This week we conducted a workshop with an independent film production company with regard to developing an online marketing strategy for their upcoming production. (More on this in future blogs)

While conducting our research prior to the workshop it struck me that the internet, and its potential for innovation, has been under-utilised by the smaller independent production companies in this industry to get a leap on the big players. Having said that there are some notable examples of innovative use of internet to generate hype, awareness and to build community around movies. (By big and small players)

Read the Wired article for more on Indie use of the web (we covered one below)

Below are some good examples from Mainstream and Indie productions:

1. Snakes on a Plane: This movie was perhaps the first to make extensive use of the web. Fans were given access to a Wiki where they could contribute to the script, fans also created posters and short movies online. This created significant hype before the movie was launched. IN addition a telephone campaign was launched where fans could send a semi-personalised message from Samual L Jackson to a number of their choosing.

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2. Cloverfield: More recently the movie Cloverfieldwas supported by an internet campaign that sought to play out the story of the movie in the online world. Characters on the movie had their own blogs that were updated to correspond with important dates in the movie. Fictional products used in the movie were given their own corporate websites and fans were even asked to provide feedback for the development of new products. News postings were also put on YouTube to cover some of the major events in the movie. This was an extremely clever way to build up the sense of anticipation about the movie and was a truly immersive campaign for fans.
The movie also made use of more mainstream ideas such as widgets with embedded video, which were used to create a viral campaign, allowing fans to post the widget on their webpages, blogs and social networking pages.
http://www.moviemarketingmadness.com/blog/2008/01/17/movie-marketing-madness-cloverfield/

http://www.cloverfieldmovie.com/

Created websites:
http://www.slusho.jp/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KarNwKx5mGY

http://jamieandteddy.com/

3. Starwreck - Finnish director Timo Vuorensola released a Star Trek/Babylon 5 spoof on his Web site in 2005.
Star Wreck proved to be the beginning of a journey into related short films, fan productions, chat boards, and a role-playing game. Between sales of DVDs, merchandise, and TV rights, the franchise netted upwards of $400,000 — enough to fund his next movie.

See http://www.starwreck.com/ for more

Do you have any good examples to share? Contribute your thoughts in the comments box below.