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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: Cloverfield (1-18-08) » Cloverfield: General / Updates
[META] Is it possible we have overlooked the possibility
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TVRotBrain
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Joined: 25 Jul 2007
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konamouse wrote:
The buzz is there, the interest is there, and their movie will have a huge audience. They have done their job.


That sounds about right.

PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 11:07 am
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IronJ146
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Joined: 29 Jul 2007
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konamouse wrote:


Was this all JJ Abrams (guys - he's a producer, not the writer, not the director, not the advertiser)? Or a really good production team? Or a hired marketing department (probably the ones more directly behind the internet stuff we are seeing now)?

IMHO, this is not an ARG in the manner that *I* personally define ARG (an alternate reality that bleeds into real life with character/player interaction leading to the next chapter in the story). However, the existence of the MySpace pages leading to wonderful backstories for the main characters is great Chaotic Fiction. You are getting to know these characters as people - you can read their interactions with eachother. What they put forth is a story in itself. Going from chapter to chapter. But we, as an audience, is not shaping that, we are not finding it ourselves, and they aren't bleeding into our own personal real world (unless Rob starts making phone calls to players). But it's engaging to watch things unfold on their MySpace pages. Because when you finally see them on the big screen, you'll know where they went to school, what job(s) they hold, who dated whom, their favorite movies/books/etc, you will have established a relationship with them and subsequently have huge empathy as they go through their ordeals on the big screen. If they die, you are going to have this immense emotional reponse that you normally wouldn't after seeing a character on the movie screen for 30-60 min (unless you are very susceptible to the cues of the music - which we probably won't get in this film).


Awesome, 2 points I've been debating on articulating/questions I've had, but wasn't sure I was qualified to do it without getting blasted. Thanks Kona!

PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 11:56 am
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Dr. Panda
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 		Thank you for your post, konamouse.

I will take one thing back- and that's this:
Red Walrus mentioned the title being hidden within the myspace or slusho page.
That I will stand behind. It's staring at us, that I agree with.

I also understand that this isn't JJ, and he's probably too busy between ST pre-production as well as overseeing the post of 1-18, and that it's a good PR team at P.

On a personal note, I've gotten fed up. Every theory or idea I chased lead to nothing. There aren't any puzzles to solve, just information for us to disect.

On another personal note, I'm quiting smoking after five years of puff'n away. So, I'm on edge now. Sorry in advance.

PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 1:50 pm
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IronJ146
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Dr. Panda wrote:

On another personal note, I'm quiting smoking after five years of puff'n away. So, I'm on edge now. Sorry in advance.


Good luck with that. I've tried like three or four times in the past ten years to no avail. They say you gotta be ready, and I've yet to be apparently. It truely ain't easy for most of us!

PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 2:02 pm
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lestat5891work
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 		 Hmm...
Quote:
IMHO, this is not an ARG in the manner that *I* personally define ARG (an alternate reality that bleeds into real life with character/player interaction leading to the next chapter in the story). However, the existence of the MySpace pages leading to wonderful backstories for the main characters is great Chaotic Fiction



Agreed, however; JJ has done a fantastic job of virally marketting this movie. Check out the ComicCon transcript of the speech he gave reguarding this movie. It would seem likely that there will be another "Lost" type experience. I think the most important thing to remember about this movie is that the trailer only had the name of the production company, the name of the studio, and the name of the producer. That's what started this whole thing. If the trailer had the title and a shot of the monster/monsters, no one would have paid THIS much attention to it. I know that's probably been said before, but having said that; he also spoke to /film and stated that he was "doing some fun stuff on the web". Remember that.



Quote:
On another personal note, I'm quiting smoking after five years of puff'n away. So, I'm on edge now. Sorry in advance.


The trick is coffee. Lots of coffee. I've quit before for 6-8 months at a time a few times in the past, but working where I am, too many people smoke and ask me if I want to go smoke. Kind of a bad environment to be quitting in. You'll also notice that the smell of cigarette smoke is a bit nauseating and very bad, unlike what you may remember. Good luck!

PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 2:35 pm
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Dr. Panda
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 		Thanks for the kind words! You guys (and gals) rock.

The patch is leaving a weird mark on me though.
And I still want a smoke. But I'm going for it.

*AHEM*

back to topic... Very Happy

The new IMDB "leak" sounds neat. Wrong thread though...

So maybe we should begin to use this forum in a new way..
Maybe we could help these swamped producers. How about a new thread revolving around creating/suggesting titles?

It's clear JJ gets wet with just one word (Lost, Alias, Missio-- oh n/m) - and I believe that Monsterous was the title (his caddy little "You didn't think we'd name it that?" at CC).

So what you say unfiction fuckers? Should we lend the powers that be a helping hand rather than trying to hack/solve/create an ARG that (may or) may not be real?

PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 3:24 pm
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rose
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 		One more thought.. the movie isn't out for 4 months..perhaps we haven't seen it all yet.
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 4:05 pm
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lestat5891work
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Dr. Panda wrote:
Thanks for the kind words! You guys (and gals) rock.

The patch is leaving a weird mark on me though.
And I still want a smoke. But I'm going for it.



IMO the patch burns... an itchy chemical burn. Not fun. The gum tastes so bitter it's hard to keep in your mouth. Lozenges burn and make your entire mouth tingle...and feel like chalk in your mouth. Those are all i've tried. The times i've quit i've gone cold turkey. It's the best way. Nicotine addiction is mostly psychological. Steel your will and just drop patches/gums/cough drops/whatever. The only thing those quit smoking aids will do is give you enough nicotine to subside your urges yet not enough to take away the desire to smoke. Some friends of mine have said that Zyban works fantastically. But really it's all in your head. YOU CAN DO IT!

On another note:


rose wrote:
One more thought.. the movie isn't out for 4 months..perhaps we haven't seen it all yet.



Nicely said rose. Evidence and the past points towards an "experience". Honestly it's my opinion that JJ/employees to just add myspace accounts for their main characters for fun and "character development" is rather excessive. 7 myspace accounts with plenty of customization and work added to them just sounds a bit over the top just to develop a character. Maybe a myspace for the movie, or perhaps character bios on the official site, but not 7 myspace accounts.

PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 5:10 pm
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Euchre
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lestat5891work wrote:
Evidence and the past points towards an "experience". Honestly it's my opinion that JJ/employees to just add myspace accounts for their main characters for fun and "character development" is rather excessive. 7 myspace accounts with plenty of customization and work added to them just sounds a bit over the top just to develop a character. Maybe a myspace for the movie, or perhaps character bios on the official site, but not 7 myspace accounts.


Cinema has long been about bridging the gap between fantasy and reality enough to engage you in the experience. We think of MySpace as a place where real people publish their lives. Doesn't having these insights into a character, with a more natural sense of depth and richness, make the experience even more real to the audience?

Isn't that also the point of an ARG, to create a fiction so engaging and responsive to your input that it feels just like a real experience in your life?

On another note here, how much cheaper of a promotion can you get, with such great impact, as an interactive experience like this? MySpace accounts are free, creating a MySpace page layout is virtually free (you could hire a pretty modestly skilled web designer with basic CSS skills and get pretty solid results), and two flash sites of which one is only one page. The most costly part of this promotional experience is probably the Slusho site, being the most complex.

I think the Bad Robot folks know exactly what they are doing, and what we are doing is exactly what they expected and hoped for. They are concerned with the ends, and we - as we should be - are supposed to be concerned with and enjoying the means.
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 12:58 am
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lestat5891work
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Euchre wrote:
Isn't that also the point of an ARG, to create a fiction so engaging and responsive to your input that it feels just like a real experience in your life?


I'm an avid supporter of the theory that this isn't really an ARG. Just a fine bit of viral marketing, with some Chaotic Fiction potential. In my opinion there is very little honest hard (and hardworking!) evidence supporting that it is an ARG.

PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 8:46 am
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wargasm
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Joined: 04 Sep 2007
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 		hey panda
ask a Doc about chantix. its really just wellbutran under a different name but...i quit smoking completely in less than a month and didnt even miss it. pretty amazing acctually.

PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 3:29 pm
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Pathfinder
Boot


Joined: 15 Aug 2007
Posts: 41
Location: Dharma Radio Tower

 		DON'T QUIT SMOKING!!!!!
I have first hand knowledge!
I quit smoking and gained 100 pounds, grew a horn out of my forehead, crapped in my neighbors flower bed, knocked out my brothers last front tooth, ate 30 pounds of peanut m&m's, could not shat for a month, lost my stamina, lost me pee-pee, lost a kidney, went blind in one eye and eventually killed the neighbors dog for talking to me.

PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DO NOT STOP SMOKING.




Honestly though, I quite smoking two years ago and have never felt better. Good Luck to you!

PostPosted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 9:56 pm
Last edited by Pathfinder on Fri Sep 07, 2007 2:32 am; edited 1 time in total
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human
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Joined: 10 Aug 2007
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 		Re: [META] Is it possible we have overlooked the possibility
that Bad Robot never intended for this to even act like a game?
Pathfinder wrote:
Re: [META] Is it possible we have overlooked the possibility


Nope, it's not possible we overlooked that possibility. In fact, that's the main question that the more astute among us are trying to resolve at this point. If this is an ARG, it's way too hard to solve at the moment. If it's not, we're barking up the wrong tree. We're well aware of this conundrum!

PostPosted: Fri Sep 07, 2007 2:18 am
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