10 ways District 9 will change sci-fi moviemaking forever

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

10 ways District 9 will change sci-fi moviemaking forever

District 9, the sci-fi action drama from director Neill Blomkamp, spun an alien invasion tale that managed to entertain while delivering a message about how horribly we can sometimes treat each other—and anyone or anything that's different.
But that wasn't the only message the film delivered. Its box-office and (for the most part) critical success delivered a message all its own, one that Hollywood heard loud and clear.

And since the movie business sometimes seems to live and die by the rule that everyone wants to be the first to be second, it means that D9's success will forever change the way films are made and marketed.

Some of the changes will be huge, while others will be relatively small, but still, that massive spaceship hovering over downtown Johannesburg in South Africa heralds a shift in sci-fi moviemaking.

Here's how we think future sci-fi films will try to copy this surprise hit (warning: spoilers ahead):

1. It will force the studios to come up with viral marketing campaigns that are actually intriguing. You saw the buses, you saw the billboards, you saw the benches that said "For Humans Only." (And you saw how some of the people sitting in those benches didn't look quite human after all.) The viral sites and the ubiquitous signage all helped set up the buzz that launched District 9. Marketers will get the hint that being viral isn't enough--campaigns will also have to be interesting.

2. It will cause Hollywood to start looking outside the system for creators. Before Neill Blomkamp was plucked from relative obscurity to work with Peter Jackson on that aborted movie adaptation of the video game Halo for a few hundred million dollars, he was known primarily for his alien invasion mock-umentary short Alive in Joburg. The success of District 9 sends a message that money can be made when you look beyond the usual suspects for talent.

3. It will result in more films with no-name casts. Starring Sharlto Copley? Who? Before District 9, Copley's biggest credits were the acting and directing he did in his own shorts from age 12. He also had a cameo in Alive in Joburg, the inspiration for District 9. This movie proves that you don't need Tom Cruise, Will Smith or Keanu Reeves to make money with an SF film, and this summer's box office—during which Johnny Depp failed to make Public Enemies a hit, and Julia Roberts couldn't save Duplicity—has handed Hollywood yet another lesson.

4. It will lead to more storytelling that's original and not based on a comic book, pop novel, children's toy, video game, TV show or a previous movie. Imagine that! This movie could encourage more risk-taking in terms of story, and it proves that a good, original idea can succeed. Now if only someone could come up with one. (And yes, we know that technically the feature film is based on a short film, but to us D9 seems like the fully realized version of Alive in Joburg, rather than an expanded adaptation of some other piece of content.)

5. It will lead to more multiracial and multicultural casting. Most of the cast and crew were non-American, and a lot of the cast was non-Caucasian. It's nice to know that this time the aliens were color-blind when they landed. (The upcoming Clash of the Titans remake, with its international cast that has only a couple of Americans, and none in major roles, is joining in this trend.)

6. It proves that accents aren't a bad thing, which is especially useful in sci-fi. South Africans, Nigerians, prawns and multinational business executives from a mysterious conglomerate—all of them are characters in this movie. Some of them may have needed subtitles, even when they spoke English, but it certainly added to the authenticity. It will give the studios license to allow more multicultural casting.

7. It will encourage lower-budget filmmaking. District 9 cost about $30 million to make, but the realistic lasers, alien weaponry and alien creatures look much better than Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, which cost more than $200 million

8. It proves that getting the fans excited about the film is more important than getting critics excited. When District 9 screened at last month's San Diego Comic-Con, press seating was cut way back to make sure that more fans could get in to see the film, a move which helped generate even more fan buzz. In the future, more marketing campaigns will target the core audiences who actually shell out for tickets rather than the professional journalists.

9. It will lead to more location filming. What? Aliens land somewhere besides New York, Tokyo or Washington, D.C.? This story needed to take place in the Johannesburg of Blomkamp's youth. The crew used remnants of an actual township near Soweto, so they didn't have to spend extra bucks to make things look old artificially. That suggests more real locations, less green screen. And it's better for the environment.

10. It will result in more main characters that are morally complex and conflicted, extremely unusual in a sci-fi blockbuster. No one could be more conflicted than D9 hero Wikus Van De Merwe, who in one scene is trying to get the insect-like aliens to sign their own eviction notices, and in other scenes is growing a bug arm and helping a "prawn" make it to his spacecraft. Maybe we'll see more nuance and less bravado in sci-fi.

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Enjoy The Prologue From My Upcoming Book.. "Strolok"............by R.Goldberg

"WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOUR RACE WAS TARGETED FOR EXTINCTION?"

The Sun is a powerful force in our Universe. It brings us light, warmth and a promise of a galaxy beyond the stars. Often we associate massive flashes of light with the reflection of our Sun's light bouncing off of another surface.

This is not always the case though, especially if you believe that we are truly not alone in the Universe. When we witness things that we can't readily explain we sometimes turn our heads and shrug our shoulders in a display of apathy.

A display such as this occurred on Friday January 29, 1982 at the Crater Lake National Park just outside of Chemult, Oregon. The snow had been falling steadily for a period of four days. The winds had been whisking about at 40 miles per hour.
Then there was one of those unnatural flashes of light. This created an eerie silence as a lanky boy, just nine years old, seemed to appear from out of that flash. If he had walked to this point there would have been a distinct trail in the newly fallen snow.
There was no trail and as a matter of fact the only tracks in the snow were the ones that outlined his feet where he was standing.

He began to trudge through the snow wearing what could only be described as dark brown long johns. He seemed dazed yet, at the same time, very clear about the direction that he was travelling. This boy with no identity or name seemed to be on a mission that would take him to places he had never been before.
His main goal was to reach Chemult, Oregon and he had no intention of stopping until he accomplished this. As strange as it seems the extreme cold seemed to have little or no effect on him at all.

Why Chemult? What was so special about this town located at an elevation of 4,758 feet above sea level in a frozen winter wilderness in Oregon?

The town of Chemult was first opened to the local traffic in 1926 and here in 1982, with its population of only 241, offered little in the way of comfort for a nine year old boy who was all alone. This journey, although prompted by something deep inside of him, did not provide a feeling of comfort and yet he had hoped that he would at least experience a feeling of accomplishment once he reached the town.

The wind was getting stronger and he noticed a small piece of yellow paper tattered and torn from whipping about in the snow. He only stopped long enough to
pick up this paper..........it read:

.....With the winter season here there was a lot of fun to have. Travelling miles of open trails on snow mobiles skiing or simply hiking, but there are dangers of doing so. Please remember safety first. Do not travel alone and be sure someone knows where you are and where you are going before travelling our trails, and please read the safety rules and codes of ethics before hiking the trails...

Nightfall was near and he had already walked 38 of the 40 miles needed to reach Chemult. He was just off of Route 97 when he spotted an old barn just about 200 feet NE of his present location. Making his way to the barn he went in and found it to be totally deserted, it was a perfect place to rest for the night.

Morning had arrived and once awake the boy started to look around the barn in the daylight light to see if there was anything that was lying in the barn that he could use to assist him on his trek.

Over in the far corner of the barn he found an old metal locked box that had long been forgotten. It was all rusted out and the key was nowhere to be found. After several failed attempts to open the box the young boy closed his eyes, sat back on his tired limbs and placed the palm of his right hand on top of the box. All of a sudden a dull red glow appeared from his right palm and the box lid flew open. Strangely enough once the red glow disappeared all that remained was a faint thin black outline where the outside of the red mark had appeared on his palm. Inside of the box he found several items all of which were unfamiliar to him and it was obvious that they had been there
for a very long time.

The contents included a tattered passport with the picture missing, a pocket knife, a compass, an antique pocket watch with a broken crystal, a time-worn souvenir porcelain coffee mug with the words; "Atlanta, Georgia, The Peach State, A Perfect Place to Live", on it and a frayed map of the Metro Atlanta Area It was difficult to make out the name on the passport but with a couple of light brushes with his fingers he saw the name Jason Tredmore. This is now who this boy would become.

Sci-Fi Blast

Tuesday, August 25, 2009