Well, it’s a new era in product placement. I’d ask you to imagine an entire film dedicated to propelling a single product or brand forward, but then you’d likely respond with mentions of “Battleship” and “Ouija” and “The Lego Movie” (which was awesome nonetheless). And those are just the tip of the iceberg. You can easily cite films that, even without a product in the title, cater to products, angling shots perfectly to capture some logo or label or product.
A collaboration between Dell and Intel, the ”Inside” series is branded content to the extreme, and the fourth entry in the series premieres at the end of this month. Directed by Robert Stromberg (“Maleficent”), “What Lives Inside” stars Colin Hanks as Taylor, a man who stumbles upon a mysterious and magical world his late father (J.K. Simmons), a renowned puppeteer, created. The series also stars Catherine O’Hara and — no joke — the Dell Venue 8 7000 Series tablet (apparently it has a major role).
Okay, I’ll admit, parts of the preview look very pretty (am I the only one who got a “Monsters, Inc.” vibe at one point?). The notion of a man who finds a hidden world left behind by his artistic father — or any sort of mystical realm — isn’t new to film at all (adaptations of “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe” and “Alice in Wonderland” for example). Remove the branding, and you’ve got a very legit film. If you dig a little into the history of the series, you’ll see that Stromberg tapped into crowdsourcing for the film, inviting people to submit drawings and character sketches to the production’s site, a selection of which will be used in the series, which is a neat way to tap into your viewership.
Still, whether conspicuous or not (and it looks like it will be), the Dell tablet placement will feature heavily in the film/series. Despite the incredible talent involved, is this something we can ignore? Should we ignore it? Is this just the direction of cinematic entertainment? As I mentioned earlier, “What Lives Inside” is the fourth installment of the “Inside” series, so this type of branding must be of merit, no? Heck, the last one, “The Power Inside,” even starred Harvey Keitel. Before that was "The Beauty Inside," directed by Drake Doremus and starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Topher Grace.
So what’s your take on this? Have you seen the other three installments? Is the product branding a fair trade-off for fan involvement, or does the involvement of people like Simmons, Hanks, and O’Hara bode ill on a grander scale?
“What Lies Inside” premieres on Hulu March 25th and will debut new episodes over four weeks. Beginning May 6th, viewers who don’t have Hulu, or who would rather not watch the series piecemeal, can binge on it in its entirety on both YouTube and WhatLivesInside.com.
For now, you can watch the trailer and some featurettes below, and read more at insidefilms.com. [via Inspiration Room]
Love it,all this talk about product placement. Do people not remember we live in a capitalist society? This is so much better than 30 second ads.
And lest anyone forget we got to where we are technology by an open free market.Hope to see this trend grow and believe the best is yet to come.
I am not quite like the other commenters. I loved the movie! Yes, the Dell product placement was obvious but I woukd rather watch this movie than watch a regular Dell commercial. If you watch the movie keeping that in mind, you can really really enjoy it! Like me! I was disappointed after I realized that the 4th episode was the last. I was searching all over the internet, trying to see if there would be a movie launched after this. Oh well. I thouroughly enjoyed it! Bravo! Well done!
I could almost overlook the painfully blatant advertising of dell products if they weren\’t in almost every second of the show. Colin Hanks and the top notch cast kept me watching. The colors, animation and storyline was beautiful. I wish it was longer but with less product placement. Less is more sometimes. The public isn\’t stupid. We know dell sponsors this movie. No need to RAM it down our throats to the point of adversity.
Terry Gilliam already trod this path, so it\’s not really a big deal… Sure, you can call it selling out, or you can just think of it from a filmmaker\’s perspective… their backing the cash truck up to my house to shoot a movie, period.
Since this site won\’t let me post the link (lame), you\’ll just have to dig it up yourself on YouTube. "The Wholly Family, une filmette de Terry Gilliam – Trailer esclusivo"