Vine’s ready for its close-up. The first footage of new Marvel comics superhero film The Wolverine was released today through a Vine “tweaser” tweeted by director James Mangold. That’s a big departure from the modern tradition of first releasing a trailer on a film’s website, Apple’s trailer page and YouTube. Seems Hollywood has realized nothing leaves people wanting more like a great Vine.
Swordplay, samurais, gun fighting, love, adamantium claws, and Wolverine hurtling through the air are all squished into the six-second video. There are zero lines spoken, few plot clues, and no titles shown except for the film’s logo. Which is perfect. Wolverine, the X-Men, and Marvel already have such a rabid fan base, so this will be plenty to get them salivating. Pushing the clip to the mobile video sharing startup owned by Twitter seems brilliant to me.
Watch “The Wolverine” tweaser Vine here.
The first 20-second long trailer preview won’t come out until tomorrow, with a full trailer set to premiere on Wednesday, according to Liam Goodwin of Filmonic on IMDb. The film is set to be released July 24th. It follows Wolverine’s adventures in Japan and relationship with Yakuza-affiliated love interest Mariko Yashida.
Mangold tweeted the Wolverine Vine, simply titling it “tweaser” (Twitter teaser, get it? Yeah? OK, sorry). It may very well be the coming of age of a new marketing medium for video-based content.
The short pre-defined length, retweetability, and fact that Vines play right within tweets mean tweasers can quickly reach a large audience. Since it’s such a low investment to open a Vine because you know it will only be six seconds, many who aren’t typical fans of the content may succumb to watching the clip. While a normal trailer could convince someone a film isn’t for them or steal the best jokes, a Vine just leaves people curious.
While some brands have already jumped on Vine, don’t be surprised if you start seeing tweasers for more movies, TV shows, sporting events and video games. It’s a brave new attention-deficit world we’re living in.