The Dark Knight Tying up loose ends for the ARG - 42E speaks! (kinda)

[Solidus]

Thanks Anita, you sure did spend a lot of time, updating us. Thank you for that.


Sad those days are gone. Hopefully more will come with Begins 3.

I do hope though that they mention us, on some documentary, maybe on a re-release of the Blu-Ray or something. I would like to hear more about this marketing.

 

[Anita18]

Whats ARG???

Alternate reality game. Basically it's an online game with real-world elements to it, and the people who set up the game interact with the players and set up a storyline.

Very cool! And for anyone interested, Im currently making a very large and in-depth scrapbook on the ENTIRE campaign via Powerpoint that I'm going to sell a bunch of for a few bucks (just a few, im not trying to rip people off lol) profit on eBay. I wanna sell it to any SHH member at just the cost to make it once its done (probably like $15 just for the paper and binder). Literally its going to be like 200+ full color pages, Im not even to the 2008 stuff and it's already 100 pages. But it will still be a month or a month and a half until I finish it. I thought people would like to have a coffee-table ready memento to remember the Virals. The WIKI is amazing, and a big help to the scrapbook, but I think people would also like to have a print source. (Anita I know you help run the wiki, and if you'd like to be involved in this I'd love to have your input) I'll keep ya posted!

I was actually thinking of doing a digital compilation, since A LOT of what we got contained audio and you can't exactly do that in a scrapbook. And the Flash games too! Ah, the games...

That would require me learning Flash, but before I participated in the ARG I had no idea how a Wiki worked either. One of these days I'll get around to it...

But I wonder, what WB is "keeping their options open" for. What do you mean a new trailhead? The only thing I can think of is for the december dvd release, or the next movie, and I don't see the dvd release as being ARG-worthy.

42E are hard workers.

Yeah, they're not all that sure either. WB just wants to keep the game open. Usually at the end of a campaign, they like to release credits and say hi to the players, but right now they can only do so unofficially, like with me and any other LA area folks who'd like to meet them!

Yup, they're up at all crazy hours of the night for us.

 

[Pennyworth]

Thanks Anita - again you go above and beyond.
I miss the virals - what an amazing experience. I sorta wondered if our Joker cards were ever a part of the production. Very awesome!

 

[Anjow1060]

A year ago....ahhh Rory....damn.....I miss those times...

I miss that damn pumpkin and the joy it brought to the boards.

It is crazy to think that it was an entire year ago that we were obsessing over that SOB every night, debating the candle going down, then debating if it would rot.


.....and then we got a picture. In retrospect, I remember being so po'd about that picture cuz it was kinda lame. Now, I know that it's from a deleted scene, so i appreciate it a bit more.

- Jow

 

[kyuubijavi1]

Hope they do this type of marketing again for the 3rd film

 

[Symbiotic]

I still can't believe it was a year ago that we would gather nightly to watch Rory melt a bit more.

 

[Zacky]

 

[Zacky]

Edit

 

[Anita18]

YAY RORY!

I never did get to save an animated gif of him, either. Thanks!

 

[FlyingMonkey]

Thanks so much for posting this follow-up info Anita. I still have my cake phone plugged into its charger, waiting for the day that its account gets renewed

I don't suppose the folks you spoke with made any mention of the wickedness that occurred with the Portland bowling ball? I'm just curious if that was ever on their radar or if they decided to terminate the phone account once the radio station announced that they had it.

Thanks again!

 

[Anita18]

I don't suppose the folks you spoke with made any mention of the wickedness that occurred with the Portland bowling ball? I'm just curious if that was ever on their radar or if they decided to terminate the phone account once the radio station announced that they had it.

Thanks again!

It was mentioned, but they sorta rolled their eyes at the whole thing and that was it. As far as they were concerned, if someone called or texted in with the phone, it would be in-game, no matter who did it. That's probably why they sent out, "Are you still there, clown?" messages before actually sending the clues, to make sure it was still active. It's clear from looking at the Wiki, that some phones fell off the radar for some of the later games.

I brought up the whole debacle with the Phoenix bowling ball (I think the bowling alley was closed or something?) and Rent-a-clown girl threw up her hands and said she had no idea, but someone called in with it so she checked it off the list. And after all of them were picked up, she went around the office going, "ALL BALLS FOOUUUND!"

 

[Commodore Schmidlapp]

I really miss the anticipation, it's like being one of those people who can't let go of high school.

 

[riskproductions]

Im glad it's still "open", if the next one DOES include Riddler, then thats some VERY COOL material that could be put into another viral. I can only hope!

 

[Lightning257]

Very cool! And for anyone interested, Im currently making a very large and in-depth scrapbook on the ENTIRE campaign via Powerpoint that I'm going to sell a bunch of for a few bucks (just a few, im not trying to rip people off lol) profit on eBay. I wanna sell it to any SHH member at just the cost to make it once its done (probably like $15 just for the paper and binder). Literally its going to be like 200+ full color pages, Im not even to the 2008 stuff and it's already 100 pages. But it will still be a month or a month and a half until I finish it. I thought people would like to have a coffee-table ready memento to remember the Virals. The WIKI is amazing, and a big help to the scrapbook, but I think people would also like to have a print source. (Anita I know you help run the wiki, and if you'd like to be involved in this I'd love to have your input) I'll keep ya posted!

Count me in as being interested in this when it's ready. And, perhaps you might be able to include a CD with the audio (such as Anita suggested in her idea for a digital version) of the calls and other audio with the book? I think that'd make it a complete package then.

 

[riskproductions]

Count me in as being interested in this when it's ready. And, perhaps you might be able to include a CD with the audio (such as Anita suggested in her idea for a digital version) of the calls and other audio with the book? I think that'd make it a complete package then.

Great idea. Will do. I also have blank pages at the end for people to put their own photos/mementos

 

[Bond]

I love you, Rory. May you rest in peace.

 

[Zacky]

I love you, Rory. May you rest in peace.

 

[Yurka]

If I lived near LA I would love to go to a meeting. I actually just gave a 30 minute presentation a few days ago about 42E and the campaign they did for The Dark Knight.

 

[NickyTea]

Anita, if one of these ARG get-togethers happens in the weeks surrounding next years sd comic con, please let me know. I'll be flying by down then. (I miss all of the LA/SD events)

 

[Anita18]

So I'm back again with a few other tidbits for you!

Rent-a-clown girl and Twitchy were joined by Twitchy Jr, who, as you can probably guess, is Twitchy's son. They worked at 42E together and were also laid off recently at the same time.

Planting swag

• Every piece of swag that was mailed, was prepared and packed by Twitchy Jr. He was there from the very beginning, planting Joker cards with the IBIHDT.com clue into random comic book shops. He figured he couldn't just secretly leave them around, because nobody would notice. So he'd open the front door, throw in a bunch of cards and then run out. He employed similar tactics while planting WSS dollar bills at Comic Con - a few times he even literally dropped a bill into people's laps and ran off. Originally they wanted to hook up a bag full of bills to an RC helicopter above the convention floor and then drop them all at once, but the SDCC people advised them against it, since it would likely cause a fire hazard. Since it'd be $7,000 worth of $1 bills and...yeah.
• Twitchy and Jr were in Chicago, setting up the batsignal, and he agreed that it was a disappointment overall. The Sears Tower is just black steel and glass, and did NOT take the signal lighting all too well. Plus the people in the neighboring building forgot to turn off their lights, so the ambient light didn't help either. Twitchy Jr saw what was happening in NYC and he was very jealous that the signal looked so good.

Heath

• Most of the 42E gang were at lunch together on January 22 last year, when Twitchy received a text message from a friend - "omg what's going to happen to the batman movie?" He texted back, "what are you talking about?" and the answer was, "heath ledger's dead" and everyone was like, "WHAT?" and the iPhones were immediately whipped out, checking CNN.
• For those of you who originally thought that Heath's death was a publicity stunt, you aren't alone, because that was a TDK associate producer's first thought as well.
• Heath checked into WSS.com during the Comic Con game, and thought it was the coolest thing ever. So he definitely knew about the ARG.

What could have been (but isn't WB's fault so I feel safe in mentioning them )

• For Christmas, they were going to recruit mall Santas to wear Joker facepaint, but the idea was nixed since it could very well scare small children.
• This was one they came awfully close to doing, and partially explains the game drought in early January - they were going to recruit a high school marching band slated to play in the Rose Parade. All of the musicians would wear Joker facepaint and clues would be put into the banners, to be seen when the parade was aired on TV. WB signed off on it, the school board signed off on it, I guess the Rose Parade people signed off on it, everything was ready to go...but the PARENTS of said marching band students said no.

Plain awesomeness

• Twitchy was the main guy behind the Joker emails, and he'd use the address to prank-email Rent-a-Clown girl. He also sent out a "Are you still there, clown?" email to all of the Joker phones as a prank, because they had no games set up at that time. When asked about it afterwards, he claimed it was an accident. "I just CC'ed everyone...by mistake!"
• TDK's aforementioned associate producer as well as Jonah Nolan were on the ground participating in the Comic Con game, Joker facepaint and everything.

Rent-a-clown girl would also like to say that the hippos will always be awesome. For anyone who saved the hungry-hungry hippo TDK manip, could it be posted? I didn't see that one, but it was her favorite and I think she would be tickled pink if it could be resurrected once more. t:

 

[Pennyworth]

Fascinating stuff - thanks for the extra insight Anita!

 

[Caped Crusader]

Heath checked into WSS.com during the Comic Con game, and thought it was the coolest thing ever. So he definitely knew about the ARG.

 

[Batman137]

I have a number on my joker phone with a area code of 626 ( 42 ent. ) I called it and a man picked up. Do you think I should call and get more "stuff" out if him?

 

[Anita18]

I have a number on my joker phone with a area code of 626 ( 42 ent. ) I called it and a man picked up. Do you think I should call and get more "stuff" out if him?

Probably not. The accounts haven't been renewed in a while, anyway.

Did you at least say hello?

 

[Batman137]

Probably not. The accounts haven't been renewed in a while, anyway.

Did you at least say hello?

No I called on my normal cell. The numbers in the joker phone and I called. I didn't say anything I hung up LOL . It scared me