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Marketing Spinoff - Scripts
Ruke_Unlimited
Member Posts: 9
So I ran this past the IRC group today, and it seemed to be generally well received. If you have a script, please feel free to post it in this thread as well!
Start Script:
-camera turns on, man is sitting at desk with box on top of desk-
Man: "Hey everyone, today I'm doing an unboxing of my new (insert name of phone here)... I've been waiting to upgrade for a few months now, so I'm really looking forward to this... without further ado..."
-man opens box and takes out phone, he turns it on and shows off and describes a few of its features (applicable to the game, like GPS, Maps, etc...)-
-lays phone down on desk-
-man reaches for the camera-
-phone rings-
-man answers the phone-
"hello?... -brief pause-... how did you call this phone? it's not even on a network..."
-another brief pause-
"Today's Bee? Of course not... I don't know who you are, but it's the 21st century, papers are obsolete buddy... Don't call back."
-the man hangs up the phone, but seems to forget the camera is on because of the weird incident, he mutters something about government agencies spying and turns on a news feed-
-after one or two stories pass, the announcer interrupts the feed saying that an unknown government agency has closed off a certain section of the city, and mentions a youtube video released showing odd happenings in that area-
-guy curses about something and seems to remember the video is on, and turns it off-
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Of course everything would have "real life" counterparts... there would be a youtube video filmed by somebody on a phone showing guys dressed all in black taking a glowing object to a van... the phone would zoom in on the van and it would have an advertisement for a plumber or electrician or something with a cryptic message like "Great Plumbing Services - For all your needs use (555)555-555". In the paper or penny saver or whatever, there would be a corresponding add and the phone number on the van would work as a cipher (this would need to be really obvious to people who found both pieces of the puzzle so they wouldn't feel overwhelmed going into it, but not so much for everyone else) that would lead to the funding website. Also, there could be traces left at the scene that would lead people to the website.
For the news feed, I thought of asking Welcome to Nightvale if they would do it for 4 reasons:
A) it would both fit in with the show and seems like something they would enjoy
WtNV has a pretty decent sized audience C) A mention of a real world city would actually get listeners attention
D) It most likely wouldn't cost a lot of money
Thoughts and feedback are, of course, welcome.
Edit: As an aside, if 4 or 5 of you live in or around the Sacramento area and would like to get together and make this happen, I would be more than happy to participate.
Comments
Great idea - as mentioned when you proposed it on IRC ^^
Just going to add my previous proposal as well; if we are going to make these "ARG marketing" adverts, for lack of a better term, might I suggest that we:
1. As you mentioned, try to do them in batches, so that the interconnectedness(?) of each advert adds to the sum of the experience, for those that come across it. I.e. link in another article on the same page as the newspaper "ARG" article, things that might cause people form "ARG Marketing" group A, to run into group B, but neither necessarily running into group C or D, giving them a bit more to look for.
2. To increase longevity, add an over-arching "puzzle". While the ads themselves might give a direct link to the game after one or two steps, they might - for example - each contain a single set of numbers, which ultimately form a new, much larger "pay-off".
Say in your phone review, the person calling can be heard slowly uttering a number.
Then, the number plate on the van is another set.
After a few videos, people might notice that the numbers are all part of a bigger cipher, spelling out something easily recognizable, such as the first 3 or 4 videos spelling it "www" or "http".
Considering the target amount of money each advert would have to cost, we could effectively keep this going - with a little help from HE in doing the bigger pay-offs and some of the more professional work - untill the game becomes a reality; just adding more and more hype.
*kicks his megalomaniometer again*
I had mostly the same idea his morning but the video focusing mainly on a Level Yellow activity which would be easier for the uninitiated to grasp:
Man eating breakfast in casual clothes -
Wife looking out window - "Megan didn't say they were expecting company this early."
Man gets up and looks out window to see -
cut to a Black SUV Tm parked in the street. Someone inside SUV taking pictures of Man.
Man picks up phone and begins to text while explaining to wife - "You remember that Alternate Reality Game I told you about? Well, I think I've been activated."
Subtitle appears as man texts to a friend: SUV
cut to view of a monitor in dark room with view of world map, pulsating icons at several locations, text window with recently received "SUV" message, hands rapidly typing: "witching hour, cells activated worldwide no correlation yet, location gamma, remember tradecraft"
cut back to Man who is reading, then prepares to leave - "Looks like the lawn doesn't get mowed today, there's some people I need to meet."
Man finishes donning his hoodie, wife looking out window - "They're coming to our door, men in suits."
Man grabbing some essentials and a kiss on way to back door - "I'll prolly be gone all day, tell them anything but the truth."
cut to Black Watchmen Emblem and www.blackwatchmen.com
The next installment begins with Man in a greasy spoon cafe, alone with cup of coffee.
His voice over reviews his instructions: "worldwide activation? remember tradecraft - I need to stay covert, blend in."
and so on.....
The series I began detailing could branch out to show how the level oranges and level reds get involved.
But the over-arching idea is the videos are short, easily understood by the uninitiated, and easily produced by fans-amateurs (amateurish camera work may be a plus - giving a home video quality).
And, they wouldn't require anything more than approval from headquarters before posting to social media.
Not exactly a script, but feel free to spread this around...
Edit: There's also this...
If you give us the permission, we are down for an unboxing youtube video for sure as a underground promo. We may not use the script but I love the unboxing video idea.
I'm getting a new phone next week, if you want a highly untrained actor.
Resume:
Sancho Panza in high school production of Man of La Mancha
Gambler #2 in Guys and Dolls
You have my phone number (actually you don't but I bet you can find it.)
A.K.A. nikel
Didn't notice that there were replies to this thread. I don't think permission is really necessary for an unboxing video, but feel free to use any of my ideas to promote the game how you would like.
Thanks for double checking that it was ok to do so.