MetaFilter posts tagged with marketing and film

Selling snake oil

fearfulsymmetry — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 04:44:07 -0800

An unexpected corollary of the modern marketing-and-distribution model is that films no longer have time to find their audience; that audience has to be identified and solicited well in advance. The Cobra - The New Yorker on the art and science of movie marketing.

The Room: Best/Worst/Best Vanity Project Ever

boost ventilator — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 12:03:20 -0800

The Room: The Movie. Triple-threat (actor/writer/director) Tommy Wiseau made his cinematic debut in 2003 with the The Room (see trailer and various scenes), "a blend between a softcore porn flick and a Tennessee Williams stageplay." Wiseau ("who's not just one of the most unusual looking and sounding-with an unidentifiable Eastern European accent-leading men ever to grace the screen, but a narcissist nonpareil whose movie makes Vincent Gallo's "The Brown Bunny" seem the apotheosis of cinematic self-restraint...may be something of a first: A movie that prompts most of its viewers to ask for their money back-before even 30 minutes have passed." - Variety), allegedly raised $6 million outside Hollywood to cover production and marketing costs of the self-described "black comedy about love, passion, betrayal and lies" (see various rough dress rehersals). Audience members, including comedian David Cross, have been "marveling at the bizarre editing, bad bluescreen, uncomfortably explicit sex scenes and, of course, the enigma of Wiseau himself" as the film played monthly for years in Los Angeles. Available on DVD, diehard "roomies" swear by the theatrical experience, shout out their own commentary, hurl spoons at the screen and singalong to the soundtrack. Some call it "The Rocky Horror of the New Millenium" and stage "Room" parties. If you look at the marketing campaign or survived a screening you might see The Room as "a seminar on how NOT to make a movie." [Inspired by Boing Boing]

Using fine-art images to promote movies

JPowers — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 20:22:26 -0800

Using fine-art images to promote movies: "But it was Mr. Kessell's "Florilegium" (or "collection of floral images") daguerrotypes that caught Mr. Palen's eye: each image is close-up of a surgical instrument, so poetically rendered that it seems almost organic. Some of the macabre implements resemble exotic flowers. One, from a distance, could be mistaken for the horns of a gazelle. "We were sort of blocked, and all the pieces fell into place once I saw that image," Mr. Palen explained. A deal was made to use that daguerreotype [to promote the upcoming Tarantino-produced film "Hostel"], which actually shows a surgical clamp. [The poster] now appears in theaters and on widespread promotions. [Side: direct WMV link of Tarantino spazing out while introducing "Hostel's" director Eli Roth at a festival.]

An Open Letter To Tim Burton

feelinglistless — Tue, 17 May 2005 12:57:56 -0800

“This is not a costumed event.” A writer for Twitch Films was invited to attend a marketing preview of Tim Burton's new film 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory', but was turned away because the friends he had with him were goths. Don't they know Mr Burton's audience? It's all very ironic considering how Johnny Depp looks in the film.

Cinematic Evangelical Outreach

Arch Stanton — Mon, 07 Mar 2005 19:15:23 -0800

Motive Entertainment has staked out a niche in marketing to Christian audiences and they have been working with Disney in promoting The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to evangelicals. They previously worked on the Faith-Market campaigns for Passion of the Christ and the Polar Express.

Pink Bunny: Hip or myth?

joeclark — Tue, 04 Mar 2003 18:43:40 -0800

Pink Bunny’s LiveJournal Pink Bunny is a character in a film beginning principal photography this month, Crypto-Candida. If she isn’t real, how can her LiveJournal be?