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2012: Cliff Notes

September 30, 2009 By

ThisIsTheEnd has a terrific summary of all the happenings from the viral arena knows as 2012. And here they are!


The Institute for Human Continuity (otherwise known as The IHC): Know the world is ending in 2012, and working to “preserve a small population” so humanity doesn’t go extinct. They’re running an election for the Leader of the Post-2012 World and some kind of Survival Lottery. They have a website, a YouTube channel, a Facebook group, and Twitter.


Dr. Soren Ulfert, PhD: Was the Communications Director at the IHC. They say he quit, but he says he got fired… Given the voice mails he got before he left, I’m inclined to believe his story. He’s working with Corruption Theory, but we’ll get to that in a second. Doc Ulfert is on Twitter, and he has a blog and a YouTube channel.


Corruption Theory (CT): A shadowy blog run by a shadowy person. Mr/Ms Corruption Theory thought they’d uncovered evidence of rampant embezzlement or corruption at work, and was reassigned for asking too many questions. There’s a Corruption Theory blog, but nada besides that.


Charlie Frost: That’s me! I’m an innocent bystander here, just like you. I love to watch the fireworks, though, don’t you? You can find me here at my blog, or on Twitter or my YouTube channel.


Here’s where it gets interesting. Right before Soren was fired, he got a threatening phone call from some guy who told him not to talk about a “Project Naaczaal.” But Soren had never heard of it. Then this Corruption Theory dude found a reference to Naaczaal while trying to get proof of dirty dealings at work. Pretty much everybody realized there must be a connection there and linked them up.


Then, last week, CT intercepted a secret document related to Naaczaal. CT has found evidence that there will be more files changing hands that way in the days to come. Soren’s working with CT to put the dates and places up on some sort of IHC PSA system he’s still got access to… and they want your help.


That’s where you come in, boys and girls. Keep a sharp eye out for the dates and times so you can snag one of the docs if a drop spot is near you. (And then tell us all what you’ve found.)



And on top of all of this, he summarizes all of the phone calls that we have discussed here and here.


This can be taken a couple of ways. One, they know the movie is getting close and there are a lot of viral sites, so what better way to take care of this than to place them all in one spot.

OR! As mentioned in Soren’s blog, and Charlie’s, there will be a hack, and we will have more viral to add to the mix. I for one am up to the gills in 2012 viral. I can’t keep track of all of it.


What do you think? Too much? Would you like to see more? Let us know what you think. You can do it here or in our wonderful community.

2012 opens nationwide on November 13th.


P.S. – Thank you Charlie Frost for doing what I was too lazy to do myself.

Filed Under: Viral Marketing Tagged With:

Farewell Atlantis is on Facebook and Releases Tomorrow

September 30, 2009 By

Thanks to our fictional friend Soren Ulfert, we now know that Farewell Atlantis, the faux novel written by character Jackson Curtis (John Cusack), has an official Facebook fan page. Right now there are only 78 fans, so be sure to add the page! The page, apparently created at the beginning of the month, seems to be updated by Curtis, mostly talking about the promotional tour for the book and how it’s effecting his personal life. Nothing really new or captivating on the page yet, but we’ll keep an eye out. His last update is: “Leaving on the book tour in one week. Dates and places up in the air. Much chaos.” We’ll have to see if this much talked about book tour leads to something.


Farewell Atlantis



The novel, set in the year 2012 against a backdrop of cosmological speculation and apocalyptic Mayan prophecy, is scheduled to release tomorrow (October 1st), but don’t run to your bookstore at midnight just yet. Despite all the viral hoopla about the book, it does not look to exist in real life (based on the fact its publisher is fictional) . How sad. It could have given us more info on the film. For more information on the novel, check out its official site.


What do you think of the Farewell Atlantis Facebook fan page? 2012 opens nationwide November 13th, 2009. For more information on the film and its viral campaign, see our newly updated 2012 Page.

Filed Under: Viral Marketing Tagged With:

Viral Review: 9

September 30, 2009 By

Shane Acker’s 9 has been in theaters for a couple weeks now (read my review here). The viral has since died down, so it looks like it’s about time to review it.


Sites used:

Scientist’s Facebook

Scientist’s laboratory


9′s viral campaign initially kicked off back in mid-June with the scientist’s Facebook page, as well as an interactive viral site that showed you around his laboratory.

Periodically, new clues and hints would pop up in his lab that would reveal new secrets within. One of these were the letters in ‘hope’ sprawled across the lab, which, when clicked on, would give you a symbol that you would then enter into his typewriter, giving you an exclusive interview/clip from the movie. These little things, while nice, were all the viral really did. There was nothing more to it than just some little cast interviews and extended clips that were already in the trailers.


9



A few days before the movie released, however, a site was found off of 9experiment that let you save a ‘talisman’ for the future, should any life forms find it. In said talisman, you left pictures of yourself along with a block of text with your memories and/or hopes for the future, along with whatever else you had in mind. A cool feature, but still lacking anything majorly ‘viral’.


Did the sites play into the movie at all?

If you followed any of these sites prior to seeing the movie, you will have a better, while still minimal, understanding of the backstory and universe in this movie. The sites are never mentioned (as expected), but in the scenes where you’re in the scientist’s lab, there are definitely things strewn about that one might recognize from his lab site. Other than that, nothing is really connected from viral to film.


Final Grade: C-


How can something be present and absent at the same time? What did you think of the viral campaign for 9? The film is currently in theaters.

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Surrogates Viral Review

September 29, 2009 By

As we reported yesterday, Surrogates opened this weekend to poor results, despite my glowing review. One of the points I brought up was how Disney/Touchstone Pictures dropped the ball in terms of marketing. Obviously the awareness of the film was low, and there are many things that contributed to that. However, I think more attention to their viral campaign (if we can even call it that) could have made a difference. Here is my review for Surrogates’ viral campaign.


The viral campaign for Surrogates began and ended with only one website, ChooseYourSurrogate.com, created by the digital creative agency The Visionaire Group. The site started as a direct homepage for Virtual Self Industries (VSI), the company that manufacturers and sells the surrogates we see in the film. Although the main page was converted to the film’s official website during the summer, you can still find VSI’s homepage here. The page isn’t too complex, just going over the general concept of surrogacy, and giving a nice simple tour of VSI. It’s well designed and very futuristic. It looks extremely authentic to the film.


Like I said, the direct link turned into the official’s homepage, so some of the fun went out the door right there. It also doesn’t help that the site was barely updated no other websites were created. From the looks of things, Disney created the one page and called it a night. This is not uncommon, as we saw Angels & Demons only have one viral web page. What is upsetting in regards to Surrogates in particular is that there was so much potential for viral content.


Surrogates



Surrogates has lot of backstory that it has to glance over in the film. A full-fledged viral campaign would have been a great opportunity to explore the history that led up to surrogacy being common place. The alternative history of the anti-surrogacy groups would be even more interesting. I could easily see the interaction between VSI and the dreads (as the groups are called) being as captivating as the Tidowave-Tagruato relationship from the Cloverfield viral or the Christopher-MNU relationship in the District 9 campaign.


Sure, the marketing for the film included creepy/captivating posters and images, not to mention a random fake newspaper article/ad in the UK, but one of the biggest mistakes Disney made was Comic-Con. They poored all their money and resources into the Tron: Legacy events, but didn’t do a single thing for Surrogates. They could have at least had a VSI booth or something!


Surrogates



In the end, only one cool website and failed oppurtunities doomed the Surrogates viral campaign and ultimately the film itself.


Final Grade: C-


Surrogates is in theaters now. For more information on the film and it’s viral campaign, click here.

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2012: Soren Ulfert Needs Your Help Hacking into the IHC!

September 29, 2009 By

Looks like Soren Ulfert, formerly of the IHC, has finally found a purpose to his life after being abruptly fired from his position as Communications Director. As we reported before, Mr. Ulfert created his own blog, where he has now posted a new video, titled “Wheels Within Wheels“, after trying to figure out what to do with his life. Check out the video below:





Ulfert talks about CorruptionTheory.com and it’s webmaster, who Ulfert has been in contact with. Apparently they are working together to get information from the IHC about why he was fired and what the IHC is trying to cover up. They’ll be using us to help them get that information. More details will come later of course.


This sounds very intriguing. I’m looking forward to seeing what we will be doing to help. The great thing about this 2012 viral is how interactive it is. There’s a story being told, but we are part of it. I hope they are able to tie all the viral threads together at the end, because they all seem to be heading in the same direction.


On another note, it’s Ulfert’s birthday, so be sure to wish him a Happy Birthday on Twitter!


2012 opens nationwide in theaters on November 13th, 2009. For more information on the 2012 viral campaign and the film itself, check out our recently updated 2012 Page.

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Surrogates Flops At Box Office

September 28, 2009 By

The official box office returns are in for the weekend, and it looks like there ain’t nothing like the real thing. Surrogates flopped with a three day pull of only $14.9 million, coming in second place behind Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, which pulled in $25 million in its second week. For a action film with a $80 million budget, that’s not good for Disney, who owns Touchstone Pictures, the studio behind the Bruce Willis film.


Why the poor results? The critical reception of the film was harsh, with the film only earning a 38% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. If you read my review, you’ll know I disagree with most of the critics, though I understand some of their points. The film is a bit moody and cliche, but I didn’t find those elements distracting enough for me not to enjoy the film.


Surrogates



You could also blame the failure on people not really understanding the concept the film. When I told people I went to see Surrogates this weekend, almost everyone asked me, “Oh, yeah, what’s that about again?”, even though the trailers are pretty clear about the premise.


Probably one of the biggest follies by Disney was it’s marketing of the film. The viral site ChooseYourSurrogate.com went nowhere, and public awareness for the film was very low, despite those creepy bus-stop posters (seen above) all over the place. I’ll have a complete review of the viral for Surrogates tomorrow.


Hopefully this doesn’t mean Disney will stop trying to make interesting films like this. However, Michael Bay’s The Island flopped, and everyone came out of that OK. Why do you think Surrogates did so bad?

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FlashForward: Add Your Experience and Join The Mosaic

September 28, 2009 By

What’s going to happen on April 29th, 2010? This is the question that the site“Join the Mosaic” poses and asks you to contribute your “experience” in the viral site for ABC’s new show FlashForward.


The first episode aired last week and is tipped to be the next Lost. In fact, you may even have noticed nods to the show including an Oceanic billboard seen in the background. In order to meet that accolade, it also has to have a viral site worthy of the excellent Dharma Initiative campaign. Well, here it is.
 

Flash Forward



The Mosaic is so called as it is a site that has been set up to collect everyone’s flash forward of that day and put together a clear picture of the events that will happen on April 29th.  The site itself includes video testimonials and images and looks set to expand over the season. Check it out and let us know if you see anything of note.


Flash Forward



Flash forward has also gained a second viral site which seems more anti-establishment.  Truth Hack is a blog site for award-winning journalist Oscar Obregan. Oscar is blogging about the G.B.O. the global black out and seems to be in contact with several interesting anonymous sources. The site also includes vlogs from Oscar as well as interviews with people and their FlashForward. I particularly love this story from the site.


What did you think of the opener? Will you keep watching it with the deluge of new shows out this fall? I liked it and will keep up with it, but let us know what you think!

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Heroes: The Carnival Comes To Town

September 27, 2009 By

The third episode of Heroes season 4 starts tomorrow night and with it comes a new ARG. NBC and Sprint have teamed up to give you a true interactive experience during tomorrow night’s show, as well a new website centered around the Sullivan Brothers carnival. The new website has been created for the occasion with signs left in the stands informing when the attraction will open up. The attractions are staggered over a couple of weeks, so it will be interesting to see what each week will bring in terms of games and the secrets they hide. Exclusive online webisodes can be seen revolving around the carnival.


Heroes



There are new interactive stories to read including one retelling Tracy’s adventures in the gap between season 3 and 4, as well as the latest novel which centers around Hiro’s recent visit to the Sullivan brothers carnival. Next up in the list is a sweepstakes, with everyone’s favourite prize……money! By playing the heroes interactive story starting on the 28th, you can take the prize and walk away with $25,000 in your pocket!


Perhaps the two greatest features are the interactive SMS campaign that runs live in conjunction with the episodes and the Heroes ARG: Survival. The interactive game has already started, but there is plenty of time to catch up. The first step is to create your own character; a hero with their own ability who has to deal with the challenges presented in everyday life and learning to live with their new abilities. The game seems pretty cool and will evolve over time with the promise of creating new factions, encouraging you to pick a side and decide whether you want to be “Hero“ or a “Villain”.


Heroes



Last, but definitely not least, is the interactive SMS experience that goes live tomorrow for episode 3. By texting HPLAY to 62288 you will sign up for SMS texts during the show. Every episode you will get texts throughout the show with character bios, trivia questions, real-time polls and insider facts. He clues given throughout will unlock an as yet un-revealed mystery


So, if you’re a Heroes fan, remember to sign up and follow the campaign on text and online. If you find anything interesting during tomorrows episode or on the website, remember to share in our comments section below.

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From the Forum: Kris Interview Spoof

September 27, 2009 By

We at MovieViral have a great community on our forum. We have people from all over the world, of all ages, races, sex, and species. Well, maybe not that last one, unless you believe forum member Kris to be a prawn. Check out this video he created (with my help), using a clip from the District 9 trailer. Forum members will get the most kick out this, but I think it’s something everyone can enjoy.





What did you think? Leave a message in the comments below!

Filed Under: Site News

What IF: Se7en

September 26, 2009 By

It’s 1995, and all that anyone is talking about is Se7en. This film, like so many before and after it stunned the audience with its twist ending. People still talk about it to this day and after the question recently put to me by Nick about cult classics during our recent podcast, this film popped in to my head. I’ve been itching to do a What IF: and I hope I can do it justice.

The film follows 2 cops, Detective Somerset played by Morgan Freeman, and Detective David Mills played by Brad Pitt. Mills has been drafted in as Somerset’s replacement and as partners they investigate a gruesome homicide. As the film continues and the bodies pile up, each death more gruesome than the previous one it becomes apparent that they are dealing with the murders of a serial killer.


After the lack luster Alien 3, David Fincher had decided to take things easy, but when the script was dropped through his door, he read through it and found himself drawn in to the intricate web created be writer Andrew Kevin Walker. The film was marketed more as an indie film than a blockbuster, but quickly outgrew this as the word spread. The film did not get the awards it perhaps deserved, but is now seen as a true “cult” classic.


Author’s Note: The websites contained in this article are meant to be fictional websites. They may or may not be active, as they have not been checked. MovieViral bares no responsibility for the potential content on these sites.


Website 1: www.Joespizzapieshop.com, the “No. 1” Pizza pie shop (Gluttony).
The first website in the Se7en viral, a pizza pie shop, meant to represent the first sin, gluttony, represented by food. The user will be able to look over the menu of a new pizza shop, opening soon, and should they click on the flagship pizza, the “over-indulgence”, they will come across the first in a series of case-notes collated by Morgan Freeman’s character Somerset. They will also learn that this website represents the sin Gluttony.


 

Website 2: www.Onlythatwilldo.com, be “ahead” of the crowd and make your friends jealous (Envy).
A website that vows to make your friends jealous with the must have gadgets of the year. It will allow the viewer to see the “must haves” of the season. The site will feature a toys section and will feature a “my little monster” type of toy, called the “green eyed monster”. Clicking on this item will reveal Somerset’s second file on the serial killings, focusing on the sin Envy.


Website 3: www.haveagoodsleep.com, the “first” stop to forty winks (Sloth).
Have a good sleep will be an online bed shop for all you sleeping needs. It will have several beds available, but selecting the HOLTS bed will reward the user with the definition of Sloth and some more case notes from Somerset.


Website 4: www.Naomissensualshop.com, the “beginning” of your sensual awakening (Lust).
Naomi’s sensual shop’s website represents an online catalog of “alternative” evening wear and aids.
The user will be looking for the specially named clothing range called the “Aphrodisia” line, revealing previous case studies of serial killers compiled by Somerset.


Website 5: www.Darcymodelsagency.com, the “premier” model agency (Pride).
The premier model agency site in California, Darcy Models Agency will include a full repertoire of models on their books. Clicking on each one of the models will show a short bio, and when the user gets to the model named “Desire” they will see the fifth set of Somerset’s notes all about the sin Pride. 


Website 6: www.outragereachout.com, anger management for those that lose their heads too “early” (Wrath).
An anger management class ran in the L.A. area, this will give information on past attendants. The site will have pages of techniques used in the class, and appraisals for those that have attended. When the user clicks on the “contact us” button, they will get access to the bio of David Mills that will include detailed information on his wife and his movements. Once the participant has seen the movie, they will realize that this was in fact John Doe’s notes that he compiled to kidnap Mill’s wife, rather than a bio of the character.

Website 7: An investment site representing greed www.Eliinvestements.com, the “primary” number of investment (Greed).
Eli investments, named after the Greed victim will be an investment website that will promise to triple your money. It will lure the participant in, promising a lot of return for little outlay. There will of course be no financial outlay, but there will be a phone number set up, which when called will give the final clue to the end game website for those who have not yet figured it out.


Website 8: www.johndoe.com, the reveal site
a website made up of the first letters of the previous 7 websites. This will be the reveal website and will let the user watch the trailer before anyone else.


Hope you enjoyed this week’s What IF? The film is an amazing cult classic and I’m sure the viral would have been just as good. What do you think?

Filed Under: Viral Marketing Tagged With: ,
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