by Mandy J Watson

Posted: 1 October 2009 << Previous Page

View Comments  Next Page >>

Share

Tweet

Many web sites were launched as part of the online viral-marketing effort to promote District 9. In this showcase we will look at those sites (collectively referred to as "The District 9 Movie Experience"), and more, to see how they related to, and complemented, the real-world marketing campaign. (Plus, for fans, find out about some amazing items and downloads you may have missed on each site.)

Requirements: Flash
Recommendations: Headphones/speakers

Sony Pictures International's official site for District 9 is an immersive Flash-based experience that places you in the middle of the District 9 township, where you can rotate 360 degrees (as well as slightly up and down) to feel as though you are actually standing there with an MNU unit. A stereo ambient track plays in the background with sounds of the wind, vehicles rumbling by, sirens blaring in the distance, and helicopters patrolling overhead, along with the odd strain from the movie's score. To get here, though, you either have to watch or skip past the trailer, which not only causes some browsers to open in full-screen mode (how rude! - but usually hitting the escape key fixes that) but which also caches the trailer (a 15.3 MB FLV) in some browsers even if you choose not to watch it, which is an issue for those with limited bandwidth and not the best web-site programming technique. (You can, however, use the handy links further down to skip right past this straight to some of the specific sections on the web site.)


The other problem I've experienced with this site, in more than one browser, is that if you switch focus (flip to a different window or program on your computer) the 360-degree view starts spinning wildly so if you need to switch programs to reply to an email, for example, you'll lose your place in the graphic and will have to scroll back to it, which gets rather irritating after a while. Plus, of course, it's not good if you're prone to motion sickness, although in that respect one may argue that perhaps it is beautifully emulating the effect of the hand-held camera filming technique utilised in the movie that I'm sure churned the stomachs of a few sensitive individuals.

At the bottom of the screen are pop-up links to data and resources related to the movie: media (videos - trailers and teasers - and a photo gallery), downloads (wallpapers, Twitter backgrounds, screensaver for Mac and PC, buddy icons, and the non-human font), basic cast and crew and movie information, worldwide release dates, links to the other sites and viral-marketing parts of the campaign (such as Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace), and share/save facilities.


The 360-degree interactive scene is where most of the interesting content lies. There are secret hot spots that launch content, some of which is unique to this site and some of which can be found on other sites. Most of it is video, with one PDF that I couldn't get to download on two different Mac browsers and then finally managed to download using a Windows browser. It's a three-page Department Of Defense document detailing "standard operating procedures for low threat" (protocols for handling low-risk species).

The list of the hot spots (that I have found), and their corresponding videos, is as follows (starting from the riot-control vehicle and moving to the right):

• Man-On-The-Street: First Contact (2.9 MB Flash Video)
    (windows of the riot-control vehicle)
• A Message From The MNU CEO (3.22 MB Flash Video)
    (on the head of the non-human target to the right of the riot vehicle)
• News - Crime (815 KB Flash Video)
    (on the body of the non-human target)
• The Non-Human Reproductive System (8.01 MB Flash Video)
    (space ship))
• Man-On-The Street: Non-Human Communication (3.3 MB Flash Video)
    (on the door of the 07 bureau vehicle)
• Man-On-The-Street: Non-Human Crime (3.3 MB Flash Video)
    (on the MNU logo on the front of the 07 bureau vehicle).
• A Day In The Life Of An MNU Officer (3.19 MB Flash Video)
    (behind the "JOIN MNU" banner to the right of the riot vehicle)
• News - Humanitarian Aid (0.99 MB Flash Video)
    (behind the non-human of the statue of the non-human and human joining hands)
• News - Weapons (579 KB Flash Video)
    (behind the human of the statue of the non-human and human joining hands)
• Leaked Intelligence (a classified government document: district9_government_document.pdf) (3 MB PDF)
    (a PDF (theoretically) accessible if you click the observation/riot-control tower behind the statue, but you can get it from the highlighted link as I've uploaded it to brainwavez.org)
• The Non-Human Anatomy And Ballistics (2.08 MB Flash Video)
    (behind the minigun)

The three news reports in the list are short broadcasts featuring Mahendra Raghunath in an SABC (South African Broadcasting Corporation) news studio. He can also be seen in the movie reporting in the news broadcasts featured in the documentary, which you may have noticed. Mahendra Raghunath is, in real life, an SABC3 news anchor for News At 7 so he is a very familiar face to South Africans.

Due to the list above I've made it all very easy for you but it's still fun to scroll around on the site. Plus, I might have missed some content so there could still be items for you to discover. If so, please post them in the comments, and I'll add them to the list.

Web: http://www.district9movie.com/

On The Internet

Official Site: District 9