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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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Pathfinder
Boot


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

 		[META] Is it possible we have overlooked the possibility
that Bad Robot never intended for this to even act like a game?
What if these guys never intended for this to act, look or smell like a game or clue infested mystery in the first place.

Perhaps we all looked to deep into this, being that most of us have seen Lost and just assumed, there must be something more because it is the producer of Lost.

Perhaps it is just marketing. I mean, we are looking at slusho.jp for clues and yet, perhaps it has none. But I am sure they sold a sh|tload of shirts and hats. My order alone was 60 bucks. My buddies all spent at least that. If a million people do that, well, I think you get the picture.

Besides, in the end, after all we have found out, what reason is there for an ARG? What would we search out? The origin of the monster, military experiment. Why the monster is what it is in the first place. Why Rob is going to Japan. Honestly, none of that sounds fun to me.

Anyway, it has been fun. Good luck to those of you who stick with this and find something.

edit to add [SPEC] tag which, on further review, I changed to [META] ~rose

PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 12:12 am
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Dr. Panda
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 		PREACH IT!
Shifty Eyes
As you can clearly see, everyone here is in denial.

I for one am 100% that this is only marketing and that most only wish it to be an ARG.

So, how can we make this thread our own ARG?

How about pointing out the ridiculous theories presented that hold no water whatsoever, and provide only half baked analysis.
I have no idea how that's an ARG, but it's more fun than reading the crap being posted on a daily basis.

PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 1:35 am
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Helo
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Joined: 28 Jul 2007
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 		Re: PREACH IT!
Dr. Panda wrote:
Shifty Eyes
As you can clearly see, everyone here is in denial.

I for one am 100% that this is only marketing and that most only wish it to be an ARG.

So, how can we make this thread our own ARG?

How about pointing out the ridiculous theories presented that hold no water whatsoever, and provide only half baked analysis.
I have no idea how that's an ARG, but it's more fun than reading the crap being posted on a daily basis.


LOL!

Seriously, I could write a book about some of these theories. There would be at least ten chapters discussing the stuff that people see and hear in the trailer alone ("It's huge! It's a lion!", the cuckoo clock sound, etc.) Add in the commotion surrounding the 1-18-08 website and the Slusho website and I might have a bestseller.

The rabid nature of the Cthulhu fans hitting ground zero when the trailer was first shown provides for great ammunition as well.
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 1:44 am
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Dr. Panda
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 		hahaha.

yeah, but you'd write the book and no one would read it 'cause they'd be too busy trying to figure out it's puzzle.

gee, the pages open, but nothing happens. anyone know how to hack it?

I wish this would go away. I hate wishing time would speed up for something that I'll probably enjoy three times.

I really will start posting the stupid ideas. Starting now.

PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 2:11 am
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Red Walrus
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 		I think the main reason people assumed it was a game is that it got mixed up with the Ethan Haas puzzle right away which probably helped both out with their respected popularity.

But you know I can't shake that there are real clues we aren't getting yet. Why emphasize SIX again with adding the roar at 6 minutes in the 1-18-08 site.
The Shusho shirt was definetly a clue(I think that was the reason for the first pic at 1-18-08 but we found it quicker from illegal copies of th trailer)which led to the Slusho! site.
The writing on the pictures at 1-18-08 were a real clue which led to the myspace discoveries.
I think the hammer, cheese and mitten thing is a clue.

Is it a full blown game, time will tell( there still are months to go until the movie) but it has been interesting for me and will probably remain so with the new trailer, poster and all coming out.

PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 2:18 am
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Dr. Panda
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 		AHEM.

Quote:
Is there a way to find out where the trailer was shot. I mean you get a street veiw of it and a probable distance from the buildings being hit. Not only could this be a clue but it will at least tell us where the action takes place and we could see what the street looked like in daytime and things like that. Another thing that we can get from it is how strong the monster is i mean if its close by then he could be weak but if its accross the city then he could be strong indicating how far he threw or batted or swiped the SOL's head.


It was shot on a street. Probably a sound stage.

It, along with everything else, HOLDS NO CLUES.

Everyone keeps talking about fuck'n "clues"

CLUES TO WHAT!?

That's one thing no one has pointed out.

If this is an ARG, then what the hell are we trying to solve.

Join the resistance now! STOP wasting your time!

You see what happens when you don't give us a fucking title JJ! We go mad and yell at the innocents online! Damnit I need a drink.

PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 2:20 am
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Dr. Panda
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Red Walrus wrote:
I think the main reason people assumed it was a game is that it got mixed up with the Ethan Haas puzzle right away which probably helped both out with their respected popularity.

But you know I can't shake that there are real clues we aren't getting yet. Why emphasize SIX again with adding the roar at 6 minutes in the 1-18-08 site.
The Shusho shirt was definetly a clue(I think that was the reason for the first pic at 1-18-08 but we found it quicker from illegal copies of th trailer)which led to the Slusho! site.
The writing on the pictures at 1-18-08 were a real clue which led to the myspace discoveries.
I think the hammer, cheese and mitten thing is a clue.

Is it a full blown game, time will tell( there still are months to go until the movie) but it has been interesting for me and will probably remain so with the new trailer, poster and all coming out.


Valid arguement.

But again, clues for what.

No, rather than clues, I feel these were all directions we were lead in order to keep the hype built around this mystery movie.

Let me state now, that if this is an ARG, I'll eat my words.
But as of now, I call BS on whole lot of it.

WB's The Dark Knight has done more in the sense of an ARG with the Joker and Harvey Dent campaigns. Not to mention the clown tryouts at the SDCC. And it's release date isn't until July.

This is marketing.

PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 2:24 am
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IronJ146
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 		ARGs ARE marketing, are they not? The bigger ones, anyway. That's where a lot of the money to make them big and interesting comes from.

Edited for clarity

PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 2:33 am
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Red Walrus
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 		True, right now I'm leaning towards the just promotion side but it does fill out the characters more with the Myspace pages.

If this is any sort of game some of the "clues" might point to the films' name'-- the monsters' name--the monsters' identity--minor plot points--hidden plot points(like rob has a thing for Beth, Jamie is a partygirl,Hawks a lazy slacker.,etc.).

The game itself might just be to find all the web sites and then get a more immersive movie experience because we know the characters more.

As far as a Full blown ARG like the Lost Experience and the Matrix it's just not there. Will it turn into one? Don't know, but people are losing interest fast with the pityful amount of new info coming out lately.

PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 2:40 am
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Euchre
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Joined: 29 Aug 2007
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 		Silly me, I keep seeing things called ARGs that are basically just promotions. Can some people just not accept that an ARG is a form of promotion?
The thing I gather that really qualifies an ARG is clues and interactions. I've seen it said that an ARG has to be impacted by player interaction, but from what I've read of The Lost Experience and the Halo ARG, it was all scripted ahead of time, interactions were really just info being handed over like a relfex action. The eventual outcome did not change, eh?
With this 'thing' the MySpace pages have yielded definite interaction with characters. There are clues around, we just haven't gotten enough in strength and number to get any definitive answers. The Slusho site's Happy Talk is also supposed to have been impacted by our input, which would again mean interaction.
I think some people are too hung up on making rigid rules of what an ARG is and qualifying if this is one, instead of trying to have some fun with it.
Yes, there are a lot of lame theories, spurious reasoning, and pathetically faked clues - but all of life is like that and this is merely a reflection.

If this 'ARG or Not' issue gets argued too much, the only one having any fun will be Abrams himself.
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 2:54 am
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Rik
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 		In the time that I've been lurking, as both a guest and member, it seems to me that everytime the conversation rolls around to it being a bunch of crap and not a game, something new happens. Today we get a post from Hawk. A couple days ago one from Jaime. Before that, the roar, the flipable pics, and new Slusho content. That in and of itself tells me that someone from Bad Robot is lurking these boards. It very well could be marketing aimed at keeping the fanboys foaming at the mouth til 1/18/08. I couldn't tell ya. Is it an ARG? Don't know or care. I have found the wild speculations and humour on these boards to be more then enough to keep me interested. Maybe we all just need to take a step back, calm down, and let this thing run it's course, instead of being in a hurry to be the first to crack the code, solve the mystery and chow down on the Scooby snacks.

PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 3:02 am
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Melampus
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 		Hmmm.... Scooby snacks...

PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 3:51 am
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dontlookmyage
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 		This...
...gives me something to do while processes are working here at my job (keeps me awake), and also gives me something else to discuss with my nephew.

To add to the spurious theories (and no, I'm also a slacker and didn't bother searching) - Hawk is Ultraman, and his "slacker" image is just to throw people off the scent. He's there to protect his brother from the monster the Slusho corp created (i.e., the writing on the back of the picture, "Don't forget who takes care of you"), so the explosion was caused by him shooting the monster, who flung the head of the SOL at him, but because of Ultraman's awesome reflexes, he deflects it and it crashes into the building, blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada. Wink

Guess I'm not as excited anymore, because I can't read MySpace from here (blocked), and, having just moved, the internet isn't set up at home yet. I just want to see the farking movie. Oh well.....

PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 8:14 am
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konamouse
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IronJ146 wrote:
ARGs ARE marketing, are they not? The bigger ones, anyway. That's where a lot of the money to make them big and interesting comes from.


Commercially produced & financially backed ARGs have been used for marketing (else why would a company spend money on them?). The grandfather of it all, "The Beast" was indirectly marketing for the movie AI (but really didn't promote the movie, it was more of a side story set in the same universe but didn't advertise the movie). ILB, Last Call Poker, Art of the Heist, yes - all supported by advertising dollars.
But not all. World Without Oil, for example, was not marketing. And many larger scale grassroots games, like Chasing the Wish, Urban Hunt, Metacortechs, have had NOTHING to do with advertising.

Madison Avenue (i.e. Marketing & Advertising) have figured out that the American (and world) attention span is getting shorter, with less tolerance to "in your face" advertising. We turn the channel (or fast forward), we ignore the print, we scoff at product placement in our media. So they see how *interactive media* is grabbing our attention. How to use the internet (and cell phones, mp3 players, etc) to get the masses to pay attention to advertising again. Alternate Reality/Chaotic Fiction draws us in and keeps us involved.

What if this movie trailer did NOT have such a mysterious website? What if it was just like other movie websites - shows the trailer, the main cast/crew (like the typical poster) and the release date. Maybe some screen shots or links to the actors IMBD? We'd say "hmm" and then move along.

Give the internet audience something to dig for - BOOM! You have the attention of a huge number of folks for weeks (or longer). And you don't even have to create a game for it. The internet public wasn't Time Magazine's Man of the Year for nothing - the blasting growth of You Tube, MySpace, etc is something that saavy marketing managers know they have to utilize.

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).

What is amazing in this forum is the diversity of the group of people coming into unFiction and how creative many of you have become (along with how a small number just showed up to be annoying and unproductive). For those who have previously experienced the magic of an ARG, it has probably been a great disappointment. For those with no previous comparison, I hope you aren't jaded and will stick around to find an ARG that has the more typical elements of story, interactivity, puzzles, a journey through the chaotic fiction that engages a community to follow the path together.

Maybe, just maybe, TPTB in the marketing department for this movie will see the power that they have wrought and will throw out more information to ponder than just the Chaotic Fiction in the MySpace profiles. But they probably haven't figured out how to bring this beast into an ARG life. At this point, they really have very little incentive. The buzz is there, the interest is there, and their movie will have a huge audience. They have done their job.

Thank you for letting me vent this morning.
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 9:31 am
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stugots
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 		as an aside, I think the myspace pages were for meant for intense character development like no other and more for the movie "experience" (this will be an original "thing" ala Blair Witch Project)
but I do think the producers have their finger on the pulse of their audience and are bending the rules slightly as they go along imho....

PostPosted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 9:50 am
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