Recently, the film industry has found new innovative ways to market films. On top of trailers, commercials, and media outlets such as this one, newer and more unique ways of promoting films have been increasingly more popular and I had the chance to experience one first hand.
M. Night Shyamalan has grasped this idea of innovative marketing and ran with it. In promoting his new film The Village, he participated in a 3-hour long mockumentary that aired on the Sci-Fi Channel, and agreed to this live interview with Joel Siegel that was beamed via satellite direct to movie theatres around the country.
For those that don’t know, Shyamalan is the accomplished director of such films as The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs. During the hour long interview, Night, as he apparently likes to be called, explained how he decided to get into filmmaking, by giving great insight into his career and the process that has led him to become one of today’s top filmmakers.
Night explained how his first two films, Wide Awake (1998) and Praying with Anger (1992), flopped, and that the feeling of terrible failure and ultra-success were the same to him, they made him feel empty. The things he had strived for no longer meant anything to him.
The event next turned to Shyamalan’s films as he picked out three clips from his movies that illustrated pivotal scenes, and his unique filmmaking style.
The first was from The Sixth Sense, where Haley Joel Osment and Toni Collette are stuck in traffic after a car crash. This is an extremely powerful scene where Osment, who at the time was an unknown, famously tells his mother that he “sees dead people.”
The second scene was from Unbreakable and focused on Bruce Willis as his son pulls a gun on him in an attempt to prove that Bruce Willis’s character can not get hurt. Night explained how this was a very unorthodox scene shot in one take, with the camera panning back and forth between the characters. Typical of the film it was misunderstood by some, Night recounted how one critic at the time had commented that there was a problem when the audience laughed at this tension filled scene. Night explained that this was intended, but the critic was skeptical.
Finally, Night showed a scene from Signs featuring Mel Gibson and Joaquin Phoenix. They sit on their sofa and talk about faith and Gibson’s loss of faith. An interesting side note of this scene was how Mel Gibson postponed his screening of his film We Were Soldiers at the White House, just so he could finish the scene.
The real highlight of the event was when Night showed a never-before-seen clip from his upcoming film The Village. The scene was between Joaquin Phoenix and Bryce Dallas Howard, sitting on a porch, talking about their relationship. Howard, the daughter of acclaimed director Ron Howard is now getting her first major role aside from small roles in three earlier films as she was cast in The Village when Night saw her in a Broadway play and gave her this big break.
After the interview finished Night took questions from the audience, ranging from his inspirations for his films to the pressure involved making them. Details were revealed as to his distaste for using special effects as he much rather prefers mood orienting effects such as the use of music.
At the end, Joel Siegel offered Shyamalan a chance to answer any questions that he wishes would have been asked. Night then offered that his biggest worry currently is disconnecting with his audience, and equated it to the rock star who writes all of their great songs when they are young and struggling, and then become famous and can no longer write great songs. They can no longer connect with their audience, this was something that he struggled with on The Village.
I really enjoyed the interview, and am sure that it will probably show up on TV or as an extra feature on a DVD. If you get the chance check it out, it gives some great insight into a filmmaker and his craft.
The Village releases into theaters on July 30th, to get more info, trailers, cast/crew and more click here.
