Whedonesque : Comments on 8284 : Serenity on the London Underground.

"A fugitive worth fighting for" - I like that tagline.

Yeah I've noticed these. Great exposure for the movie to get on the tube with such visibility.

Saw the advert for the movie after "Lost" last week which is good exposure.

OMG how cool is that poster!?! I wish we had had some like that to put around town, because THAT would really catch the eye and stir the er um...brain? I hope you guys have the huge exciting weekend in the UK that didn't really happen here in the states.

embers | October 03, 20:05 CET

'Fugitive worth fighting for'... definitely a better tagline than 'a future worth fighting for'. Too bad I think it actually says that latter ;).

gooball | October 03, 20:06 CET

wow.

nakedandarticulate | October 03, 20:10 CET

And in other UK news... the Guardian calls Serenity's 10 million and #2 position respectable.

purplehazel | October 03, 20:11 CET

Now THAT is a movie poster!

killinj | October 03, 20:13 CET

Whoops ..gooball you're right there. Wishful thinking on my part (or bad eyesight).

purplehazel | October 03, 20:15 CET

More psycho-killer-chick posters. If it gets an audience, fine, but I still think it is the wrong message. (sigh)

newcj | October 03, 20:39 CET

Yep, it sends the message it's a Buffy movie with a person called Serenity.

But, as always, I really don't care. I want people to see it.

In the UK we have around a thousand fans in total. It's tiny. It's nothing like the US fan base. We're going to be selling this film on the film, NOT the fan base here.

And you know what? I'm really hoping it does well here. It'll speak a lot about the film, methinks.

gossi | October 03, 20:45 CET

I don't think it says "a fugitive worth fighting for." More Like 'A Future Worth Fighting For" but it's somewhat hard to read.

Mr Universe | October 03, 20:45 CET

Now THAT is an awesome movie poster. I love it. Why couldn't we have that one here too?

WhoIsOmega? | October 03, 21:15 CET

Oh man, the undergrounds going to be clogged with browncoats heading to the premier and getting transfixed going up and down the escalators...

cicatrixtwigs | October 03, 21:15 CET

Wow, River looks really creepy in that picture. Reminds me of The Ring or something.

riaspark17 | October 03, 21:16 CET

Good poster - i haven't seen that one yet, I've only seen the beige one with River and the axes in the foreground and the others standing behind her. I'll look out extra hard on the way to work for the rest of this week!

Mehitabel | October 03, 21:21 CET

Okay, that's the [insert appropriate inappropriate words here] kind of eye-catching single-image poster I was talking about in another thread. I just wish Universal Canada would use international trailers and posters here. I can never relate to so-called domestic promo materials we're saddled with. Spit! (yes, Kaylee, I would).

Drifter | October 03, 21:22 CET

I kinda don't like that poster. I really think that over-sexualisation is nasty, especially whenever it isn't that big a theme in the film. I realise it attracts people's attention and sells things, but I'm just not a big fan.

Razor | October 03, 21:29 CET

I am glad this has been mentioned here. Haven't seen the ceiling ones (good idea though) but I nearly squeed when I say the normal posters at my local station (Finsbury Park) earlier in the week, but then I decided to keep a stiff upper lip and a straight face after all and merely smile out of the corners of my eyes surreptitiously. Because you know, that’s how it is done here in Britain ;)

I really love the backlit ones they have in the big stations (Kings Cross, Oxford Circus). Thumbs up to the marketing strategy, you certainly can’t miss them.

On the over-sexualisation, have to disagree with you Razor, valid point, but for me there is a line between showing sexy (I'm ok with that) and exploitation (not ok) and I don't feel the line has been crossed here. Matter of individual taste and preference though.

miranda | October 03, 21:34 CET

Didn't anyone else immediately think "Here's River!"

Of course, Summer Glau is much prettier than Jack Nickolson, but that is one of the things I meant about this campaign, domestic and international, (IMHO) not sending an accurate message of what Serenity is. Or do other people think that that is what Serenity is and I am just in a different universe altogether? ...Cause it's been known to happen.

I'll be quiet now.

newcj | October 03, 21:41 CET

Hadn't seen that poster, it's cetainly different. It looks to me like "Future worth fighting for" not "fugitive". It's definately a poster I'd proudly put up on my wall, heck I'd put all of them up, just haven't seen any for sale.

The shot of an attractrive woman with a knife looking like she's about to fall out of her top will probably help bring people into the cinemas. Though some people may think, as they thought with Buffy that it's just an excuse to see a beautiful woman high kicking her way around the screen in short skirts and low tops.

Am I the only person in the UK that has still not seen a single advert, I watch quite a bit of TV and haven't seen anything, and on the streets of Newcastle and Hanley I've seen nothing, on the displays at the entrance to the cinema I'll be calling home this weekend, nothing. Or am I just walking around with my eyes closed.

Ghost Spike | October 03, 22:07 CET

Ghost Spike - there's a fair amount of TV advertising, I saw the advert last night on Channel 5 for example. However, it's a lot of genre and reality shows - so, basically, if you're in the target demographic, you'll seem them, if you aren't you probably won't.

That said - I've seen no posters on the streets of liverpool. At all. No posters in cinemas. Zippo. Zero. And yes, I am nagging about this a lot with the powers that be - it's not acceptable. To be clear, though, they have plastered it everywhere on the underground, and that is a good thing. They just need to get it into the cities, like, NOW.

gossi | October 03, 22:16 CET

The poster image is not misleading at all, IMHO. The wording says: "A passenger with a past (human weapon to be). A future worth fighting for." The second sentence implies her possibly dubious past exploits will turn out to be an asset to make the future more palatable.

If we're just talking about visible phenomena, River does lean toward the camera a number of times, so the poster image indeed reflects what's in the film. And she does indeed wield cutting tools with some "aptitude."

Drifter | October 03, 22:19 CET

This isn't leaning towards the camera, Drifter. This is, "Look, here's my left boob!" which is pretty much a complete non sequitur when it comes to anything this movie -- or this character -- is about.

[ edited by theonetruebix on 2005-10-03 20:23 ]

The One True b!X | October 03, 22:22 CET

I was leaving the tube thinking 'where are the Serenity posters here?' when I just stopped and looked up...and there she was! I hope it got the attention of the 50 people that nearly bumped into me!

But booby-age? Not necessary but the poster's pretty eye-catching.

lone fashionable wolf | October 03, 22:51 CET

The problem is, if you want main stream audiences, you have to go into main stream advertising to be successful. And: sex factor sells.

Is that the honourable way to sell Serenity? Probably not. Although, is there any reason to have shirtless men scenes in the movie? Sex factor sells.

gossi | October 03, 22:55 CET

I wonder if this will be the poster UIP will use here in Madrid's "Metro".
I like it (and I hope to get a better image to save to my PC).

Angel TheVampire | October 03, 23:26 CET

That poster... I actually quite like. Does it sell the movie? Maybe not. But what, exactly, would? We've all read countless interviews where Joss and others talk about how the movie is not a premise movie. So how does one convey such a non-premise in a poster? Or a tagline? It can't have been easy on those marketing people, and I think we should cut them a little slack.

Of course, if you have any ideas about how to sell the movie with one image, there's still time for some guerilla marketing here in Britain...

Outsider | October 03, 23:29 CET

It may not be an easy job marketing this movie...but it still doesn't make the poster misrepresent the movie, particualrly the character and the actress, any less.

Summer Glau is a beautiful girl, but she's not a buxom sexpot (Thank God!). The juggly hanging out of the frame in that poster is just so *not* River Tam. There've got to be other ways of showing her beauty without making it look like she's about to fall out of her top.

Mick The Knife | October 03, 23:55 CET

Mick, the thing is, though: does it matter or not if they are representing River?

The River seen 95% of the time is her, in a corner, talking rubbish, probably crying. How would that image sell a movie to people who buy J. Lo albums and watch The X Factor?

Fun. Sexy. Strange. Sells.

You could argue the River seen in Serenity isn't the River seen in Firefly. There never would have been the time and money to have done Serenity River in Firefly. It was adapted for the big screen, for audiences who want pretty girls kicking arse.

Ultimately, you have to strike a balance between getting across a sales pitch for the film and making it appealing. "A girl with a past. The future is worth fighting for.". A girl, with a knife, looking pretty. It'll sell. And it's appealing to men. And it's from the creator of Buffy, so women will turn up. Hopefully.

gossi | October 04, 00:48 CET

Maybe another way of looking at it is this: let's make you who object to the sexual nature of the image one of two executives who have to decide whether to go with the image as given in the poster. The other exec gives thumbs up. You must now decide whether to accept the image, figuring it's worth an extra $1.5 million in BO revenue, or throw it away. There is no other optional image. Here's the truth of it: I guarantee you, with job and branch performance on the line, you *will* go with the sexy image. (I never object to sexual linkages; I'll decide to go/not go to a movie based on other reasons.)

Drifter | October 04, 01:24 CET

Summers boob was never that big in the movie.

GimpyD | October 04, 01:56 CET

Remember this is a UK poster not a US one. By our standards that isn't a particularly 'sexy' poster. I think the artist was probably concentrating more on getting such a remarkable 3D image and perhaps got the 'double-D' result as a side effect.

technovamp | October 04, 02:17 CET

Tes, even girls think the poster is sexy.

WhoIsOmega? | October 04, 02:32 CET

Mick, the thing is, though: does it matter or not if they are representing River?

The River seen 95% of the time is her, in a corner, talking rubbish, probably crying. How would that image sell a movie to people who buy J. Lo albums and watch The X Factor?

Fun. Sexy. Strange. Sells.

I understand it, gossi. It's just that I find River (and Summer) to be Fun, Sexy, & Strange without the overt clevage shot. I suppose whatever gets butts in the theatre seats.

I have no objections to sexy...I like the Austrailian poster for instance, of which this one seems to be in the same vein. It's...Well, paraphasing Zoe probably puts it best: "Something 'bout it just...bothers me."

Mick The Knife | October 04, 03:58 CET

True. The lettering of Serenity bothers me, actually, but I'm not sure why.

gossi | October 04, 04:03 CET

I re-watched "Our Mrs Reynolds" last night, for about the I-don't-know-how-many-by-now-ieth time, and when I see this image (which is all manner of pleasin', don't misread) I think to myself,

"You're, uh... uh... well, there you are."

...but now that I look at it some more I'm reminded of the ghost holding a wicked grudge ;-) in Ju-On...which turns me on decidely less.

gorramit | October 04, 08:32 CET

I kinda agree with Mick. I don't feel the Serenity advertising if overdoing it, but at the same time I don't feel like it is really capturing River accurately. But I'm ok with it, I realise that it is necessary for the marketing campaign.

I just think that this film doesn't need to be reduced to posters of a scantily clad teenager wielding sharp weapons, because we had that with the Buffy movie, and lots of others besides. Serenity is different, and perhaps a non-conventional marketing approach would actually be more effective. But maybe not. That's just what I think.

Razor | October 04, 23:32 CET

October 03 2005