May 2013 – Page 4 – Colin McMahon

Marketing Method: J.J. Abrams

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Colin McMahon

With the imminent arrival of Star Trek Into Darkness, I have decided to take a closer examination of one of Hollywood’s best marketers: J.J. Abrams. For the record I should point out that the public is unaware if said genius comes directly from Abrams or is simply from a mind at his studio, Bad Robot. Regardless, Abrams takes the credit – both in the public eye and as the subject of this blog post. From TV to the big screen, no one knows how to turn heads like Jeffrey Jacob Abrams.

One of the top players in Hollywood and arguably its best showman.

To understand how Abrams markets the films he’s attached to, one must first examine this principle: the monster behind the door is always the scariest. What does this mean? Simply put it means that our imagination is more powerful than anything realized. The monster behind the door is scariest because we can’t see it, therefore the mind dreams up all sorts of horrific possibilities as to what it might be. Once it is seen, it can be rationalized. There is nothing scarier than the unknown.

That’s lovely but why am I talking about monsters? Well it follows logic, if our mind is the strongest tool when it comes to fear then why not excitement as well? This is the principle Abrams and the people at Bad Robot operate under. They believe (rightly) that audiences will go crazy over a tease and that teasing itself can be the best way to create hype. Let me show you what I’m talking about. Watch this teaser: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvNkGm8mxiM.

Remember that? That was the teaser for Cloverfield (not that you could tell because they don’t even give you the title). Here is the Abrams bump in its full glory. He did not direct that film, Matt Reeves did. This is a time when Abrams is working only as a producer and doing his job very well. I don’t know about any of you but I believe that is the most memorable teaser I have ever seen. I can remember the first time I saw that in theaters – I can’t remember what movie I was seeing that day – but I remember seeing the teaser and going nuts over it.

What is going on? What is attacking the city? What could do that to the Statue of Liberty? So began Cloverfield‘s marketing campaign. It is one of the most financially profitable films to ever be released in January (it made nearly 200 million on a budget of 25 million) and it’s not hard to see why after that teaser. Not that trailers are the only weapon in J.J. Abrams arsenal. He is the undisputed master of viral marketing.

This image from San Francisco was echoed across every major city in the United States.

Viral marketing is a wonderful new invention made largely possible by our friend the internet. Thanks to the world wide web, it is now possible to generate community buzz in a way that was before only dreamed of. The most wonderful thing about it is that actual movie footage is completely unneeded.

Where else but the internet would people study and manipulate posters to try and find images? This photo above shows an attempt to see the monster's silhouette by flipping two posters against each other. — Where else but the internet would people study and manipulate posters to try and find images? This photo above shows an attempt to see the monster’s silhouette by flipping two posters against each other.

In large part, the strategy used for films like Cloverfield, Super 8 and even Star Trek was perfected through Abrams’ efforts with television. While the producer/director has had hit series like Alias and Fringe: do you remember Lost, what show in television history has ever had more fan involvement than Lost? The fan theories, the DHARMA Initiative, Bad Twin, The Hanso Foundation – all part of the Lost Experience.

Yes, this was its own thing – look at the wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Experience), there has never been, before or since, a show that has so successfully enraptured fans’ attention and curiosity like Lost. Abrams may not have been super involved via directing or writing, but he made that series into an art form. Want to watch six seasons exploration of the “what’s behind the door” theory, go take a look at Lost.

Did this have anything to do with the series: no. Did that fact matter: absolutely not. I have never had more fun with a show outside of Lost. — Did this have anything to do with the series: no. Did that fact matter: absolutely not. I have never had more fun with a show outside of *Lost*.

Now let’s fast-forward to today. What door is the Abrams marketing machine hyping us up to look behind this time? Oh yeah, this guy:

The identity of Benedict Cumberbatch's character in Star Trek Into Darkness has been at the center of it's marketing campaign. — The identity of Benedict Cumberbatch’s character in *Star Trek Into Darkness* has been at the center of its marketing campaign.

Who is Benedict Cumberbatch playing? Is he Khan? Is Stark Trek Into Darkness a remake of Wrath of Khan? Is he Sybok, a renegade vulcan after the source of all creation? Is he Gary Mitchell, a Star Fleet officer slowly transforming into a god? Is he a new character? Is he Space Sherlock? The list goes on…

The official name at the moment: Benedict Cumberbatch is playing a man named John Harrison. There are fewer people on the internet who believe in the moon landing than believe that this is anymore more than an alias. What does it matter, 90% of them will be crowding the theaters in the next few weeks to find out the truth. Incidentally: if you don’t want to be spoiled, stay off of Star Trek Into Darkness‘s wikipedia page… that is just not cool.

What it really comes down to is the incredible ability of draw. Abrams has figured out a way to pull people into the theaters. Most out there don’t like spoilers. How anti-climactic is it to read the truth on a page after months of speculation? It’s boring and ruins the game. Yeah, Abrams has made movies and television interactive by adding mystery and inviting the audience to solve it. A great and proven strategy that has been emulated by movies and TV shows alike. Remember how many shows out there tried (and are still trying) to be the next Lost? Remember that cool viral marketing campaign for The Dark Knight? All because of Abrams. He has ushered in a new age of marketing to the cinematic experience and the media is much more fun for it.

I can’t guarantee anything about Star Wars: Episode VII (Abrams next directing effort, I’m not lying) right now beyond this: Abrams + Star Wars is going to be the most hyped-up, most highly marketed thing that any of us are likely to see in our lives. I’m just getting ready to enjoy the ride.

Remember Slusho!? Did this have anything to do with anything? What was going through your head, J.J. Abrams?

Thoughts? Comments? Am I full of shit or onto something? Let me know now in the feedback section of this article.

Be sure to check back tomorrow to read my spoiler-free review of Star Trek Into Darkness!

Simple Yet Brilliant: Poker Night 2

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Colin McMahon

Every now and then a company has an idea. An idea so brilliant yet so simple that everyone wonders: how did no one else think of that? Whether it is a correct to a common annoyance or simply streamlining current technologies into greater convenience: sometimes ideas just work. Today I’ll be talking about one such idea. Poker Night 2 from Telltale Games. Yes, a poker game. Don’t switch websites, let me explain.

Who out there is a fan of sports video games? Okay next question: are you actually that good at sports? For myself, I was a huge fan of Madden long before I ever played football (and when I did, I was nowhere near as talented as those pixels). Point being: you don’t have to be a professional athlete to enjoy sports games. Indeed that is a huge part of their charm. Does it help to know the game: yes. That’s it though, and even then it’s just a rule set. Gamers figure those out all the time.

“But Colin, poker is not a sport.”

No it’s not. For all the competitiveness and talent required, poker is a game that anyone can play with a deck of cards. So why am I hocking a poker video game at you? True anyone can play regular poker but Poker Night 2 is a high-stakes poker simulator. I don’t know about you but I don’t have $20,000 of real money to throw down every time I play. Even if I did, I’m such an addict that I’m glad the dollars in Poker Night 2 aren’t real. Oh, did I mention you play against fantastical characters from your favorite shows, movies and video games?

The cast of Telltale's Poker Night 2 — The cast of Telltale’s *Poker Night 2.*

That’s right. In this game you’ll match poker skills against Brock Sampson (the Venture Bros.), Claptrap (Borderlands), Ashley Williams (Army of Darkness) and Sam (Sam and Max: Freelance Police). Oh and GLaDOS (Portal) is the dealer. Try playing against these people in real life. Rest assured, everyone besides Ash speaks with their correct voice. I should mention that, despite lack of Bruce Campbell (seriously what else did he have to do?), Danny Webber does an excellent impression and most of the time I couldn’t tell.

Anyway, this is a brilliant idea. Who can honestly say they’ve never fantasized about being friends with a fictitious character (Dinobot from Beast Wars and I are besties, if only in my head). While you might not be friends in this game, you’re still playing poker with some awesome people. Is it all make believe: of course. Thank god for that because I’ve gone through $500,000 dollars against these assholes so far.

Every character is brought to life with their exact personality from the original source.

Telltale should be commended for their effort here. I should say right now that I am not an expert poker player but I have played games before in real life. While you play in a fantastical setting, the game does appear to be a fairly good and realistic poker simulator as well. Again I won’t say that it’s the best (I’m not a tournament player or anything so I don’t know) but it felt like I was playing poker – and that is an accomplishment.

Like every good idea, there is room to grow. I don’t know about anybody else but after a few hands, I was already picturing who I would want in the next game. Oh, I should also mention right now that, as of this moment, I have not played the first game, Poker Night at the Inventory, yet but it is a video game that has my interest.

Telltale's Poker Night at the Inventory, right to left: Max (Sam and Max: Freelance Police), Strong Bad (Homestar Runner), Heavy (Team Fortress 2) and Tycho (Penny Arcade). — Telltale’s *Poker Night at the Inventory*, right to left: Max (*Sam and Max: Freelance Police*), Strong Bad (*Homestar Runner*), Heavy (*Team Fortress 2*) and Tycho (*Penny Arcade*).

Maybe this only appeals to geeks, but I can’t wait to see what additional characters come into being in the later installments. I am also rooting for this series to be financially successful enough to warrant said future games (in case you hadn’t picked up on that). Here are just a few ideas for Telltale, if they are listening. I have included my top three for each category (note: feel free to skip the following paragraph, it is pure fanboy wishful thinking).

Movies: James Bond (obviously), Agent Phil Coulson (probably the easiest character to get from the Marvel Cinematic Universe), and Indiana Jones (again, obviously). Television shows: Sterling Archer (as good as Brock Sampson was, this guy would be better), Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch’s likeness from Sherlock would be wonderful to take money from), and Bender (another obvious choice). Telltale games (so far each Poker Night has featured at least one character from Telltale): Guybrush Threepwood (the original Captain Jack Sparrow), Bigby Wolf (good way to promote their new Fables game), Gerry Harding (just to give the poor characters from Jurassic Park: the Video Game some redemption). Valve Corporation (each game has also featured at least one character from Valve): Anyone from the Left 4 Dead series… that’s easy. Video games: Jack (really anyone from the Mass Effect Trilogy crew would be awesome – except Jacob.), Andrew Ryan (cause Bioshock‘s intelligence needs to be taken down a peg), Duke Nukem (he needs to be redeemed as well). And last but not least – misc gaming world celebrities: Yahtzee (http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation), Korey (http://spill.hollywood.com/), and the Angry Video Game Nerd (http://cinemassacre.com/).

People are already making such crazy dreams a reality - thanks to the wonder of modding. — People are already making such crazy dreams a reality – thanks to the wonder of modding.

There is a criteria for their selection. Part of the reason why Poker Night 2 works so well is that you believe every one of these characters would actually play poker. During development, Telltale had originally intended to put up someone other than Sam. The first plan was to include either Doc or Marty from Telltale’s Back to the Future video game. Really though – could you see Doc or Marty gambling and drinking? Ouch, right in the childhood. Their next plan was to use someone from their recently released The Walking Dead. God, how horrible would you have felt taking money from one of those poor bastards? The point is: Telltale has a plan for these games.

Wonderful gameplay mechanics include unlockables that can change the cards, chips and even whole backgrounds.

I only have one idea for improvement going forward. If there is a Poker Night 3, it would be nice to increase the table. Maybe six opponents instead of four? Or a pool of six and four are chosen every time that way conversations are less likely to repeat (it does happen fairly fast, although I’m still hearing new stuff after several hours). Other than that: more unlockables, more challenges and increase the poker simulator (if it even needs it – I don’t know).

This is a great idea. Bring together fantastical characters who we admire and enjoy and make us all poker buddies. Well played, Telltale, well played.

Available now on Xbox Live, Steam (for Windows users) and PSN. Go buy it, you won't regret the decision. — Available now on Xbox Live, Steam (for Windows users) and the PlayStation Network. Go buy it, you won’t regret the decision.

Thoughts? Comments? Am I full of shit or onto something? Let me know now in the feedback section of this article.

"Children's Movies": The Incredibles

Posted on May 10, 2013 by Colin McMahon

I figured I would conclude a week’s worth of superhero posts by talking about one of my favorite “original” movies from the era: Pixar’s The Incredibles. The reason I put original in quotes is because, for all intents and purposes, The Incredibles basically adapted and made family-friendly the plot of Watchmen. Not that that’s a bad thing. For my money, The Incredibles is the best film version of Watchmen out there. Anyway, I’m not going to go in-depth on this comparison today. That’s not my reason for talking about The Incredibles. I watched this film yesterday and started really thinking about the content. The Incredibles does not have kids as its target audience. Does that mean it’s not a children’s movie: no. Does that mean that kids won’t enjoy it: no. Should you show it to your kids (if you have them): of course, it’s completely appropriate. But the fact remains that The Incredibles tells a far more adult-oriented story than most western animated films.

How many movies aimed at kids open with legal action?

Basic plot rundown for The Incredibles: a family of superheroes in hiding must dawn their masks again to do battle with a new super villain bent on world domination. Doesn’t get more basic than that. Well that may be the plot, but that does not touch the themes of the movie. At its heart, The Incredibles is a commentary on one thing: marriage. I suppose if one wanted to look approach a little closer, the film is essentially the fantastical approach to how a marriage survives a mid-life crisis. Not a theme most kids are fully going to understand.

Bob Parr (Mr. Incredible) is our protagonist and definitely struggling with his sense of self-worth.

So thematically this is not a story about friendship or growing up, this is about what happens after. As such, most of the issues in this film are elaborations on that theme. Sure there are battles as well. Superheroes punch bad guys in the face and cause giant explosions. I know how I’m typing it makes it seem tacked on but it’s not. That’s one of the reasons that I really like The Incredibles. It works on multiple levels. You can watch the movie as nothing more than a high-action superhero romp and you will not be disappointed. Personally I think there is a bit more James Bond than Superman in the film (that might just be because of Michael Giacchino’s soundtack). Again, not a bad thing.

Let’s start with one of the larger subplots and one that may or may not be appropriate for younger viewers: cheating. In the first half of the film, Helen Parr (Elastigirl) is very suspicious that her husband may not be entirely faithful. She openly accuses him of being it later on, but anyway, back to it. This means that we’re dealing with sex in a children’s movie (gasp). You may say I’m reaching here, that while Bob might lie, there is no implication of sex or other sexual behavior in the movie. Really then, let’s look at the opening prologue:

I may have a dirty mind but I don’t think that’s just playful banter. There’s one or two things implied. But it’s not just this time either. In the last third of the movie, once the villain Syndrome has captured the family (he is holding them in his anti-gravity field) he makes a very lewd gesture once he realizes that Dash and Violet are Mr. Incredible’s kids. Let me clarify: it is lewd to adults but subtle enough that children might not notice, this movie is clever like that. Really writer/director Brad Bird should be commended for his use of subtly in this movie.

Finding another woman's hair on his clothes takes on a whole other level with age. — Finding another woman’s hair on his clothes takes on a whole other level to older audience members.

So the theme of mid-life crisis vs. marriage rears its head in this suspicion of adultery. Of course Bob is not cheating on Helen, the only reason for his suspicious behavior comes from the fact he is lying to her about his superhero life and work. I guess that’s better?

He's not cheating. He's just choking her! — He’s not cheating. He’s just choking her!

What other problems become part of a mid-life crisis outside of marriage. Death for one. Mr. Incredible has reached the age where people he knows are starting to die. In this case, they are not natural deaths. Again here comes the cleverness of Brad Bird and The Incredibles. It also ties back into the comparison to Watchmen. In both movies, someone is killing a lot of heroes.

A lot of good people die in this film. It handles it in the least jarring method possible.

Bob Parr is trying to hang onto his past while it’s being removed. He has reached the point where his old life is over (he doesn’t see his old friends outside of Frozone cause well – they aren’t around anymore) and his new life is going on. In typical mid-life crisis fashion, he is unsatisfied with it. What is his new life: marriage. It all comes back around. It is only when the two are brought together that our protagonist truly understands the strengths of his married life and the weaknesses of his role as a superhero.

I find this to be the scariest and most intense images in the movie. It also nicely symbolizes the dangers of being a superhero AND a parent. — I find this to be the scariest and most intense image in the movie. It also nicely symbolizes the dangers of being a superhero AND a parent.

I know it may seem like I’m trying to make The Incredibles out as too adult for children but I’m not. This is a great family film. I don’t think it should be condemned for approaching more adult material, I think it should be emulated. Western animation could use more films like this one. Movies that can be enjoyed by everyone but ring truer to the older members of the household. I mean think about it, if this movie was live action, it would have been rated PG-13, not simply PG. Western culture has a view that animated cartoons and their subsequent movies can only be for kids. Brad Bird has stated he does not hold with this view: “the point is, animation is not a genre. It is a method of storytelling. People are constantly analyzing it and misanalysing it as if it is a genre. It isn’t a genre. It can do horror films, it can do adult comedies if it wanted to, it could do fairy tales, it could do science fiction, it could do musicals, it could mystery, it can do anything.”

It's all fun and games until you realize he is shooting at a teenage girl. — It’s all fun and games until you realize he is shooting at a teenage girl.

Yeah, I love The Incredibles and Brad Bird’s other Pixar film, Ratatouille, primarily for that reason. He is not a man who thinks animation is just for the family. Is The Incredibles appropriate for all ages: sure. Was it written only to be fun for kids: no. There is a very well done and very adult script driving this film.

Seriously watch this movie if you haven't seen it already. One of the best from the Golden Age of Pixar. — Seriously watch this movie if you haven’t seen it already. One of the best from the Golden Age of Pixar. Seriously, why is *Finding Nemo* getting a sequel before this?

Thoughts? Comments? Am I full of shit or onto something? Let me know now in the feedback section of this article.

Month: May 2013