1. In what ways does Catfish highlight the dangers of social networking?
The 2010 documentary ‘Catfish’ is a very good representation of how social networking can be manipulated in suspicious and often dangerous ways.
2. From a technical perspective, was Angelas’s ruse simplistic or complex (consider time, technical skill and morality)
Technically, it is very simple to create new email addresses and new Facebook profiles at the click of a few buttons, anybody has the ability to carry out a ruse similar to Angelas’s actions, which is a scary thought. However keeping up with the immense and complex lie would be very difficult because of all the intertwining profiles and stories.
3. How far do you agree with this statement: ‘Catfish portrays social networking sites such as Facebook in both a positive and negative way’
4. Using the following website, create your own fake Facebook account for your alter ego. Screen grab the pages and post them to your blog
My viral marketing campaign is going to build on the artificial reality of the Toy Story world. There have been three, hugely popular movies with the last one ending with the famous group of characters being given to a new child, my marketing will therefore build on from this, creating a backstory that can entice old fans and new children alike. The name of the campaign will be ‘Toy Hunt’ in which people are invited to join the search for three of the beloved characters from the films (Woody, Jessie and Bullseye) after finding out they have gone missing. The viral marketing wouldn’t be aimed at an audience too young because ten year olds presumably wouldn’t be able to unlock clues and go on scavenger hunts, logistically it makes much more sense to engage a slightly older market and because the characters are so well known to hardcore fans they are a perfect demographic. The first film was released in 1995 so capturing a teenage audience (between the age of 16 and 20) is important, the campaign wouldn’t be gender specific but would need ‘fanatics’ i.e active, heavily enthusiastic and energetic individuals. This would mean they are dedicated to hunting down the famous figures and the viral marketing in effect would form an online community between fans all with one objective in mind, the age group previously described are also very involved in the evolution of technology i.e web 2.0, blogs etc. so are more likely to immerse themselves fully in the artificial reality than adults. Having this midpoint age group between children and adults means that whilst the idea is young at heart, I can make the campaign look good for a media savvy audience and it doesn’t have to be childish.
Traditional, old style wanted posters will appear for each toy in public places such as train stations and shopping centres, which would hopefully gather an air of interest around the upcoming sequel. They won’t contain a lot of information in order to keep a level of mystery around the movie but instead, feature just a headshot, the heading ‘missing’ and tag line, ‘Join the toy hunt’. At first audiences will be lulled into the story that the toys are just missing but after the second viral technique is released, it will become evident that there are suspicious circumstances in which Woody, Jessie and Bullseye have disappeared. This will be a short (25 second) teaser video where the three characters are shown to be held hostage somewhere. They have tape over their mouth and around their hands/feet, the clip has a vintage style filter over it which maintains synergy with the posters and sinister music can be heard, all put together to make an eery piece of film. The hostage video sends viewers to the fake website i have created (www.toyhunt.co.uk), the main part of the artificial reality. Here, people can explore pages which give information on possible suspects and a police log of updates on the case e.g. evidence collected etc. To make the viral campaign fully immersive, I would send out cards of the criminal mugshots, missing posters and western badges to key influences so they can spread news about the campaign however due to limited resources I could only theoretically map this idea out rather than physically print and post the items. A similar concept I would of liked to include would be a scavenger hunt in which the website hints and directs the target audience to a particular aisle in the huge retail store ‘Toys R Us’, where they would find the next piece of the puzzle; an article of the kidnapper’s clothing. It would be surrounded by crime tape and gamers would have a limited amount of time in which they could view the piece of evidence but would hopefully get people talking.
I spent one lesson producing these simple Wanted posters. Each image has been found online but edited through photoshop and using tools like ‘posterise’ to give it a ‘sepia’ effect, combining this with the typography used, it is hoped that people would immediately associate the posters with a wild western style. To give an example of how the general public would possibly see these pieces of promotional material in a real life situation, you can view a moving image advertisement where the posters appear in a London tube station below.
The second piece of viral marketing, as briefly mentioned above, was through the platform of video. The hostage clip will act as a teaser with the intention of drawing attention to the toy hunt campaign because it is quite unconventional and different. Not many people would expect to see a children’s movie promoting their new film through such a strong method with a very criminal related theme. The video would be uploaded onto Youtube, a website which hundreds of thousands of people have access to everyday and with the message ‘If you want to see these toys alive, log onto http://www.toyhunt.co.uk’ should push the viral experience on further by picking up a bigger following. The video can be seen below.
I started developing a concept for a fake website following the ‘Toy Hunt’ theme in todays lesson. The colours and general feel of the site are lively and fun so that the campaign isn’t made too sinister, after all it is for a children intended movie. Three pages have been created, the first being a general home page, the second being a suspect page for a number of famous villains in the series with a little backstory attached to each including elements like their motive and means for being involved in the gang’s disappearance and finally a police log of activities. I will play with the IWeb software more in the future and edit colours, fonts, add images etc. to make the site more impressive.
Here is the completed homepage for my toy hunt website. The previously seen wanted posters can be seen a long with concise chunks of text giving info on what the toys were last seen wearing and how people can also contact the ‘police’. The number shown which encourages people to contact CID would take audiences to an automated message offering a small clue on the case. There is also a greeting from the website creator, briefing visitors on what they can do to help.
The suspect page is a fun page where characters are explore in depth, I created the criminal mugshot images on Photoshop, which I believe are a nice touch because they make a serious topic a bit more lighthearted. The colours and style of the page match what audiences would expect to see from a Toy Story themed website so conventionally the page is successful and playful at the same time.
The Police Log page on the Toy Hunt website would be where any new information on the artificial story could be posted. It keeps the experience on going for ‘players’ because they will have to regularly check the page to see if any developments occur. The text is entertaining and easy to read so should interest Toy Story fans.
Altogether, with these three components, the poster collection, the viral video and the website pages, this campaign based on the world of Toy Story is fully immersive and interactive for consumers. Key influences and the mystery of the missing posters will start the ‘virus’ and with a feed of information gradually fed to the public the story will unfold and gather interest a long the way. Hopefully with the extensive and planned out marketing strategy, the film would receive a lot of publicity from the older teen market who can be brought back to their youth rather than just younger children.
Marketing has developed incredibly over recent years, we are now in an era where organisations are employing viral techniques to immerse the public in their product. The film market in particular have ventured into using these methods, creating a real ‘buzz’ around upcoming movies. The viral campaign I am going to explore is for the 2010 Disney film ‘Tron Legacy’, a sci-fi movie starring Garrett Hedlund, Jeff Bridges and Olivia Wilde. To generate interest into the film, which is a sequel of ‘Tron’ (created in 1982), an innovative strategy known as ‘Flynn Lives’ was created by company 42 Entertainment, it became one of the most complex marketing schemes of all time and offered people a 360 degree fully immersive experience combining posters, websites, viral games, scavenger hunts, physical rewards and more.
The film was set to be released in December 2010 but the idea began 10 months prior to this, in February, and was designed to entice a younger ‘media saavy’ audience as well as fans of the original ‘Tron’ film. This concept was a backstory in which the main character of the 1982 movie (Kevin Flynn) has gone missing. Posters appeared, Facebook pages created and a viral website was launched, inviting people to uncover the truth of the characters disappearance with the tagline ‘Join the search for Kevin Flynn’. Artefacts from the films also appeared in the real word because they were sent to what are known as ‘Key Influences’ e.g. reviewers, bloggers etc. with the expectation that they would post the news and it would spread like a virus reaching the eyes and ears of many. This soon happened and users from all over the web became involved in online challenges creating a community all with one motive, to track down Flynn. The underground movement gained more and more popularity which eventually broke out into the real world when a scavenger hunt sent fans to a replica copy of an arcade from the original movie. After the discovery, hundreds of people fled down to immerse themselves in gadgets etc. that could be expected from the new movie, a great piece of promotion from the marketing campaign.
It is incredible to think how extensive and interactive this campaign was, but the artificial reality game (ARG) didn’t end there with players continuing to unlock a series of new websites which pushed the whole experience forward. The screenshots below show just one of the pages from the Flynn Lives website whereby if players successful played the games and unlocked clues they were given sneak peaks into the new film.
The rewards were often physical as well, dedicated players to the campaign found things in their post after signing up. This is a strong technique because it would keep consumers continuously interested in the ‘game’ they are involved with.
The borders of reality were blurred even further when a character from the original film was interviewed and announced the next step in the ARG, a live ‘Encom’ press conference. It is important to remember that Encom is a fictional organisation in the movie so as previously mentioned, this viral marketing campaign really has shattered the line between the real world and fiction, allowing users into a false universe. The true power of social networking was proved as Flynn Lives members decided to ‘crash’ the conference through communication on Facebook. By debating and discussing their motive throughout the whole experience, more and more people were intrigued by what the upcoming movie could offer and thus the likelihood for a successful film was rising. In an exciting conclusion at the crashed ‘Encom’ conference, a new character called Sam (played by Garrett Hedlund) parachuted into the venue claiming to be Kevin Flynn’s son also on a search for his lost father.
All these techniques, from the simple distribution of posters to real life scavenger hunts with hundreds of people, gained a film which previously had little publicity, a huge amount of recognition. The viral marketing campaign for Tron: Legacy wiped out all barriers between what was in the film world and our own reality creating an experience so interactive and vivid for people, it made the upcoming film the most highly anticipated movie of 2010. No other media product has used such a high level of technology and innovation to market it’s cause.
Email-Email is short for Electronic Mail and is ‘the transmission of messages over communications networks’. It is a fast, flexible and reliable service and most mainframes and computer networks have an email system within them. Messages are composed within a text editor and then can be sent to the recipient by typing in their email address. Sent messages are stored in electronic mailboxes until the person picks them up, either through checking their mailbox regularly or being notified when they have received one.
IM-Instant Messaging is a
SMS
Bulletin Boards
Discussion Forums
Blogs
Newsgroups
Internet Telephony
Conferencing
HTTP– HyperTextTransfer Protocol, is an application protocol used for data communication on the WorldWide Web. It’s main function is to take a message written in hypertext and tell web browsers what action to take in response. When somebody enters a URL(uniform resource locator) into the internet and presses enter, a http command is sent to the web server directing them to fetch and transmit the web page required.
WAP-WAP stands for Wireless Application Protocol and is a technical specification which allows people to access information over a wireless network, particularly handheld devices such as mobile phones.
GSM-Meaning Global System for Mobile Communications, GSM is the most widely used cell phone technology and is a set which describes protocols for 2G networks. It is a development from the 1G analog network and is ‘optimised for full duplex and voice telephony’.
3G-3G is one step up from the previous 2G technology and stands for third generation. It is a phone standard which enables service providers e.g. T-Mobile, Orange, Vodaphone to offer consumers more services such as mobile broadband. 3G is hugely popular because it allows browsing the web, checking emails and downloading files to be done at a fast speed. Most new phones on the market are enabled with third generation technology.
MMS-MMS stands for multimedia messaging service, many people refer to it just as ‘picture messaging’ because it is popularly used to send images from one handset to another however it can also be used to send audio, video and rich text. MMS goes a step further than SMS as it allows longer messages to be sent beyond the 160 character limit that the Short Message Service holds.
GPRS-General Packet Radio Service is a cellular networking service integrated into 2.5G mobiles which supports WAP, SMS and other data communications and provides faster data transfer speeds than older networks. Before the introduction of 3 and 4G it was sold as a package by service providers.
BLUETOOTH-Bluetooth is a piece of wireless technology used to exchange data over a short distance, bypassing the complication of computer wires etc. A very secure, short range network is created through a special radio frequency. The Bluetooth chip can be plugged into computers, faxes, mobile phones and digital cameras and with the advancement of technology a lot of these items have the technology fitted inside it already.
ADSL-ADSL stands for Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line and is a technology used for high speed Internet access because it allows faster data transmission than a conventional voiceband modem can provide. ADSL is typically not as fast as cable Internet and is therefore suited for streaming multimedia and moderate gaming etc.
BROADBAND-Described as a ‘high bandwidth connection to the Internet’, Broadband is much faster and easier to use than modems as information is sent and downloaded at a quicker speed. Websites, text, graphics, music and videos can all be experienced in real time thanks to Broadband.
VOIP-VOIP stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol and allows you to get phone service delivered through your internet connection as opposed to from your telephone company. Whilst the service doesn’t always offer 911 or 411 numbers/telephone directory listings, it usually has a lower rate than traditional phone companies.
A meme is a cultural symbol or ‘social idea’ which travels and expands virally from person to person usually at speed, thanks to the internet. Often described as ‘a discrete package of culture’ they can be videos, famous stories, jokes, parodies or expressions of speech however these days most memes, if not all, are humour based. The way that memes evolve is that the main picture content stays the same but people can personalise it by adding their own text/ wordplay to make it funny for them. This spreads through email and social networking sites until thousands of people have seen or adapted their own memes.
Who creates them and how are they created?
Anybody can go online and create a meme, there are websites such as ‘http://www.quickmeme.com/make/’, which hold thousands of famous meme templates so that all users have to do is add their own text. It is possibly because of how simple they are to create that memes are so popular in this day and age.
How are memes published and who publishes them?
Memes are published on the internet, a lot of people post them directly onto Facebook for their friends/family to see or on their own personal blogs. The most well known places for memes to be broadcast are websites Tumblr and 4chan because this is where a certain demographic of people search for them, they can then continue spreading the social meme.
My favourite meme- Bad Luck Brian
This meme (bad luck brian) has proved very popular on the internet, there are hundreds of variations online which include the iconic picture of a stereotypical ‘geeky’ boy and a humorous caption. The way the text is positioned possibly contributes to how funny it is. For example, if you look at any of the above images and read the top line it is like the build up to a joke and the bottom segment is the ‘reveal’. With this particular meme it is the fact that there is a positive or mutual situation like ‘surfing the web’ which is then turned into something very unlucky. I believe people find them so funny is because their likelihood is very slim or even impossible as the joke can sometimes be literal i.e surfing has been used in two senses, the internet browsing way and the water sport way. People of all ages can find this funny but it is presumably teenagers that find it so intriguing as they might relate to the character involved.
The ‘bad luck brian’ meme has been copied numerous times with the situations described changing to meet different demographics sense of humour. I originally found it linked on Twitter, the user made a comment such as ‘reminds me of myself’ and linked the meme. Many people had ‘retweeted’ it and i think this is a perfect example of the way a simple meme can travel across social networking and the internet as a whole.
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Digital Communications 
