Thursday, May 24, 2007

Sanctuary

http://www.sanctuaryforall.com

No free episodes. Bad trailer.

The whole site lacks humility and an interest in what it's selling. And boy is it selling.

The slogan says "The First Broadcast Caliber Online Sci-Fi Series". We all went to see Spiderman 3 because it was "The Highest Budgeted Tentpole Film Ever," right?

Have some respect for your audience. Don't sell me on how great your production value is. Sell me on the story. Let me judge your production value. Let other people write your reviews.

The creators seem to treat their show as product. And that's pretty much a guarantee that it's going to be some regurgitation of a hollywood high-concept idea.

Oh, and I think there's vampires involved.

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Twisted Pictures to do internet series - on the One minute rule

It will appear on Break.com. Tentatively called The Internet Killer. Reported by Variety.

It's intended to be a feature chopped up and presented in 3 minute increments.

I'm still not sure 3 minutes is really enough to hook and get us to follow a story.

The commonly accepted wisdom is that most viewers check out by one minute. I don't think that entirely applies to narrative. Most videos online are one-note. You can only watch mentos-pespi eruptions, or guys doing parkour for one minute before going, "i get the idea". Also, you have to account for the fact that for most people who click, this isn't what they were looking for. So that's gotta account for at least half of your under-60-seconds-clicks right there.

What it DOES mean is that you have to hook in the first 60 seconds (probably more like 10-30). But for the internet audience, you have to show me something new every 60 seconds... Which, let's face it, a narrative is SUPPOSED to do.

But it takes a while for momentum to be reached. Remember what it's like to watch a movie on network tv with the constant interruptions for commercials (more so in the back end, when you're REALLY hooked).

A trailer may get you to see a movie in less than that time, but they're allowed to jump around in time and show you the good stuff up ahead.

Saturday, May 5, 2007

Ask A Ninja

This one almost goes without saying. It won Best Series of 2006 on YouTube. It's well written and is getting some Hollywood cred. Even made a segment appearance on the Showbiz Show.

Likeable character? Yes.
Good writing? Yes.
Inexpensive to produce? Yes.
Story continuity? No. -- The problem here is that the show is entertaining and guarantees a quality of writing but you don't HAVE to see all of them. The average (non-die-hard fan) viewer can watch one or two of them without being compelled to keep going or watching the full series. (This doesn't detract from the quality of the experience. Just the stickyness of the show.)

Also from them (and generally good) is hopeisemo.com

Link - http://www.askaninja.com