The past few days have seen a bunch of ARG-related updates to J.J. Abrams’ Super 8, a film we have been following since the viral campaign began. The biggest news of the week is the addition of a new website to follow that will apparently help reveal the final bits of the S8 Editing Room film reel. We also get a few new previews, including one that ties directly into the ARG (Alternate Reality Game). Get the details after the break.
Let’s get the big news out of the way. Super 8 has launched a new subpage to their official site, called the “Development Room”. The purpose of the site is to somehow help unlock the final clips from the film reel that is featured on the other viral subpage, the Editing Room. We aren’t sure how it’s supposed to help, but so far no one we know of that has signed up has gotten the promised email. Presumably, when they are ready to start, they’ll send out a mass email with instructions. We will wait patiently until that occurs.
The editing room film reel has gotten some new clips lately. In case you need a refresher, the film is a documentation by the government of experiments they are performing on an alien and its technology. Based on other information we have garnered through the ARG, these tests are being done at Area 51, and based on the video, they occur at least between October 21, 1958 and September 19, 1962. In either the ARG or other promotional materials, it has not been revealed or even hinted how or why the alien came to Earth, or how the military got ahold of it. Bits and pieces of the film reel have been revealed through various methods, including mailings to film blogs and trailers inside of theater standees. A good chunk of the film reel has yet to be revealed, and it looks like the Development Room is going to be the key to getting the final pieces.
Including the new clips, we know that the cubes we see in the trailer have some special powers, and that the alien’s natural habitat is a “subterranean dwelling”. Since the new clip (#78 in the series) that reveals that last part hasn’t been added to the Editing Room yet, here it is below for you to see.
The Super 8 movie takes place in 1979, when for some reason, the alien and its technology are being transported by train to a military base in Ohio. However, along the way (in the peaceful town of Littleton, Ohio to be exact), a Dr. Woodward crashes a pick up truck into the train, setting the alien free. Dr. Woodward is father of our ARG protagonist Josh Minker and one of the scientists we see in the film reel researching the alien.
One of the new TV spots for Super 8 actually makes reference to the film reel, showing footage of the original testing facility with narration by Dr. Woodward. We also get some info and looks at the cubes and abilities of the alien. We’ve known from early on that the water tower was a key element to the plot, and when you see all that debris swirling up to it near the end of the promo, you have to wonder what is going on. Watch the ad below.
Finally, the Super 8 iOS App has been updated to include an augmented reality feature that shows you the film’s trailer if you hold the camera of your iOS device to the movie’s poster. There may be other content available to unlock, so if you find it, let us know!
If you want to see up-to-date commercials and trailers for Super 8, I recommend you subscribe to iPlayARG on YouTube. Follow our coverage of the film on our Super 8 Hub, and be sure to check out the Paramount film when it opens in theaters and IMAX on June 10th.