Fringe Begins Filming In Brooklyn

The appropriately named website Filming in Brooklyn has a report today confirming that Fringe is filming in--wait for it--Brooklyn. While there are no real spoilers in the report, which includes a few spy photos of Joshua Jackson, be forewarned that these types of reports essentially deal in spoilers. If that's not a problem for you, the article is here.

Word on the street is the next chance you'll get to catch Fringe filming is the morning of July 10th, in the vicinity of 7th Avenue and 92nd Street, Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, New York.

Update: Make that Friday.

Fringe Teaser Animations

The conceptual design studio Buster, was retained by FOX to develop, animate and produce an on-air teaser campaign for FOX's upcoming Fall 2008 TV series "Fringe." Buster worked from the initial graphic symbols found in nature that had been developed by the internal design team at FOX. These symbols are key points for viewers to key into, and to tap into the show's science and nature themed premise. Buster developed a number of 10-second on-air tease animations which have been seen on FOX Television since mid June.

View all four spots above, or at YouTube.com\FringeTelevision

Two New Fringe Radio Ads

There are two new Fringe radio ads, titled "Cruise" and "Stories". The first three ads can be found here.

Cruise (Download MP3):

Ship captain: (panicked) National Sea Rescue, this is the Solara Cruise Ship, Estrella, come in.

NSR rep: Roger. We read you 5 by 5. Go ahead, Estrella.

Captain: May Day! The navigation system’s down.

NSR: We copy. What was your last position?

Captain: We can’t find our way out. Sudden fog bank off the… coast of Patagonia. I’m gonna try and turn her around. May Day! May Day!

[Tape rewind FX]
Captain: We can’t find our way out. Sudden fog bank off the… coast of Patagonia. I’m gonna try and turn her around. May Day! May Day!

[Tape rewind FX]
Captain: We can’t FIND our way out. Sudden fog bank off THE… coast of PATagonia. I’m gonna try and TURN her around. May Day! May Day!

[Tape rewind FX]
Captain: Find…the…Pattern.
[Tape machine clicks off]

VO: Find the pattern.
VO: FOX

Stories (Download MP3)

AGENT: Case Number 22. Tell me what happened Mrs. Reed.

MRS. REED: I identified my husband at the morgue after the wreck. So, I went home to break the news to my son… and then I got this call from the coroner. He said “I don’t know how to tell you this… but your husband wants a ride home.” [sob/laugh] He’s alive!

Sfx: Static

VO: Find the pattern.
VO: FOX

Fringe News Roundup

TV Guide's Matt Roush suggests Fringe could become a cult phenomena, if given a chance:

Question: I know you're not really into spoilers, but I was just wondering whether you have viewed J.J. Abrams' Fringe yet. I watched the pilot today, and I just wanted to hear your thoughts on it. Being an Alias lover, I adored it. That being said, it was slightly predictable in certain parts (the "for example" omitted for spoiler reasons). Despite that fact, I think this show has a great future, especially with the commercial-lite gimmick. What do you think? — Amanda

Matt Roush: Your analogy to Alias is a good one. That's the show I most thought about while recently screening the Fringe pilot in a visit to Fox's offices — a very cloak and dagger process, because the network has yet to send screeners to critics in fear of more incidents of it leaking onto the Internet, which is where I gather you saw it. Anyway, I won't go into a detailed review here — too early, and I'd like to see a final cut when it gets closer to the September launch date — but my initial reaction was quite positive, and had me thinking and hoping that if Fringe is lucky and given the opportunity, it could grow into a cult phenom like Alias or even The X-Files, a show it resembles even more. The premise is a little too murky and the trappings a bit too sci-fi for me to predict that it will explode out of the gates the way Lost did. But wouldn't it be nice?

---

TVWeek's Josef Adalian has a detailed piece outlining Fox's "more elaborate second phase" Fringe marketing campaign that started this week.

In addition to noting the 'Find The Pattern' fringe radio ads, sponsored search engine links and those 'Imagine The Impossibilities' bleeding banner ads, Adalian learns that FOX isn't alone in marketing Fringe and that "Bad Robot is doing its own marketing on behalf of the show, as well.":

While [Laurel Bernard, senior vice president of marketing for Fox Broadcasting] couldn't confirm the details of Bad Robots efforts, the blogosphere has been buzzing about a YouTube video featuring a 12-fingered man. Fox’s official Web site for "Fringe" features a hidden link to the video, something that appears to confirm a connection between the YouTube video and the show’s producers.

We wondered the same thing when the link to the YouTube video of the 12-fingered man first appeared. In response to our inquiry, Stuart, the video's owner, claimed no knowledge of, nor connection to Fringe.

It seems there may be more read-world appearances or events as well:

Fox’s promo push for “Fringe” will get more specific—e.g., “Watch ‘Fringe’”—as the show’s September premiere date draws closer. Over the next few weeks, however, the network is planning to have some fun with the show’s mysterious science theme.

“We’re planning outbreaks of ‘Fringe’ in all sorts of interesting places,” Ms. Bernard said.

Will there be more cow sightings?

"I cant confirm or deny anything," she said. "But we love the cows."

Fringe Science Demystified

The Fox Youtube channel has a new Fringe video. It is a Science Demystified interview with Author/Near-Death Experiencer Dannion Brinkley talking about fringe science. Brinkley was declared dead for 28 minutes after getting struck by lightning in 1975.

The video briefly shows Brinkley's website - Dannion.com - although it appears to be unconnected to Fringe.

BTW, here is the cloning diagram from the video.

Fringe Pilot Screening at (and near) Comic-Con

News via TVWeek that the Comic-Con veteran Warner Bros. (and not FOX, whose Comic-Con schedule has left some wondering where's the Fringe) will be deftly handling the Fringe marketing at Comic-Con with a panel and multiple screenings of the pilot.

--Warner Bros. Television will present panels for seven shows: “Chuck,” “Fringe,” “Pushing Daisies,” “Smallville,” “Supernatural,” “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” and “The Big Bang Theory.”

The studio is planning two on-site screenings of the “Fringe” pilot, as well as two off-site screenings at the UA Horton Plaza Theater. It will continue its tradition of handing out free tote bags at its massive booth on the floor of the convention, and its animation division will hold a major bash on July 25

As for which pilot attendees will be shown--the rough cut leaked screener or a more polished final or near final cut of the pilot--we'll just have to wait and see.

Fringe Ads: Imagine The Impossibilities

Mysterious flash ads for Fringe have begun appearing online. According to The Hollywood Reporter:

[The ads are] placed on Web sites outside of the usual entertainment hubs to catch viewers attention in unique locations. Users on such sites as Automobile.com and recipe site FamilyOven.com will see mysterious ads encouraging them to "Imagine the Impossibilities."

"They will be very quick sort of messages, leading people to nondescript Web sites that will ultimately lead them back to 'Fringe,' " [Laurel] Bernard (senior vp marketing at Fox) said.

The ads don't specifically mention Fringe, but they do take you the ImagineTheImpossiblities.com website.

One very interesting tidbit about the ads...

The film strips that drop down have printing on the bottom; some sort of date, and the words "Drs Bell & Bishop" - most likely referring to Dr. Walter Bishop, the institutionalized father of Peter Bishop, and Dr. William Bell, the founder of Massive Dynamics.

Fringe Radio Spots - Find The Pattern

The following radio ads will begin airing today, kicking off FOX's media barrage to promote Fringe:



According to The Hollywood Reporter:

The campaign will feature cryptic messages that encourage fans to search on the Internet for more information. Fans of Abrams' hit ABC drama "Lost" and last year's theatrical release "Cloverfield" are familiar with the tactic, so much so that Abrams' name is incorporated into the radio ads as a clue.
...
"Our radio goal was definitely to not say 'Fringe,' " said Laurel Bernard, senior vp marketing at Fox. "We didn't want them to sound in any way like a traditional radio spot. We wanted them to be disruptive and a little mysterious sounding."
...
The Fox network is hoping listeners will piece together these mysterious fragments and realize there is indeed a pattern -- one that leads straight to the network's tentpole fall series "Fringe."

A possible website for the embedded "Find The Pattern" message may be FindThePattern.com. It is currently not active yet, but that may change later today.

Fringe: Expand Your Consciousness

When you select the leaf image (braille #5) on either the Fox.com/Fringe or ImagineTheImpossibilities.com sites, a weird sound is played. By isolating the sound, and playing it backwards, a hidden message is revealed - Expand Your Consciousness!

Thanks to Pwn Master Paladin for noticing the strange sound.

You can hear the original and reversed sound below.

Original (Download MP3):


Reversed (Download MP3):

Fringe: Imagine the Impossibilities

A new official website for Fringe is online. I found it as a sponsored link during Google a search for Fringe:

Google Sponsored Links

What is The Fringe?
Are you a part of “The Pattern?”
Find Out Now!
www.ImageTheImpossibilities.com

As for the site's contents, it would appear to be the same as http://www.fox.com/fringe/, so nothing new there, yet. One positive to note, from my end at least, is the flash seems to load faster on the new site. We'll keep watch.

Of Fringe ARG's, Bad Robot, Experiences & Expectations and Massive Dynamics

In a nutshell, Massive Dynamics may or may not be the bad guys. Formerly Prometheus Corp. according to early script reviewers, Massive Dynamics is a multi-billion dollar high-tech company that exists in the Fringe universe. Massive Dynamics was founded by Dr. William Bell (former partner of Dr. Walter Bishop).

Massive Dynamics' slogan is:

What do we do? . . . What don't we do.

Reviewers of the leaked pilot (without getting too specific) paint Massive Dynamics as a manufacturer of modern miracles, a shadowy, mysterious, all-powerful corporation and secretive defense contractor with hidden agendas, connections to "the pattern", etc.

What makes Massive Dynamics of special interest to online fans of Fringe is Bad Robot's track record of using fictional business entities--The Hanso Foundation and Tagurato Corp. for example--as vehicles to blur the line between reality and the fictions of the Lost and Cloverfield universes. Although often referred to as Alternate Reality Games, or ARGs, what Bad Robot has done with the web doesn't quite meet the definition of ARG since they've yet to award anyone a prize. Instead, Bad Robot has treated the internet as a bridge between universes by casting the internet, our internet, to play itself in these fictional alternate realities.

Is there an ARExperience planned for Fringe? Will JJ Abrams & Co. (and FOX) surprise the fans a full fledged ARG? Has the Fringe universe already hatched a website or video or posting just waiting to be found? It's anyone's guess, but Abrams fans experienced in the art of finding online portals to Bad Robot's television and movie productions will tell you that Massive Dynamics is a good place to start looking.

How Would The Actor's Strike Affect Fringe?

It's only been a few months since the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike ended, and now an actor's strike looms over Hollywood. In a nutshell, actors want what the writers got - a piece of the internet pie.

Fringe has a lot to lose if there is a strike:

[Networks] are puzzled over how to proceed with fall season promotions. Fox, for one, was planning to blow the doors out with barrages of Fringe buzz, but may hold back if the show's early-July production start is in jeopardy.

Fox has given Fringe a superstar schedule with a House lead-in this fall, and an American Idol lead-in this spring, but strike delay could throw everything off. House already has some episodes "in the can", ironically thanks to the WGA strike.

Comic-con would also be affected by a strike, preventing movie stars from attending and giving autographs. So while we might not get an Anna Torv or Joshua Jackson appearance in San Diego next month, JJ Abrams would still be there promoting Fringe (but not Star Trek since Paramount has already pulled out).

Fortunately, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) have already come to a tentative agreement and will vote on July 7^th, which is expected to pass. While the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) has not been able to reach an agreement, and their contract expires on Monday, June 30^th, they would need a 75% approval vote to strike, which is unlikely.