I'm proud to say that as August 18th grows closer, I've had snakes on the brain. Why's that? Well, unless you have been actually living in a cave for the past year, you know that Snakes on a Plane hits theaters nationwide in mid-August. Why the excitement? Is it because I'm excited to see movie camp at its finest? Hell yes! Is it because the movie stars Samuel L. Mutha-Effin' Jackson? Of course! But the real reason I'm excited for the movie (at least for the purpose of this blog) is because it firmly cements what critics have been observing and noting for the past year: Bloggers are one hell of a focus group.
Initially sounding like a movie pitch from hell, Snakes on a Plane is exactly what it sounds like: deadly and venomous snakes are released aboard a flight in order to kill someone who has witnessed a mob whacking, and it's up to Samuel L. Mutha-Effin' Jackson to save the day. Normally a movie of this caliber would experience the success and critical acclaim of, say, some God-awful Rob Schneider flick. During pre-preduction, however, something beautiful happened. Bloggers took note of this soon-to-be camp classic, and they got excited.
Thus, the Snakes on a Plane phenomenon began. Fake posters. Blogs. Snake fever had officially hit the Internet. Producers noticed quite quickly and took advantage of the free publicity, keeping the working title of the movie (it was initially going to be changed to Pacific Air Flight 121), adding cool lines for Samuel L. Mutha-Effin' Jackson, and changing the movie from a PG-13 to a boobs-and-gore-friendly R rating. The movie's official website features a "Fan Site of the Week" and "Snakes on MySpace." It seems as if the whole of the Internet has Snakes on a Plane-ia.
Obviously there are scores of criticism about the movie's evolution. An Esquire feature written by Chuck Klosterman maintains that
"Snakes on a Plane is an unabashed attempt at prefab populism, and (maybe) this gimmick will work once. But it won't keep working, and it will almost certainly make filmmaking worse....[it] is like the Wikipedia version of a movie."
I have issues with this argument. In my opinion, taking advantage of online buzz and adjusting the scope of a movie or television show according to bloggers' opinions are no different than showing test screenings in order to gauge the audience's reaction. Wait, it is different: it's not forced and it's cheaper. Producers are tapping into a reservoir of genuine demographics who don't feel as if they have to criticize the movie simply because they were invited to or expected to do so by some studio bigwig. It's the ultimate form of eavesdropping.
Another great example of the impact of the Internet as a test audience is Television Without Pity. The site offers up exhaustively thorough (yet consistently hilarious) recaps of several TV shows' latest episodes, and the writers feel no qualms about bashing a particular episode, character, or plotline, no matter how beloved or critically acclaimed the show may be. You better believe that the shows' writers paid attention. In an article titled "Revolt With a Remote", it was noted that show creaters Aaron Sorkin, Judd Apatow, and Ryan Murphy all admitted to peeking in on TWoP's message boards to see how their shows' fans are reacting. Another article, "No Pity", points out that:
Like it or not, it looks like these Internet-born focus groups are here to stay. In the meantime, I'll see you in line for Snakes on a Plane."It is now standard
Hollywood practice for executive producers (known in trade argot as ''show runners'') to scurry into Web groups moments after an episode is shown on the East Coast. Sure, a good review in the print media is important, but the boards, by definition, are populated by a program's core audience — many thousands of viewers who care deeply about what direction their show takes."
Wewt!
Kevin Smith used a big-ol internet marketing for his latest, Clerks 2. The first 10,000 members to friend moobysclerks2 got their names in the credits. Those 10,000 spots filled up in THREE HOURS. Now, Smith, who maintains the blog Silent Bob Speaks says that ANYONE and EVERYONE who adds Mooby to their friends list will have their name added to the DVD credits.
Hurrah MySpace, you putrid cesspool of early-adopter emotards and attention whores. NGRAH.
The following words confused me... "wewt!" "Mooby" "moobyclerks2" "emotards" "NGRAH"
I think that means my name won't be in the credits :(
NGRAH 2 U.
I think Kat was hittin' the sauce a little too hard at lunch.
First off, I too am counting off the days until the epic movie known as "Snakes on a Plane" comes out. It shall herald a new era in film. (Any SEOers in the Bay Area down for a "SoaP"?)
Additionally, Wikipedia has an excellent overview on the buzz and marketing on Soap.
But somewhat related to this post, I wanted mention an interesting story on Miami Vice and Universal Studio, which I also mentioned on my blog. Excerpt from the original article: Recently Universal Studios did something incredibly smart. One of their representatives contacted Chris Thilk. Chris runs the blog Movie Marketing Madness, which, as the name suggests, covers all things movie marketing.... ... After Chris makes his announcement that Universal has contacted him, bloggers run with the story. Within 48 hours, upwards of 15 other blogs had linked to MMM, Universal, and Miami Vice. Effectively, these bloggers had created a spontaneous marketing campaign for not only Miami Vice, but for Universal Studios. All because one rep from one company was smart enough to take 30 minutes out of his day to empower one of his advocates to market for his company.
So 30 min call, generates buzz on Miami Vice and Universal Studio and heck, even link building.
...and Miami Vice was #1 at the box office this past weekend (though I didn't like the movie that much). Good mention!