MK3's Cross-Promotions:

Full source info: Real money. MediaWeek, 10/16/95, Vol. 5 Issue 39, p38, 2/3p Abstract: Reports on advertising campaigns for various products and services in the United States as of October 16, 1995. Plymouth Breeze automobile; Converse's `Hardball' campaign; Mortal Kombat 3 video game; Ace Brand; Harley-Davidson; ESPN. Reading Level (Lexile): 1490; (AN 9510271931)

MORTAL KOMBAT 3

Advertiser: Williams Entertainment

Agency: Hal Riney & Partners/Heartland, Chicago

Begins: Now

Budget: $12 million to $15 million

Media: TV, print, radio, movie theater ads and POP

Williams Entertainment unleashed Mortal Kombat 3 with encrypted codes for Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Sony PlayStation and PC CD-ROM systems from GT Interactive Software. Promotions: six-week Toys "R" Us contest with collectible cards in the November issue of GamePro, offering merchandise and strategy guides; MK3 arcade giveaway at Kmart with Game Player; and direct mail with Kay-Bee stores.




In-depth information about the famous MK3 commercial, including its name -

TERROR TO GO: CONE DIRECTS BAD DREAM FOR HAL RINEY

"Blackbirds" Launches Home Version Of Mortal Kombat 3 Video Game.

LOS ANGELES--Be careful what you dream about; it just might come true. In the latest spot for Mortal Kombat 3 (MK3)--the third installment of the video game series from Williams Entertainment--a young man's worst nightmare becomes waking reality. The :30 "Blackbirds," dreamed up by Hal Riney & Partners/Heartland, Chicago, and directed by Buddy Cone of Coppos Sato Thomas here, breaks nationwide Oct. 13 on television and in movie theaters, where it will run for a month.

Unlike most video game TV advertising--for the most part, shots from the game itself-"Blackbirds" is narrative, a dramatic twist on a theme begun in April with the black-and-white :30 "Nightmare," the arcade launch of MK3.

"Nightmare" is a close-up of a young man in the throes of a scary dream, his rapid eye movements paced by the sound of a pounding heart. At the end, he wakes abruptly and screams. A :15 colorized version created as a teaser spot for the home version of MK3--and, in a sense, for "Blackbirds" will air Sept. 29 to Oct. 12, Hal Riney account executive Tim Reardon said.

In letter-box format, "Blackbirds" opens on the young man, once again in a disturbed dream state, being wheeled on a stretcher from a helicopter surrounded by what looks like G-men at a secret government base. Sound design provided by Reinhard Denke of Primal Scream here punctuates the suspenseful spot with what he calls "surgical" and "military" sound effects.

Live-action footage of the guy on the gurney being rushed down a hallway by attendants in surgical scrubs is intercut with scenes from the video game. Suddenly the young man's chest begins to protrude and undulate Alien-style. He awakens panic-stricken, grabs one of the operating room attendants and cries, "What is it?" The answer comes in the form of a reaction shot--the surgeon, eyes wide in horror as he looks at what is emerging, breathes, "Oh my --" The camera cuts to a close-up of the young man screaming, and a copy block reads: "Be careful. It's home."

"We wanted to blow out that close-up, dramatic feel in 'Nightmare' for the home-side introduction," said Hal Riney copywriter David Shih. "If you look at a lot of other game advertising, it always has game footage. And while we wanted to have some footage--because MK3 is a very cool game--we also wanted to make it very, very theatrical.

"The whole idea behind MK3 is that it's something bigger, like a force of nature coming to invade us and totally change the way we see things. We wanted viewers to get the impression that something's affecting the kid, but it's up to the viewer to decide what that is."

The spot was shot over three days (simultaneously with a commercial for Doom, another Williams Entertainment game) during the first week of August. Location: the Harbor Steam Generation Plant in Wilmington, Calif.

"Originally, there was some question as to whether we could actually get a helicopter or if we'd have to use stock footage," Cone noted. "We ended up finding a location for both the MK3 and Doom spots, so we could work it out budgetarily and logistically to be able to get a helicopter and shoot all of our on footage.

"We chose the power plant mostly because it afforded us a place nearby to land the helicopter where the background would work for us. And it had existing interior architecture for the Doom spot."

Shooting inside an operating power plant, however, was not without its obstacles. Despite the stifling temperature, agency and crew members had to wear long pants, hard hats and earplugs--which made for difficult communication.

"Initially, in my mind, it was so completely clear to use the power plant for the location," said Cone. "When you're in an air-conditioned office and you're telling everybody, 'Now look, this place is really hot and really loud and miserable to work in,' everybody's saying, 'That's OK; we don't mind.' But when you get there and everyone's sweating to death and it's so loud you have to wear earplugs and you can't hear anybody--it wears people out in about half a day. But I still believe it was worth putting up with for what we were able to get."

Communication wasn't the only unforeseen element, added creative director William Mericle. There was also an unscripted guest appearance.

"Whenever you shoot with a helicopter, you have a window of opportunity where you're all set up for the shot," said Mericle. "Out of some bizarre coincidence, at that same moment a skywriter started writing birthday messages right above where we were shooting. Fortunately, it was never in the shot. But if we had wanted to get a wide shot it would've been."

Straight From The Heart Prosthetics played a key role in filming the chest sequence. A latex mold of the actor's torso, designed by Makeup & Effects Lab, North Hollywood, was extended above his chest area by an operator who pushed it up from beneath the gurney. Two gurneys were used, explained Kitty Rothschild, agency producer for "Blackbirds"--one for the actor to lie on directly and another modified to hold his head, shoulders and arms, angling the rest of his body to allow room for the prosthetic.

Mericle and Rothschild both credit Cone, a former production designer, with bringing invaluable design sense to the sets and getting a lot of production value onscreen. "We set aside some money in case the prosthetics effect needed to be touched up, and we didn't end up using it," Rothschild said. "Buddy and the prosthetics designers were able to make a believable-enough piece that worked. Buddy really latched onto making the spot feel larger than life making it feel like a movie and not just your standard television commercial. And to have it in letter-box format, we thought, was much more impactful."

Cone was able to follow the project through to post, as he prefers. "Buddy keeps me in touch on shots and what he's thinking about doing as early as preproduction," said Andrew Borton of Hollywood-based AdVenture, who edited the spot. "By the time the project got to me, I was up-to-date on everything the creatives were looking for. I think that's what made it so easy: they didn't just go out and shoot it and try to do it in post; they had thought out everything they were going to do and made it come together real easy."

PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): It's alive: A latex torso provides the denouement in the :30 "Blackbirds.'

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By EVANGELINE GUARIN

Full Source info: Terror to go: Cone directs bad dream for Hal Riney. By: Guarin, Evangeline. SHOOT, 9/29/95, Vol. 36 Issue 39, p12, 2p, 1 Black and White Photograph Abstract: Features the thirty-second advertisement for the video game Mortal Kombat 3 entitled `Blackbird,' directed by Buddy Cone. Nationwide broadcasting of the commercial on October 12, 1995; Features of the advertisement; Use of prosthetics in the chest sequence of the advertisement. Reading Level (Lexile): 1130; (AN 9510070301)