Missed timing opportunity

I still think it’s a shame Marvel/Paramount isn’t releasing Thor on Thursday of next week. I know that only about 250 people in the country would find it funny and most of them would be professors of ancient mythology but it would still be totally worth it.

He Is Risen

He is risen indeed, halleluiah!!

What does “indie” mean?

Filmmaker Magazine has a good story on the psuedo-indie moves being made by large studios, some of which ring more true than others.

What’s the future of commenting?

It’s hard to ignore the trend, as wonderfully articulated in this post by Khol Vinh, that the online publishing world has been moving away from long, thoughtful pieces followed by an interesting discussion either through comments on the original post or when someone else posts a rebuttal/addition/clarification on their own site. Now we have Likes, Reblogs, Retweets and other interactions that have a lower barrier to entry but which are also less meaningful and which add less value to the overall conversation.

Brian Oberkirch is talking about something similar as he goes through the reasons why something like Tumblr and how they’ve been designed to accentuate the positive by making it clear that whatever you do within those communities is going to be associated with your profile.

There’s a large debate going on right now surrounding the implementation of Facebook’s new commenting feature on news websites. The problem, some people say, is that Facebook requires you to use your real name and that having that hanging over their head would stop some people from truly expressing their opinions. That hasn’t stopped Facebook from moving past Google as the preferred third-party credentials users opt to log in to sites with, something that’s analogous to if not directly comparable to the idea of using those credentials to sign in and leave a comment on a new site.

Commenting will always be part of the social web. But it may – and already has to some extent – become less of a gauge of interactions than some of these other signals. It’s impossible to accurately predict, though, since things can shift very easily.

QOTD: 4/21/11

Terry Heaton on RSS:

There’s one major reason that media companies don’t play well with RSS: it’s a pull technology, while media is a world of push. With RSS, the user is the one making all the decisions. This is chaos to those used to control, which is why the concept is counterintuitive to mass media. This is an inertia barrier that we simply must get past, because RSS will take us forward into the world of unbundled media. while refusing simply holds us back.

Highlighting the best of local talent

The Sacramento Bee is doing what newspapers should have been doing for five or six years now, collecting the best locally produced content and highlighting it under their own brand.

Back on pace

After working from home for two and a half years I’m finally back to commuting to downtown Chicago thanks to the acquisition of Voce by Porter Novelli almost two months ago. PN has an office on North Michigan Ave. that I’m able to work from, though I still work from home occasionally as situations warrant.

But what I’m most excited about is that after doing it for a couple weeks now I’m getting back to my old walking pace, covering the 1.5 miles between Union Station and the office in 15 minutes. That’s what I’ve been aiming for and it’s a decent workout.

It’s the little victories I try to hang on to.

Movie Marketing Madness: Water for Elephants

I’m not so sure it’s as common these days but there was a time in America where I’m sure 10 minutes didn’t go by without some child in some part of the country didn’t threaten to run off and join the circus after reaching their breaking point with some sort of unreasonable parental attitude. Once upon a time the thought of joining the circus promised excitement and a sense of romantic adventure compared to the boring life they were living with parents who just didn’t understand them and who were obviously stifling their true nature.

In the new movie Water for Elephants joining the circus isn’t quite the escape it otherwise might be. Based on the novel by Sara Gruen it tells the story of Jacob Janowski (Robert Pattinson), whose parents are killed in an accident one day. Seeking to run from the expectations of those around him he jumps aboard a circus train and begins working for them. Taken under the wing of the owner (Christoph Waltz) he also meets the owner’s much younger wife, Marlena (Reese Witherspoon) and the two begin a secretive and passionate affair.

The Posters

The movie’s poster makes no bones about what it feels the main drawing point of the film is going to be. Pattinson and Witherspoon are in a passionate embrace in the middle of the design while Waltz looks on disapprovingly and an elephant saunters in the background, lest anyone think that the title is misleading in any way. It’s slick and bright and will surely turn on people in the audience who are looking for a period romance.

The Trailers

The movie’s first trailer opens with a modern-day circus being prepared, with an older man wandering around and admiring the setup. In talking with one of the guys from that circus it’s discovered the old man was part of a circus that encountered some sort of disaster and that’s where the flashbacks begin. We see Pattinson’s character ogling Witherspoon’s as she does her animal tricks and so on, but she’s apparently married to the circus’ ringmaster.

So the trailer makes it clear that the film’s conflict and tension will come from the romantic triangle that’s formed from these three as Witherspoon decides between her older husband and the younger workman. The opening dialogue of this involving the “biggest circus disaster of all time” makes it sound like some sort of large-scale tragedy is going to occur, likely because of the tensions created, but that’s not hinted at or shown.

The second trailer (which debuted on Amazon of all places as the studio sought to hook book readers) is quite different. It opens by giving us the background into Pattinson’s character, showing how an accident that kills his parents sets him to wandering and ultimately – and mostly accidentally – hooking up with the traveling circus. There he meets (in a ridiculously over-done sequence) Witherspoon’s character. He’s soon torn between his love at first site with her and the fact that Waltz’s owner becomes a mentor of sorts to him. The new lovers try to keep things hidden but it’s clear they’re not successful and she must soon decide whether to escape with her new much younger beau or stay where she is with a commanding husband and a life in the center ring.

The tension here is once again clear but by completely ejecting the framing device the previous trailer used it’s free to focus more on the smoldering between Pattinson and Witherspoon and show more of the story that the studio is hoping will bring in the teenage girls.

Online

The movie’s official website starts off by presenting the trailer along with a link to find out more about the author of the source book and with the links to the movie’s social network profiles.

Once you Enter the Site the content sections are presented both at the top as a simple list and on the page with photos representing each area.

When you click on each character’s name you’re presented with a brief – about a paragraph – overview of the actor along with select photos and video clips featuring that character.

“About” has a similarly brief synopsis of the film’s story and “Photos and Videos” has more extended clips and stills from the movie. On the main page there’s also a “Making Of” section that is still labeled as Coming Soon.

Both the Facebook page and Twitter profile for the film are filled with updates on the promotional and marketing activities that have been undertaken, linking to news stories and information on media appearances. Facebook, of course, also has photos and videos and such along with that.

Advertising and Cross-Promotions

TV commercials in both :30 and :60 second flavors were put in pretty heavy rotation in the weeks leading up to release. Most of them forsake any exploration of backstory or mention of the framing device that’s employed in some of the trailers, instead just focusing on what the audience is most likely to be interested: The romantic tension between Pattinson and Witherspoon.

The studio partnered with the just-recently-launched photo-sharing app Color for the movie’s premiere, with photos and videos taken by those in attendance being instantly shared with others and with others by aggregating them on a movie-specific page, the first time the app maker has done so.

Media and Publicity

Being that this is a movie with Witherspoon and Pattinson in a non-Twilight role there was plenty of press around it, starting with “first look” type of features (Entertainment Weekly, 1/7/11) that had lots of pictures but little additional information.

There was also the occasional feature on how Witherspoon and the other human actors related to and bonded with their animal co-stars (Los Angeles Times, 1/16/11), including mention of how the animals’ trainers handled the scenes where it appears as if those animals are being mistreated.

Pattinson had his turn in the publicity spotlight of course and like his Twilight co-star Kristen Stewart a lot of that focused on his potential outside of that franchise (EW, 3/24/11) and how he sought to move beyond it.

More press came later and closer to the film’s release as the focus continued to be on Witherspoon’s experiences shooting a movie involving such big animals but also including an overview of the actress’ career to date (LAT, 4/17/11) and how she’s carefully crafted her public persona both on- and off-screen.

Overall

While the campaign certainly isn’t for me I can admire how it remains consistent throughout the individual component and how it is likely to appeal to women, particularly those who have been left out of much of the recent box-office offerings. And its timing, coming after a couple weekends of back-to-back family films, offers a respite for women who might be longing for a night at the movies without the little ones. To younger women there’s plenty of Pattinson in the campaign, promising lots of intense glaring across rooms for them to enjoy. Again, not at all my cup of tea but I think it has the poential to reach a sizable target audience this weekend.

Ease of use

Two stories loading in different browser tabs: The one from a blog loaded in to seconds while the one from a national news organization is still working through various graphics, videos and other add-ons. Guess which one I’m going to actually pay attention to.

Foursquare and news orgs

Unsurprisingly, the things that are working for news organizations on Foursquare are also just good tips for making content more interesting and relevant for readers. Yeah, there are different things are going to work better but that’s true of any platform.