All visual components of Battle in Seattle’s advertising and marketing campaign offer the sense of chaos, panic, and documentary realism. The trailer is both gritty and sensationalistic – showing the whirling chaos of a mass protest gone awry, and the magnitude of the media blitz when a State of Emergency is declared. And of course, we see the most captivating sentence of all: “based on true events”. Everyone loves a real-life controversy, however exaggerated or biased it may be.
The poster is also dark and entrancing, as a police officer restrains the emotionally charged Michelle Rodriguez. Images of picket signs, angry civilians, gunfire and armored cars are all wrapped into a spherical globe-shape. The caption declares “THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING”. It certainly grabs attention and spikes interest in the film.
The website is almost overwhelming, packed tight with information, background information, and background-background information. A busy ticker tape headlines the top, streaming over links to filmmaker and cast bios. You can also view production stills and storyboards, study the intricacies of the WTO, watch real footage of the protest or interviews with experts/activists, donate, even download e-cards, widgets or ring tones. What’s more, all links call to action with capital letters and exclamation marks! Never before has such a feast of a website been... lacking a main course. Instead, every last possible item is heaped out buffet-style, bombarding the patrons. Viewers could see this one of two ways: as a great layout of rich information with interesting insight, or, as a massive maze of red and black that takes too much work to trudge through.
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