Meet the Genius Behind Fringe's Mind-Bendingly Good Promos!

Meet the Genius Behind Fringe's Mind-Bendingly Good Promos!Fri., Apr. 29, 2011 6:13 PM PDT by Jennifer Arrow

Are you a crazed Fringe fan? If yes, then you must already know the work of one Ari Margolis, the behind-the-scenes savant who created a little marketing masterpiece we like to call "Strawberry-Flavored Death," the promo that (a) shattered all our pessimistic assumptions that Fox moved the show to Friday to die and (b) brought Ari's brilliant advertising to our attention once and for all.

We squeak with joy every time a new Margolis original comes out, and we decided it was high time we talk to Fringe's secret weapon about which universe he's from anyway and how he'll be tantalizing us with Fringe goodies for the remainder of the season!

Q&A with Fringe Promo Mastermind Ari Margolis

When did you start working on promos for Fringe?
I work at the Special Ops department here at Fox, and we get assigned to different shows, so I was working of Fringe from the beginning along with a couple of other people in our department. I did a couple for the premiere, these short 15-second spots with little soundbites from the cast, kind of teasing and it would end with static, just to tease the show and then it slowly grew.

I was working on it all first season, doing interview pieces and stuff like that, and we have different people going to the sets so I would give them questions, and they would get content for me and then I would cut it up and stuff. Then that started to grow and I would go to set and talk to the cast and then started going to interview with Jeff Pinkner and Joel Wyman and things just started growing.

And then in the second season for the premiere I did a promo that fast forwarded through the entire premiere episode, which was actually based on this trailer that I had seen, I think it was a European trailer for Femme Fatale. So it fast forwards and then stops so you can see a little bit and then fast forwards again. It even shows you the entire credits and end credits. The trick was that when you fast forward you can cut out frames because I didn't want people to see certain things but you want to give viewers the impression that they have seen everything without actually seeing everything.

And the Friday night death slot promo that I'm in love with, did you do that on your own or were you asked to do it?
Well, basically, I started to get more noticed towards the end of the second season. I did the Fringe noir black-and-white movie trailer and then a movie trailer for "Over There," then for I did a second movie-trailer promo, for "Entrada."

What happened was, I think sometime after that there was an announcement that the show was moving to Fridays and everyone started freaking out. So I looked up Fringe fan reactions and what I noticed is that people really liked the "Entrada" trailer and people would say, "Why would Fox do all this cool promotion if they're just going to move the show to die?"

When I read that I thought that we need to address that, so that is how the idea got launched, from the reaction, people just seemed convinced that that was what was going on and if people begin to believe that then people will stop watching the show. Everyone I work with is a big fan of the show so we tried to figure a way to let people know that we are behind the show and that we are moving it so it can do well not go away. So that is how that whole idea came about.

Where are you from and how did you learn know to do all this?
I went to film school at RIT in Rochester, N.Y. and then came out here with a friend of mine, Jim Morley. We came out here to be writer/directors and started at that, writing scripts. We made a feature film called black days which is like a film noir which premiered at Sundance. So we have been trying our hand at the whole thing and we have had some success with a couple of scripts here and there so this is kind of the job to pay the bills. And I have been here a while and have gotten to work on some shows that I really like like 24 and Arrested Development but this is the dream job because Fringe is my favorite show. When I first saw the show I thought it was cool and it would be cool to work on but by the fourth episode I was like whoa and that is when the show really started to click in for me and then by the end of the first season I was just very excited about the show.

And what is the Special Ops department?
Special ops is a part of Fox marketing and it's headed up by Dean Norris and we get to do all kinds of cool stuff. There is an on-air department and a creative services department and we do a little bit of everything. We do some on-air stuff, web stuff, we do sizzle reels and sometimes…we did an Idol special…so we get a little bit of everything. And we have a cool name.



...What's the process of cooking up these trailers?
Well, I kind of have a lot of freedom at this point because I have built up a lot of trust and have a good report with Jeff and Joel, so usually what will happen is I will read the scripts when they come in, and that's where the ideas start to hatch.

Then usually I will just do a rough cut of something because I have a lot of freedom but if it is something really elaborate, I will script it out first and then show it around internally.

For the big trailers we show them to Jeff and Joel first because we want to make sure that they're cool with it. I am super sensitive about not revealing too much because I don't want to spoil the show for anyone but I want to make sure that the executive producers are good and comfortable with it too.

It's been just crazy as of lately because they've mentioned me a couple of times in the press and then we had a live Twitter thing and Jasika Nicole me a shoutout on Twitter and that's when all the messages from fans started pouring in. So it's been kind of crazy because you don't really expect it. It's all about the Fringe fans, they're just the best fans. Working on promos for Fringe is more than a job because I love the show so much.

Also, one other geek detail you'll appreciate, I wear a Fringe shirt every Friday (including right now) and alternate between a normal Fringe one and alternate-universe Fringe Division one, depending on where the ep is set. And when it's set in both, it's a coin toss!

So what can we look forward to for the rest of the season? Is there anything you can tease?
I am planning on completing the movie trailer trilogy with a movie trailer for this season's finale, "The Day We Died."

Can. Not. Wait.
Source:eonline.com

Fringe 322 Preview: "The Day We Died"

Preview for the Fringe SEASON FINALE episode "The Day We Died", which airs next FRIDAY, May 6th at 9:00PM on FOX.

Head over to the FringeTelevision YouTube channel (and click the "pop out" button) to watch it in full-sized HD.

Screenshots of the video are available at FringeFiles.com

Fringe Sneak Peek #1 - 322: "The Day We Died"

Cortexi's here's the first sneak peek for the season finale next week. Enjoy and share you comments.

Fringe Easter Eggs: Observer in "The Last Sam Weiss"

The Observer can be spotted in the Fringe episode "The Last Sam Weiss" standing just down the street from Peter in NYC, right before he gets help to find the pawn shop.

You can see all of The Observer's other appearances here.

Fringe Easter Eggs: Glyphs in "The Last Sam Weiss"

The Glyphs code in the Fringe episode The Last Sam Weiss spelled out MULTI, as in MULTI-VERSE.

For more information on the Fringe Glyphs, check out Fringepedia's Glyph / Symbols page, which has all the previous glyphs and codes.

Tonight On Fringe Friday: "The Last Sam Weiss"

Tonight's Fringe episode "The Last Sam Weiss", is the 21st episode of season three. After tonight, there is only one more Fringe episode left this season!

As always, we'll have a LIVE Fringe chat. If you want to talk with other Fringe fans, during or after the show, we usually play "spot the observer", and "What's the glyph code?", plus discuss the action on the show. To join the chat, visit the Fringe chat room, enter your name or a nickname, and join the fun! (please don't use the default mib_xxxxx nickname - be creative!). Advanced users can go directly to the IRC channel: #FringeTV on irc.mibbit.com.

After the show, get more information on "The Last Sam Weiss" at:

• "The Last Sam Weiss" episode page on Fringepedia 
• "The Last Sam Weiss" screenshot gallery at FringeFiles 
• "The Last Sam Weiss" promotional photos at FringeFiles 

Also, don't forget to check back here after the episode for Observer sightings, Glyph codes, and other Fringe hidden clues.

To discuss "The Last Sam Weiss" or any other episode, head over the the Fringe episode section.

How do you rate the Fringe episode "The Last Sam Weiss"?

Fringe Episode 321: "The Last Sam Weiss"

Olivia joins forces with the mysterious Sam Weiss in a desperate race against time.

Discuss the episode here in the comments.

Fringe GetGlue Contest, Week 3

Week three of the GetGlue Fringe Prop giveaway has begun. This week's prize is the "The Observer’s Doomsday Drawing".

The rules are pretty simple. To earn the most entries for the drawing, you need to "check-in" at GetGlue.com during the live broadcast of Fringe AND and enter the code-word-of-the-week into the comment section when you check in.


You can find the code word hidden in this video: FRINGE - Fans Ask Fringe (Part 3)

If you check in with the code during the episode, you get 5 entries. If you check in any other time, or without the code, then you get less entries. See the official rules for full details.

FRINGE - Fans Ask Fringe (Part 3)

Here is part three of the Fox video series "Fans Ask Fringe", featuring fan questions answered by the stars of Fringe.

In this third edition, we get two question answered by Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, Blair Brown, Lance Reddick, and John Noble:

• What is the best prank or joke that has been pulled on another cast or crew member?
• Does the cast watch the show as it airs on TV? How different is it from what they expect after filming it?

'Fringe' interview:My lunch with John Noble

‘Fringe’ interview: My lunch with John Noble
Andrew Hanson
April 29, 2011 9:00 am

When you sit down to speak with John Noble, you almost expect to be having lunch with Walter Bishop. Walter is one of those television characters that almost seems real. Sure, he’s usually pulling giant worms out of people or breaking holes in the universe, but Bishop also struggles with his own frailties, his own mistakes. After watching him every week on "Fringe," you feel like you know him. Like he’s a normal human being. A lot of that has to do with the writing and direction of the show, but even more comes from John Noble himself.

I’ve spoken with Mr. Noble before, but only for phone interviews. Once you get past the Aussie accent, you hear a lot of Walter in the actor that portrays him. They both speak with a calm intelligence, but at the same time they can get caught up in their passion for the subject. Almost to the point of giddiness.

Yet meeting face to face is quite a different story. Instead of the hunched, insecure scientist wracked with guilt about his past, you get robust, confident John Noble. A man who, even though he was coming off a daunting shooting schedule and flights crisscrossing the globe, warmly sat down with me to talk about the third season of "Fringe" as it comes to a close.

“It’s like an endless stage play.” Noble told me. “The first few seasons were about the audience getting attached to these characters. Then the funny thing is, this season was about creating a whole new set of characters. What an extraordinary risk to take! We’ve got these characters that people like. They’re developed. OK, push them aside.”

“Our big challenge was if we could get the audience to care about the people on the other side,” Noble said.

Not an easy task. Season 1’s finale gave us a glimpse of the parallel universe. A quick visit to William Bell’s office on that side’s World Trade Center. Then throughout Season 2, the only visitors we encountered were the shape-shifting soldiers from another dimension. Then building to last year’s finale, Walter’s other-world counterpart Walternate appeared to take back Peter, the son that was stolen from him.

“It would have been easy to make Walter the classic villain,” Noble explained over coffee, “but he could be much more if we could humanize him. No hurry, but every now and again sneak in a moment where it’s ‘Oh, I do understand why he does that.’ ”

In Walternate’s world, he is the hero. His son was stolen by invaders from a different world. Invaders who broke holes in reality and caused horrible blights. “I don’t have an issue playing Walternate in almost anything he does because as the key decision maker in the land of the other universe, he has to make some tough decisions. But he’s probably the sort of bloke you want in charge.”

Walternate is willing to use the Amber to seal up weak spots in his universe, even if it traps innocent bystanders as well. He brainwashes Olivia into thinking she belongs over there in order to find out the secret of moving between universes. He is bent on defending that universe at any cost. Well, almost any cost. Unlike our Walter, Walternate has a steadfast rule against using children. “He discovered that in himself after his son was stolen. In his fury. In his rigidness. He really made this a national rule. That crimes against children were a top priority. He’s made it the law of the land.”

Our Walter’s Cortexifan experiments on Olivia and the other kids in Jacksonville show that he had a much looser ethics code when it came to younglings. “In ‘Subject 13’ he was being pushed and pulled by different forces,” Noble explained. Walter was trying to make soldiers to defend us against invaders from the other side, even if it meant turning a blind eye to the home life of little Olive, but Walter lived up to his doppelganger’s example. “I was very pleased in the final outcome of that, that Walter came to save the Olivia from her stepfather, which was something we discussed as well. It wasn’t in there originally, but if you paint this man as oblivious to the children, then you’ve lost two years of development.”

“I find these characters particularly interesting in that these two, Walter and Walternate, are essentially the same person. Changed by events. Whether you’re Jungian or Freudian, you can see how they’ve developed,” Noble said. “The war between the worlds exists because of fathers’ instincts. One who stole a son and one who’s had one stolen.”

Each of the "Fringe" regulars got to play characters in both universes. Except, of course, Joshua Jackson. “He tried to protest,” Noble joked. “Everyone else has a double, except poor old Lance. Loved his alternate character, but they killed him. He was so upset.”

As the rest of the cast had two different characters this season, Noble’s costar Anna Torv had three. Olivia, the other universe’s Fauxlivia and Olivia possessed by Leonard Nimoy’s William Bell. “She has been wonderful, hasn’t she? I’m so proud of her,” Noble beamed. “She’s just gotten richer, better and taken the risks you have to take as an actor. If you don’t take risks as an actor, you’re going nowhere."

“When Anna first found out she was going to play William, we talked about it a lot. I knew the Bill character and I knew the relationship that Walter would have had with him. It was just having fun with my old mate, and she responded amazingly.” Noble reminisced. “I was truly thrilled with Anna’s courage to just go with it.”

Noble felt that Bell’s reappearance was necessary. “We’d set the character up so strongly in Season 1. There had to be some moment between" Walter and Bell. That moment came during an animated trip inside Olivia’s head. “When that script came up, I thought, 'That’s going to take someone six months. But we don’t have six months. We have three weeks. How will this happen?' But that’s the sort of things that happen all the time with ‘Fringe.’ Impossible things.”

In that moment, Walter confesses that he thinks he needs Bell to be his balance, but Bell tells Walter he’s ready to go on alone. “The writers told me earlier this year that would be a crucial point. Walter would have to accept that he has everything he needs. A lot of people go through their lives thinking, ‘If only I.... If only had this. If only I had that. If I just get a little more plastic surgery. If I change something, I’ll be something.' ”

“It’s what propels Walter forward to the finale of the season.”

I confessed then that I always love "Fringe" finales. How Season 1 left us in William Bell’s alternate realty office. And Season 2’s reveal of Olivia trapped over there. They always have the ability to leave me simmering all summer long.

At that John Noble grinned. “This one will make you simmer too.”
Source:latimesblogs

Fringe Photos: Screenshots From "6:02 AM EST"

HD screenshots of Fringe episode "6:02 AM EST" are now available at FringeFiles.com.

These screen caps have all been randomly selected, so if there's something that might be missing, you can request a specific Fringe screenshot in these comments.

Promotional photos for "6:02 AM EST" are also available at FringeFiles.com.

Michael Cerveris Observes the "Fringe" Season 3 Finale!

Exclusive: Michael Cerveris Observes the 'Fringe' Season 3 Finale!
Thu., Apr. 14, 2011 1:25 PM PDT , by Joseph McCabe

In our current multimedia renaissance, Michael Cerveris is the perfect renaissance man – having starred in Broadway plays, Hollywood films and network TV shows. He's also recorded music, taught at schools, and, as I type this, is probably writing a cookbook while training for a side career as a professional luger. Like a lot of horror fans, I first noticed Cerveris when he starred opposite Patti LuPone in the recent Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd (which, for my money, will remain the definitive Sweeney Todd). And it's been fun to watch him further explore his admitted love of the weird and macabre in Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, this month's Stake Land (in which he plays a vampire cult leader), and of course, Fox's fan-favorite series Fringe -- on which he's known as September, one of the enigmatic, often eerie Observers. I spoke with Cerveris this week about Stake Land, and I'll post that interview soon here on FEARnet. But in the meantime, as Fringe nears its third season's finale, I thought I'd share with you the part of our conversation in which Cerveris spoke of how he came to play September, where he'd like to see his character go, and what lies ahead for the show. Check out what the Tony Award-winning actor had to say after the jump.

Your Fringe character is in many ways emblematic of the show. Because it's a series about mysteries, and he's the most mysterious. A lot of it's a mystery even to me. [Laughs.]

Can you talk a bit about that? Do the producers give you a little more info than the show gives us? Is there a plan for your character that they've shared with you, or do they prefer that you come to each episode as spontaneously as possible?It began with a very minimal plan. In fact when I first auditioned, they wrote an imaginary scene just to have something for people to audition with. Because they really hadn't written the episode he was going to appear in. And then, almost as soon as I was hired, within a week or so they called and said, "We want to do something different. We want to introduce the character really slowly, just in the background. So that he might not even be noticed for a long time until the fans catch on, and then we'll reveal him maybe in the thirteenth or fourteenth episode of the first season." So we sort of started it that way. Even when I went in for my costume fitting for the first time, the wardrobe people said, "So what do you wear?" I said, "Well, I kind of thought you would know that." [Laughs.] So we went through these racks of suits and I picked out one that I liked especially, which is good since it's the one I've been wearing for a few years now. I picked a hat that I liked, and just invented the character with some input from the producers and the early directors, but I was really given a lot of free reign to decide how he sounded, how he moved, how he acted, and how I spoke. I guess the network and J.J. decided that they were so excited about the character that they wanted to move up the revelation to the fourth episode. That's the one with the tobacco sauce, where you really got introduced to him.

I've had conversations over the years with [executive producer] Jeff Pinkner about where they see the character fitting in to the cosmology of the whole thing. I think the last conversation ended with Jeff saying, "Um, so you know about eighty percent of what we know about the character right now." That was kind of at the beginning of the second or third season. But we just finished the season finale of season 3, in which all kinds of surprising things happen. A lot of strands get tied up that have been sort of dangling for a while. Of course most of them not in a way that you imagine, and a lot of new things get opened up that I guess will be pointing towards where we're heading next season. Although it's not clear at all where we're going with that. I do know that September, and the Observers in general, are kind of pivotal to the overall story. But I don't know how exactly that's all going to play out. So it's as exciting for me as it is for anybody else to follow it.

I'm a fan of the show too, which makes it kind of fun. Because I don't get the scripts every week, when I'm not in it, so I look forward to Friday nights to just to find out what's going on. And it's true for everybody. Even John Noble, Anna and Josh – everybody devours the new scripts when they come out just to find out what's going to happen to them.

Can you say whether we'll learn a little bit more about September and the Observers in the season finale?Not too much about us. You get a couple of extra details, or maybe information about things that we suspected. But it doesn't focus too much or doesn't reveal a lot of new information about us. We're more in our kind of observing mode at this point. But it kind of has an implication that we're gonna have a lot to do next year, hopefully.

As a fan, what would you like to see? Would you like to see everything about them explained well before the show ends its run? Or would you like to let the mystery remain as long as Fringe lasts?I'd like to know. Obviously in a selfish way I'd like to have the Observers, or September at least, be a more active element. I feel like you can reveal a lot and still have a great deal of mystery remain. I've always sort of thought of September as like the angels in Wings of Desire, the Wim Wenders movie. I've sort of always kind of patterned September a bit on that character, the sort otherworldly character who has some unusual sympathies for, and fascination with, human beings. I would love to see more revealed about them, but I think there's always gonna be plenty of mystery, and I think that's important. I think they've been really smart about the way they've used September. When he appears it has a big impact and it makes a big impression. I think they've been really smart. Even things like… They've never invited me to be a part of Comic-Con or anything else, because I think they just want to keep him separate and apart, and keep that aura of mystery. I appreciate that. As an actor and a person, I wish I was in every episode. I wish I was around all the time, but maybe the danger is that they would start to dilute the whole thing. So they're a lot smarter than I am about that.

Of course September has appeared at certain live events, like American Idol.Which always really pisses Josh Jackson off, because he's like, "How come I'm here working my butt off all the time and you get to go to NASCAR and NFC playoff games? How does that work?" [Laughs.]

Could we see September at any other live events in the near future?I don't know of any. I think maybe they feel they sort of played that out at one point. Maybe it'll happen again. I would love it. Every time I'd think, "Hey, it's Vancouver and the Olympics are there! I think the Observer should pick the Olympics!" I couldn't talk anybody into that. I've got my bags packed and I'm ready to shave my eyebrows at any second. I'm just waiting for the call. [Laughs.]

It's a great idea. Because it draw upon both the showmanship that J.J. is famous for and your own background as a live theater actor.Yeah, I think that's true as well. That was part of their interest in having me be there.

What's next for you? What do you have going on besides Fringe and Stake Land?There's not a lot actually that I am sure about at the moment. I'm going to be showing up in this season of Treme, HBO's series that takes place in New Orleans. I spend a lot of time in New Orleans these days. I play music as well, and I'm on this album called Nine Lives with a bunch of New Orleans musicians that's based on a book of the same name that some people are trying to turn into a stage musical, and so I'm trying to help with that. And I'm gonna be playing a lot of shows at Jazz Fest in a few weeks down there. And I spend a lot of time just volunteering and teaching down there, because I just love it so much. It's become my second home, ever since going to shoot Cirque du Freak there actually. But I don't have any stage projects planned at the moment, and other than Fringe season 4 I don't know what else is coming down the pike. Maybe after Stake Land comes out I'll have lots of jobs beating up on nuns. We'll just have to see. [Laughs.] I'd like to play an actual human being at some point, but that may be too much of a stretch.

[Laughs.] Thank you for your time today, Michael.My pleasure!
Source:fearnet.com