Michael Giacchino Interview

The Pioneer Kuro Loft has a video interview with Michael Giacchino, the Emmy and Grammy award winning composer for Cloverfield and Lost.

Giacchino talks about what he loves most about entertainment and how he feels sound is responsible for 50% of emotion. He also explains his process for developing the sound for Lost episodes, based on his personal emotions and crafting excitement in sound as the story unfolds.

* Thanks to Denise for the link!

Happy Birthday Lizzy!

Elizabeth Anne "Lizzy" Caplan, aka Marlena Diamond, is 26 today.

Happy Birthday JJ Abrams!

Jeffrey Jacob (JJ) Abrams is 42 today. Happy Birthday!

Thank You JJ... for Cloverfield, Lost, Fringe, Alias, Felicity, and even Star Trek! You rock!!

* Thanks to Hijinx at EvilPuppetMasters for knowing this, and to iushosh for the photo!

Matt Reeves: Cloverfield Sequel On Hold

Collider.com has an exclusive interview with Matt Reeves from the Saturn Awards, where Cloverfield won Best Sci-Fi Picture and he picked up The Filmmakers Showcase Award. He was asked repeatably about a Cloverfield sequel, answering that they have some ideas they are tossing around which are only in the baby stages, and unless they can basically "reinvent the wheel", they would rather do something else.

Cloverfield News

I've just returned from vacation, so here is the news you may have missed while I was gone:

• Amazon now has the Cloverfield Blu-ray on sale for $16.95 - only 96¢ more than the standard DVD! And Tower.com has it for $13.86!!!!
  
• The California DMV finds Slusho! offensive
• George Jones sent in this scale drawing of the LSA
• Harvey Dent noticed that the pictures on Rob's refrigerator, are the same ones from Marlena's MySpace page, and from Jamie's videos.
• The 2-hour premiere for FRINGE , the new Sci-Fi drama TV series from JJ Abrams, was pushed back until September 9th (although you can probably find it on the internet)
• The Holomove ARG turned out to be for Microsoft Visual Studio - not FRINGE as initially suspected.
• JJ Abrams will be at Comic-Con on Saturday July 26th for FRINGE. There will also be a LOST panel on Saturday, where the new LOST ARG will launch.
  
• There will be an adult movie spoof titled - Cleavagefield. "Check out these monsters!"

Cloverfield Wins Saturn Award for Best Sci-Fi Film

Cloverfield won two 'Saturn' awards from the The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films.

Cloverfield was was the winner for Best Science Fiction Film, and Matt Reeves picked up an award in the The Filmmakers Showcase Award category.

Lizzy Caplan was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, but lost to The Mist's Marsha Gay Harden.

Blair Witch's Daniel Myrick on Cloverfield

Den of Geek has an interview with Daniel Myrick, the co-writer and director of The Blair Witch Project, and the topic of Cloverfield came up:

Do you take it as a complement then when something like Cloverfield, ten years on, gets compared in certain ways to Blair Witch?

Absolutely, yeah. I thought it was very much in the spirit of the Blair Witch, and a very ballsy move for a high budget film to take that kind of cinematic approach. I thought they executed it on a lot of levels very well. I would have done a couple of things differently. But I think that for a film like that to get made is very encouraging.

Cloverfield HD Rental on Apple TV

Cloverfield is available for rental on Apple TV in HD for $4.99. Of course, you'll need an Apple TV boxin order to do this (the standard version is available through iTunes for $3.99). Unfortunately, it's only available in 720p, so you'll still have to get it on Blu-ray for the 1080p goodness.

* Thanks to Apple TV Junkie for the news and specs!

Cloverfield Special Investigation Mode

Here is a screenshot of the Cloverfield Blu-ray's Special Investigation Mode. The main window shows the movie and time code. On the left is a map of NYC, which tracks the locations of the Human Subjects (Rob & Friends), the Large Scale Aggressor or LGA (The Monster), and the Primary Military Activity. On the bottom are the military's notes for each section of the video. There are way too many notes to list them all here, but here are some of the more interesting ones:

Investigations are underway regarding a connection between the Chuai destruction and the Large Scale Aggressor (LSA) attack in New York.

Bold Futura's satellite "Hatsui" was instrumental in the search and identification of the ChimpanzIII fragment off the coast of New York.

It is currently accepted that this explosion and subsequent firestorm did not come from the Tagruato tanker, as it remained intact several hours later.

It is estimated that over 2,000 parasites emerged from LSA during CLOVERFIELD. Due to their destructive nature, they were as much of a rationale for the Hammerdown Protocol as was LSA itself.

Preliminary blood samples from HSPs (Human Scale Parasites) showed high levels of Katei No Mitsu ("Seabed's Nectar"), the key ingredient in Tagruato's Slusho! beverage

EMCINTYRE's companion earlier that evening, Travis Marello, drove his own car away from Manhattan Island via the Lincoln Tunnel and was at home in Weehawken, NJ for the duration of the attack.

The Large Scale Aggressor (LSA) is estimated to stand between 240 and 300 feet tall in it quadruped pose, and possibly up to 1,200 feet in length, from head to tail. Its weight is estimated at 5806.04 metric tons.

You can read all of the notes in the comments, or at CloverfieldMovieForum.com

UPDATE: Check out this photo essay by Midgard Dragon of the S.I.M. comments!

* A HUGE special thanks to Bartle from CloverfieldMovieForum for the screenshot and notes!!!!

Cloverfield Now On Blu-Ray!

Cloverfield is now available on Blu-ray! Amazon still has it for only $19.95, plus $2.98 shipping - OR get free shipping with a $25 order. Walmart and Target also have it for under $20.

Blu-ray.com has the details:

1080p high definition and framed in the movie's original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. For what the movie is, it looks great. ... Fine details...look rather good ... surprisingly solid black levels ... you are seeing is exactly what the filmmakers intended for you to see, and this disc definitely provides viewers with the raw feel and gritty look that is the true star of the movie.

One important thing to note: ALL of the video in Cloverfield was shot in HD, even the scenes using "handheld" cameras.

Cloverfield devastates Blu-ray with a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless track ... this one could be considered the best on the market, a sound mix many other movies of this sort could and should aspire to, and is certainly exemplary demonstration material ... The entire soundtrack is awe-inspiring, remarkable stuff. Kudos to Paramount -- what a fantastic way to truly kick off their return to Blu-ray.

The Blu-ray exclusive feature is the "Special Investigation Mode":

Next up is Special Investigation Mode. This is a clever and entertaining way to watch the movie. The movie plays in a box while the remainder of the screen provides a map showing the current location of the "large scale aggressor," "human subjects," and the "primary military activity." Facts about the characters, the monsters, and various locations around the city also appear at regular intervals in another box.

This sounds very similar to the UGO interactive map.

After reading a handful of reviews, I haven't been able to find any screenshots of the Special Investigation mode, or any mention of Easter eggs. If you see anything, let me know! FWIW, Walmart.com lists the same Easter Eggs as the standard DVD.