Comments on: Show your work, pt. 2

By: Patrick

Patrick — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:12:32 +0000

Geek Alert 2.0 Better then just viewing source pages – try Firebug it’s a plugin for Firefox where you can view CSS HTML Javascript live on any page. Great learning tool. Even if Ffox is not your browser of choice it’s worth having in the toolbox. Ok back to writing.

By: David Donato

David Donato — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 05:34:45 +0000

I agree with everything you said, too much exposure before the film’s release can lead to many issues, high expectations being just one of them. But, really, The Blair Witch project as an example of “regular marketing of a movie”? Of course I understand you were talking about your own experience, but I remember that movie becoming quite a phenomenon because of its clever marketing campaign (one of the first “viral campaigns”, actually) with that website that suggested it was real footage and such. Plus it was a really tiny independent film, the kind that even today still get near to zero exposition on media. Anyway, your point remains, it was pretty hard to dodge all the information on that non-giant squid movie. And it was worthy.

By: Ashley at Selling Your Screenplay

Ashley at Selling Your Screenplay — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 23:35:58 +0000

All this information overload does seem to be a bit much at times, but the great thing is that you can pick and choose what you get.

I watch most HBO and Showtime shows (and The Shield) on DVD, sometimes years after they've aired and I haven't had too much trouble avoiding spoilers. Sometimes you have to tell your friends to stop talking about something or run out of a room, but you can avoid what you don't want.

Using your Wordpress example the PHP and MYSQL actually is 100% transparent, too. It's free and open source and anyone who cares to look at it is free to do so. You don't have to do this, of course, to enjoy this website but if you want to dig deeper you can.

It's all your choice.

By: Tim W.

Tim W. — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:30:41 +0000

I actually get paid to watch trailers, so I end up watching pretty much all of them, a lot of times. Thankfully, I do enjoy most trailers, but I usually find the trailers I like best are the teasers. I understand the need to entice people to see the movie, but a good teaser can do that as much as a full trailer. And trailers that give away too many plot details is simply lazy. How many trailers have we seen where major twists have been given away by the trailer? I've seen a few trailers where, upon watching it, I've realized they haven't just given away a major twist, but the entire ending of the movie. They spend millions getting incredibly talented people to make the film, and that's all undone by a lazy marketing department that can't figure out how to make a movie interesting without giving away too much. I think that's unforgivable.

I heard a fantastic interview with Christopher McQuarrie (Creative Screenwriting podcast, which I would recommend), where he talked about the marketing department giving away too much in it's marketing campaign. They had "Who Is Keyser Soze?" on the poster, which gave too much away. Thankfully, he said, the marketing for the film was so cheap that hey only made one poster, so no one saw it. It allowed people to watch the movie with little knowledge of the plot. Of course, it did relatively nothing in the theatre, so apparently no marketing isn't the way to go, either.

By: RTA

RTA — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:36:15 +0000

I get strange looks and sideways glances in the theaters from fellow movie goers and friends when I cover my ears and close my eyes during the trailers of movies I'm really looking forward to see.

"Well, how do you even know you want to see this movie if you haven't seen the trailer?" ...some may ask.

Well, from reading interviews and articles about my favorite filmmakers and their upcoming work. I want to go into the film as "clean" as I can, and make my judgment as far from "enhanced expectation" as possible.

FULL DISCLOSURE: There have been films that I didn't know were coming out that the trailer did get me interested in seeing, but, usually it was the "teaser" trailer and I covered up when subsequent trailers were shown. (I don't know how many times I leaped for the remote and turned off the TV when I was looking forward to "There Will Be Blood" and "Micheal Clayton"...and now it's "Duplicity".)

PS: There have been films that I had been looking forward to that after I "peeked" at the trailer, I was less than enthused. (Pelham 123 is the latest culprit...c'mon, Denzel and Travolta in place of Matthau and Robert Shaw? One or the other, but not both, please.)

By: Michael Brownlee

Michael Brownlee — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:40:10 +0000

I'm an avid screenplay reader. I used to really love reading a script before the movie came out. But after a while I was ready to give up watching movies because so many of them didn't live up to the potential of the screenplay. ("Stranger Than Fiction" anyone?)

At the same time, film is a collaborative art. It's the very fact of so many amazing artists working on one piece that can make movies truly beautiful.

Needless to say, I had to learn a little self restraint. See the movie first. Then read the screenplay. Otherwise you walk out mumbling "Will Ferrell? Really?"

By: James

James — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 09:38:50 +0000

I'm not sure there's any way around the spoilers. It has a lot to do with the rate and ease at which information now travels.

The fact that a phone can transmit a photo to anyone around the world at a moment's notice seems almost scary. "Hey, friends. Here's what I'm looking at, at this very moment."

That said -- It's surprising to me that the Christian Bale tape stayed hidden so long. An event that occurred last summer being broken 6 months later. And yet, it's still before the movie's release date.

By: Kevin Arbouet

Kevin Arbouet — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 03:39:51 +0000

Here's the spoiler for Dollhouse:

It's terrible.

By: Pat Race

Pat Race — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 03:33:50 +0000

The advantage in the semi-transparency of web development is that more people can learn how to create web sites and better websites get built. I think the same semi-transparency in filmmaking helps make it accessible to more people in the same ways. Unfortunately, it also kills the magic of the film, like explaining how they saw the lady in half before seeing it performed.

The reason we get it all up front is that the media is in competition for the scoop and they perceive the hunger for information about how films are made. Why wait until the film is released when people are interested now? It’s a decision made without regard for the art of presentation.

We’re not force fed, we’re just hungry and have trouble waiting for dinner when there’s a snack on the table.

I managed to avoid learning about the missing squid until opening night when it slowly dawned on me that things were heading in a different direction. I almost wish I’d known going in, it would have softened the blow.

http://akrobotics.com/comics/2009/03/09/squidless-ending

By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 02:28:08 +0000

Check my link, I was just reading about movieset.com which is the logical extreme of this approach to movie promotion.

By: Dave in DC

Dave in DC — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 01:56:56 +0000

Couldn't agree more. I never read reviews of films I want to see, because they always reveal, i.e., spoil, something that would have been fun to experience unaided. The irony is that I also review film -- I do try to speak as vaguely as I can about the movie's qualities, but I'm surely guilty as well.

Perhaps we can blame Jacques Derrida and the whole Deconstruction movement.

I remember walking out of one movie and seeing a poster in the lobby for another -- just two words on a black starfield: Star Wars. I had no other information, but made a mental note to see it. I cherish the fact that when some weeks later a battlecruiser flew over my head, it was a delightful surprise. As was the rest of the movie.