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Easy, Breezy, Beautiful, Capitol Covergirl
I think we all knew a day like this would come, a day when it was official in our minds that The Hunger Games is a cosmetics companies wet dream come true. Yep, I said wet dream. It’s true though, because today it was announced that Covergirl Cosmetics is partnering with Lionsgate Studios, and creating an entire Capitol based campaign for the up coming release of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.
Am I surprised by this development? Nope. Am I disappointed? Not really, because this is a bona fide money-maker of a franchise, and Covergirl is one of the most commercial, and successful cosmetics companies in the world. Covergirl are also no strangers to partnering with successful, and highly commercial ventures, like America’s Next Top Model the hugely popular modeling competition program hosted by former super model Tyra Banks. Come to think of it, Tyra Banks even wrote a Hunger Games-esque novel, called Modelland not too long ago. Anyway, Tyra and her attempts at authoring mediocre novels aside, Covergirl and Lionsgate are in for a real treat, and the treat is most likely making a butt load of money.
It’s no stretch of the imagination that with these two companies partnering up,
More like this, less like anything we’ve ever seen before.
they’ll likely come up with some fairly interesting ad campaigns that will pique even the most illiterate individual’s interest. I’m also not surprised that the
campaign being teased already is Capitol focused, we are the Capitol, there’s simply no way to get around that fact. I only ask this if both companies, don’t skimp, don’t hold back, if you want to go Capitol, go Capitol. And when I say Capitol, I mean Wizard of Oz meets Brazil, meets Marie Antoinette, meets French and Italian haute couture, covered in feathers, and painted baby blue. Think of a peacock, add sparkles, with a dash of the Jazz Age– do not be scared, do not pass go, go crazy like you’ve never gone crazy before. Then breathe, and then scream, and then design to your hearts content. I also suggest some Radiohead, and some Pixie Stix be purchased ASAP, maybe some Bjork for good measure.
This is the Capitol, ladies, and gentlemen… not Top Model.
Them There Eyes
A Little Hunger Games Movie Love, For Once
As a fandom, there’s a lot of complaining about The Hunger Games. We don’t like actors or hair color or certain lines in the movie. We especially don’t like the people who don’t like the things that we DO like. We’re an uppity crowd, more so than many of us would like to admit. We’ve learned that this is true of EVERY fandom, not just The Hunger Games fandom.
What we sometimes don’t realize is this: We are so freaking lucky to have a successful film adaptation of the series happening right now, even if it can’t please every person under the sun.
Just look at the cover!
Believe it or not, the admins are Victor’s Village also have our OTHER fandom addictions. Perhaps an unhealthy number of them, but we don’t mind one bit! One of mine is Delirium by Lauren Oliver, which has gained a lot of steam over the past couple years but tends to be a love/hate kid of fandom (Lauren doesn’t deal in happy endings or neatly tied bows at the end of her books, ever!) Delirium was set to be made into a television show and then… it wasn’t.
The rights were optioned and the script was written. The actors were cast and the great debate began. The hair naysayers went NUTS because Hana was a brunette instead of a blonde. The pilot was shot and the tide began to turn. Pictures found their way online. Actors openly expressed their excitement for the project. Delirium trended worldwide on Twitter TWICE. Admittedly, we felt a little invincible.
… And then Fox decided to pick up an iRobot rip-off, a House-plays-lawyer drama, a show that sounds suspiciously like Southland, and a Sleepy Hollow remake (to compete against Once Upon a Time, we assume) over Delirium.
Do I sound bitter? I am. I ain’t even gonna hide it. ARRRRRGHHHHHH!
All of our fandom glory came to a screeching halt for a day as we realized nothing may come of the story we love. That doesn’t mean that all hopes have been dashed (Shameless plug for the Don’t Stop the Deliria campaign!), but we’ve become a little jaded and deflated. We know we’re not the only fandom who has suffered when amazing books are sold and placed neatly on the shelves, possibly to never be seen on a screen ever. Lionsgate is currently doing that with John Green’s Looking For Alaska, which is freaking criminal.
Now, imagine if that was The Hunger Games. Imagine if Lionsgate bought the rights to The Hunger Games and decided NOT to make the movie. At the time, the dystopian genre hadn’t been tested onscreen and teen movies often left a bad taste in peoples’ mouths, so they did take a risk there. What if they gave the movie a much smaller budget and ended up halting production? What if the first movie didn’t impress execs and they decided not to release it?
As a fandom, we may not love every single detail of The Hunger Games movies, but we should feel damn lucky that we have them.
I Need to Incorporate More Charlie Brown Screams,
The Girl With The Pearl
The Hunger Games, Explored
We know. WE KNOW! You want to talk about the trailer, because oh my goodness… that trailer! But we’re holding off one more night, because such an event requires a thoughtful, collective FREAK OUT. You know we love to break things down, so marinate for a while and we’ll get back to you with that goodness later on!
We did, however, get another reveal yesterday! As the MTV Movie Awards started, the Hunger Games Explorer opened its virtual door to fans! We came, we saw… we said “That’s it?”
For all intents and purposes, Hunger Games Explorer is a fancy Tumblr or Pinterest board that gathers up fan reactions to the Catching Fire teaser trailer, along with a link to the teaser and a smattering of stills and gifs and fan art.
We enjoy all those things, of course. We just have multiple sources for this information already. We guess it technically is a way to explore The Hunger Games, but we had high hopes for a chance to explorer the world behind The Hunger Games, aka the districts introduced in Catching Fire and more of The Capitol, in an interactive format.
One idea gives us hope: Soft Launch! Maybe? Possibly? (Probably not.) The time between the teaser trailer announcement and release was not long enough for Lionsgate to create an advanced, detailed advertising experience. We’re hoping that there will be bells and whistles later on, closer to the release date. Think of Lionsgate as a classy lady who’s not going to give it all up on the first date! …We hope.
Capitol Tour v2.0… GO!
The Girl With The Pearl
Hunger Games Explorer Paranoia
If there’s one thing we’ve learned about Lionsgate, it’s this: They really enjoy suspense.
We may have lost of the suspense of not knowing WHEN the trailer would be released, but they were quick to replace that with something else: THE HUNGER GAMES EXPLORER.
OMINOUS!
Before we get into it– We gotta give love to Mia on Twitter, who let us know we weren’t the only ones to see the URL http://www.hungergamesexplorer.com and have our trash-filled gutter of a mind see Sexplorer… as if that were an actual word (though it sounds like it would be a fun word, if it were one!)
So far, all we’ve got is a countdown noting that the site will open after the trailer release. We know the trailer will be featured there… all glorious two and a half minutes of it. And then what? Well, we don’t know! SOME OTHER STUFF!
Remember the huge build-up for TheCapitol.PN? Remember watching and waiting? Then remember finally getting on and signing up? Remember plastering your Panem I.D. Card all over the Internet? …Then remember pretty much nothing else ever happening on the site? In all fairness, it’s still open and will probably be used in some capacity for advertising the next three movies, but last we saw, it was pretty static.
*le sigh*
Given that, we see Hunger Games Explorer and the old fears creep back in. It’s like that time you start dating again after a lousy breakup. This website is going to make us love it, then leave us high and dry, isn’t it? ISN’T IT?! And then the website doesn’t want to see us anymore because it thinks we’re made of crazy. Anyway…
We’ll explore the districts of Panem just like Katniss and Peeta on the Victory Tour, perhaps one by one! But will there be movie stills? Will there be new information? Will there be interactive awesomeness? We’ve seen the locations and material goods provided by each district before, so we’ll skip any more of that filler, PLZKTHX. Most Hunger Games fans could write a graduate thesis on these books (some have!) and marketing campaigns should be geared to meet the expectations of those people rather than your average 8th grade student.
And what if we’re totally off base, and this doesn’t even have anything to do with exploring the districts? Where do we go from there? We just can’t handle it!
All We Know Is It Better Be Freaking Fantastic!
The Girl With The Pearl
FANSITE EXCLUSIVE: Official Beetee Character Portrait!
Victor’s Village, along with several of our fansite friends, are thrilled to be Capitol Tastemakers for this year’s Victory Tour!
Lionsgate already released triumphant character portraits for Effie Trinket, Caesar Flickerman, Haymitch Abernathy and our Mockingjay, Katniss Everdeen.We’ll be analyzing them all Victor’s Village style later this week, so stay tuned for that!
Now, the Capitol Tastemakers are pleased to debut the portrait introducing you to the infamous Volts of District 3, Beetee!
Check Beetee out, sitting in a chair reminiscent of the electric chair, ready to pop the head off that white rose!
Hail the Conquering Victors!
A
bout an hour + ago we got one of the first tastes of the wonders yet to come, other wise known as we got a shiny, glossy, new, fabulous, highly styled, pretty-pretty, white rose laden, poster featuring our beloved Peeta, and our treasured Katniss promoting their Victory Tour! And the world wept, rejoiced, fan-fared, other stuff. No, really, everyone, guys, girls, whatever you identify your selves as– this may be short and sweet, but if this poster is signs of things yet to come? Visually speaking The Hunger Games: Catching Fire will surpass Gary Ross’ The Hunger Games, and quite possibly eat it for breakfast, with maybe a little salt and pepper on top?
Personally, I love the look, it’s polished, as in they look like they’ve been through a body polish a la The Capitol, it’s also streamlined, and the lighting is fantastic, and god knows I love me some good lighting (photographer, I’ve literally left locations because the light sucked), and of course the pièce de résistance– the costuming. Katniss’ dress is gorgeous, a sort of throw-back to the 1930′s with its pleated top, and of course it is white symbolising the image that the Capitol likes to project of her– that’s she’s pure. And then there’s Peeta, looking handsome as ever, also in 1930s style garb– check out the trousers, they have metal tabs instead of him wearing a belt– that’s a throw-back to old school styles right there (yes, I study fashion as well, sue me). I like that Trish Summerville has decided to keep continuity by using the 1930s styles Judianna established in the Districts, I think it falls in nicely as the 1930s was hard-times for most everyone, and also a booming time for Art Deco architecture, jewelry and clothing– which is reflected mostly in the avant garde styles in The Capitol. The way I like to think of it is, the Districts are stuck in the Depression, the Capitol is fully embracing the Victory Rolls, the shoulder pads, and mad fashions seen later in the 1940s, it’s all there if you’re paying attention, promise.
Be forewarned, this is just the beginning– because more is to come, we have months on end of nibbles that’ll hopefully only wet our appetites for the main event, and personally I cannot wait to see what they unfurl at us.
Them There Eyes
Watch The Hunger Games on EPIX!
You didn’t think that The 12 Days of Hunger Games was all you were getting for Christmas, did you?
As previously announced, The Hunger Games will have it’s World Television Premiere on Epix at 12pm EST on New Year’s Day, just one week from now! Wes Bentley, aka Seneca Crane, will be hosting a special free preview weekend with a chance to watch on January 4th, but what if you miss that chance? Not every Hunger Games fan happens to have Epix! Thankfully, Epix has very generously teamed up with Lionsgate to offer fans a free 14-day trial membership (no credit cards or funny business required!)
Click here for your free trial!
If watching The Hunger Games for free doesn’t brighten up your holiday, who knows what will!
The Hunger Games 12 Days of Christmas
Victor’s Village is honored to be one of twelve Hunger Games fansites teaming up with Lionsgate to present THE HUNGER GAMES 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS!
To celebrate this holiday season, Lionsgate has generously given us the tools we need to spread some cheer! Right in this post, we’ll be giving away 5 copies of The Hunger Games DVD and 5 copies of Catching Fire to give away to our readers. Check below the cut to see all the details.
That’s not all! To go along with the new winter themes in The Hunger Games Adventures, the Gamemakers at Funtactix have an exclusive gift for Victor’s Village readers. There’s a separate gift for boys and girls, so make sure you click the appropriate link to claim your free gift!
Girl Gift – http://bit.ly/THGA12-VicVil
Boy Gift – http://bit.ly/THGA12-VicVil-2
In case you missed it, don’t forget that The Hunger Games will soon have its world television premiere on EPIX! See it at 12pm ET on New Year’s Day, or catch it on January 4th as part of their free preview weekend hosted by Wes Bentley.
Get talking about the sweeps and more with the hashtag #12DaysOfHungerGames!
In case you missed them, visit these sites for the other awesome “days” of prizes:
Day 1: Mockingjay.net
Day 2: The Hob
Day 3: Hunger Games Trilogy
Day 4: Down With The Capitol
Day 5: Sparks Will Fly
Day 6: My Hunger Games
Day 7: Hunger Games Movie
Day 8: HG Girl On Fire
Day 9: HG Movie Site
Day 10: Victor’s Village
Day 11: Welcome to District 12
Day 12: Hunger Games Fireside Chat
For contest entry and rules, click “Read More”!
A Lawful Matter
Hm, well today we learned some stuff, and apparently I have an opinion on it– ’cause face it, I have an opinion on pretty much everything, including the most mundane, like men’s undergarments. Lionsgate is suing “an alleged counterfeiter,” cool, huh? Well not for the party being sued, and come to think of it, it’s not that cool for the people who bought the counterfeit merchandise thinking they were buying the real deal. My opinion on this matter is pretty simple though, it’s too bad that this franchise has been exploited in this manner, but it’s almost sort of to be expected.
Which brings me to the juicy stuff, okay not juicy like… I’ve been privy to secret meetings, where Lionsgate has been strategizing on how to cut these baddies down to size. Nope, the juice is this– I pretty much don’t like any of The Hunger Games merchandise that’s been put on display for the masses. Maybe it’s because I’m not a merchandise person at my core, sure if I like a band’s T-shirt, and I’m at their show, if I’m flush, and also if the merchandise booth guy is cute– I might deem the purchase of it to wear when I work out. However, I haven’t bought a band T-shirt for over seven years, and I’ve been wearing my Barenaked Athletics T-shirt at the gym since probably 2000, and I have to say it literally looks the same way it did the day I bought it over ten years ago (that’s quality merchandise, yo), sadly the design was discontinued some time ago– and I know you’re all very sad about that.
Hunger Games merchandise is a whole other story, and here’s the rub– I own none. And here’s the reason(s) why: Quality, it’s not up to my standards, especially considering I have ten-year old band T-shirts that have stood up to rigorous use, sweat, and thousands of washings– kind of a no brainer, right? The only quality pieces I’ve seen in the line are the 74th Games Tribute coats. Design, I have seen nothing in the line of merchandise that says “we really thought this one out!” Nope, because light bulbs with the Mockingjay on it, says
to me, and maybe to other people “12 year-olds are gonna love this!” And maybe that’s my problem? I’m not 12. I also will never ever want to walk around with Josh Hutcherson’s face emblazoned across my chest, really. Variety, I’m not a collector, unless you count souls– but I don’t want a doll of Katniss Everdeen, or sheets with Josh Hutcherson’s blond head stitched in too bright colors across the pillow cases. Which brings me to the biggest disappoint for me, the jewelry. I bloody detest the jewelry that has been made available, and that sports the iconic Mockingjay with an arrow in its beak. It’s cheesy, and it all looks shoddily made to me. When I envisioned Mockingjay themed jewelry I pictured sturdy metal pieces fashioned together with care and forethought, designed by designers with vision and artistic merit. What we got is made of metals that will go green, will bend and break, and looks like it has been made from a mold that’s been used so many times that the details have started to erode. Perhaps as the film series progresses they’ll come out with higher quality jewelry pieces, perhaps even come out with a premium line made of real gold, and real silver– for now though we’re stuck with pieces that I feel like I could buy out of the array of gum ball machines outside my local grocery store, and having counterfeit versions on the market, with even poorer quality control– yeah, not good.
Or, maybe I just want to be decked out from elbow to wrist with replicas of Finnick’s bangle.
Them There Eyes
Catching Fire Logo Reveal and Sweeps!
After first appearing on screens with The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 last week (and causing all sorts of confusion because some not-so-bright media outlets referred to it as a teaser trailer instead of an animated logo), the official Catching Fire logo has debuted! Check it out in its high definition glory at www.CatchingFireLogo.com! In the meantime, enjoy this tease:
We can definitely see the improved design and detail in comparison to the animated poster from the first film! Ten points to the increased special effects budget!
Want to tweet your enthusiasm about the new poster? Be sure to use the reveal’s official hashtag, #TheSpark
Along with the design comes an exciting new contest! When The Hunger Games Facebook page reaches 12 million fans, 12 fans will be chosen to have their names added to the credits at the end of Catching Fire! We can only dream, but we imagine having your name added in as part of The Hunger Games’ legacy forever would be pretty damn sweet!
