Movie Marketing Madness: Creative Control

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This wasn’t planned but as I opened the document to write this column I was listening to the Original Broadway Cast recording of “Rent.” In case you haven’t listened in a while, one of the plot threads involves Tom Collins (Jesse L. Martin’s role in the original) being kicked out of MIT for espousing the theory of “actual reality.” Now keep in mind in the early- to mid-90s “virtual reality” was kind of a buzzword as everyone was striving to get outside the limitations of the human mind and body. Of course it was being demonized (because we’re afraid of what we don’t know) in movies like Disclosure and The Lawnmower Man, so Collins’ theory was part of that pushback.

The reason this seemed appropriately coincidental is because the new movie Creative Control is all about the blurring of lines between actual and virtual or augmented reality. The story is set in a near future New York City where a new augmented reality technology is seen as incredibly innovative for bringing messages and experiences to people’s lives. But that comes with a cost and that cost might be the interpersonal relationships many of us hold dear as questions of what constitutes cheating, how we’re *really* connected to each other and when it’s alright to substitute the virtual for the actual world.

The Posters

I love the style and design of the first poster. The face of the main character is shown wearing glasses with some sort of pattern or image on them, implying they’re some sort of “smart” glasses. Meanwhile the top of his head is exploding into shards of glass, with each piece – at least the larger ones – showing someone in them. So it’s clear we’re dealing with some sort of mind-blowing premise here. Below the title treatment is the copy “A story about virtually everything,” which nicely plays around and sets up the basic premise of the film.

The Trailers

The trailer takes the premise and lays it out pretty clearly. A company has created a new virtual reality device that they want to get into the hands of creative people. As he and other people use it, though, it becomes obvious that there are a lot of societal norms that this device will break down. Lovers begin cheating on each other because with this kind of blurring of lines between fantasy and reality it’s no big deal right?

It’s a lot of fun and certainly sells a quirky, interesting film that has a point of view. I like the attempts to play around with what actually constitutes reality and how technology can change how we interact with each other. There’s a lot of good stuff in here.

Online and Social

The movie’s official website is pretty minimal, which isn’t that surprising.

The key art is at the top followed by the trailer and a couple other videos, including trailers for other Magnolia movies. Below that is a rotator of positive quotes about the movie, including one from Woody Allen and some from the press, though there are no links to the longer stories for the latter.

An “About The Film” synopsis along with “Cast & Crew” lists are further down the page. Then there are a handful of stills in the “Photo Gallery along with the poster. Finally there’s a full list of theaters where this will be opening and when, which is nice to have. No information here on when it will be hitting Amazon unfortunately, a likely concession to theatrical partners.

This wasn’t big enough to warrant social network profiles all its own so it hitched a ride on Magnolia’s Facebook and Twitter profiles among others, where it received plenty of promotions in the form of countdowns and more.

Advertising and Cross-Promotions

There were a few online ads run that used the key art. There were also some TV spots that definitely played up the AR aspects of the story, showing this to be all about playing around with reality and being creative in that medium. They’re pretty good but compared to the trailer these only scratch the surface of the what the story seems to be, though that’s kind of understandable.

Media and Publicity

Most of the media and press coverage came from the movie’s premiere at SXSW 2015, where it debuted to positive reviews from people who dug the message and the style of the movie. Later in the year it was purchased by Amazon, who partnered with Magnolia Pictures for theatrical release in advance of hit hitting the streaming service.

The rest of the press was generally around the release of marketing materials and so on.

Overall

If you’ve been exposed to this campaign – or indeed the movie itself – I can imagine you’re at the very least intrigued. This kind of thought experiment is more or less exactly what independent movies are great at doing because they have the latitude to really have some fun with a topic and mess around with that premise.

So what’s being sold here? A smart, funny and interesting movie that asks some questions about how we’re relating to the people around us. While the AR aspect of the story may seem divorced from today’s reality it’s really just a couple of degrees from where we are now with apps and Google Glass and other tools. If the movie, as I’m guessing it does, leans into the part of how that technology really impacts how we form and maintain relationships and doesn’t just focus on the technology itself then this could be very compelling as a cautionary tale.