New Peeta Portrait & Lionsgate CMO Tim Palen Talks 'Catching Fire' Marketing

Peeta Mellark Photographed by Tim Palen

Check out this very interesting interview with Tim Palen, Chief Marketing Officer for Lionsgate. Tim spoke with RIPPmag's Jaqueline Miro about the marketing for Catching Fire. Palen sounds like a true renaissance man, photographing the marketing campaign HIMSELF and taking a completely hands-on approach to all aspects of the campaign. And yes, he DOES care what you guys think! I love this man. Read on:

By all accounts, Tim Palen is one of the catalysts of Lionsgate’s continuous growth at a critical time when film -- once deemed “spectacle for the masses” -- is becoming increasingly splintered into diverse audiences.

During his eleven-year tenure, Lionsgate Entertainment has experienced both a redefining of its mission, and a recrudescence in its audience. Lionsgate’s films have earned more than 40 Academy Award nominations and 10 Oscar wins, and Palen’s campaigns have received dozens of Key Art awards and other honors. Tim Palen does not feel comfortable claiming ownership of the title auteur, yet he is one of the most hands-on marketing execs in the business, conceptualizing campaigns, writing copy and even taking the photos that are used in the print campaigns for the movies he markets. The decisive moment of whether a movie works or not depends on the skill and intelligence with which all these elements are put together. And where a director has ninety minutes to tell a story, Tim has two and a half minutes max to flirt and seduce an audience.

From RIPPmag:

JM: HOW CHALLENGING WAS IT TO APPEAL TO A WIDE AUDIENCE IN A MOVIE LIKE THE HUNGER GAMES?

Tim Palen: There were a lot of challenges in marketing a beloved book especially knowing that it was the first of four films in a series. The best decision we made was to take our queues from the book – and we consider the words of Suzanne Collins to be our bible in marketing the film. The Hunger Games is a story about a reluctant hero who is forced into a world of violence and how institutionalized violence (i.e. war) changes everyone. One of the biggest  challenges fundamentally was how to handle the notion of kids killing kids. The books do not glorify violence and Katniss is not a killer. Sensationalizing that aspect of the story would be contrary to the core message of the books and we believed that it would be alienating to a huge part of the audience that love the books and that would love the movie.

JM: WHAT WAS THE FIRST CAMPAIGN YOU SHOT? CAN YOU TALK ABOUT A RECENT SHOOT AND HOW YOUR PROCESS WORKS?

Tim Palen: Most recently I shot the campaign for HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE. Because I also shot the campaign for the first HUNGER GAMES I have gotten to know the talent and there’s a certain level of trust and familiarity that has added a level of magic to the campaigns.

As a general rule, a photographer has a short window of time to connect with an actor and make them feel comfortable and safe and taken care of – most times it’s a matter of hours from the time they show up at the studio for hair/makeup before you have to dive right in. I think that’s one of the advantages of my job – I get to connect with the people I’m working with on a more intimate level than most marketing executives. It’s something I’m grateful for and something I never take for granted.

JM: WHAT ARE THE SPECIFIC QUALIFIERS TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT WITH YOUR NEXT MARKETING CAMPAIGN…YOU JUST RELEASED THE FIRST TEASER FOR CATCHING FIRE(WHICH GOT OVER 28M VIEWS IN A LITTLE OVER A WEEK) BUT I’M SURE THERE WERE MANY CHALLENGES.

Tim Palen: The launch of the teaser trailer for CATCHING FIRE was a hugely pivotal moment in the ongoing HUNGER GAMES campaign. Because we have a franchise across four films, each piece is just part of the larger puzzle, and this step was even more crucial because we had such great success on the first film. At the same time we have a new director (Francis Lawrence), a new editor, a new cinematographer and a new costume designer. So I really needed this first glimpse of the second film to work hard to reassure the fan base that the characters they know and love are back and that the integrity we showed with the first movie is still intact. But almost equally important for me was to show that the stakes are higher, the drama  will be greater and that CATCHING FIRE will be taking the story of our reluctant hero Katniss Everdeen to a whole other level. I’m grateful that Francis Lawrence has delivered a gigantic movie that has so many rich and amazing pieces for me to play with. He’s really made my job a fun and easy one.

Probably the most satisfying thing I saw after the release of the teaser was a fan comment on one of the blogs that posted the trailer. I tend to be overly obsessive about reading and monitoring real fan reaction to the materials. This one comment did the most to reassure me that we had hit the mark with the new teaser trailer: “Shit’s getting real.” It doesn’t get better than that.

Tim Palen, Lionsgate CMO and all around renaissance man. Photo by Jack Pierson

“Tim is amazing. A true artist. The work he does reflects his impeccable taste and a truly singular point of view that only the strongest and surest of artists could present.”
— Francis Lawrence

Special thanks to Josholatras for discovering this article and photo! Follow them on twitter @josholatras

New 'Catching Fire' Still from Empire Magazine

Chins up, smiles on! Check out a new Catching Fire still from Empire Magazine featuring Effie and Peeta! We'll get a HQ version up when it's available. 

Costume Illustrations from 'Catching Fire'

 

Frocktalk recently spoke with Phillip Boutte, a costume illustrator who worked with costume designer Trish Summerville on The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Boutte took Summerville's costume designs and used a hybrid of different mediums (hand drawing, photoshop, Corel painter and ZBrush) to make a rendering of the costume designs:

I can take a fitting photo of something and make it look the way it’s supposed to look.  Through photo manipulation and painting, I’ll do my sketch in the computer – I’ll directly sketch into the computer instead of using a pencil – and then I’ll start to fill in actors’ faces, block in big shapes, block in a basic silhouette and start to draw, based on the specifications of what the designer has given me.  From that point, you can make things look a lot more real.

Boutte didn't give us any new information about Catching Fire, but he did provide a look at some of the costumes. And they are all labeled by scene so we can see how they correspond to the Catching Fire movie stills and screencaps from the trailer.  You can read the full article HERE.

Newest 'Catching Fire' Still Revealed!

Effie Trinket - the only reason Katniss and Peeta get anywhere on time.

The latest still from Catching Fire was revealed today at Hunger Games Explorer. It's Katniss, Peeta, and Effie walking into the Victory Tour party at Snow Mansion. 

Catching Fire GIF Revealed

MTV just revealed this exclusive GIF from the Catching Fire trailer premiering at the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday, April 14th.

We're imagining Effie saying, "Big smiles!"