J.J Abrams "Cloverfield" project.

Barry_Green said:
Glory? There's no "glory" in Cloverfield. And I didn't care for marketing, I went to see it because it had an HVX in it. I went in with no expectations, and what I got was a fun wild ride, that stretched the limits of believability on a few occasions.

It isn't gonna win Oscars. But it was at least different than formulaic Hollywood films, and it was fun.
Click to expand...


My sentiments exactly. :thumbsup:
 
I keep hearing about marketing...Personally, I didn't see much marketing at all.

A year+ ago I saw a preview for this and it piqued my interest. Then, nothing. About 1 month before it was released I saw another preview and that was that. I promised myself to see the movie opening night because I didn't want to know what the ruckus was...I didn't want to know anything. To me, it could have been terroists, aliens, a monster etc. I had NO clue.

It was a very fun movie and was at least good enough to stimulate this thread to reach at least 222 posts. I especially loved the added touch of the epic monster movie music at the end of the credits...brought me back to the days when I was a kid and used to stay up with my 2 older brothers watching the oldies: Godzilla, Gamera, Rodan, King Ghidorah, Mothra etc...

I'm not sure what everybody's expectations were but this was a monster movie pure and simple. And some of us dug it and apparently some of us did not...
 
Last edited:
Rick Meyer said:
I'm not sure what everybody's expectations were but this was a monster movie pure and simple. And some of us dug it and apparently some of us did not...
Click to expand...

This is true. I had some fun taking the ride, but wasn't thrilled or tickled silly. I'm sure the sequel (and there will be one) will hit it out of the park like Blair Witch II: Electric Bugaloo. :) That last part is suppose to be sarcastic.
 
Barry_Green said:
Glory? There's no "glory" in Cloverfield. And I didn't care for marketing, I went to see it because it had an HVX in it. I went in with no expectations, and what I got was a fun wild ride, that stretched the limits of believability on a few occasions.

It isn't gonna win Oscars. But it was at least different than formulaic Hollywood films, and it was fun.
Click to expand...

Barry,

Same for me! Curious about another HVX movie...

Don't care if it was good or bad, just about the HVX!
 
Sprocketboy said:
Cloverfield has proven again that Hollywood belongs to Marketers. Not studios or filmmakers. This movie was a big joke on all of us. Some people don't want to let go of the fact that they were duped to go watch a mediocre movie, so they continue to praise its glory.

I can't argue the point that marketing does work.
Click to expand...

I sell 3,500 videos a month about worm farming for $99.00 each... Marketing is the key :)
 
Barry_Green said:
It isn't gonna win Oscars. But it was at least different than formulaic Hollywood films, and it was fun.
Click to expand...

I hate to correct you on this Barry, but it is a formula. Blair Witch Project, hand-held, found videotape, etc. Take that formula and merge that with Godzilla, or any other giant monster rampaging through the city concept with a dash of TV drama and you got...

Hollywood only builds on the success of others, rarely on risk.

I also checked out the movie for the use of the HVX.
 
We can argue that everything is a formula nowadays. Almost every movie obeys the basic structure of 3 acts. Does this make every movie that obeys a certain structure mediocre? Following this line of tought, only "Video art"movies would be considered superior films.

I agree with Barry's POV. Actually went to see the movie for the HVX, too. Never got into the viral marketing stuff.

And I was skeptical to go watch the movie. I knew it was a monster movie, and that premise in itself was not at all attractive for me. But I was proven wrong. It was a very entertaining movie. Just like a roller coaster ride. A much superior film to the recent remakes of Godzila and King-Kong, and, as a disaster movie, it works a heck of a lot better than the pretentious garbage of movies like Day After Tomorrow, or, in another note, Transformers.
 
Sprocketboy said:
I hate to correct you on this Barry, but it is a formula. Blair Witch Project, hand-held, found videotape, etc. Take that formula and merge that with Godzilla, or any other giant monster rampaging through the city concept with a dash of TV drama and you got...
Click to expand...

So, there's only ever been one movie even close to like this, ten years ago, and now it's a formula? (Well, OK, technically two movies, but I didn't even remember there'd been a Blair Witch 2 until I IMDB'd the first one. ) Not to mention that there really hasn't been an American monster movie since, well, Emmerich's Godzilla, also ten years ago; and there hasn't been an American monster movie that didn't suck since... well, hell, maybe there's never been one of those. :D

The other thing about Cloverfield that is definitely not Hollywood formula is that fact that it doesn't over-explain itself; or, indeed, explain itself at all. They could probably have gotten away with telling us more via talking heads on TV's, but they didn't want to, and so they resisted that temptation and kept it purposefully vague.

Jesus, I can't believe I'm defending a movie that made me nauseous. :D
 
Sprocketboy said:
I hate to correct you on this Barry, but it is a formula. Blair Witch Project, hand-held, found videotape, etc. Take that formula and merge that with Godzilla, or any other giant monster rampaging through the city concept with a dash of TV drama and you got...

Hollywood only builds on the success of others, rarely on risk.

I also checked out the movie for the use of the HVX.
Click to expand...

The hollywood formula was explained to me like this.

Make the same thing but different.
 
Barry_Green said:
Nope, Blair Witch 2 was a stock formulaic thing, no "found footage" or anything.
Click to expand...

The only time found footage was used since BW are in 3 movies I can recall: 8mm, Vacancy and most recently George Romero's Diary of the Dead. I could probably come up with a half a dozen more if I looked into it. But, since BW, lots of films exploited the found footage concept in different ways.

Making a story, beginning to end, from found footage can only be experienced in two films: Blair Witch and Cloverfield.

I'm not here to argue with anyone, but the truth is, marketing played a big part in getting the general public to see the film. The numbers prove it. After the 2nd week attendance dropped dramatically. At least they made 74 million after spending 22.

I'm not trying to say Cloverfield stunk the place up like a rotting corpse. It was engaging at times and nothing more. I didn't walk out of the theater with a bulge in my pants. :D
 
Excellent marketing can get people into the theaters, but it can't make them vote highly for a film. 51,000+ people have voted for cloverfield on the IMDB, and they've given it an average of 7.9.

There are people who don't like it. Fine. That does not make it a bad film, as it sure seems like a lot of people enjoyed it.

Marketing did obviously play a big role; Cloverfield did $46 million in its opening weekend which sets a record for this type of film. Yes business dropped off significantly for the second weekend. Is that because of "bad word of mouth"? (the IMDB evidence would seem to contradict that theory). Or was it simply because most everyone who wanted to see it, saw it that first weekend? I find that more likely.

In any case: it was fun, it was different, it's a film that topped the box office with *no* recognizable actors in it... I don't get why people have such a problem with it.
 
i think much of the drop of came from theaters posting signs like this
450px-Cloverfieldwarning.jpg

i seen some theater having "no refunds" signs as well.

I know people who get motion sickness easily like my older brother can't get on a boat car or plane with out sickness so it could have something to do with it. or the people who wanted to see it saw and those who didn't, didn't .
 
spidey said:
I know people who get motion sickness easily like my older brother can't get on a boat car or plane with out sickness so it could have something to do with it. or the people who wanted to see it saw and those who didn't, didn't .
Click to expand...

The Bourne Ultimatum is notorious for its hand-held camera work. Even the editor of the film, Christopher Rouse, said it was difficult for him to watch the film in a theater unless he was sitting way in the back. The director, Paul Greengrass, uses the hand-held documentary technique consistently. His movie Bloody Sunday makes heavy use of it.

Lets not forget any Tony Scott film or the movie, 28 Weeks Later.

One of the Love Fest entries (I *ucking hate you) makes excellent use of this technique. My hat's off to Zak.
 
Barry_Green said:
Excellent marketing can get people into the theaters, but it can't make them vote highly for a film. 51,000+ people have voted for cloverfield on the IMDB, and they've given it an average of 7.9.

There are people who don't like it. Fine. That does not make it a bad film, as it sure seems like a lot of people enjoyed it.

Marketing did obviously play a big role; Cloverfield did $46 million in its opening weekend which sets a record for this type of film. Yes business dropped off significantly for the second weekend. Is that because of "bad word of mouth"? (the IMDB evidence would seem to contradict that theory). Or was it simply because most everyone who wanted to see it, saw it that first weekend? I find that more likely.

In any case: it was fun, it was different, it's a film that topped the box office with *no* recognizable actors in it... I don't get why people have such a problem with it.
Click to expand...

Barry,

I'm still trying to figure out if it was a good movie that everyone wanted to see and did so the first week or if word of mouth killed it for BO sales...

I do like the story and think for an old timer like me I'd enjoy it more on a 32" TV and not a 120 foot screen...

Paramount has started production on Cloverfield 2... I'm worried about it, all the myspace / youtube marketing won't work this time around... What are your thought on Cloverfield 2?

Rob Hawkins never accepted me as a myspace friend, I'm a little bitter about it...
 
Last edited:
spidey said:
i think much of the drop of came from theaters posting signs like this
450px-Cloverfieldwarning.jpg

i seen some theater having "no refunds" signs as well.

I know people who get motion sickness easily like my older brother can't get on a boat car or plane with out sickness so it could have something to do with it. or the people who wanted to see it saw and those who didn't, didn't .
Click to expand...

This is almost as good as that pic :)

http://www.webmd.com/news/20080122/whats-behind-cloverfield-illness?ecd=wnl_day_012908

Sorry for posting so much in this thread...
 
One of my friends got sick the first time he went to watch it and missed a good chunk of the movie. The second time he went he took some Gravol so he wouldn't get sick and spent another good chunk of the film sleeping.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top