Ever been con'd by the advertising?
- Thread starter sammi(:
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Nero - HBK fan
New member
I kinda feel like I was conned by Avatar. Not the advertising as such, but by the people involved and those that had access to it before it was released. Cameron's famously said he had to wait ten years for the technology to catch up with his vision, Empire kept saying that this was a complete cinema game-changer, even the man from the Beeb, after seeing a short preview, said it was unlike anything he'd ever seen before and you really did feel like you were in the film and so on. Consequently, I thought this would be a film where the hype was genuinely justified. When I went to watch it, I was expecting something truly spectacular, and that just didn't happen. I know it did for others, but not for me.
I assume the OP was more annoyed about the claims of 'scariest film ever' etc. that adorns the cover of the DVD, rather than the fact it was actually a low budget production.
Whilst I thought Paranormal Activity was a well made film and set out to do what it said on the tin, I personally wouldn't go say far as say it was a five star frightfest but I do think it deserved some of it's praise.
Yes, I've also been conned by the ad men into purchasing films with multi five star ratings on the cover, only to discover the films to be out and out trash - Diary of The Dead for instance is a good example. I love the quote on the front of the DVD 'Frighteningly raw and vivid - OUTSTANDING (4 stars)!' says top movie review magazine Empire. Well, LMAO.
But rule of thumb, don't believe the hype.
Whilst I thought Paranormal Activity was a well made film and set out to do what it said on the tin, I personally wouldn't go say far as say it was a five star frightfest but I do think it deserved some of it's praise.
Yes, I've also been conned by the ad men into purchasing films with multi five star ratings on the cover, only to discover the films to be out and out trash - Diary of The Dead for instance is a good example. I love the quote on the front of the DVD 'Frighteningly raw and vivid - OUTSTANDING (4 stars)!' says top movie review magazine Empire. Well, LMAO.
But rule of thumb, don't believe the hype.
deaththekid
New member
I'd just like to add a few comments in regarRAB to Paranormal Activity's promotion whilst I think of it.
Paranormal Activity was cleverly hyped and a greater part of it's success can be attributed to this. It wasn't peddled out with the traditional dumb, bloated over-hype we usually get with blockbusters, such as Avatar but it was something far more sophisticated.
There is a certain level of deception at work here. Though the film was indeed a small, low budget production, we need to remember that it was supported by a major Hollywood studio. There's certainly nothing wrong with that, many small films are handled by major studios, however, we were lead to believe that this was very much an independent production. I remember the viral marketing campaign that preceded the films release (there was a thread about it on here), you had to petition on some crappy looking website to get this small, low budget, independent, home-made movie a cinema release. Sneaky.
But in fairness, I don't put this entirely down to commercial exploitation but part of it down to design. I think the fact that it was marketed as a low budget film added to it's rawness, any hint of Hollywood glitter would have killed this experience.
Ultimately, I guess what I'm trying to say is we need to be aware that the ad men have evolved, they've finally realised how consumers consume in the digital age. Very soon they'll be flooding P2P file sharing websites with films, creating a buzz on there, then altering the product slightly for a cinema release (maybe changing the ending) to ensure people pay to see it again - oh, I think they've already done that.
Paranormal Activity was cleverly hyped and a greater part of it's success can be attributed to this. It wasn't peddled out with the traditional dumb, bloated over-hype we usually get with blockbusters, such as Avatar but it was something far more sophisticated.
There is a certain level of deception at work here. Though the film was indeed a small, low budget production, we need to remember that it was supported by a major Hollywood studio. There's certainly nothing wrong with that, many small films are handled by major studios, however, we were lead to believe that this was very much an independent production. I remember the viral marketing campaign that preceded the films release (there was a thread about it on here), you had to petition on some crappy looking website to get this small, low budget, independent, home-made movie a cinema release. Sneaky.
But in fairness, I don't put this entirely down to commercial exploitation but part of it down to design. I think the fact that it was marketed as a low budget film added to it's rawness, any hint of Hollywood glitter would have killed this experience.
Ultimately, I guess what I'm trying to say is we need to be aware that the ad men have evolved, they've finally realised how consumers consume in the digital age. Very soon they'll be flooding P2P file sharing websites with films, creating a buzz on there, then altering the product slightly for a cinema release (maybe changing the ending) to ensure people pay to see it again - oh, I think they've already done that.