Get ready for Pacific Rim!

Everything you need to know about Guillermo del Toro's latest, Pacific Rim:

The auteur has not directed a film since comic book sequel Hellboy II in 2008.

His version of The Hobbit failed to emerge due to scheduling conflicts and then his long-awaited passion project At the Mountains of Madness was refused a green light by a nervous studio.

He has completed his trilogy of vampire horror novels The Strain with Chuck Hogan which will now be turned into a series of TV movies.

Synopsis

When a portal beneath the sea opens unleashing mega-monsters (known as Kaiju) from other dimensions, the human race must fight back by building 250 foot tall mecha-titans, known as Jaegers. Two human pilots control these giant robots as they get strapped into circuitry suits, each controlling a hemisphere (left or right) of the mechanical beasts.

Set in the not too distant future, the Kaiju that have emerged from the portal have devastated earth leading to masses of destruction and millions dead and the fight back has dwindled human resources leading to a sense of desperation. Charlie Hunnam’s former pilot is forced to team up with an untested trainee to ‘cancel the apocalypse’ in the words of Idris Elba’s commanding officer.

Inception

Travis Beacham, writer of The Clash of the Titans remake wrote a 25 page script treatment back in 2010 which was immediately purchased by Legendary Pictures. Del Toro then came on board developing the screenplay with Beacham for two years before principal photography began on the 103 day Toronto shoot in November 2011.

Inspired by the Fransisco Goya painting The Colossus that also inspired video game Shadow of the Colossus, the initial idea of Pacific Rim was to go back to the earliest tales of monsters that mankind would tell around campfires.  

Casting

Taking a risk, del Toro managed to secure the cast he wanted without any of the huge star names that usually hold up a tent pole movie of this size. Legendary Pictures backed his decision, arguing it is the creation of the world and the concept that will be the main attraction to audiences.

Idris Elba is the commanding officer Sensi who will go head to head with the Kaiju. It was a role originally developed for Tom Cruise who had reportedly shown an interest. Charlie Hunnam from TV’s Sons of Anarchy takes the washed up Jaeger pilot role as hero Raleigh.

Monsters

Steering away from the archetypal monsters of mythology, anime and previous Kaiju movies, the completely original designs have been at the forefront of del Toro’s mind since the beginning. 

3D?

Del Toro resisted the pressure to shoot in 3D because he felt that the 3D effects would miniaturize the robots and monsters and audiences would not get the full sense of the scale and awe he intended.

Then came the shocking news that del Toro had agreed to a dreaded 3D post-conversion. Del Toro supervised the process, taking 40 weeks to do the conversion where it normally only takes a few weeks to complete on previous movies.

The latest trailer

Could this trailer be any bigger?

 The teaser

The poster

Excited yet?

The Many Methods of Movie Marketing: Part 2

The second of four parts that will cover all the different methods of movie marketing. This is mainly for my film students who are looking at the relationship between film producers and audiences. First we looked at how producers get information from audiences and now we move on to how producers give information to audiences. You can find part one on posters and trailers here.

Films with large marketing budgets can also afford to do radio and television advertising. These TV and radio spots are very short mini-trailers for the films and are expensive but tell a large audience about the films. They can be targeted by the programmes and times that they appear in the media. A film can have several different TV spots that target different audiences by highlighting different elements of the film. For example Shaun of the Dead had TV spots that emphasised the romantic comedy elements and others that accentuated the zombie conventions. Some TV spots highlighted the critics reaction to the film by including quotes (see below). Distributors can also place adverts in other types of media such as magazines and newspapers. Film magazines in particular will feature many mini-posters for new release films.

 

Increasingly film producers and distributors are using the internet to market films. This can be similar to other media advertising with banners and other images from the film appearing around websites. For example at the top of the Total Film website on 7^th December 2012, there was a banner for The Dark Knight Rises out now to buy on iTunes. 

Also YouTube and other video sharing websites have become some of the best places to watch trailers. Not only are they all uploaded by either fans or the studios, but often before people watch a video on YouTube, they have to watch an advert which could be a trailer for a film. Studios also fork out for an official website for their films. For example The Hobbit has a site that has an image gallery, videos, and special features and downloads and these official sites also often include games, particularly if it is a family film. It also features the official worldwide release dates. 

The Blair Witch Project was an excellent example of a website that built interest in a film. The makers had not a lot of money to promote their film and so created a detailed backstory about the events in the film and made the website appear as if all the events in the film were true. It got people talking and allowed them to explore the mythology further. 

Other films have since made fake websites to help sell the film. This viral marketing is becoming one of the most popular ways of building interest in a film long before it is released. The idea is that people get involved with the marketing and share it and discover it themselves. Cloverfield had fake websites including one for the fake drink Slusho that tied into the film (http://www.slusho.jp/). Warner Brothers also created fake campaign websites for the character Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight. They even went much further:

‘On December 3rd a new page appeared at whysoserious.com/steprightup with a hammer game and some teddy bear toys. Each toy had an address on it located in a number of cities around the US. The note on the game told people to go to that address and say their name was "Robin Banks" (get it, "Robbing Banks") and they'd get something there. It was first come, first serve, and each location was a bakery. What they were given was a cake with a phone number written on it. Now here's the best part: inside the cake was an evidence bag (complete with Gotham City Police printing) that contained a cell phone, a charger, a Joker playing card and a note with instructions.’ (http://www.firstshowing.net/2007/the-dark-knights-viral-marketing-gets-very-real-cakes-cell-phones-and-all/)

Another type of marketing is using other companies to create promotional tie-ins. The hope is that if the film studios let a fast food or drinks company use their logo, it will increase consumer awareness and the company hopes to increase sales of their product through association with the film. This is like branding and increasing brand recognition. Burger King and Warner Brothers joined forces to create the The Dark Whopper and a cinema and television advertising campaign promoting the product and the film. 

More recently Volvo teamed up with the producers of the Twilight Saga: 

‘Volvo launched the Lost In Forks online contest, in which Twilight fans navigate an XC60 through the town of Forks, Washington following clues that lead to Edward’s home. It doesn’t matter that many of the contest participants won’t be old enough to drive in real life. Volvo said moms will take a look at the XC60 based on their kids’ enthusiasm’ (http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/06/twilight-fans-root-for-team-volvo/)

 Part 3 on merchandising and premieres coming soon! 

Is Modern Marketing Ruining the Movie Experience?

Here's a taster of my new article for Filmoria.  Head here to check it out!

'This isn’t about the thrill of seeing a new trailer in a darkened theatre. This isn’t even about viral marketing or crappy merchandise. This is about the studios bloated marketing departments and their endless deluge of trailers, TV spots, clips, featurettes and posters that recycle much of the same material but also show us half of the bleeding film before we’ve even paid for a ticket!'

Please head on over to Filmoria to read the rest!  And don't even get me started on this fucking poster!

Hollywood Case Study: Prometheus (2012)

Over the next few weeks, I will be putting up case studies of Hollywood, Independent and British films to help my A level Film Studies students learn more about the finance, organisation, production, distribution and exhibition of different types of films.  These case studies can be used in their exam when discussing the American and British film industries.

Director:  Ridley Scott

Director of many profitable Hollywood blockbusters including: Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator, Hannibal, Black Hawk Down, Kingdom of Heaven, American Gangster, Robin Hood

Investors trust Scott to make big budget films, often on an epic scale, with international stars and make a profit.  He has a fan base, as do the stars of the film.  It is also in the science fiction genre which also has a huge amount of dedicated fans and the idea that this film is a prequel to Alien has attracted many more people to it.  That film, as well as Blade Runner, are widely considered to be science fiction classics and Ridley Scott’s return to the genre is a really big deal for fans.  The marketing is therefore very likely to emphasise the director, the genre and the stars.

Some discussion of the budget:

 

‘Ridley asked for $250 Million.

Fox said Make it PG rated and we may give you the money.

Scott said one word..."NO".

Fox said...O.K. think about it some more because we are not giving you $250 Mill for a movie with an R rating ...Lindelhof approached fox and told them with his new re-writes they could do this thing for considerably less and apparently the studio agreed with him and cut the budget down to between 100 and 150 Million..except...there are now some serious reports...which indicates Scott finished this entire thing on a budget compromise with FOX of $200 million even, and not the 100-150 million that was being reported’ http://www.prometheus-movie.com/community/forums/topic/316

Production Companies

Brandywine Productions ‘Brandywine Productions is an American film production company most known for its Alien film franchise. The company was founded by American filmmakers Walter Hill, David Giler, and Gordon Carroll’ Wikipedia

Dune Entertainment ‘The studio produced such films as Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, The A-Team, Knight and Day, Unstoppable, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, and Gulliver's Travels’ Wikipedia

Scott Free Productions ‘Scott Free works closely with RSA Films, the commercials company started by Ridley Scott more than forty years ago.  RSA Films represents many established and up and coming filmmakers and one of Scott Free’s roles is to assist these directors in their feature film and television projects’ Wikipedia

No major studios listed as production companies on IMDb (rare for a Hollywood blockbuster).  However it is being distributed by 20^th Century Fox suggesting they have put money into the production in order to get distribution rights. 

Some information on 20^th Century Fox: ‘In October 1985, Fox Inc. was formed in a major restructuring of the entertainment and broadcasting interests of News America and TCF Holdings. Fox Inc. is a consolidation of those interests and consists of three principal operating units:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Fox Television Stations Inc. and Fox Broadcasting Company...

William Mechanic was named Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fox Filmed entertainment in December of 1996. His remit included all operations of the studio including world-wide feature film production, marketing and distribution activities, as well as all worldwide operations for Fox Videos, Fox Interactive, Licensing and Merchandising and Fox Music...

Along with the impressive performance of the 20th Century Fox production division, the company has established Fox 2000, a mini-studio focusing on general entertainment and Fox Searchlight Pictures, which produces specialized films aimed at sophisticated adult audiences’ http://www.fox.co.uk/about

Production

‘Principal photography began in March 2011, with filming taking place in Canada, England, Scotland, Iceland, and Spain. Prometheus is scheduled for US release on June 8, 2012 through 20th Century Fox’ Wikipedia

‘Ridley Scott's sci-fi epic shot at Pinewood Studios using the world famous 007 Stage, the North Lot and 7 other stages. This is the fifth time that Ridley Scott has shot at the studios; previous films have included Alien, Legend, White Squall, and Robin Hood.

The Twentieth Century Fox, Scott Free Productions and Brandywine Productions film, stars Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class) and Academy Award®-winner Charlize Theron (Monster).

Ridley Scott said of working at Pinewood and Shepperton: “It’s my heritage, my personal heritage, I film everywhere in the world and I think all things considered what we have to offer here are as good as anything you’re going to get in Hollywood.”

Prometheus re-teams Scott with several of his long-time collaborators, including production designer Arthur Max (Robin Hood, American Gangster), Academy Award®-winning costume designer Janty Yates (Gladiator, Robin Hood), and Academy Award®-winning editor Pietro Scalia (Black Hawk Down, Gladiator), as well as set decorator Sonja Klaus (Robin Hood, Kingdom of Heaven)’ http://www.pinewoodgroup.com/production/prometheus

Technology:

‘The entire movie has been shot in 3D and the experience has been so compelling for Scott that he writes, “I will never be the same again. Even with a dialogue scene, the arena in the room grows. There is no question that you can be drawn in further by the feeling that you are there.”’ http://good3dtv.com/3d-tv/prometheus-3d-in-the-making/

Ratings and classification:

‘Fox is keen for the film to be open to a wider audience, and is pushing for a more teen-friendly rating’ http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/ridley_scott_is_shooting_for_both_an_r-rated_pg-13_cut_of_prometheus

 ‘Ridley Scott hints that the violence may have been toned-down enough to facilitate a PG-13 rating, but intriguingly suggests that the impact will match the R-grade shocks of Alien and Aliens. "The question is, do you go for the PG-13, [which] financially makes quite a difference, or do you go for what it should be, which is R? Essentially, it's kinda R."

"It's not just about the blood, it's about ideas that are very stressful. I'm not an idiot, but I'll do everything I can to get the most aggressive film I can."’ http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=33510

Stars:
 

‘Theron, Fassbender and Rapace are among Hollywood's most intriguing actors. Theron is a resurgent force, with last year's comedy "Young Adult" and this June's "Snow White and the Huntsman" leading the way. Fassbender has recently become one of Hollywood's favorite actors following his leading role in Steve McQueen's "Shame" and scene-stealing turn as Magneto in "X-Men: First Class." And Rapace is ready to take American audiences by storm with her first leading role in the States following her "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" fame in Sweden.’ http://www.nyunews.com/arts/2012/04/12/12prometheus1/

Distribution

‘It’s not enough that movie trailers entice you with what you’ll see in the movie. From the marketing masterminds of ‘Prometheus’ here is a teaser for the official movie trailer that is to come out on Thursday, December 22.

What is nice, however, is that it shows glimpses of the actual scenes from the movie and a behind the scenes look of Ridley Scott directing. And it doesn’t hurt that the first words you hear is Scott saying, “So, here we are… I’m back again.”’ http://sciencefiction.com/2011/12/19/teaser-for-prometheus-movie-trailer/



‘the marketing for Prometheus has really only hinted at its Alien roots, and a sizable portion of the summer moviegoing audience they need to show up will likely have never seen Scott's original sci-fi movie. So the marketing has been even more creative and intriguing than usual, focusing around the corporation Weyland Industries that sends the Nostromo ship into space to begin with. There was the model of the ship itself, the TED Talk given by Peter Weyland himself (Guy Pearce), and now there's this video to introduce us to David, the robot played by Michael Fassbender.’ http://www.cinemablend.com/new/prometheus-viral-celebrates-michael-fassbender-robot-david-30460.html



‘The marketing for Ridley Scott's upcoming "Prometheus" continues to outshine that of recent releases (yes, even you, "Hunger Games"). 20th Century Fox just released this video starring the dishy Michael Fassbender, who plays the android David in the film.

This video is positioned as an ad for the fictitious Weyland Corp. and introduces the creepy next-generation robot. It was previously teased in a "David 8" viral video.

The short is directed by Johnny Hardstaff from Little Minx and RSA Films, and the eerie background music comes from Drazen Bosnjak, founder of Q Department. Accompanying the short is a "Project Prometheus" website that offers insight into Weyland, as well as a site created with Verizon that lets fans tour the Prometheus ship.’ http://adage.com/article/creativity-pick-of-the-day/20th-century-fox-introduces-david-prometheus-promo/234188/

 ‘In concert with the movie's traditional marketing effort, which includes the trailer, Scott and 20th Century Fox have pursued a second, more innovative path to publicity. It began unexpectedly at this year's TED conference, with a presentation by entrepreneur Peter Weyland, who powerfully articulated the challenges facing a society beginning to question its own nature in the face of rapidly advancing technology. Weyland's talk was one of the highlights of the conference of presentations by thought leaders. The twist, of course, is that Weyland isn't real. He's a character from "Prometheus," played by Guy Pearce, and he was speaking from the year 2023! 

The TED2023 promo video cooked up by Scott and writer Damon Lindelof ("Lost," "Star Trek") was released on the TED blog and quickly became the subject of online articles and social-media discussions. It is a great example of a technique sweeping the entertainment industry: transmedia storytelling , in which a message or story is conveyed across multiple platforms. Fans who received Weyland Industries business cards at the Wondercon convention were led to another piece of in-story content, titled "Big Things Have Small Beginnings," on YouTube…

Unlike conventional trailers, which use rapidly cut, repurposed footage and are widely available online along with straight clips, transmedia videos expand the movie's narrative and encourage fans to immerse themselves more deeply into the story. The advertising becomes part of the movie -- with the bonus that it is tailored for mobile devices and sharing across social networks. Brands are even beginning to leverage the power of HTML 5 technologies to create videos with embedded interactive and social features’ http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/ridley-scott-s-prometheus-advertising-part-picture/233452/

Exhibition: 

Charlize Theron Hits the PR Circuit for Prometheus Premiere in Paris http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/fash-track/prometheus-charlize-theron-fashion-leslie-fremar-311147  The stars are still an important part in the films marketing. 

The film's opening 10 minutes screen in London, while Ridley Scott and Michael Fassbender discuss the film's secrets http://uk.movies.ign.com/articles/122/1222668p1.html Again, star and director used to promote the film.

Release dates http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1446714/releaseinfo are staggered,  probably to allow for more promotion specific to each territory.  Stars can attend more premieres, do more press interviews etc.

‘The IMAX release of Prometheus will be digitally re-mastered into the image and sound quality of The IMAX 3D Experience® with proprietary IMAX DMR® (Digital Re-mastering) technology. The crystal-clear images coupled with IMAX's customized theatre geometry and powerful digital audio create a unique environment that will make audiences feel as if they are in the movie’ http://www.imax.com/movies/m/prometheus-an-imax-3d-experience/

There you have it:  Prometheus in quite a large nut shell. Watch the full trailer below:

More case studies at I Love That Film:

Independent Case Study: Juno

British Case Study: Attack the Block

A Cause for Celebration: Meet Prometheus' David

Happy birthday David!

Fassbender the robot from Ridley Scott's Prometheus sells himself in this new viral video.  Absolutely love it.



It seems Weyland Industries have really outdone themselves this time.  This thing produces tears on cue and I just can't wait to see him tackle the tasks that humans may find 'distressing'. 

The 1st June is still a very long wait.