Found footage is a cinematic technique in which all or a substantial part of the work is presented as if it were film or video recordings recorded by characters in the story, and later "found" and presented to the audience. The events on screen are typically seen through the camera of one or more of the characters involved, often accompanied by their real-time , off-camera commentary . For added realism , the cinematography may be done by the actors themselves as they perform, and shaky camera work and naturalistic acting are routinely employed. The footage may be presented as if it were " raw " and complete or as if it had been edited into a narrative by those who "found" it.
93-430: Cloverfield is a 2008 American found footage monster horror film directed by Matt Reeves , produced by J. J. Abrams , and written by Drew Goddard . It stars Lizzy Caplan , Jessica Lucas , T. J. Miller (in his film debut), Michael Stahl-David , Mike Vogel , and Odette Annable . The plot follows six young New York City residents fleeing from a massive monster and various other smaller creatures that attack
186-557: A B-2 Spirit . The creature collapses and appears to be dead for a brief moment, but rises from the smoke and hits the second helicopter. The helicopter crashes in Central Park, killing all occupants except Rob, Beth, and Hud. Fifteen minutes before the Hammer Down Protocol commences, the trio manages to escape the wreckage and attempts to flee. After placing the camera down to help an injured Rob, Hud turns back to retrieve it when
279-536: A prequel manga series , were released as part of the marketing campaign. Cloverfield was released on January 18, 2008, and received positive reviews from critics, who praised Reeves's direction and the cinéma vérité style narrative. It earned $ 172 million worldwide at the box office against a $ 25 million budget. It is the first installment of the Cloverfield franchise , followed by 10 Cloverfield Lane in 2016 and The Cloverfield Paradox in 2018. A direct sequel
372-407: A viral marketing campaign, a teaser trailer was released ahead of screenings of Transformers (2007) without a title. The final title was revealed in a second teaser trailer attached to screenings of Beowulf (2007). With limited pre-release details, it garnered online speculation, including forums and websites dedicated to uncovering hidden information about the film. Several tie-ins, including
465-577: A "Special Investigation Mode", as well as all the bonus features of the 2-disc DVD in HD. On the film's 10th anniversary, Paramount issued a 4k UHD Blu-ray version of the film, accompanied by the standard Blu-ray and bonus extras, it was released on January 23, 2018. Cloverfield opened in 3,411 theaters on January 18, 2008, and grossed a total of $ 16,930,000 on its opening day in the United States and Canada. It made $ 40.1 million on its opening weekend, which at
558-680: A DIV AFT Initial Planning Conference to clarify unit alignments for all eight ARNG Division Headquarters and synchronize activities that will facilitate unity of effort between Division Headquarters and aligned for training States." The Army National Guard fields 37 multifunctional support brigades. In 2016, the Army and the Army National Guard began a training and readiness initiative that aligned some Army brigades with National Guard division headquarters, and some National Guard brigades with Army division headquarters. Among others, this program included
651-427: A Plane (2006), the latter of which had generated online hype but failed to attract large audiences. The sudden appearance of the untitled teaser for Cloverfield , and limited details available in the lead up to the film's release fueled wide media speculation over the film's plot, with many expecting it to be an adaptation of an existing property. Among the possibilities reported on, The Star Ledger suggested that
744-414: A battle between the creature and military, they hide in a nearby subway station. While walking through the subway tunnels toward midtown, they are attacked by a group of parasites, one of which bites Marlena. The four escape the tunnels and enter Bloomingdale's , where they are found by soldiers and taken to a command center nearby. When Marlena begins to bleed from her eyes, she is forcibly taken away from
837-593: A brief citywide power outage . The local news reports a capsized oil tanker near Liberty Island . From the roof, the partygoers witness an explosion in the distance and flee as flaming debris flies in their direction. As the partygoers flee, the severed head of the Statue of Liberty falls into the street. In the chaos, Hud records an enormous creature several blocks away collapsing the Woolworth Building . Rob, Jason, Lily, Hud, and their friend Marlena take cover in
930-417: A collection of the music played in the opening party sequences of the film that was released exclusively on Apple's iTunes Store on January 22, 2008, in lieu of a traditional soundtrack album. The Cloverfield score, "Roar! ( Cloverfield Overture)" by Michael Giacchino that plays over the end credits is not featured on the album, as it is the mixtape played at the party and is not the official soundtrack of
1023-478: A connection to the monster. Based on the film's successful opening weekend, Hasbro began accepting orders for a 14-inch (36 cm) collectible toy figure of the monster with authentic sound and its parasites that were shipped to fans by December 24, 2008. Due to its presentation as footage from a consumer digital recorder, Cloverfield has no film score , with the exception of the composition "Roar! ( Cloverfield Overture)" by Michael Giacchino that plays over
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#17330858281891116-656: A nearby convenience store. When the group attempts to evacuate Manhattan , the creature's tail destroys the Brooklyn Bridge , killing Jason. News reports show the Army National Guard 's 42nd Infantry Division attacking the monster and hostile parasites falling off its body. Rob receives a message from Beth, who is trapped in her apartment at the Time Warner Center . Rob, Hud, Lily, and Marlena venture up to Midtown Manhattan to rescue her. Finding themselves in
1209-399: A neighboring skyscraper. After crossing roofs from the other building, they find Beth impaled on an exposed rebar , free her, and make their way to the evacuation site near Grand Central Terminal , where they encounter the creature again. Lily is rushed into a first helicopter to escape. Rob, Beth, and Hud are taken away in a second helicopter, witnessing as the creature is heavily bombed by
1302-464: A pure-blood, grade A, exhilarating monster movie". He cites Matt Reeves ' direction, the "whip-smart, stylistically invisible" script and the "nearly subconscious evocation of our current paranoid, terror -phobic times" as the keys to the film's success, saying that telling the story through the lens of one character's camera "works fantastically well". Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter called it "chillingly effective", generally praising
1395-820: A special edition of Cloverfield made available for sale in Canadian Wal-Mart stores beginning on April 22, 2008. First publicized in a teaser trailer in screenings of Transformers , the film was released on January 17 in New Zealand , Russia and Australia ; January 18 in North America; January 24 in South Korea ; January 25 in Taiwan ; January 31 in Germany; and February 1 in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Italy. In Japan,
1488-457: A staff which aids in planning and day-to-day organization and management. In addition to a chief of staff, the Director's staff includes several special staff members, including a chaplain and protocol and awards specialists. It also includes a primary staff, which is organized as directorates, divisions, and branches. The directorates of the Army National Guard staff are arranged along the lines of
1581-404: A state's joint force headquarters or regional training institutes are administered as Table of distribution and allowance (TDA) units. In addition to many deployable units which are non-divisional, the Army National Guard's deployable units include eight infantry divisions. These divisions, their subordinate brigades or brigades with which the divisions have a training oversight relationship, and
1674-406: A surprise farewell party for Rob at his Lower Manhattan apartment before he moves to Japan for his new job. Jason asks Rob's best friend, Hudson "Hud" Platt, to film testimonials for Rob during the party. Beth, upset by Rob's lack of communication after their one night together, brings another man to the party. Beth and Rob argue, and she leaves shortly before a massive earthquake occurs, causing
1767-484: A teaser trailer that would be a surprise in the light of commonplace media saturation. Rather than edit the teaser from footage taken from the finished film, footage was captured during the preparation stages solely for creation of the teaser. Ernest Holzman, who would later be replaced with Lost cinematographer Michael Bonvillain, utilized the Thomson Viper FilmStream Camera for the shoot. The teaser
1860-535: A television screen watched by the party-goers. The film's director, Matt Reeves , provides the uncredited voice for the two brief phrases (one normal, one in reversed audio ) after the credits . J. J. Abrams conceived a new monster after he and his son visited a toy store in Japan while promoting Mission: Impossible III . He explained, "We saw all these Godzilla toys, and I thought, we need our own American monster, and not like King Kong . I love King Kong. King Kong
1953-463: A third of the movie and almost half of it made it into the film. Director Matt Reeves described the presentation, "We wanted this to be as if someone found a Handicam, took out the tape and put it in the player to watch it. What you're watching is a home movie that then turns into something else." Reeves explained that the pedestrians documenting the severed head of the Statue of Liberty with the camera phones
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#17330858281892046-458: A typical American military staff: G-1 for personnel; G-2 for intelligence; G-3 for plans, operations and training; G-4 for logistics; G-5 for strategic plans, policy and communications; G-6 for communications; and G-8 for budgets and financial management. Of the 45 individuals to serve as President of the United States as of 2021 , 33 had military experience. Of those 33, 21 served in the militia or ARNG. (Note: President George W. Bush served in
2139-467: A way, a prism and they're another way of looking at the same thing. To us, it's just another exciting aspect of the storytelling." A four-installment prequel manga series by Yoshiki Togawa titled Cloverfield/Kishin ( クローバーフィールド/KISHIN , Kurōbāfīrudo/KISHIN ) was released by Japanese publisher Kadokawa Shoten . The story focuses on a Japanese high school student named Kishin Aiba, who somehow bears
2232-405: Is adorable. And Godzilla is a charming monster. We love Godzilla, but I wanted something that was just insane and intense." In February 2007, Paramount Pictures secretly greenlit Cloverfield , to be produced by Abrams, directed by Matt Reeves , and written by Drew Goddard . The project was produced by Abrams's company, Bad Robot . The severed head of the Statue of Liberty was inspired by
2325-450: Is all happening as we see it". Found footage (film technique) The most common use of the technique is in horror films , such as The Blair Witch Project , Cannibal Holocaust , Paranormal Activity , Diary of the Dead , Rec , Cloverfield , Trollhunter , V/H/S , and Incantation , in which the footage is purported to be the only surviving record of the events, with
2418-512: Is economically paced, stylistically clever, and filled with scares". According to Metacritic , the film has received an average score of 64 out of 100 based on 37 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale. Marc Savlov of The Austin Chronicle called the film "the most intense and original creature feature I've seen in my adult moviegoing life [...]
2511-474: Is in development. The footage from a personal camcorder is recovered by the U.S. Department of Defense in the area "formerly known as Central Park ", bearing a disclaimer about multiple sightings of a case designated "Cloverfield". On April 27, 2008, Rob Hawkins wakes up with Beth McIntyre in her father's apartment before embarking on a date across New York City and Coney Island . On May 22, 2008, Rob's brother Jason and Jason's girlfriend, Lily Ford, throw
2604-505: Is often claimed to be the first example of found footage. However, Shirley Clarke 's arthouse film The Connection (1961) and the Orson Welles directed The Other Side of the Wind , a found footage movie shot in the early 1970s but released in 2018, predate Cannibal Holocaust . America's Deadliest Home Video (1991), remains a potent use of the format as well as an unsung groundbreaker in
2697-538: The Coney Island–Stillwell Avenue station instead of on the Ferris wheel and features different sirens in the background as Rob talks to the camera. In the second alternative ending, just after the final explosion, Beth can be heard screaming "Rob!", followed by a very brief clip of an unknown person looking at the camera (in the commentary, Reeves said that it was one of the crew members) and brushing rubble off
2790-476: The State Adjutant General . The Adjutant General (TAG) is the de facto commander of a state's military forces, and reports to the state governor. Several units have been affected by Army National Guard reorganizations. Some have been renamed or inactivated. Some have had subordinate units reallocated to other commands. A partial list of inactivated major units includes: Upon the creation of
2883-640: The United States Air Force in 1947, the National Guard Bureau was organized into two divisions; Army National Guard and Air National Guard . Each were headed by a major general who reported to the chief of the National Guard Bureau . The head of the Army National Guard was originally established as the chief of the Army Division at the National Guard Bureau . The position was downgraded to brigadier general in 1962 due to force reduction. It
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2976-425: The epistolary novel , which typically consists of either correspondence or diary entries, purportedly written by a character central to the events. Like found footage, the epistolary technique has often been employed in horror fiction : both Dracula and Frankenstein are epistolary novels, as is The Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft . In filmmaking , the 1980 cult horror feature Cannibal Holocaust
3069-613: The viral marketing campaign. The drink had already appeared in producer Abrams' previous creation, the TV series Alias . Websites for Slusho! and Taguruato were launched to add to the mythology of Cloverfield . The Japanese phone number in the Tagruato website did work, but only played recorded messages. For example, one of the messages was: "Thank you for calling Tagruato. Due to high call volumes, your call has been transferred to an automated answering service. There are no updates at this time. After
3162-635: The ARNG may be ordered, temporarily or indefinitely, into United States service. If mobilized for federal service, the member or unit becomes part of the U.S. ARNG, which is a reserve component of the U.S. Army . Individuals volunteering for active federal service may do so subject to the consent of their governors. Largely on the basis of a 1990 U.S. Supreme Court decision , governors generally cannot veto involuntary activations of individuals or units for federal service, either for training or national emergency. The President may also call up members and units of
3255-574: The ARNG, in its status as the militia of the several states, to repel invasion, suppress rebellion, or enforce federal laws. The Army National Guard is one of two organizations administered by the National Guard Bureau , the other being the Air National Guard . The Director of the ARNG is the head of the organization, and reports to the Chief of the National Guard Bureau. Because the ARNG is both
3348-608: The DVD at all Target and Wal-Mart retailers and an exclusive ringtone with the DVD at all Kmart and Sears retailers. Borders also had an exclusive booklet encased with their DVD. The Region 2 DVD was released on June 9 in both one-disc and two-disc editions. The limited steel-book edition is only available from HMV , while Play.com offers exclusive cover artwork. The HMV-exclusive steel-book contains two discs. The DVD includes two alternative endings , which vary only slightly. The first alternative ending shows Rob and Beth exiting
3441-587: The Militia of the United States (consisting of the ARNG of each state, most territories, and the District of Columbia ), as well as the federal ARNG, as part of the National Guard as a whole (which includes the Air National Guard ). It is divided into subordinate units stationed in each state or insular area, responsible to their respective governors or other head-of-government. The Guard's origins are usually traced to
3534-629: The National Guard's 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team becoming affiliated with the Army's 10th Mountain Division and the National Guard's 1st Battalion, 143rd Infantry Regiment affiliating with the Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team . In addition, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division began an affiliation with the National Guard's 36th Infantry Division . Army units partnering with Army National Guard headquarters include: The Army and Air National Guard in each state are headed by
3627-515: The National Guard. The ARNG's portion of the president's proposed federal budget for Fiscal Year 2018 is approximately $ 16.2 billion to support an end strength of 343,000, including appropriations for personnel pay and allowance, facilities maintenance, construction, equipment maintenance and other activities. Deployable Army units are organized as Table of organization and equipment (TOE) organizations or modified table of organization and equipment (MTOE) organizations. Non-deployable units, such as
3720-569: The New York exterior scenes. Filming took place on Coney Island , with scenes shot at Deno's Wonder Wheel Amusement Park and the B&;B Carousel. The scenes of tanks firing at the creature while the main characters hide in a stairwell were filmed on Hennesy Street on Warner Bros. Studios backlot in Burbank, California . Some interior shots were taped on a soundstage at Downey, California . Bloomingdale's in
3813-473: The acting "appropriately unmemorable", the decision to tell the story through amateur footage was "brilliant". Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars out of four and wrote that it is "pretty scary at times" and cites "unmistakable evocations of 9/11 ". He concludes that "all in all, it is an effective film, deploying its special effects well and never breaking the illusion that it
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3906-444: The addition of a countdown overheard on the helicopter's radio and the sounding of air raid sirens to signal the forthcoming Hammer Down bombing. The film's shaky camera style of cinematography, dubbed "La Shakily Queasy-Cam" by Roger Ebert , caused some viewers (particularly in darkened movie theaters) to experience motion sickness , including nausea and a temporary loss of balance. Audience members prone to migraines have cited
3999-529: The audition process, not intended for use in the film. Lizzy Caplan stated that she accepted a role in Cloverfield without knowing the premise, solely because she was a fan of the Abrams-produced Lost , and her experience of discovering its true nature initially caused her to state that she would not sign on for a film in the future "without knowing full well what it is". She indicated that her character
4092-534: The city during a farewell party. Development began when producer J. J. Abrams started conceptualizing a new monster and enlisted Neville Page to design the creature, called Clover . In February 2007, the project was secretly greenlit by Paramount Pictures and produced by Abrams's Bad Robot . Principal photography took place in Los Angeles and New York City in 2007. The project had several working titles, including Slusho , Cheese , and Greyshot . As part of
4185-460: The city of Salem, Massachusetts , in 1636. That year a regiment of militia drilled for the first time to defend a multi-community area within what is now the United States. The ARNG operates under Title 10 of the United States Code when under federal control, and Title 32 of the United States Code and applicable state laws when under state control. It may be called up for active duty by
4278-423: The creature suddenly appears and bisects him. Rob and Beth grab the camera and take shelter under Greyshot Arch . As air raid sirens blare, Rob and Beth each provide their last testimony of the day's events. The arch begins to crumble, and the camera is knocked out of Rob's hand and buried beneath the rubble. Rob and Beth proclaim their love for each other just as the bombing commences, and the camera freezes before
4371-447: The effects and the film's "claustrophobic intensity". He said that though the characters "aren't particularly interesting or developed", there was "something refreshing about a monster movie that isn't filled with the usual suspects". Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly said that the film was "surreptitiously subversive, [a] stylistically clever little gem", and that while the characters were "vapid, twenty-something nincompoops" and
4464-399: The end credits. Similarities between "Roar!" and the music of Godzilla composer Akira Ifukube have been noted, and it has been suggested that Giacchino's overture is a tribute to Ifukube's work, which was confirmed by Matt Reeves in the DVD's commentary track. The soundtrack was supervised by William Files and Douglas Murray at Skywalker Sound . Rob's Party Mix or Cloverfield Mix is
4557-491: The film as a trigger. Some theaters showing the film, such as AMC Theatres , provided poster and verbal warnings, informing viewers about the filming style of Cloverfield , while other theatres like Pacific Theatres just verbally warned customers in detail at the box office about experiencing motion sickness upon viewing the film and what to do if they had to step out and vomit. Visual main effects supervisor Nick Tom and Phil Tippett's "Tippett Studio" were enlisted to develop
4650-459: The film could be based on the works of H. P. Lovecraft , or a new entry in the Godzilla series. The Guardian reported the possibility of a spin-off to Abrams' television show Lost , and a misinterpretation of the trailer's line "It's alive!" as "It's a lion!" led USA Today to speculate on a live-action adaptation of Japanese animated series Voltron . IGN and Time Out suggested that
4743-411: The film held the top spot in the box office rankings for one week before the release of Kamen Rider Den-O & Kiva: Climax Deka took the top spot in its first weekend. On Rotten Tomatoes , the film holds an approval rating of 78% based on 212 reviews, with an average rating of 6.80/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "A sort of Blair Witch Project crossed with Godzilla , Cloverfield
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#17330858281894836-500: The film hidden online. Members of the forums at argn.com and unfiction.com have investigated the background of the film, with the "1-18-08" section at Unfiction generating over 7,700 posts in August 2007. The members have studied photographs on the film's official site, potentially related MySpace profiles, and the Comic-Con teaser poster for the film. A popular piece of fan art posited that
4929-554: The film was released on April 5. The DVD was released on April 22, 2008, in two versions: the standard single-disc edition and an exclusive " steel -book" special edition that was sold at Suncoast and FYE retailers in the US and Future Shop in Canada. Other store exclusives include an exclusive bonus disc titled "T. J. Miller's Video Diary" with the DVD at all Best Buy retailers, an exclusive mix CD titled "Rob's Goin' to Japan Party Mix" with
5022-400: The film would feature an alien called " The Parasite ", with that rumored to be the working title of the film. Elsewhere online, Slusho and Colossus had been discussed as other possible titles, as well as Monstrous , although this was dispelled by Abrams at ComicCon. The viral marketing campaign drew the attention of alternate reality game enthusiasts, hoping to uncover information about
5115-619: The film's release that showed a deep-sea creature heading toward Manhattan. Fans who ordered merchandise received pieces of torn Tagruato documents and Japanese newspapers along with their products. A cup of Slusho! appears briefly in The Cloverfield Paradox , and it has also appeared in Fringe and Heroes . A Slusho! bobblehead figure also appears shaking in The Cloverfield Paradox trailer and film. Producer Burk explained
5208-463: The film, the only official site that had been found was 1–18–08.com. At the site, which now redirects to the Paramount Pictures home page, a collection of time-coded photos were available to piece together a series of events and interpret their meanings. The pictures could also be flipped over by repeatedly and rapidly moving the mouse side to side. Also, if the page was left open for six minutes,
5301-512: The film. This album was distributed to guests at a Cloverfield premiere party held at the Dark Room in New York City on January 17, 2008. A complete soundtrack release of all the music in the film, including Giacchino's "Roar!" end title piece, has now also been released exclusively on iTunes; it has not been officially released in retail stores. A CD entitled Rob's Party Mix comes packaged in
5394-417: The filmmakers are heard but not seen in the film. The man yelling "Oh my God!" repeatedly when the head of the Statue of Liberty lands in the street is producer Bryan Burk , and director Matt Reeves voiced the whispered radio broadcast at the end of the credits. After viewing a cut of the film, Steven Spielberg suggested giving the audience a hint at the fate of the monster during the climax, which resulted in
5487-418: The footage cuts. The film ends with the finale of Rob and Beth's trip to Coney Island a month earlier. Unseen by them, a barely discernible object falls from the sky and into the ocean before the camera cuts off. After the credits, a voice can be heard saying, "Help us..." When played in reverse , it says, "It's still alive." In addition, NY1 TV journalist Roma Torre has a cameo as herself, reporting on
5580-427: The found-footage field - an ahead-of-its-time application of the vérité-video form to the horror/crime genre. The device was popularised by The Blair Witch Project (1999). Found footage has since been used in other commercially successful films, including Paranormal Activity (2007), REC (2007), Cloverfield (2008) and Chronicle (2012). Reviewing V/H/S for The A.V. Club , Scott Tobias notes that
5673-401: The genre "has since become to the '00s and '10s what slasher movies were to the '80s." The genre appeals to film producers because of its lower cost, as it is believed the illusion of amateur documentary style allows lower production values than would be accepted on a conventional film. Writer-director Christopher B. Landon , who has made several found footage horror films, posits that
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#17330858281895766-485: The genre is likely to extend in the future outside horror. The following entries are notable films in the found footage genre, though some were only partially made in that style. Andolan Films Army National Guard The Army National Guard ( ARNG ) is an organized militia force and a federal military reserve force of the United States Army . It is simultaneously part of two different organizations:
5859-468: The government did not originate this. Cloverfield Blvd is the highway exit Abrams takes to his Santa Monica office, and which used to lead to the Santa Monica Airport , which originally bore the name Clover Field. The final title Greyshot was proposed, taken from the archway that the two survivors take shelter under at the end of the movie, but Matt Reeves said this was rejected because the film
5952-400: The group by a biohazard team and explodes shortly after. Rob, still intending to save Beth, persuades one of the military commanders to release them. He is informed when the last evacuation helicopter will depart before the military executes its "Hammer Down Protocol", which will destroy Manhattan to kill the monster. The survivors travel to Beth's apartment building, which they find leaning on
6045-455: The ideas in the film. And there's this weird way where you can go see the movie and it's one experience... But there's also this other place where you can get engaged where there's this other sort of aspect for all those people who are into that. All the stories kind of bounce off one another and inform each other. But, at the end of the day, this movie stands on its own to be a movie.... The Internet sort of stories and connections and clues are, in
6138-454: The lens. The film then ends with the original final clip of Rob and Beth on their Coney Island date recording themselves on the Ferris Wheel as the camera tape runs out, with two differences: there is no timestamp in the lower left-hand corner of the screen, and there is an additional beeping tone indicating the end of the tape. A Blu-ray edition was released on June 3, 2008. It includes
6231-546: The militia of the several states and a federal reserve component of the Army, neither the Chief of the National Guard Bureau nor the Director of the ARNG "commands" it. This operational command authority is performed in each state or territory by the State Adjutant General , and in the District of Columbia by the Commanding General of the D.C. National Guard when a unit is in its militia status. While under federal activation,
6324-436: The monster was a mutated humpback whale . All of the major characters received a personal Myspace page, all of which are accessible and featuring available photos, though blog posts have been removed. Unlike most viral marketing campaigns, this one had virtually nothing to do with the film's plot or characters. Instead it focused mainly on the fictional drink Slusho! and the fictional company Tagruato, slowly giving clues of
6417-604: The monster's roar could be heard. Eventually, Cloverfield Movie.com was created. The site provided both a trailer and a number, 33287, which, when texted from a mobile phone, provided a ringtone of the monster's roar and a wallpaper of a decimated Manhattan. This eventually turns out to be a Paramount number (people later received material on Iron Man , Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull , Kung Fu Panda , and The Love Guru ). The drink Slusho! served as part of
6510-577: The movie was actually shot in an emptied Robinsons-May store that was under reconstruction in Arcadia, California . The outside scenes of Sephora and the electronics store were taped in Downtown Los Angeles . The film was shot and edited in a cinéma vérité style, to look like it was taped with one hand-held camera, including jump cuts similar to ones found in home movies . T. J. Miller , who plays Hud, has said in various interviews that he taped
6603-468: The operational command authority is transferred to the commanders of the unified combatant commands , who command all U.S. forces within their area of responsibility . The Chief of the National Guard Bureau and the Director of the ARNG serve as the channel of communications between the Department of the Army and the ARNG in each state and territory, and administer federal programs, policies, and resources for
6696-478: The participants now missing or dead. It has also been used in science fiction such as Chronicle , District 9 , Project Almanac , Europa Report , Gamer , drama such as Zero Day , Exhibit A , comedy such as Project X , mystery such as Searching , family such as Earth to Echo , experimental arthouse such as The Connection , The Outwaters , Masking Threshold , and war films such as 84C MoPic . Although found footage
6789-417: The poster of the 1981 film Escape from New York , in which the head lies on a street in New York. Reeves explained, "It's an incredibly provocative image. And that was the source that inspired producer J. J. Abrams to say, 'Now this would be an interesting idea for a movie'." The film was initially titled Cloverfield , changed several times throughout production, and was reverted. Matt Reeves explained this
6882-430: The secret ingredient of a drink created by its founder Ganu Yoshida, named Slusho. Tagurato Repurposes Chuai Station after said discovery (and pulling a coverup involving the ordered assassination of the employee who originally made the discovery) using the front as an oil drilling platform also for surveillance of the monster and its parasites, who are using Sea Bed's nectar as a means of nourishment for their host, applying
6975-453: The secret origin of the monster that isn't addressed properly in the film. Following various clues, players discovered that the monster is an ancient amphibious organism discovered during the construction of Chuai Station, an oil platform off the coast of Connecticut belonging to the Japanese company Tagruato, which had the purpose of extracting a substance called Sea Bed Nectar that would become
7068-529: The state or territorial governors to help respond to domestic emergencies and disasters, such as those caused by hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes, as well as civil disorder . The District of Columbia Army National Guard is a federal militia, controlled by the President of the United States with authority delegated to the Secretary of Defense , and through him to the Secretary of the Army . Members or units of
7161-510: The states represented by the largest units include: Army Aviation Magazine wrote on 31 March 2021 that "The ARNG is pressing forward with the Division Alignment for Training (DIV AFT) effort. The DIV AFT intent is to enhance leader development and training readiness through codified relationships across echelons and states to develop combat capable division formations for large scale combat operations. The Director, ARNG. recently convened
7254-415: The substance on its back. Eventually, the monster awakens and destroys the station, before finding its way to the shores of New York at the beginning of the film. Puzzle websites containing Lovecraftian elements, such as Ethan Haas Was Right , were originally reported to be connected to the film. On July 9, 2007, producer J. J. Abrams stated that, while a number of websites were being developed to market
7347-442: The term "discovered footage" for the narrative gimmick . Found-footage films typically employ one or more of six cinematic techniques — first-person perspective , pseudo-documentary , mockumentary , news footage, surveillance footage , or screenlife —according to an analysis of 500 found-footage films conducted by Found Footage Critic. As a storytelling technique, found footage has precedents in literature, particularly in
7440-468: The time was the most successful January release (record then taken by Ride Along in 2014 with a weekend gross of $ 41.5 million). Moreover, the film simultaneously beat Titanic and Black Hawk Down to have the biggest Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend and opening weekend grosses. Worldwide, it has grossed $ 170,602,318, making it the first movie in 2008 to gross over $ 100 million. In Japan,
7533-510: The tone, please leave a message, and one of our associates will find you as soon as possible" . A building bearing the company logo for Tagruato can also be seen in the TV spot of the 2009 Star Trek film, and Uhura orders a Slusho! during the bar scene. When Cloverfield was hosted at Comic-Con 2007, gray Slusho! T-shirts were distributed to attendees. Fans who had registered at the Slusho! website received e-mails of fictional sonar images before
7626-411: The viral tie-in, "It was all done in conjunction with the studio... The whole experience in making this movie is very reminiscent of how we did Lost ." Director Reeves described Slusho! as "part of the involved connectivity" with Abrams' Alias and that the drink represented a "meta-story" for Cloverfield . The director explained, "It's almost like tentacles that grow out of the film and lead, also, to
7719-452: The visual effects for Cloverfield . Because the visual effects were incorporated after filming, cast members were only familiar with early conceptual renderings of the beast and had to react to an unseen creature during their scenes. Artist Neville Page designed the monster, creating a biological rationale for it, though many of his ideas, including an "elongated, articulated external esophagus", would not show up on screen. His central concept
7812-590: Was a sarcastic outsider, and that her role was "physically demanding". With an estimated production budget of $ 30 million, principal photography began in mid-June 2007 in New York. One cast member said that the film would look like it cost $ 150 million, though without recognizable and expensive actors. Filmmakers used the Panasonic HVX200 for most of the interior scenes, and the Sony CineAlta F23 high-definition video camera to record nearly all of
7905-409: Was already so well known as Cloverfield . The film received a subtitle in Japan , where it was released as Cloverfield/Hakaisha ( クローバーフィールド/HAKAISHA , Kurōbāfīrudo/HAKAISHA ) . The subtitle "Destroyer" was chosen by Abrams and was translated into Japanese as Hakaisha ( 破壊者 , lit. "Destroyer" ) by Paramount Japan at his request. The subtitle Kishin ( 鬼神 , lit. " Demon [ic] God" )
7998-464: Was chosen for the manga spin-off, Cloverfield/Kishin , released exclusively in Japan. Casting was done in secret, with no script sent to candidates. To prevent the leaking of plot information, instead of auditioning the actors with scenes from the film, scripts from Abrams's previous productions were used, such as the television series Alias and Lost . Some scenes were also written specifically for
8091-424: Was due to the hype caused by the teaser trailer. "That excitement spread to such a degree that we suddenly couldn't use the name anymore. So we started using all these names like Slusho and Cheese . And people always found out what we were doing!" He said that "Cloverfield" was the government's case designation for the events caused by the monster, comparing the titling to that of the real Manhattan Project , though
8184-488: Was originally the name of an entirely different genre, it is now frequently used to describe pseudo-documentaries crafted with this narrative technique such as Lake Mungo , Noroi: The Curse and screenlife films such as Unfriended , Searching . The film magazine Variety has, for example, used the term "faux found-footage film" to describe some titles. Film scholar David Bordwell criticizes this recent usage, arguing that it sows confusion, and instead prefers
8277-426: Was reflective of the contemporary period. According to him: " Cloverfield very much speaks to the fear and anxieties of our time, how we live our lives. Constantly documenting things and putting them up on YouTube , sending people videos through e-mail – we felt it was very applicable to the way people feel now." VFX and CGI were produced by effects studios Double Negative and Tippett Studio . Several of
8370-429: Was released on November 16, 2007, which was attached to Beowulf , confirming the title. The studio had kept knowledge of the project secret from the online community, a cited rarity due to the presence of scoopers that follow upcoming films. The controlled release of information on the film has been observed as a risky strategy, which could succeed like The Blair Witch Project (1999) or disappoint like Snakes on
8463-411: Was renamed to Director of the Army National Guard and elevated back to major general in 1970. The position was later elevated to the rank of lieutenant general in 2001. The Army National Guard is also authorized a deputy director which was originally established as a brigadier general office in 1970. It was elevated to the rank of major general in 2006. The director of the Army National Guard oversees
8556-421: Was that of an immature creature suffering from " separation anxiety ." This recalls real-life circus elephants who get frightened and lash out. The director stated that "there's nothing scarier than something huge that's spooked." Before the film's release, Paramount carried out a viral marketing campaign to promote the film which included viral tie-ins similar to Lost Experience . Filmmakers decided to create
8649-534: Was then used as a basis for the film itself. Paramount Pictures encouraged the teaser to be released without a title attached, and the Motion Picture Association of America approved the move. As Transformers showed high tracking numbers before its release in July 2007, the studio attached the teaser trailer for Cloverfield that showed the release date of January 18, 2008, but not the title. A second trailer
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