Super 8 News

Some of you have been asking me to do this and some of you have actually taken it upon yourself to help out, so here it is... a recap of everything we've learned so far regarding Super 8 and the viral marketing behind the movie. If you want more detail regarding everything that has happened I would suggest going back to the beginning of the blog and reading forward. (If I left anything out please let me know)

May 4, 2010

- Rumors start hitting the internet regarding a secret J.J. Abrams/Steven Spielberg Project so I start super8news.com. People begin speculation that the movie is a sequel to Cloverfield, which turns out to be false. The secret trailer is said to be attached to prints of Iron Man 2. (link)

- Details leak surrounding the actual plot line of the film, which turn out to be true (from what we've gathered since) (link):

Insiders familiar with the trailer tell us that it shows a bunch of kids who are shooting a movie with a Super 8 camera in the seventies or eighties. When they develop the film, they notice that there's an alien creature in the frame. Our sources also say that Super 8 is absolutely connected to 2008's Cloverfield (possibly a prequel, but not a sequel).

May 6, 2010

- J.J. Abrams confirms that there is a secret trailer for his new movie attached to prints of Iron Man 2. This is the first confirmation of the movie actually being real. (link)

- Film Popper are among the first people to see the trailer and give the world it's first description of what they saw. (link)

May 7, 2010

- Bootleg videos of the trailer hit the web and the community begins to dissect it frame by frame. (link)

- The official website (super8-movie.com) launches. There is no trailer yet, just a flash animation of what appears to be a super 8 film camera lens with random letters flashing on the screen. It turns out those red letters spell out the following: "TITLE:, DATE:, PROCESSED BY KODAK", and they continue to say the same thing to this day. (link)

- The trailer is pined over and analyzed frame by frame which leads to the discovery of the words "scariest thing i ever saw" embedded near the end of the trailer. This leads to the viral website http://www.scariestthingieversaw.com (or STIES as it's sometimes referred to as). At this point in the game we were stuck with a countdown of sorts on the site that we had to wait out before the next clue. The only thing that was found at this time was a dialogue box that asked you to print a document, the printout stated the following (link):

Stop posting publicly. I can answer your questions.
I have proof.

>>>>

- The name D. Morris was also discovered within the STIES site and could possibly be Dan Morris, but nothing else has come of this information as of yet. (link)

- Random images are found spliced in to the trailer; what appears to be a boys face (link) as well as a possible alien (link) although the alien now appears to just be smoke or an illusion caused by a frame wash.

May 11, 2010

- The official trailer makes it's way on to http://www.super8-movie.com (link)

- With an official version of the trailer now online, the dissection of the trailer becomes the hot topic. Little things like the license plate of the truck and the radio transmission have been looked at and it is discovered that the truck has Ohio license plates and the train is bringing cargo to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. (link)

May 14, 2010

- The "countdown" on STIES ended and it revealed a file list within the terminal. This then led us to 2 print outs of newspaper clippings (by using the command .print RSCOM8) which feature an advertisement/coupon for The Rocket Poppeteers. This is how http://www.rocketpoppeteers.com was discovered. (link)

- It was also revealed that if you take the newspaper clippings and line up the "x"'s on each of them you can figure out a hidden message based on the crossed off sections of the one print out, this message read: "No certainty if a live may be after us We go underground".

- People began filling out the Rocket Poppeteers coupons and sending them to the address mentioned.

May 28, 2010

- A casting call leaks from Paramount/Bad Robot for a movie called "Little Darlings". Speculation is that it is actually a casting call for Super 8, but using a code name much like Cloverfield did. (link)

June 2, 2010

- A folder named "braegen14" appears on the desktop of the STIES website and it contains a file named "expcnv.dat". By typing ".exec expcnv" in the terminal you were greeted by a dialogue box asking for the path. Since this file resided in a specific folder on the desktop of the terminal, the path turned out to be /desktop/Braegen14/expcnv.dat. The file turned out to be an audio file which some believe contains the golden ratio. (link)

June 24, 2010

- The original print out found on STIES that produced the "stop posting publicly" statements from May 28th, have been updated with more information. There is now a picture attached to the print out. (link)

- The image on the new printout lead to the discovery of 6 craigslist ads that show someone selling items that can be seen in the image on the print out. After the discovery of the craigslist ads it was possible to determine a phone number based on information in the backgrounds of the images. That number lead to a hotline for the memorial service of Evelyn Minker. Based on email responses and other information regarding the craigslist ads, it was determined that Josh Minker was the one selling his mom's old stuff on craigslist. (link)

- Hook, Line and Minker was discovered.

July 15, 2010

- Those that sent in their Rocket Poppeteers coupon begin to get mailed responses.  (link)

July 23, 2010

- It is confirmed that Super 8 will NOT be in 3D (thank god!) (link)

- The Rocket Poppeteers setup a twitter account and begin to invade Comic Con in San Diego handing out t-shirts and popsicles. (link)

July 29, 2010

- More information is added to the original printout on STIES, above the picture, and reads the following (link):

If you're who I think you are, it's about your father. I'll tell you more when i can, but you must take down those sale listings. Anything you found may be important.

> I've been quiet. PLEASE - what is this about??

>>I think something may have reactivated. Need to make sure we're still alone.
>>Keep it hidden until further contact.

>>>See. I have the damn thing. What is it?

- The craigslist ads are removed shortly after.

August 3, 2010

- The Rocket Poppetters website officially opens, but a lot of the sections do not contain content yet. (link)

September 10, 2010

- More information is added to the original printout on STIES and reads the following (link):

They're looking in the wrong place. But I still found you easily. If you
want to find your father we'll have to be more careful. I'm working on it.

>Are you still there?? Hello??

>> I don't know who you are but I'm getting really tired of these games.
>> If you actually know anything, come out and say it. Otherwise, I'm
>> not going to respond to your crypic messages.

>>> Ok, I took everthing down. Who do you think I am? What do you know
>>> about my father?

- Another folder appears on the desktop of STIES called "Audio" and it contains a file called untitled.mp3. The audio clip seems to contain dialogue between a customer and a store clerk. It's speculated that one of the people is Josh, but we're not sure which. Transcript of audio file (link):

Customer -Sorry, I didnt see any back there.
Clerk -If we have any we would let you know.
Customer -Blue can, Lion on it? You think theres any in back?
Clerk -No
Customer -Okay then, sorry.
(leaves)

- "Blue can, Lion on it?" is looked into, but no discernible answer is found. Some speculated that it was the energy drink Roaring Lion, but nobody is sure what it means. (link)

September 19/20, 2010

- Casting information starts to roll in. Kyle Chandler and Elle Fanning are among the actors cast in Super 8. Filming also beings prep work in Weirton, West Virginia. (link)

September 28, 2010

- People begin receiving emails containing links to applications for The Rocket Poppeteers, I have yet to receive an email. (link)

October 15, 2010

- Yet another amendment to the original printout on STIES now has a cryptic message, which turns out to be useful in a few days (link):

Meet me at 4D & 5O's last leg. Bring the foghorn and the unexpected title.

October 18, 2010

- A possible Rocket Poppeteers Poster was found at the NYC Comic Con. (link)

October 22, 2010

- Chat Icon discovered on the STIES site leads to a chat between Josh Minker and "mysterio" (the person who has been leaving him the cryptic message on the original printouts on the STIES site). In order to access the chat menu you must press the left arrow in the toolbar at the bottom of the STIES site, once you click on the chat icon it will ask for a password. The password is toadfish112. The password was discovered using that cryptic message from the printout. The Foghorn referred to the sound that the toadfish makes and the unexpected title is from a blog post that Josh wrote on Hook, Line and Minker where he didn't put a title and hinted at something unexpected in the first line of the blog, the post was #112 (look at the url).

- The chat transcript can be found here (link). This was the first mention of "3 dots" which has no become synonymous with top secret military happenings. It can be seen in pictures from filming in the gallery.

October 27, 2010

- Super 8 gets a release date of June 10, 2011. (link)

November 15, 2010

- New .dat files have shown up on the STIES site and have led to printouts of 4 Air Force ID cards as well as another file (EXPCNL.DAT) that doesn't seem to have anything in it at the moment. (link)

November 24, 2010

-Josh Minker makes a new post on his blog regarding the status of the COELACANTH fish that he's been searching for (link)

December 6, 2010

- Images began floating around the internet of possible concept art for the Super 8 alien/creature... they turned out to be completely fake, but were done by the same guy that did some fan art for Cloverfield a few years ago. (link)

December 12, 2010

- A new printout appears on the Scariest Thing I Ever Saw website which includes an image of a book with the word/letters "TROGL" in the upper left corner, these letters have also appeared on the ID cards we saw on November 15th. There is also a message that resembles a message we've seen before which lead Josh Minker to a private chat room with a mysterious stranger. (link)

December 16, 2010

- A new chat log has appeared on the Scariest Thing I Ever Saw website. It doesn't give us much information as it is only the mysterious man and not Josh Minker. It does say that we will receive a picture of Josh's father in the near future. (link)

December 18, 2010

- A new folder has appeared on the desktop of the Scariest Thing I Ever Saw website called 'Photos'. Inside the folder there is one image file with a password (toadfish112, same as the chat). The image is of an African American man wearing the same name badge that we were shown previously. This is Josh Minker's father. (link)

December 22, 2010

- Rocket Poppeteers have started to send out certificates to those that sent in the coupon from the original print out. Each certificate contains the name of the fleet you are assigned to, but nothing else of significance is discovered. (link)

December 24, 2010

- A slight update to the chat log and the original print out on the STIES site. The mysterious man that has been talking with Josh hasn't heard from him in a while and is a little concerned that something has happened. (link)

January 27, 2011

- Josh has let us know that he's still alive by updating his blog and the mysterious man leaves a message in the original print out on the STIES site indicating a date for Josh to join the chat so they can discuss what happened. (link)

- Later on the 27th a new chat log appeared on the STIES site and the mysterious man and Josh finally get to speak. Apparently Josh's house was broken into and he didn't know what to do. Nothing of value was stolen that he can tell, but the mysterious man knows exactly what they were looking for, thankfully they didn't get it because Josh doesn't have it. (link)

January 28, 2011

- Another image appears in the Photos folder on the STIES site and this time it's a map. The map shows Minnesota and the surrounding states with an "X" near Detroit Lakes, MN and some random letters and drawings. We have determined that the letters FFSH stand for Fergus Falls State Hospital which would correspond to the "X" on the map. It was also determined that the drawing in the upper right of the map and the "3RD" indication, are from the 3rd floor of the hospital where an eerie spiral staircase is set in between two windows. The significance of all of this is not known at this time. (link)

January 29, 2011

- As per the Mysterious Man and Josh's conversation in the chat, Josh has updated his blog indicating that his house was broken into and that he is fine and nothing of value was stolen. He also lies and says that he has filed a report with the police and they are looking into the matter. We know this is a lie because this is exactly what was discussed in the previous chat. (link)

February 6, 2011

- A new 30 second TV spot/trailer is aired during the Super Bowl. (link)

- An interview with JJ Abrams surfaces indicating more about the plot, specifically that a group of kids are filming a zombie movie near a rural set of train tracks when they witness the train crash. I recommend taking a few minutes and reading the whole article. (link)

February 9, 2011

- The 30 second TV Spot that aired during the Super Bowl is added to Apple.com and contains new images within the flashing camera lens near the end. These images change out every few hours on the 9th and again on the 10th, 11th and 12th. These new images seem to form a puzzle of sorts. (link)