5 marketinggeheimen van Grand Theft Auto

Posted on 20 september 2013 by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Afgelopen week ging GTA V in première, een gegarandeerde miljoenenhit. Op de eerste verkoopdag, woensdag 18 september, bracht het spel al 800 miljoen dollar op. Niet slecht voor een spel met een budget van ‘slechts’ zo’n 165 miljoen dollar.

Voor wie het nog niet kent, Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is een interactieve misdaadgame. In een open stedelijke omgeving heb je als speler de vrijheid om allerlei activiteiten te ontplooien. Daarnaast kun je missies voltooien, waardoor je geleidelijk een groot misdaadimperium opbouwt.

De lancering van een GTA-spel heeft veel weg van de première van een James Bond film. De entertainmentbladen schrijven over niets anders, hongerige fans speuren het internet af naar nieuwe informatie en winkels blijven op premièredag langer open om de duizenden gamers te bedienen die het spel direct willen hebben. Wat verklaart het succes van deze misdaadserie?

GTA biedt spelers:

1. Product leiderschap
Een nieuwe GTA-game staat garant voor het beste wat je kunt krijgen op gaming-gebied. De makers bij Rockstar North melken geen voorgangers uit, maar benaderen ieder deel alsof het de eerste is. De gebruikte technieken zijn altijd state-of-the-art zodat ook verwende gamers nog verast worden op het gebied van gameplay en graphics. Ook op het gebied van scripts en stemacteurs nemen de makers alleen genoegen met ware excellentie. Een GTA-game spelen staat garant voor een unieke interactieve spelervaring. Er is geen spel dat zoveel vrijheid en mogelijkheden biedt.

2. Waar voor je geld
Behalve de technische en verhaalsaspecten, zitten er zoveel activiteiten in een GTA-game, dat spelers er gemakkelijk 100 uur aan kunnen besteden zonder dat het saai wordt. Auto’s stelen, helikopters vliegen, motorracen, daten met mooie vrouwen, overvallen plegen, ingame games spelen, pizza’s bezorgen, base jumpen, een bendeoorlog beginnen…. Het houdt niet op.
Daarnaast is de stad helemaal volgestouwd met verassingen voor spelers die alle hoeken en gaten willen verkennen. In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City – het op Scarface gebaseerde deel – is bijvoorbeeld in een huis de douche te vinden waar de beruchte kettingzaag scene van Scarface zich afspeelde. Gamers die het spel kopen, worden dus meer dan voldoende beloond voor hun aankoop.

3. Een cult sausje
De misdaadwerelden van GTA waarin je je als speler bevindt, zijn doordrenkt van popcultuur. De muziek, de kleding, de fictieve merken… het zou allemaal uit een Tarantino-film kunnen komen. De fans van GTA, houden doorgaans van de misdaadfilms die aan de basis staan van deze games. Zo is GTA: Vice City gebaseerd op Scarface, één van de populairste cult films aller tijden. De acteurs die in de spellen de stemmen verzorgen, zijn ook vaak afkomstig uit gangster klassiekers. Denk aan Ray Liotta, Samuel L. Jackson en Michael Madsen. Hiermee heeft Rockstar North een grote groep fans weten te binden.

Het succes van GTA wordt verder vergroot door:

4. Verhalen delen
Zodra je klanten verhalen gaan uitwisselen over je producten, heb je het beste marketinginstrument ter wereld in handen. De interactieve wereld van GTA, maar ook de missies die je als speler uitvoert, bieden hier alle mogelijkheden toe. ‘Er stond een mannetje te pissen bij die ene missie, en toen heb ik met een machete zijn hoofd afgehakt’. Gamers delen graag hun gewelddadige prestaties met elkaar, en de nieuwste GTA-spellen bieden hier ook nog eens vele online opties voor, zoals het filmen van je gruwelijkste misdaden en waanzinnigste stunts.

5. Anticipatie creëren
Een uitgekiende marketing campagne, zorgt er steeds voor dat gamers al lang van te voren lekker worden gemaakt. In korte trailers worden hints gegeven voor karakters en verhaallijnen, terwijl de fans zien wat voor prachtige en realistische omgevingen de makers nu weer hebben samengesteld. De trailers gaan uiteraard direct viral. Hoe dichter bij de release datum, hoe meer er wordt weggegeven. Gevolg: liefhebbers kunnen niet meer wachten het spel te kunnen spelen en de nieuwe mogelijkheden te verkennen.

En dat kan nu! Maar alleen op de Playstation 3 en X-Box 360. PC-gamers (zoals ik, snik) moeten nog een tijdje wachten.

Blow

Posted on 12 juni 2011 by Jeppe Kleijngeld

Director: Ted Demme
Written by: Bruce Porter (book), David McKenna (screenplay), Nick Cassavetes (screenplay)
Cast: Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz, Franka Potente, Rachel Griffiths

Year / Country: 2001, USA
Running Time: 118 mins.

Biopic about George Jung, perhaps the biggest American cocaine smuggler of all time. The movie begins with George’s youth in Massachusetts, where he sees his dad working his ass off and ending up poor anyway. He decides he wants to become rich. George moves to California in the late sixties where he becomes a huge marijuana dealer and importer.

After the death of his girlfriend and a prison sentence he picks up a new trade; importing cocaine. After not too long, he is dealing directly with Pablo Escobar and his Medellín Cartel. 85 percent of all cocaine used in the United States in that time – the disco eighties – now comes from Jung. Then he meets a new love interest: the Colombian Mirtha (Cruz). This means trouble mildly put. In addition to that, a conflict ensues with his business partner and Jung is headed for the end. His empire was built too swiftly; the foundations were not strong enough.

Within the rise and fall crime biopic genre, Blow is a successful addition. It leans a bit heavy on GoodFellas with the voice-over, the soundtrack, the editing and casting (Ray Liotta plays Jung’s dad), but after a while you notice that Blow is not just another rip-off gangster movie. It is about a man and the choices he makes. In displaying that, the movie succeeds because ultimately it touches you where it matters; in the heart.

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Biography: Ted Demme (1963, New York – 2002, Santa Monica) was an American film director and producer. His career had modest beginnings – starting as a production assistant at MTV, he later created the cable network’s seminal hip-hop show Yo! MTV Raps. Later, he directed several movies, TV episodes and documentaries. He frequently worked with Denis Leary and was the nephew of movie director Jonathan Demme. In 2002, one year after directing the successful Blow, he died from an accidental cocaine induced thrombotic heart attack. He was only 38 years old.

Filmography: Yo! MTV Raps (1988, TV series) / No Cure for Cancer (1992, TV doc) / The Bet (1992, short) / Who’s the Man? (1993) / The Ref (1994) / Beautiful Girls (1996) / Homicide: Life on the Street (1994-96, TV episodes) / Gun (1997, TV episode) / SUBWAYStories: Tales from the Underground (1997, TV segment) / Denis Leary: Lock ‘N Load (1997, TV) / Snitch (1998) / Life (1999) / Action (1999, TV episode) / Blow (2001) /
A Decade Under the Influence (2003, doc)

GoodFellas (1990)

Posted on 30 mei 2010 by Jeppe Kleijngeld

‘Three Decades of Life in the Mafia’

Directed by:
Martin Scorsese

Written by:
Martin Scorsese (screenplay)
Nicolas Pileggi (book ‘Wiseguy’ / screenplay)

Cast:
Ray Liotta (Henry Hill), Lorraine Bracco (Karen Hill), Robert De Niro (James ‘Jimmy’ Conway), Joe Pesci (Tommy DeVito), Paul Sorvino (Paul Cicero), Frank Sivero (Frankie Carbone), Tony Darrow (Sonny Bunz), Mike Starr (Frenchy), Frank Vincent (Billy Batts), Chuck Low (Morris ‘Morrie’ Kessler)

GoodFellas tells the story of the 30 year lasting involvement of the Irish/Italian Henry Hill (Liotta) in the New York Mafia. It is based on the real life story of Henry Hill who went into the witness protection programme and described his experiences in the bestseller ‘Wiseguy’ by Nicolas Pileggi. Scorsese starts his movie with a most memorable scene playing in the seventies. The brutal murder of Gambino mobster Billy Batts at the hands of Hill’s feared associates Jimmy Conway (De Niro) and Tommy De Vito (Pesci). ‘As far as back as I could remember I always wanted to be a gangster’ is Hill’s classic voice-over response. Later in the film when we return to this scene, we will learn that this is the point where things are taking a downturn for Henry and his pals. Batts was a made guy and killing him could get them all whacked when discovered.

After this extremely violent scene of great impact we are glued to our seats and the film takes off at an enormous pace. We flash back to the fifties, a glorious time for the wiseguys in Brooklyn. In a sort of documentary style Hill describes his fascination with the Mafia and how he worked his way up into that world of glory, power and violence. It isn’t until long before Hill becomes an accepted and even very popular associate of the most violent crew in the neighborhood. The crew is headed by Paul Cicero (Paul Sorvino). His mentor becomes Jimmy Conway, an Irishman who like Henry can never become a ‘made guy’ because of his Irish blood. They are respected because they know how to earn, the greatest virtue a wiseguy can have. With the respect they get, they gain in power. They never have to wait in line anywhere and when they enter a club they get treated like movie stars with muscle.

After Henry’s youth is covered, there are basically three distinctive parts that follow: the glory days, in which Henry and his enterprising friends make giant scores, live the luxury life and still appear to have somewhat of innocence left. In these days Henry also meets his future wife Karen who gets a voice-over of her own, commenting on the Mafia life from the wives perspective. In the part that follows things start to slip. Sloppy and often unnecessary murders take place, largely due to psychopath Tommy. Henry and Jimmy have to face a long prison sentence and drugs make their entry. The final part consists of Henry’s paranoid cocaine trip leading to his arrest and downfall as a mobster.

The beauty of GoodFellas lies partly in its innovative use of cinematic techniques that not only help to tell the story as effectively as possible, but add to the immensely entertaining experience that watching this film is. Scorsese uses as many tricks as the running time allows him: freeze-frames, tracking shots, jump-cuts, pov-shots and extensive use of voice-over. It all fits perfectly in the narrative. Not one image feels even slightly misplaced, not one note of music mismatched, not one delivery of dialogue that doesn’t look and sounds flawless and effortless. Scorsese makes us feel what the characters feel by cleverly using cinematic language and succeeding brilliantly in making us part of Henry’s world.

Then there is the authenticity of the film that is just plain brilliance. Scorsese had the opportunity to observe the wiseguys well in his childhood and is aided by the perfect cast and production designers to bring his vision to the screen. It looks and feels so real that you can almost smell the garlic on De Niro’s breath as he is whispering something in Henry’s ear. The dark Mafia hangouts contrast beautifully with the colorful New York scene as the brutal acts of violence contrast with the family birthdays, christenings and weddings. It is like watching real Mafia footage. The inner workings of the mob are explained in great detail. A fine contribution by author and journalist Nicolas Pileggi who co-wrote the script with Martin Scorsese.

Scorsese and his team have managed to include in this movie what must be the largest number of famous cinematic finds in at least a decade; the mind-blowing steadicam shot of Henry and Karen taking the backdoor of the Copacabana, the shot of Jimmy visibly contemplating the murder of wig-man Morrie, the improvised ‘do you think I’m funny’ scene and the Layla montage of bodies of Lufthansa heist accomplices being found all over the city. Just to mention a few.

In basis, GoodFellas follows the classic rise-and-fall narrative of the gangster film, but in the process recreates an entire narrative technique breaking every rule in the book as it goes along. Storywise it differentiates itself from films such as The Godfather by strictly focusing on the street-level guys. It employs techniques to make you root for the bad guys. Just like the character Jimmy does in the movie. Where drug trade is firmly ruled against by Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather, it does indeed cause the demise of the protagonists in GoodFellas. The last half hour is one bad-ass cocaine trip experienced by Hill. Edited with enormous pace and dynamics.

It is hard to say that Pesci steals the show as hot-headed Mafioso because all the performances are so great. But Pesci certainly portrays the most relentless mobster in film history and he justly won an Oscar for the role. De Niro shines in a role more in the background. His behaviorism in the film is so detailed that only that demands multiple viewings. Liotta is the perfect leading man, charismatic and absolutely believable as the likable wiseguy Henry. Lorraine Bracco, as Henry’s counterpart Karen, gives an equally enjoyable and fitting performance.

Altogether GoodFellas really is a masterpiece. Everything about it is stylish and fascinating. It is a richly detailed look into the Italian underworld making us alternately feel fascination and repugnance for the gangsters. The atmosphere is so great that you can watch this film over and over just for the sheer joy and level of experience it lends to. It is the ultimate piece of pop cinema out there. Brilliant at so many levels and some of the finest hours of cinema in my life.

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