newscaster is babbling on about what appears to be an earthquake and a roaring sound. That's when the question is asked: "Can we see anything from the roof?"
The party-goers file onto the roof just in time to hear the roar of what can only be terror on feet? Wings? Claws? Who knows? All we know is that we're next treated to a massive explosion in the distance. As the onlookers fight to make their way back inside the building as projectile flaming objects threaten to snuff the life out of them, we watch through the camera lens as feet quickly descend a flight of stairs.
Soon, we're outside. Pandemonium ensues as people run in all directions. Among the screams, yells and pants of those running is one guy screaming what seems to be, "It's alive! It's huge!" just before the head of Liberty herself comes crashing down before them.
After the trailer hit theaters, the net was abuzz with theories. Youtube filled with vloggers attempting to dissect the trailer. Message boards filled with theories that stretched the gamut from Godzilla to giant, maniacal lions.
Whatever it is, it's proven one thing: movie marketing executives are getting smarter. As the net congests with film fans attempting to break the code of Abrams' celluloid apocalypse, others are busy trying to make it to one of the eleven 7-11s which have been transformed into Kwik-E-Marts in order to build buzz for the upcoming "Simpsons" movie. Could it be that film studios are finally figuring out that, in the age of Wiis and interactive theme park rides, film-goers like to not only watch a film, but feel like they're a part of it?
Perhaps so. While Universal made every attempt to market at its core audience for the disappointing "Evan Almighty," 20th Century Fox allowed fans to step into the world of "The Simpsons" and, in the meantime, gave 7-11 a little extra business as well.
Now, Paramount has handed film fans a clue-filled Rubik's Cube with its mysterious viral marketing of the now titled, "Cloverfield," much like filmmakers did with its predecessor, "The Blair Witch Project." Question is, can the film live up to its already enormous hype?
Whether or not the film will deliver can't be determined until its release, but in the meantime, we can be sure that there will be many waiting anxiously to find out for themselves and isn't that what movie marketing's all about?
