By Simon de Bruyn
YouTube viewers have pushed the viral videos made by Black Water co-director David Nerlich to over one million views, only eight months after they were posted online.
The videos, mostly featuring crocodile footage from the film’s shoot composited with live action footage and sound overlay, were made to promote the film’s UK release in February as well as the Australian release in April.
Since being posted online in December last year they have clocked a combined 1,025,848 hits – and counting.
The more shocking videos have had the most views, with a faked crocodile attack attracting over 560,000 views, while the cleverest composite – featuring news footage of a giant promotional blimp floating loose over Sydney – has only cracked 15,000 views on YouTube.
Nerlich told INSIDEFILM he wasn’t surprised at the way the hits had skewed.
“The blimp video seems to be a favourite among those who get to see it – but who goes searching on YouTube for crazy blimp accidents? Animals and animal attacks on the other hand are a popular search category. So that sort of targeting is important when plotting your viral mayhem,” he said.
Despite exhibitor conservatism, good reviews and coverage drove the film to take over $17,000 on its opening weekend – on just three screens in Darwin. The film is expected to be released on DVD in December.
Check out the Black Water viral videos here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSjPa9WiXTM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-ymcIVPcTQ