A running gag on the "Lost" approved forum called The Fuselage is that the island's monster is the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Enjoy the "Cloverfield" version...
Monday, 31 December 2007
Sunday, 30 December 2007
Cinema Blend takes a look at the "Cloverfield" phenomenon.
"We’re getting increasingly closer to that 01-18-08 release date that had everyone captivated a few months ago. Finally we’ll get to see what all the hype has been about as Cloverfield hits theaters. As you might expect, the movie’s commercials have continued to shroud much of the film in secrecy. Fans who were critical of Michael Bay unveiling the Transformers crew prior to the film’s release, after such a build up of anticipation, are the same people who are seeing every new commercial and whining that there’s no sign of the monster. Well, I’ve got news for you: get used to it.
Let me be frank: I don’t expect Cloverfield to deliver much in the way of a traditional “monster” movie, regardless of how much producer J.J. Abrams and writer/director Matt Reeves say their intent was to create that. And that’s what they’ve said: America lacked a true “monster movie” so they created one. ”We need our own Godzilla,” Abrams told MTV in July. But let’s look at what we know about the movie, and you’ll see an American Godzilla isnt’ what we’re getting.
First of all, take a look at the film’s premise, as promised by the studio: Five young New Yorkers throw their friend a going-away party the night that a monster the size of a skyscraper decends upon the city. Told from the point of view of their video camera, the film is a document of their attempt to survive the most surreal, horrifying event of their lives.” That’s the text that appears on the “about the movie” description over at CloverfieldMovie.com, the official site for the film. Now, let’s break that down. (...continue)"
Saturday, 29 December 2007
Chappy has made his video for the official entry into the Slusho Happy Commercial Contest of Joy! The entry period for the contest ends on Jan. 4th, and the winners will be picked within 2 weeks of that. Check out Chappy's blog for more info on his project.
A Very Slusho Xmas
A Very Slusho Xmas
Friday, 28 December 2007
This latest "Cloverfield" TV spot shows us new footage from the movie. Previous commercials were mostly rehashed trailer clips with no new material. This latest ad shows more of the characters running for their lives including a scene where Rob is looking at a map in the subway trying to figure out where they will be killed.
Matt Reeves, the "Cloverfield" director, gets to be one of the lucky few to witness the creation of J.J. Abrams "Star Trek" movie. Reeves talks with MTV to discuss peaking in on the "Star Trek" dailies.If it seems like MTV is getting a few more "Cloverfield" stories than most it's because Viacom owns both MTV and Paramount, who is distributing "Cloverfield."
Thursday, 27 December 2007
If you are new to the "Cloverfield" you will eventually run into the terms like "viral ad campaign" and "ARG" in many articles and posts. The "Cloverfield" movie has kept active on the Internet thanks to a strong online presence using both of these methods.
One site I used to reference a lot for Cloverfield clues and finds were the forums at unfiction. This group researched clues and analyzed everything under the sun to help make some great discoveries. Now that "Cloverfield" has become more traditional media publicity (TV commercials, radio, magazines) and less viral the forums are less useful to the average bear but are still a great reference to fans wanting to know all about the movie or just get started.
A good news feed like Google can email me updates on "Cloverfield" when they occur which saves me a lot of time searching various sites and forums. However, there's no denying a lot of the early legwork in finding clues and websites for "Cloverfield" was done with sites like the unfiction forums.
One site I used to reference a lot for Cloverfield clues and finds were the forums at unfiction. This group researched clues and analyzed everything under the sun to help make some great discoveries. Now that "Cloverfield" has become more traditional media publicity (TV commercials, radio, magazines) and less viral the forums are less useful to the average bear but are still a great reference to fans wanting to know all about the movie or just get started.
A good news feed like Google can email me updates on "Cloverfield" when they occur which saves me a lot of time searching various sites and forums. However, there's no denying a lot of the early legwork in finding clues and websites for "Cloverfield" was done with sites like the unfiction forums.
What are Alternate Reality Games (ARG):Viral marketing and ARG's can hurt and help movies, like "Cloverfield." Critics complain the viral and ARG information is just publicity marketers use to exploit fans. It's easy to lose interest if the movie becomes complicated. No one wants to have to study the night before to watch a movie.(from unfiction) A cross-media genre of interactive fiction using multiple delivery and communications media, including television, radio, newspapers, Internet, email, SMS, telephone, voicemail, and postal service. Gaming is typically comprised of a secret group of PuppetMasters who author, manipulate, and otherwise control the storyline, related scenarios, and puzzles and a public group of players, the collective detective that attempts to solve the puzzles and thereby win the furtherance of the story.
"Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) have become an incredibly powerful viral marketing and audience engagement tool over the last couple of years. However, the elements of a successful ARG remain a mystery to most people. Some of the most successful ARGs that I have participated in over the past few years were the I love bees campaign for Halo 2, the Iris campaign for Halo 3, the political dystopia campaign, for NIN's Year Zero, and most recently the Harvey Dent political campaign for the upcoming The Dark Knight movie."
Wednesday, 26 December 2007
Yahoo! Movies has updated their "Cloverfield" trailers page with a clip from the movie. However, it looks like they just edited down the "widget" clip released a few weeks back. The Yahoo clip is really just the party scene we've already come to know from previous videos. It actually just looks like an extended preview of the teaser trailer. You can see for yourself here.A side note that may mean very little to some of you but is related a tiny bit is that there is going to be a sequel to the great Korean film, "The Host." There is rumors that this movie will actually take place before the original so the audience may get to see more of how the "Host" grew up. If you haven't had a chance to see this movie yet than be sure to check it out. It'll be a good primer for when "Cloverfield" finally rolls out on 1-18-08.
Sunday, 23 December 2007
Cloverfield is gearing up to be an international hit. The Russian Cloverfield trailers are embedded below for the extremely curious. I'm always curious about the marketing of films. Usually, studios will cut a slightly different International version of the trailers.
These Russian, Italian, and German Cloverfield trailers are simply dubbed over in the native language. Most of the French and Japanese Cloverfield trailers I have seen so far are the English versions with subtitles.
Cloverfield Russian Trailer #1 (teaser trailer)
Cloverfield Russian Trailer #2
Cloverfield German Teaser Trailer
Cloverfield French Teaser Trailer
Cloverfield Spanish Teaser Trailer
Cloverfield Italiano Teaser Trailer
The temporary international release dates for Cloverfield are:
These Russian, Italian, and German Cloverfield trailers are simply dubbed over in the native language. Most of the French and Japanese Cloverfield trailers I have seen so far are the English versions with subtitles.
Cloverfield Russian Trailer #1 (teaser trailer)
Cloverfield Russian Trailer #2
Cloverfield German Teaser Trailer
Cloverfield French Teaser Trailer
Cloverfield Spanish Teaser Trailer
Cloverfield Italiano Teaser Trailer
The temporary international release dates for Cloverfield are:
Australia 17 January 2008
New Zealand 17 January 2008
Russia 17 January 2008
Singapore 18 January 2008
USA 18 January 2008
Netherlands 24 January 2008
Portugal 24 January 2008
South Korea 24 January 2008
Estonia 25 January 2008
Iceland 25 January 2008
Argentina 31 January 2008
Germany 31 January 2008
Bulgaria 1 February 2008
Denmark 1 February 2008
Italy 1 February 2008
Mexico 1 February 2008
Spain 1 February 2008
UK 1 February 2008
Belgium 6 February 2008
France 6 February 2008
Brazil 8 February 2008
Norway 8 February 2008
Sweden 8 February 2008
Hungary 14 February 2008
Finland 29 February 2008
Turkey 21 March 2008
New Zealand 17 January 2008
Russia 17 January 2008
Singapore 18 January 2008
USA 18 January 2008
Netherlands 24 January 2008
Portugal 24 January 2008
South Korea 24 January 2008
Estonia 25 January 2008
Iceland 25 January 2008
Argentina 31 January 2008
Germany 31 January 2008
Bulgaria 1 February 2008
Denmark 1 February 2008
Italy 1 February 2008
Mexico 1 February 2008
Spain 1 February 2008
UK 1 February 2008
Belgium 6 February 2008
France 6 February 2008
Brazil 8 February 2008
Norway 8 February 2008
Sweden 8 February 2008
Hungary 14 February 2008
Finland 29 February 2008
Turkey 21 March 2008
Saturday, 22 December 2007
Could this press promotion graphic depict the Cloverfield Monster?The trailer sparked a blogging frenzy.
Now, The Times Christopher Goodwin takes a look at the "Cloverfield" mystery from the creator of "Lost" that's got everybody talking. In a media world in which whole movies are leaked onto the internet before they have been released in cinemas, could Paramount and J.J. Abrams have kept something this big this secret?
Friday, 21 December 2007
Movie producers search for new advertising methods to draw the audience into the theater. The viral method can work in the right setting. Studios can also bypass YouTube to put their own exclusive clips online. The recent Cloverfield clip is an example of easy advertising. But creating a demand and allowing video clips to be controlled the Cloverfield movie is being promoted for free on the Internet.
Could this be the Cloverfield Monster?NY Mag takes a quick look at the non-viral advertising for Cloverfield.
"After seven months of fake Websites, viral videos, and alternate-reality games, Cloverfield's intrepid marketing team has finally purchased its very first TV spot. Problem is, at this point, we're not sure how much more excited we could possibly be for this movie. Most of the footage is just stuff we've already seen in the two trailers." (source)
The commercials in question can be found here.
Thursday, 20 December 2007
I'm sure this is not an apology, but it sounds like Devin at the CHUD website might be thinking his decisions on how he's handled the Cloverfield movie. After leaking the trailer info out on the web, Devin got his panties in a bunch and blasted the Cloverfield fans on the Internet calling them "dumb bastards," "sad," and I'm pretty sure "losers" was in there somewhere. (see Cloverfield Clues and UnFiction Losers Are Wasting Their Time - Slusho Unrelated )
Well, not too many of these fans are upset at being called a nerd by a guy who works for a horror movie website named after a B movie from the early eighties. Someone who did notice, however, is Bad Robot who has yet to provide and interview or clip to CHUD. Devin noticed this, too. Check out the link below.
Well, not too many of these fans are upset at being called a nerd by a guy who works for a horror movie website named after a B movie from the early eighties. Someone who did notice, however, is Bad Robot who has yet to provide and interview or clip to CHUD. Devin noticed this, too. Check out the link below.
So far I have found 3 Cloverfield TV Commercials. If you find more, feel free to shoot me a link. Otherwise, the 3 TV spots are pretty much in the teaser stages with no new video added. However, on the first one you get a real feel for the "Something has found us" spin. Also note that the voiceover for the trailers is being done by the same guy (or specifically someone like him) who does the ABC voiceovers, namely "Lost." I was waiting for him to say "Next week, on "Lost"...
Cloverfield Commercial #1
Cloverfield Commercial #2
Cloverfield Commercial #3
Cloverfield Commercial #1
Cloverfield Commercial #2
Cloverfield Commercial #3
Everyone knows there will be a Cloverfield Monster. Nobody knows exactly what it is. The question is will we see it and how much of it will be visible?
My little informal poll (on the top right side of this site) was about the screen time of the Cloverfield Monster. 154 people voted (thanks!) and it was a good spread between the 4 choices. Looking at the breakdown, it looks like most people believed the Cloverfield Monster will be seen in small amounts.
Fan Artwork of Clvoerfield Monster
Cloverfield Monster Clip
Add to My Profile | More Videos
Cloverfield Trailer
Cloverfield has added a MySpace profile to join in with the Facebook profile that launched the "widget" fiasco. On the MySpace profile, visitors can download desktops and a couple of pics as well as view the trailer and exclusive movie clip that's been making the rounds. Thanks to Trebory6 for sending me the link.
Facebook added the "widget" last week with a contest to see which website could "grab" the code the most. Everything was fine until some "ringers" popped up and worked their way to the top 5 in only a day. A lot of the people in the top 10 are professionals who, in my opinion, should be exempt from the contest since they get freebies, screenings, and other stuff free to promote on their sites. Essentially, their amatuer critics who are bought with swag.
However, there's less than a month 'till Cloverfield opens and there should be tons of viral stuff pop out. I'm excited to see some of the advertisements for the movie as we get closer to the release date of 1-18-08. I have a hunch you'll see some people out and about (New York City watch out!) near the opening night with posters, shirts, and other promo stuff handing them out.
Wednesday, 19 December 2007
Monday, 17 December 2007
Watch first 5 minutes of Cloverfield online
I'd just like to thank everyone for helping my sites get to #5 on the Cloverfield widget contest above. The way it works is there's a point for everyone that grabs the code from the Cloverfield video clip above and puts it on their website, myspace, facebook, or blog. So, keep them going and thanks a lot!
With a month left until the Cloverfield movie pops, the cast and crew of Cloverfield is in "free publicity" mode by running the circuit of interviews. Bit by bit we are learning more about the movie as the people behind the scenes come out of the shadows.
Here's a breakdown of the last few days of interviews. Producer Bryan Burk speaks with Sci Fi, actor Michael Stahl-David (Rob Hawkins) talks with MTV and IESB.net, and Part II of director Matt Reeves is on IGN.com.
Saturday, 15 December 2007
Thanks to Ferry for the picture of the Dutch promo material released with the Transformers DVD. Ferry bought the DVD and found this Cloverfield promo inside for upcoming Paramount Pictures movies. Here is what Ferry wrote:"...here is a picture of the card that came with the Transformers dvd. the card is written in Dutch, I translated it for you:
"This project of J.J. Abrams (Lost and MI:3) is kept secret until the trailer in America at the premiere of Transformers was shown. It is so secret that the title of the movie is yet to be announced. The movie is about a gigantic monster called, ' The Parasite'. The movie is special because a big part of the movie is recorded with home video camera's, like if you were the people that are in the attack."
The movie is going to be released on the 7th of february in the Netherlands.
There are rumors of smaller monsters or lice-like creatures falling off the main monster as it dances around Mid-town. The parasitic nature of the monster could define what it is and how it acts. Thanks Ferry for the image and emails.
J.J. Abrams directing a movie right now that everyone's talking about and it isn't Cloverfield. The latest Star Trek flick is going on right now with Abrams behind the camera. It's the first big screen movie Abrams has directed since Mission Impossible 3.Matt Reeves is the director of Cloverfield with Abrams and his Bad Robot Productions producing the monster movie. While Cloverfield looks to be a popular movie, there's no debating the excitement and fanfare surrounding the new Star Trek film.
That's why it's just good business to put the first teaser for Star Trek in front of Cloverfield when it opens 1-18-08.
Friday, 14 December 2007
Cloverfield advertisement in the U.K.I'd like to thank Dan from the U.K. for shooting these images of the Cloverfield advertisements at a nearby college this week. The Cloverfield posters aren't named and only have the "2008" text in the corner.
Hat tip to the boys at unFiction for finding the UK Cloverfield Site. The key to the site going online is that an official release date for the U.K. has been announced at 01/02/08. Before you might freak out and think the Brits will get the movie a few weeks early just remember their dating system is a little different than ours and that's really Feb 1, 2008.
Also of note from unFiction is this article in the upcoming Maxim magazine featuring a blurp about Cloverfield. The article is titled "Blair Witch 2.0" and the post creator was kind enough to type out the article text. (source)
"THE BLAIR WITCH 2.0
Lost mind-tripper J.J. Abrams talks about his big-screen beast.
The best thing about Transformers wasn't Megan Fox's washboard abs, but a preview that screened beforehand. The jumpy camcorder footage of a monster attacking Manhattan was far scarier than the 'bots--even though the monster was never shown. So began one of the sneakiest marketing campaigns since the Blair Witch started rustling around in the woods. (At press time the movie's official title was allegedly Cloverfield.) "The idea is to surprise people," says producer Abrams, no stranger to pulling fast ones over on crowds. "This is a monster movie, but you've definitely never seen it done this way." In other words, the entire movie, like the preview, is shot as if the characters were holding the camera themselves. "The scope is massive, but it's always very human--and more intense and scary because of that perspective." The real question: Can the flick live up to the insane Internet hype? Yes, says Abrams: "The creature is as shocking and unexpected as the preview." -- Robert Levine
EDIT: This is the issue of Maxim with Mischa Barton on the cover. I have a subscription, so I get it early. No idea when it'll be on stands. (probably a week)"
Clovefield Director Matt Reeves returns to an interview by IGN this time out. He discusses some of the same items as the "Shock" interview (see here) but adds a lot more new, juicy information. This is just part I of the interview with IGN. They advertise part II will be released soon with details of the film style and how the Statue of Liberties head got down to mid-town.
Reeves and J.J. Abrams were the driving force behind the Felicity series which helped Reeves get the job behind the camera for Cloverfield. However, Reeves couldn't help but wonder why a character director was asked to do an action flick.
Reeves and J.J. Abrams were the driving force behind the Felicity series which helped Reeves get the job behind the camera for Cloverfield. However, Reeves couldn't help but wonder why a character director was asked to do an action flick.
"The big thing for J.J. and for Bryan was that my concerns primarily -- and everything that I've done so far and everything that I'm interested in and the movie that I was going to make with J.J. that I wrote -- it's been all character-based. I'm very interested in naturalism and realism and we tried to have that kind of tone between the characters on Felicity. They were like, 'Look, there's no question, we know you love movies and you can get the monster part. And there's a million people who you would think of for the monster part, but we're interested in what you would do in terms of the tone. In how you would do that and what you would do with the characters.'"Then, there's the question of the Cloverfield title and the rumored name changes. Reeves goes into detail why they stuck with Cloverfield and why they were forced to use alternative names like Slusho and Cheese.
"There were various titles along the way, but the first title and the end title has always been Cloverfield," explains Reeves. "When I read the outline it was Cloverfield. And 'Cloverfield' is the case designate. And when the first draft of the script came out it was Cloverfield. It's always been Cloverfield. And then we started changing the name over the course of making the movie because the irony was that when we first started no one knew anything about the movie and there was no danger in people finding out where we were and stuff. But then there was such excitement, and we were just in the early stages of shooting when the trailer came out, and that excitement spread to such a degree that we suddenly couldn't use the name anymore. So we started using all these names like Slusho and Cheese. And people always found out what we were doing!"
- Part I Matt Reeves IGN Interview: Exclusive: Cloverfield Director Speaks!
Finally! Someone debunks the" Voltron/Lion is the Cloverfield Monster" myth.Cloverfield director Matt Reeves takes on the movie site Shock Till You Drop in their exclusive interview with Reeves. Discussed are the similarities to the Blair Witch Project as well as a nice reference to the great flick "Rashomon."
Reeves talks about why they didn't drop the title during the first trailer:
"The fun thing about doing the teaser trailer was that it was a throwback to a time when we would see a trailer for a film like "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." You were sitting there seeing a trailer for a movie that was completely mysterious. There's so much media saturation now we felt we'd shoot a quick teaser and throw something out there.After the teaser trailer came out a ton of people swore they heard one of the crowd members claim the destruction was from a lion. Immediately Voltron was imagined as the source of the terror by many. Reeves chuckles as how the Internet has taken that part of the trailer out of context and ran the wrong way with it:
Throw it out to the people so they can have a sense of discovery again. Then Paramount said, 'What if we don't even put the title out there so people can speculate?' We wondered if the MPAA would go with it, they didn't even know how to respond at first. They were like, 'That's never happened before.'
"At the last minute, when we were shooting the trailer, we wanted people to know - 'cause we hadn't created the monster yet - that it was a giant monster movie, we wanted a tease of that. I jumped to the microphone and said the line, "I saw it! It's alive! It's huge!" And one of the most amusing things is I had come home and someone on the web had taken that section and started to do an analysis on it and thought I said, "It was a lion." The way I speak was too fast sometimes and they couldn't make it out."
- Entire Matt Reeves Interview: EXCL: Cloverfield Director Speaks! >
Thursday, 13 December 2007
Tuesday, 11 December 2007
Hat tip to the boys at unFiction for noticing that the official MPAA rating for Cloverfield has been added to the official movie website. The rating will be PG-13 for violence, terror, and disturbing images. There were rumors that Cloverfield might land an R-rating which would mean more violence and language.
Monday, 10 December 2007
Devin Faraci at Chud.com should have a nice, full inbox by the end of the evening. Seems he's got his panties in a bunch and has written a little article on the popular movie website about how the nerds at such forums as UnFiction are wasting their worthless time dissecting the Cloverfield movie.Devin mentions Cloverfield Clues in the title but not in the article. I'mnot sure if he's targeting Dennis at Cloverfield Clues since it just happens to be that Dennis is a contributor to the popular UnFiction forum board.
"...I (Devin) got a lot of attention from the people playing the 'Alternate Reality Game' for Cloverfield - ie, the poor dumb bastards spending more time going through clues in the viral marketing than the viral marketers spent working on it. There were some particularly great threads on a site called unfiction where the dipshits who have defined their sad reality through this 'game' spent pages dissecting me and my trailer description. Of course it turns out I was right and these people still have Cheeto dust on their lips."
Network World reports with the addition of Paramount Pictures to the MSN Mobile ad community, we'll start seeing Cloverfield advertising on mobile devices. The report"Microsoft Corp. has started placing advertisements on the U.S. version of MSN Mobile, a Web portal for cell phone browsers that connects users with Hotmail, instant messaging, search, news and other content.
Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures, Ford Motor Co.'s Jaguar car brand and Bank of America Corp. will be among the first to peddle their brands to U.S. mobile customers, starting Monday" (source)
Thanks to everyone who voted on my little Cloverfield poll in the upper right column. It's nice to see that 196 people voted for the question : "Are you excited to see Cloverfield?"Here's a quick breakdown:
79% - Yes. First in line on 1-18-08I'm actually surprised that more people didn't vote to "see what others would say". Sometimes having an underground or viral movement added to a movie can push away some who feel it's too complicated or too much trouble to catch up and follow along. Overwhelmingly, the majority is ready to jump in line the first day which goes to show, very unscientifically, that the viral marketing seems to be working.
8% - No. It will flop
9% - Wait to see what others say
6% - Wait for video
So, I'll start up another one to see what the audience thinks about the monster. I had one earlier about "what" the Cloverfield Monster will be. How about what you all think about how much we'll see of the monster, if at all. I'm curious to see what you all think about that one...
Jamie and Teddy video #5 deals with the package Jamie was supposed to receive on Dec. 9th. The UPS man delivers the package which Jamie opens. Included in the items is a "Slusho" hat.
I believe Dennis as Cloverfield Clues dropped the above video onto YouTube. He's also typed out the transcript of the audio tape Jamie plays:
I believe Dennis as Cloverfield Clues dropped the above video onto YouTube. He's also typed out the transcript of the audio tape Jamie plays:
Jamie, listen to me, alright this is not a joke. If you're hearing this before we've spoken, then it means that I've been captured by the company called Tagruato. Ok, TAG-RU-ATO. Now listen. You, this is important. Don't call the authorities. It'll screw everything up. Just sit tight and wait to hear from Randy. He knows to call you. We're on their station ok, and it's like they've found something, or they're making something, but the point is, I can't, I'm not going to be calling you again. You're not gonna hear from me again. I just want you to wait for Randy.. he will explain [Jamie stops tape]On his site he's also has a post about items found on eBay from the wrap party of Cloverfield. This is just some of the swag handed out at that party.
Thursday, 6 December 2007
You don't need to drink Slusho to talk to a stuffed Moose, but it helps. A new Slusho commercial, the official drink of Cloverfield, is online and the trippy video makes little sense. The tag line "You can't drink just 6" at this stage has not been decoded. However, in the end it probably won't be explained too much. J.J. Abrams has a knack for leaving details like this hanging.
Monday, 3 December 2007
I was hoping someone would get this picture online. During the NBC show "30 Rock," which airs on Thursday, one of the interns draws a picture of a monster attacking the city. Although nothing was said to directly connect it to the Cloverfield Monster, I immediately thought of another Cloverfield tie-in like when Slusho was on Heroes. I may need a vacation from this movie but at least I know now I'm not the only one that thought this.Kenneth, the country boy holding the drawing from his dream journal, claims all of his dreams have come true so far...
Usually I don't post fan films but I was struck by this video from a performance artist named Norman from New York City. He left me a link to the video in the comments and I must say I enjoyed the video.
Norman has created a story he feels is similar to the Cloverfield Movie and takes 6 of his reasons to back up his thesis. Essentially, he believes a story he is working on based on the island of Manhattan "being alive" is similar to the Cloverfield story.
He even takes the Caisson's disease and incorporates it into the story. That's a nice, unique touch. Caisson's disease is a decompression sickness (think the "bends") that occurs in areas where one goes from a compressed environment rapidly to a decompressed area. Gases in our blood don't like that and it can be fatal.
Caisson's disease gained a lot of attention when workers mysteriously died while working on the Brooklyn Bridge in the 1870's. Norman has made a really nice and stylish video with some cool editing and music to back up his story. It's definitely worth a view.
Personally, I believe the monster will be some giant, ugly monster who goes ape-shit on the city. However, the fun part of running this blog is finding the ideas of others.
Norman has created a story he feels is similar to the Cloverfield Movie and takes 6 of his reasons to back up his thesis. Essentially, he believes a story he is working on based on the island of Manhattan "being alive" is similar to the Cloverfield story.
He even takes the Caisson's disease and incorporates it into the story. That's a nice, unique touch. Caisson's disease is a decompression sickness (think the "bends") that occurs in areas where one goes from a compressed environment rapidly to a decompressed area. Gases in our blood don't like that and it can be fatal.
Caisson's disease gained a lot of attention when workers mysteriously died while working on the Brooklyn Bridge in the 1870's. Norman has made a really nice and stylish video with some cool editing and music to back up his story. It's definitely worth a view.
Personally, I believe the monster will be some giant, ugly monster who goes ape-shit on the city. However, the fun part of running this blog is finding the ideas of others.
Sunday, 2 December 2007
Could the hackers of the Tagruato Corp. website be a mysterious activist group called T.I.D.O ?The boys at unFiction have uncovered a new site that may be affiliated with the Cloverfield Movie. Tagruato is a business that makes Slusho, among other things. The T.I.D.O (Tagruato Is Destroying our Oceans) mocks the Tagruato Corp by claiming the large Japanese business is "Bleeding the oceans dry."
One post on the site boasts about a Tagruato Scientist who died.
Death of Tagruato Biologist!T.I.D.O.'s mission statement:
Many thanks to our friend in the field who passed the original article on to us. It’s translated below:
YOSHIDA MEDICAL RESEARCH MOURNS THE LOSS OF MARINE BIOLOGIST
Tagruato suffered a large loss yesterday when Kazui Ichigawa, 63, and his family were found dead early in the morning.
His body, along with the bodies of his wife, Rie
The T.I.D.O. Wave is the latest initiative from Les Guerriers de Mère-Terre, a nonprofit, grassroots, environmental activist organization dedicated to saving our planet from the world's most nefarious corporations. The Wave is our most ambitious mission to date, taking on one of the most despicable foes Mother Earth has ever come up against -- Japan based Tagruato. By informing good people like you of the evil deeds being waged by this reprehensible conglomerate, we hope to gain your support in our efforts to take them down.
Tagruato is primarily concerned with "deep sea petroleum excavation," or as we call it, bleeding Mother Earth dry. In their heedless efforts to join the ranks of fellow Earth Blood vampires, Tagruato has treated our planet like its own personal cesspool. They have operated with utter disregard for our ocean's fragile ecosystems. They violate areas that have never before been molested by man's poisonous touch, destroying precious bionetworks that have flourished for millions of years without our interference. They have already wreaked irrecoverable damage with their contemptuous drilling. And they are only growing bigger and bolder, foregoing any restraint and sanction in exchange for the relentless pursuit of the almighty buck. They must be stopped! The future of our planet may very well depend on it.
By nature, Les Guerriers de Mère-Terre are not a violent or destructive assemblage. We believe that every problem has a peaceful solution, and will do all that we can to avoid bloodshed. However, evil forces such as Tagruato often refuse to adhere to diplomacy. When they snap our olive branch over their greedy knee, we must use it to stab them in the heart.
Make no mistake -- Mother Earth is at war. Her adversary is Mankind. It is a vicious foe, ruthless, pitiless, and presided over by fools. That is why She needs us. We will fight at Her side till the day She takes us Elsewhere.
Saturday, 1 December 2007
Ain't It Cool News (AICN) has got word of a special New York screening of an unfinished Cloverfield. A few emails to the editors are posted below. Take it or leave it. AICN is a great site that is right more than they are wrong so be warned there might be some Cloverfield Spoilers included below.
Hey folks, Harry here - got the following brief review of CLOVERFIELD...Just saw CLOVERFIELD in a small screening in NYC. IT WAS AWESOME!I know - you want to know more. Join the fucking club! You also doubt the validity of the claim. Well, I checked with folks to see if it had indeed screened. It was at a Viacom in-house screening with unfinished visual fx.
Add to this - a quote that Moriarty heard one day whilst walking the picket lines from a famous type that had seen the film, but was not associated with it, that felt they had just made "STAR WARS". Now - personally - that's crazy Hyperbole... isn't it?
The film's budget is too small for it to be that amazing... right? But... what if? What if there's a payoff behind the mystery and the buzz. What if we're a month and a half away from a film that we'll all remember the promotion for - and remember when nobody knew what it was called... when the world was thinking H.P. Lovecraft and Voltron... and something called SLUSHO? What if, we're on magic time - getting ready for something... wonderful.... What if?
Here's two additional reviews we've received: -- The first of these two came from the alleged MARINE - the following reviewer wrote me back with a very detailed (regarding the screening, location, how he got in, etc... piece - but here's what he had to say about the review that I've removed...hey harryand this:
saw you put my review up, so i'm glad it didn't go to waste! that said, i wanted to let you know, that 2nd review, from the former marine or whatever, is 100% bogus. as incoherent as it is written, from what i was able to decipher, he definitely gets a lot of things wrong. most importantly, the protaganists are definitely not strangers, and the reason for the group moving in the direction they do once the attack is underway is explicitly stated by the leader of the group.
be wellhey harry
longtime reader, first time writer. i was at one of the Cloverfield screenings in NYC, and while the EFX and music weren't finished, i don't think the movie was that far off from being complete. anyway, i am a big Lost fan so JJ Abrams' involvement, coupled with the amazing viral marketing campaign they have used to promote the film, had me really fired up about seeing the film. just wanted to preface with that before sharing my thoughts, which i will keep as spoiler free as possible:
regarding the monster:
i don't know how much i want to give away b/c i think people are having a really good time hypothesizing about what the monster is, so let me just say that it's humongous, it's ugly, and you do see it in full view - no blair witch kind of thing going on here. SPOILER TAG i can also confirm the presence of smaller monsters (which look like the uglies from starship troopers kind of) / END SPOILER [put that in black on the website if you can]
regarding the story:
again, don't want to give much plot away, but there is a little of a backstory initially, but it doesn't take too long to get to the party scene from the trailer, and once the statue of liberty head comes rolling down laffeyette street [i think?], the movie is off and running, with NYC devolving into chaos as people avoid being caught in the path of whatever is destroying their city
regarding the movie itself:
the scares are of the "gotcha!" variety, but that is to be expected given the use of the handheld camera, which, by the way, is your POV the entire film, so those with easy motion sickness be forewarned. there are some pretty funny one liners delivered by our cameraman to offset some of the tension with levity. there are certain plot devices which require a large suspension of disbelief (esp in regards to cell phone usage), but then again, if i'm going to buy in to the fact that a giant monster is ransacking my hometown, who am i to draw any line?
overall i thought it was solid, definitely not great, and certainly not a genre redefinition. then again, my expectations were very high going in, so i might not be the best person to ask. my major critiques were:
1) it was somewhat predictable, and, as i stated before, the scares in the movie are less of the "creeping dread" variety and more of the "gotcha!" type.
2) again, i don't want to end the hypothesizing fun, but the monster isn't given much of a backstory or explanation. it just starts tearing NYC a new one one night.
that's all i got. no need to credit me on this one, just wanted to get a review out there that doesn't have everyone shouting PLANT!!1!"
(original AICN article)
Thursday, 29 November 2007
Check out the official Slusho Store for some Christmas gifts for the Cloverfield fan. You can grab Slusho shirts in light or dark for $18.00. The Slusho hats run $22 and the Slusho hoodie runs $28.00.There's a $10 Off coupon for a hat and shirt if you use the code HAPPYCOMBO at the checkout.
I bet if you order now you'll get the shirts by 1-18-08!
The (new) official site for the Cloverfield Movie has updated their menu to include a plot summary.While this Cloverfield Movie summary does not really offer new information, it does pin down some clues that had us all wondering. The Cloverfield Monster is officially pegged as being the size of a skyscraper and the video style of the Cloverfield Teaser Trailer looks to be in utilized for the picture.
"Five young New Yorkers throw their friend a going-away party the night that a monster the size of a skyscraper descends upon the city.
Told from the point of view of their video camera, the film is a document of their attempt to survive the most surreal, horrifying event of their lives."
Wednesday, 28 November 2007
Via Flickfilosopher, a critics take on the Cloverfield marketing.
Cloverfield is back. Remember the trailer for an unnamed movie everyone was so excited about a few months back, the one before Transformers about a mysterious monster attacking New York and knocking the head off the Statue of Liberty? There’s a second trailer now: it debuted before Beowulf over the Thanksgiving weekend and immediately afterward started showing up on YouTube in an impossible-to-watch cell-phone-cam version.
I watched it anyway, and found myself getting a little cheesed off. Not about the movie itself, but about how Paramount is marketing this. I can’t go into a press screening without having my bag rifled and my body wanded in search of cameras and other recording devices -- when I upgraded my cell phone recently, I made a point of getting one without a camera in it so I wouldn’t have to check it with the minimum-wage “security” guards who regularly harass we critics and our guests at screenings. It’s not like those pristine DVDs and downloads of new movies are coming from critics sneaking their cameraphones into press screenings, but we get subjected to this anyway.
But Cloverfield makes it clear, I think, that Paramount wanted geeks to camcord that new trailer, wanted it to end up on YouTube. Perhaps no one in Paramount’s marketing department realized that the first teaser trailer would be such a viral hit on the Web this summer, but they had to know the second one would be. This is the first movie for which “piracy” is a planned part of the marketing.
You can now watch that new trailer (as well as the teaser) in crisp, clear, “official” versions at Apple.com, and it’s even more obvious that it was not primarily intended to be seen in theaters but in a format you can freeze and rewind and rewatch. Lots of intriguing stuff slips by a mere frames. And, of course, you don’t have to bother with analyzing it yourself: All the Cloverfield nerds have done it for you. At CloverfieldNews.com, there’s an ongoing discussion about what each and every shadowy image and garbled sound might be. The sprawling Cloverfield fan community has even ferreted out a connection between the movie and Heroes.
Some folks, like my fellow Film.com contributor Eric D. Snider, are tired of all the coyness on the part of Cloverfield producer JJ Abrams and all the literal gameplaying required to figure out what the damn movie is about. I figure the gameplaying isn’t meant for us grownups but for kids with tons of time on their hands. Who else could be able to post something like this: “For the last few weeks, we have been devoting all of our time to the myspace accounts of the characters.” Seriously? All your time? To a movie that hasn’t even opened yet, and might turn out to suck. (That site, Cloverfield Project, hasn’t been updated since August, so perhaps someone got a life.)
I wonder if all these folks realize that they’ve become unpaid marketing managers for a multibillion-dollar corporation. (source)
Cloverfield is back. Remember the trailer for an unnamed movie everyone was so excited about a few months back, the one before Transformers about a mysterious monster attacking New York and knocking the head off the Statue of Liberty? There’s a second trailer now: it debuted before Beowulf over the Thanksgiving weekend and immediately afterward started showing up on YouTube in an impossible-to-watch cell-phone-cam version.
I watched it anyway, and found myself getting a little cheesed off. Not about the movie itself, but about how Paramount is marketing this. I can’t go into a press screening without having my bag rifled and my body wanded in search of cameras and other recording devices -- when I upgraded my cell phone recently, I made a point of getting one without a camera in it so I wouldn’t have to check it with the minimum-wage “security” guards who regularly harass we critics and our guests at screenings. It’s not like those pristine DVDs and downloads of new movies are coming from critics sneaking their cameraphones into press screenings, but we get subjected to this anyway.
But Cloverfield makes it clear, I think, that Paramount wanted geeks to camcord that new trailer, wanted it to end up on YouTube. Perhaps no one in Paramount’s marketing department realized that the first teaser trailer would be such a viral hit on the Web this summer, but they had to know the second one would be. This is the first movie for which “piracy” is a planned part of the marketing.
You can now watch that new trailer (as well as the teaser) in crisp, clear, “official” versions at Apple.com, and it’s even more obvious that it was not primarily intended to be seen in theaters but in a format you can freeze and rewind and rewatch. Lots of intriguing stuff slips by a mere frames. And, of course, you don’t have to bother with analyzing it yourself: All the Cloverfield nerds have done it for you. At CloverfieldNews.com, there’s an ongoing discussion about what each and every shadowy image and garbled sound might be. The sprawling Cloverfield fan community has even ferreted out a connection between the movie and Heroes.
Some folks, like my fellow Film.com contributor Eric D. Snider, are tired of all the coyness on the part of Cloverfield producer JJ Abrams and all the literal gameplaying required to figure out what the damn movie is about. I figure the gameplaying isn’t meant for us grownups but for kids with tons of time on their hands. Who else could be able to post something like this: “For the last few weeks, we have been devoting all of our time to the myspace accounts of the characters.” Seriously? All your time? To a movie that hasn’t even opened yet, and might turn out to suck. (That site, Cloverfield Project, hasn’t been updated since August, so perhaps someone got a life.)
I wonder if all these folks realize that they’ve become unpaid marketing managers for a multibillion-dollar corporation. (source)
Tuesday, 27 November 2007
After being immersed in the 1-18-08/Cloverfield situation for months, it's nice to see the Cloverfield viral aspect take off. Up to now with the release of the 2nd trailer it has been rather mundane, with a few uninteresting MySpace pages and "Jamie Loves Teddy" page that may not even be related.On the front page of Yahoo! this morning there is a feature post on the Cloverfield Movie. A small section is dedicated to the teaser and full length trailer. Also a very sparse picture section with only the poster and one picture when I checked it.
The bulk of the Yahoo! spread is centered around the Internet buzz. Yahoo! runs their buzz section based on Internet searches, kinda like Google Trends. Only Yahoo! breaks it down more like a blog post. They break down the keywords, like 1-18-08 and Cloverfield Clues along with Cthulhu to show you what people are looking for.
official Cloverfield posterThe Tagruato website has been a nice addition but it didn't get going until last week when it was "Hacked," fixed, and then updated. New pictures, about 15-20, have flooded the Internet along with the teaser and full length trailers.
A new official website for the movie, Cloverfieldmovie.com, was rolled out and a small bit of advertising appeared. A brand new poster featuring the "Cloverfield" title was also released. Even the hit TV show Heroes featured characters drinking the viral Slusho.
Cloverfield Trailer
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