50 Coraline Boxes & Marketing Coraline by Weiden+Kennedy
50 Unique Coraline Boxes Worldwide. CLICK THRU to find out WHY, WHO and WHERE!
[I luvs it that my box-opening is seen on NOTCOT's webpage instead of my own LOL]
In The Beginning: Somewhen in the later part of 2008 (circa October-ish), I had received an email from the "Coraline Team", indicating that they had wanted to give me something for free, and being the antsy-distrusting-bugger that I am (I am not used to strangers' kindness), I had thought it was one of those online scams to get my address details and whatnot (I am unafraid of bank account numbers because there is pathetically not much in there in the first place).
It did not help that the email found it's way into my SPAM-folder (which I have since "lost" via online deletion by my server ~ *sigh*). FYI: Subsequent emails too went into my spam-folder. heh.
Fast forward to the second email of manly-joy (*cough*), and the receiving of my Coraline Gift Box [#23] has no doubt been one of THE key highlights of my 2008. (Geddit? "Key"? Like Coraline's? Geddit? ... nvrm :p). It has been quite a surprising development journey for me personally ~ from my first post about Coraline in 2006 til today, when I would never have expected to be "noticed" in the www, much less deserving of a Coraline Box. *Cool*
The Story So Far: A grand total of 50 one-of-a-kind Coraline Boxes were given out to chosen / targeted bloggers around the world, as part of the promotional campaign for the 3D animated movie directed by Henry Selick, based on a Neil Gaiman novella, and animated by LAIKA. The boxes were found to contain actual props used in the making of the stop-motion animated feature film, and each box's contents, size and even the box themselves were different from each other. Each box also contained passwords / codes on the key-tag which had unlocked different featurettes about the movie on the Coraline website.
The online community lit up with excitement and awe, and the concept of the "online viral" had evolved to a tangible and tactile experience for many (okay fine, just the 50 of us + many others who've since received "Nike Dunks", "The Other Mother Button Boxes" and found "Coraline Keys") and crossed over into both the collective conscious (and subconscious) awareness of the pop-masses wholehearted and one-foot into the genre-overground.
CORALINE premiered on U.S. screens on February 6th 2009. Folks seem to love it, as far as reviews and online-chatter has shown. (Singapore has a premiere date in April, so YOU folks in the States have got it going good, IMHO! heh)
[Coraline Online Posters]
The Reveal: And Author Neil Gaiman has just revealed the folks behind the successful campaign (with LAIKA) to be Weiden+Kennedy Portland - who blogs about what they have done thus far with the campaign - both chronologically and filled with yummy Coraline-ad-images, along with a credit list of folks involved in the project. [Utmost cool of them tho - for credit is the very least anyone can every do to thank the people's hard work and efforts, IMHO / I can relate oh woe ye of long begotten local media industry...].
[NIKE Dunk promotion / How much on ebay again? 6K+?]
W+K: "To build some early buzz among communities we thought would respond to the film, our studio hand built these boxes using the actual assets from the film. A lot of work but much appreciated by the bloggers and influencers who found them in their mailbox." ~ Indeed. Listed below are the online-locations of the existing 50 Coraline Boxes [Which excludes Neil Gaiman's own / blogged]
DISCLAIMER #1: Not all visual-images of the boxes are show here (that's not what this list is about). Feel free to click on accompanying banner x box images - which will bring you to the respective websites for more of the box and their contents.
DISCLAIMER #2: All information are as accurate as I have sourced them. Do leave a note in the comments section of this post or PM me if there are any updates, additions and/or alterations that needs to be done. Apologies in advance if any info is inaccurate.
BOX-NUMBER: #1
RECEIVED-BY: Rio McCarthy of TOMOPOP
BOX-CONTENTS: Coraline's Doll
BOX-NUMBER: #2
RECEIVED-BY: Sara Kovach (aka Kissthelibrarian) of DIARY OF A FANGIRL
BOX-CONTENTS: Nail Polish
BOX-NUMBER: #3
RECEIVED-BY: Carl V. of STAINLESS STEEL DROPPINGS
BOX-CONTENTS: The Other Mother's design and dress.
BOX-NUMBER: #4
RECEIVED-BY: PINK IS THE NEW BLOG
BOX-CONTENTS: Buttons in specimen jars.
BOX-NUMBER: #5
RECEIVED-BY: Suzi of FASHIONISTA PIRANHA
BOX-CONTENTS: The Other Mother torsos and fabric swatches.
BOX-NUMBER: #6
RECEIVED-BY: WENDY KNITS
BOX-CONTENTS: The pattern for the sweater that Coraline wears.
BOX-NUMBER: #7
RECEIVED-BY: Lauren of KNITTERS FOR NEIL ON RAVELRY
BOX-CONTENTS: Coraline's Pajama Legs and Hand Sewn Cuffs.
BOX-NUMBER: #8
RECEIVED-BY: Amy Singer of KNITTY BLOG.
BOX-CONTENTS: Doll-making "tools" (looks like "torture equipment" tho! LOL - coolest box yet, IMHO)
MORE-IMAGES: via Flickr
BOX-NUMBER: #9
RECEIVED-BY: Mike Brent of DARK MATTERS.
BOX-CONTENTS: Old-fashioned tin and wood 3d viewer + Other Father's Arms.
BOX-NUMBER: #10
RECEIVED-BY: Mike Flem Jr of STOP MOTION MAGIC.
BOX-CONTENTS: Two Cat Mouths + a puppets button eye a viewer from 1905 + 7 x 3-D frames.
BOX-NUMBER: #11
RECEIVED-BY: Emily of EMMYYMME
BOX-CONTENTS: Other Father's Arms with Green Hands/Fingers (from him jumping out of a pumpkin).
BOX-NUMBER: #12
STATUS: *MIA*
BOX-NUMBER: #13
RECEIVED-BY: Peter Sciretta of SLASH FILM
REMARKS: Video-Review in posted-link.
>
BOX-NUMBER: #14
RECEIVED-BY: Empress Eve of GEEKS OF DOOM
BOX-CONTENTS: “6 Plaits of Venus Wig For Miss Forcible“
>
BOX-NUMBER: #15
RECEIVED-BY: Charley Parker of LINES AND COLORS
BOX-CONTENTS: "Coraline - Magical Garden - Book No. 1 of 1", sewing patterns, "reproductions of production drawings and paintings as well as photographs of hand-made models, depicting various plants, flowers and odd flora, elaborate garden plans and related images from the film."
BOX-NUMBER: #16
STATUS: *MIA*
BOX-NUMBER: #17
STATUS: *MIA*
BOX-NUMBER: #18
STATUS: *MIA*
BOX-NUMBER: #19
STATUS: *MIA*
BOX-NUMBER: #20
STATUS: *MIA*
BOX-NUMBER: #21
RECEIVED-BY: Jean Aw of NOTCOT
BOX-CONTENTS: Wigs of Coraline, Real Father and Other Father.
BOX-NUMBER: #22
RECEIVED-BY: John Struan of TOYCUTTER
BOX-CONTENTS: Hands! "13 of 10,500 Made For The Movie"
REMARKS: John also runs a dedicated Coraline-blog @ evilbuttons.blogspot.com
(Recommended by Neil Gaiman, no less!)
BOX-NUMBER: #23
RECEIVED-BY: Andy of TOYSREVIL aka Me! (*yay*).
BOX-CONTENTS: Scottie Dog Heads.
REMARKS: A whole lot of links to my box out in the www leads to my Multiply (with very little content) and remains unchanged by many. Is it that bad to link to my blog? *sob*
BOX-NUMBER: #24
RECEIVED-BY: "Space Bass" of DESPOILER
BOX-CONTENTS: Coraline's Wishing Stone.
BOX-NUMBER: #25
STATUS: *MIA*
BOX-NUMBER: #26
STATUS: *MIA*
BOX-NUMBER: #27
RECEIVED-BY: Alex of NEATORAMA
BOX-CONTENTS: Chocolate Beetles from Zanzibar.
BOX-NUMBER: #28
RECEIVED-BY: Josh Rubin of COOL HUNTING
BOX-CONTENTS: "Handmade envelopes of stinky cheese and organic beets"
BOX-NUMBER: #29
RECEIVED-BY: Bonnie Ruberg of HEROINE SHEIK
BOX-CONTENTS: Coraline's Nail Polish and Necklace.
MORE-IMAGES: via Flickr
BOX-NUMBER: #30
STATUS: *MIA*
BOX-NUMBER: #31
STATUS: *MIA*
BOX-NUMBER: #32
STATUS: *MIA*
BOX-NUMBER: #33
RECEIVED-BY: Cleolinda Jones aka OCCUPATION GIRL
BOX-CONTENTS: Hair Samples + "Twitchy-Witch Blue" Nail Polish + Cap.
MORE-LINKS: Blog-Entry / Image Gallery
BOX-NUMBER: #34
RECEIVED-BY: VAMPIRE FREAKS
BOX-CONTENTS: Gloved Skeleton-hand.
REMARKS: Unable to view webpage as you would need to register to view.
[Image used here via NOTCOT]
BOX-NUMBER: #35
STATUS: *MIA*
BOX-NUMBER: #36
STATUS: *MIA*
BOX-NUMBER: #37
RECEIVED-BY: ASIFA
REMARKS: Click on above image to view a youtube-video of their Coraline un-boxing :)
BOX-NUMBER: #38
STATUS: *MIA*
BOX-NUMBER: #39
RECEIVED-BY: Karrie A Lyons
REMARKS: The original HALLOWEENTOWN forum/website has since shut-down. Karrie has reposted images of her box in another forum @ Tim Burton Collective (scroll down to middle of page).
BOX-CONTENTS: Wings (Dragonfly?)
BOX-NUMBER: #40
RECEIVED-BY: David Friedman of IRONIC SANS
BOX-CONTENTS: Scottie Dog Body (*A direct fit / connection to my Scottie Dog Heads!*)
BOX-NUMBER: #41
BOX-CONTENTS: Coraline’s military hat, Coraline’s rubber boots, a metal door key (to a different world?), and a set of stills from the film signed by director Henry Selick.
REMARKS: This box is currently on eBay - with auction proceeds benefitting Starlight Children's Foundation [blogged]. The auction ends February 13th 2009 @ 19:09:00 PST
AUCTION-STATUS: Auction ended on February 13th with a winning bid of US$3,250 (36 Bidders in total).
BOX-NUMBER: #42
RECEIVED-BY: Cory Doctorow of BOING BOING
BOX-CONTENTS: "Puppet shoes - four-and-a-half pairs, and a foot in flipflop ("Flip-Flop (Left) Father Size 12 1/2")."
MORE-IMAGES: via Flickr
BOX-NUMBER: #43
STATUS: *MIA*
BOX-NUMBER: #44
RECEIVED-BY: Gareth Branwyn of MAKE
BOX-CONTENTS: Flower Seeds.
BOX-NUMBER: #45
STATUS: *MIA*
BOX-NUMBER: #46
RECEIVED-BY: THE KREEP
BOX-CONTENTS: Bat body-mold and Skeleton prototype Wings.
BOX-NUMBER: #47
STATUS: *MIA*
BOX-NUMBER: #48
STATUS: *MIA*
BOX-NUMBER: #49
STATUS: *MIA*
BOX-NUMBER: #50
RECEIVED-BY: CREATIVITY
BOX-CONTENTS: Hands!
REMARKS: Video of unboxing viewable via link above / Updated Feb 15th: Article currently viewable only if you're registered with website.
CREDIT: Primary Coraline-Box info source via NOTCOT!
"For the last three years, 351 of the world’s oddest and most talented animators, artisans, and puppet fabricators have been hand-making CORALINE. Led by Henry Selick, the director of THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS and JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH, this team has created the first stop-motion feature shot entirely in 3D. Based on the beloved best-selling children’s classic by Neil Gaiman, CORALINE is a fairy-tale nightmare steeped in classic storytelling, craftsmanship, and the old-fashioned art of moviemaking magic."
[Ima geek so sue me :p / CLICK for all-Coraline-coverage on TOYSREVIL]
