Many movies, to compete in a very competitive market, market their films in ways that go beyond the traditional. For instance, for 2010’s “Tron: Legacy” the makers of the film had a campaign that led the inquisitive to FlynnLives.com and as a reward let them see a light cycle before the general public.
I don’t want to imply that “Tron: Legacy” is the only film that has used viral marketing because movies from “The Dark Knight Rises” to “The Amazing Spider-Man” and many others have also used them.
Done correctly, they can help make the difference between a movie being a success, or a failure.
Guillermo Del Toro’s “Pacific Rim” is also following this route. So far, a faux news bulletin and two wallpapers (that fit an iPad perfectly) have been released.
I spent all last Thursday as an extra on Netflix’s upcoming series, House of Cards (an Americanized version of a British series), and had a great time.
Prior to “House of Cards,” I worked as a policeman on “The Dark Knight Rises” (TDKR).
You would think, since TDKR had a massive budget compared to “House of Cards” that it would have been better in terms of amenities, but strangely enough, it wasn’t (though that may have had something to do with TDKR being filmed on Wall Street, and the massive number of extras used on that particular film).
Both productions, as far as I could tell, treated us well, though I thought that we were especially well-treated by the ‘Cards’ staff.
“House of Cards” (HoC) was budged around $100 million dollars for 26 episodes (which isn’t much when you consider that HBO paid $50 million for the pilot of “Boardwalk Empire” alone ). It didn’t pay that well, though you don’t work as an extra (that’s not a member of SAG–the Screen Actors Guild) for the money.
That being said, the food was plentiful, and quite good, and the waiting area was air-conditioned; which is a very good thing when the temperature is somewhere in the upper Eighties.
For me, not quite the event that was “The Avengers,” but a must-see nonetheless (plus, I always go to these things with the hope that I appear for a second on screen–I was an extra on this film–as unlikely as that is in this particular case).
Last Saturday I was part of the filming of “The Dark Knight Rises,” code named “Magnus Rex,” in New York. I played one of 600 Gotham City policemen who had just escaped from being trapped in Gotham’s subway system by Bane.
No pictures were allowed, though I recall enough of the 13 hours I worked that I can do a writeup in the new few days or so.
