Saturday, January 26, 2008

Cloverfield Story Explained 1-18-08


Cloverfield is a unique experience inspired by Youtube generation. There is no "stop and explain" in this movie, we don't know what is happening and or why and it keeps happening fast and furious. So I went online and collected a few story clues based on movie viral marketing. Warning, contains SPOILERS:

Origins of the monster:
The Japanese oil company TAGRUATO's satellite (Chimpanz III) crushes into the ocean (shown at the end of the movie when Rob and Beth were on the Ferris wheel). TAGRUATO works with SLUSHO (a slush company), as the main ingredient for SLUSHO is found in the deep ocean. It awakened Cloverfield (the monster) from an underwater trench.

On the right side of he screen you can see tiny splash on the water:
[youtube.com]

People who were at the party in the beginning of the movie, were seen wearing SLUSHO shirts. Rob apparently was going to be the Vice President of TAGRUATO in Japan. Slusho is a very addictive drink, with signs of steroid drug like effects. Makes people stronger, constantly happy.

The main ingredient of Slusho apparently turns a tiny fish into a HUGE whale in Ganu's (he found the nectar) dream, which explains the size of Cloverfield. The main ingredient is a deep sea nectar.

Monster first attacked Chuai oil/seabed nectar drilling station, then followed the tanker to New York:
[youtube.com]

For animals/fishes/insects to survive in the deepest ocean (very high boiling temperature), they naturally have very high heat resistance. This explains how Cloverfield is able to withstand numerous bombs and attacks from the army.

Actually Cloverfield is a codename for the military operation and refers to the field formerly known as Central Park. Clovers are usually prone to grow at places after bombing. Thus the term "Clover" and "field" referring to park.

In reality Cloverfield is named for the boulevard in Santa Monica where the Bad Robot offices were located during the мaking of the film.

Marlena's death (the chick that blew up):
The parasites on the monster have a way of feeding of it. They have an agent that bursts blood vessels. On something the size of a skyscraper - it would have the impact only on the localized capillaries - using the same agent on a human - probably every blood vessel in the body will burst - explains the bleeding from the eyes and the dizziness.

Before she "blows up," a dead soldier with his stomach already burst passes them as they first enter the military HQ. Then a captured spider creature is shown, so that's a foreshadow to what happened to her.

Camera battery:
The events take place over less than 7 hours and the whole movie is 84 minutes. So 84 minutes of film over 7 hours means the camera was off or not filming at some point. Lithium-ion can last a long time. Probably more like 4 hours tops on a stock battery. More than the light or night vision it's the LCD viewfinder that flips out on the side of cameras that drain the most, and it appeared that Hud was using the scope viewfinder.

H.U.D. is also short for Heads-Up Display, much like the way the film was shot.

Last words in the movie after credits: "It's still alive...help us"
[youtube.com]

About movie concept:
Think about how much isn't solved in the movie and then think about how much information they have put out there for viewers to research and either make their own conclusions or find the definitive answer (assuming there is one)... people get online to find out things about movies, before and after they have watched them, that it's genius to have created this online world within a movie world. Disregarding all the information: Slusho, Taragato, the anti-Taragato organizations would be dismissing what half the concept is about.

Here are the official Web sites affiliated with "Cloverfield." Click at your own risk. Hours seem to vanish navigating these pages:

www.cloverfieldmovie.com -- Not much content, just a trailer, a cryptic plot synopsis and a link to the film's MySpace page.

www.1-18-08.com --Here, things get more interesting. Although this appears to be a random assortment of photos, you can click and drag them to dig for clues.

www.slusho.jp -- Slusho is a fictional beverage that contains a secret ingredient scooped up from the ocean floor. Don't be fooled by the cute graphics and music on the Web site, there's something sinister about this "happy drink."

www.tagruato.jp -- The evil parent company of Slusho, Tagruato drills the deep sea for oil, jeopardizing ocean habitats in the process.

www.tidowave.com -- An environmental activist group, Tido Wave is dead set to stop Tagruato from plundering the globe's natural resources. They may or may not be involved with the destruction of the company's drilling station near the Bermuda Triangle.

www.jamieandteddy.com (Password: jllovesth) -- Jamie is one of the movie's characters and she sends a series of increasingly hostile video messages to her missing boyfriend, Teddy.


[Cloverfield wiki]

9 comments:

  1. Pavel how the hell did you find all of that backstory out? I remember the Slusho site, so I just assumed that that's where Rob was going to be VP at.

    I don't remember ever hearing of a Tagruato or Chimpanz III or whatever.

    Kudos to you for figuring that out. I didn't look that far into it, I guess.

    My question is though if Cloverfield was in the ocean, shouldn't it have attacked something on the west coast like California or something other than New York?

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  2. I believe the info comes from prequel Japanese movies, that people translated and posted on message boards. The satellite fell off near New York (not sure if that's possible), so the creature happened to be "sleeping" there at East cost.

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  3. Wow. I guess there was more of an extensive viral marketing campaign than I was aware of.

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  4. This is what I don't get - how a sea creature can breath on surface? They sort of showed us two inflating pink/red sacks on either side of its head at the end but what about parasites?

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  5. the monster came from the atlantic ocean because thats where Tagruato was drilling. The production company has even made a spainish news reel of the drilling companies tanker going down and the terrorist organization trying to stop them. This movie is absolutely epic

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  6. This is amazing. These guys are brilliant. I was disappointed the fil was only 84 minutes long. Is there going to be a sequel?

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  7. this movie was retarted.. whats wrong with you people? the story line was awful.. A monster woke up cuz of a satilite crashing and killed people. then the main character got bit in half the end.. after watching i blankly starred at the tv for like 20 mins and then just was like -wtf?

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  8. jeff..the fact that you watched the whole movie, then sat there 20 minutes to think about what you'd seen and then said wtf is a sign of a movie that makes people think/ completely original. 2 thumbs up

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