Internet Serials / Series / Webisodes

Looking For Grace

2008-11-24T08:14:00.000-08:00

Found it through a 'sponsored link' on google: search 'web series.'

So far I like a lot about it. The trailer doesn't tell you much, but has a good style. Like "Natural Born Killers" with a twist. But the cool web site explains the plot and invites you to explore. You can move all the clippings on it around, trying to discover if there's something underneath or some sort of encoded message (there better be).

They should also provide link photos so others can link to them.
They're currently looking for Sponsorship.
They're using vimeo as their video source for the site, but are also available on Youtube.

link to site

60 frames: Blood Cell

2008-08-07T07:03:00.000-07:00

http://www.deadcelldeadfriend.com/

Trailer:

Directed by Eduardo Rodriguez.

Description sounds like a horror version of Cavite.

Fromhttp://www.60frames.com/ which looks like an online studio. I have to get around to exploring them more. Their other shows include The Kids In the Hall (haven't seen it yet) and The Carpet Brothers (big stars like David Spade, no laughs).

Gemini Division

2008-08-06T06:47:00.000-07:00

Stars Rosario Dawson.
Starts August 18th online.

NBC picked it up. But is leaving it online for fear of ending up with another Quarterlife (bombed on TV).
(source).

The trailer includes 39 seconds of title cards (shudder) and it looks like the show is a lot of poorly-blended, un-corrected greenscreen. Poor Rosario.

This seems to be the new series business plan (for industry insiders). Create a web series and as you're shooting it, sell it to a network.

It worked for Leverage.

Italian Spiderman

2008-07-14T07:33:00.000-07:00

This is probably the most consistently funny thing on the web. I'd pay to see this.

Well-defined characters, a believable cinematic world, short bursts of hilarity. This is internet movie-making at it's best.

Here is the trailer:

A bunch of episodes are available on YouTube.

I wish the story thread were a bit stronger and the cliffhangers didn't all consist of Italian Spiderman being knocked out, but it's hilarious.

There's also a beautifully written companion blog with behind the scenes info at The Mantis' Quill.

Goodie Bag

2008-02-18T18:03:00.000-08:00

http://www.goodiebag.tv/

I've been emailed a few of his pieces independently by different people. Trajan is the Movie Font, Protecting and Maintaining Your Heterosexual House of Cards, Thank You for All the Butt Cracks.

By the third link you don't regret having clicked on, you start paying attention to this guy. Pop-ethnography as comedy. Good work Kirby!

Short Film of the Week

2008-02-05T16:20:00.000-08:00

http://www.shortoftheweek.com/

Not quite a serial. But still, points to some good short films.

Quarterlife

2008-02-05T07:37:00.000-08:00

Here's an interesting (and predicted by some) result of the Writers Guild WGA strike:
Quaterlife which has been playing on myspace.com will be airing on NBC. (source Variety)

Old media is looking to new media for its content. The producers of Quarterlife were already well connected (they produced Thirty-something, but it's the beginning of the future: Test your series on the internet before greenlighting it. Or better yet, pick your series from already successful internet shows. The internet is an online contest.

Yes it's not the first new media to old media transition, but it's the first (that I know of) where they're using the same footage. Previous risers I can think of: Undercover Brother (online comic -> feature film) and Adam Sandberg (SNL) was an internet discovery.

Also, yes, this post makes the assumption that old media is better than new media... well, let's just say it pays better for now.

OOOps. It was an ABC pilot that got demoted to internet serial and then reinstated as a tv series at NBC.

Coastal Dreams - NBC

2007-12-08T09:03:00.000-08:00

The non-indies are testing the waters.

Coastal Dreams The branding makes it look like a Melrose Place or something.

In a section called Web Exclusives they've got Coastal Dreams, Jay Leno's Garage, The Office Deleted scenes, SNL Backstage, Pale Force (animated), Karma Cam.

I wonder if these are also considered 'promotions'?

Young American Bodies

2007-12-07T07:26:00.000-08:00

Young American Bodies

Indie mumblecore.

Warning: Tasteful but explicit. NSFW.

On the future of digital distribution / writer's strike

2007-12-06T18:28:00.000-08:00

Rebuilding Hollywood in Silicon Valley's Image

Via the fantastic Scott Kirsner Blog

Temporary New Direction

2007-12-06T16:41:00.000-08:00

I'm changing my approach to this site. It hardly seems fair to judge the shows that are just getting started, especially when they only have one or two episodes.

Instead of trying to review all the shows (which I haven't time for) I'm going to just list them. Use this as a repository for myself (and anyone else who finds it useful) of the shows as I come to know of them.

College Humor

2007-12-06T16:34:00.000-08:00

College Humor
Funny stuff...
Check out Hand Vagina and the 1994 Pilot of 24

The West Side

2007-07-11T07:15:00.000-07:00

It's up. I've been looking forward to this one.

The West Side

A western in the city. Interesting idea. Beautiful cinematography. A little slow for the web, but the cinematography / production value will make you stay longer than you normally might. We'll see where it goes.

No advertising. No pay episodes (yet). I wonder what their business model is.

Sanctuary

2007-05-24T06:46:00.000-07:00

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.

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

2007-05-09T20:23:00.000-07:00

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.

Ask A Ninja

2007-05-05T08:42:00.000-07:00

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

IPTV

2007-04-19T07:33:00.000-07:00

An article about Internet Protocol Television and the main players...

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/internet_killed_the_television_star_joost_babelgum_zattoo.php

I guess the distinction from sites like YouTube is that they're not web-based. They're their own platforms / protocols.

The Strand Venice Beach

2007-04-14T10:24:00.000-07:00

http://www.strandvenice.com/

"Where Everyone is a Character"

This is an older one, but it's worth mentioning because I think it was one of the first more serious (better budget) internet serials.

Made by one of the creators of "The Blair Witch Project".

Somewhere along the way, it seems to have lost it's direction.

I never got past the pilot. First, because you had to pay for the subsequent episodes but, more importantly, because the pilot didn't grab me. Like Prom Queen, it has few characters and lots of charicatures (it even features a cameo from Kevin Smith). It's very external looking in, and you don't get a sense of any character worth rooting for.

The first episode featured a woman smashing up a porsche with a baseball bat. The idea seemed to be I would ask myself "OMG why is she doing that? I have to know what happens next." It's just not enough. We don't know anything about her yet, but it feels like you can guess what's going on... she's probably just angry at her boyfriend for cheating on her.

A hook like this has to be something we've never seen before. And hooking someone over and over again is MORE difficult than doing it on TV. That means your show has to be better than the first season of LOST (not easy).

The episodes are no longer available and the web site seems for the most part to have been abandoned, but I can gather from the reviews that the episodes have been assembled into a feature and is dong the festival circuit.

I think this is a pretty solid business plan. But they should really sell the fact that the Strand is now a feature film available for purchase on DVD (or download on Unbox?) "Now, own all the episodes for yourself."

Nine Inch Nails - Year Zero

2007-04-12T18:24:00.000-07:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Zero_(alternate_reality_game)

At first I thought this blog was going to be just about video series online, but I'm quickly remembering that the point of the internet and 4th Generation Media is that it's not limited to moving pictures.

Year Zero is more work than just downloading videos, but it's engaging and compelling for the most part. It's a network of web sites and 'happenstances' that, like a good mystery movie, peak your curiosity and pull you down the rabbit hole. The first thing that got me hooked was this audio clip which is pretty cool. (yeah, you gotta get past the silly 'monologue' to get to the point of the clip).

After that, I was a little disappointed with references to standard conspiracy cliche's of "what are they putting in the water" (fluoride?) and "how to carve a tracking device out of your arm." It's a little annoying because that's the kind of stuff that makes the whole thing more fake... if anyone actually reads the news, there's plenty of real stuff that'll freak you out. Plus mixing in real stuff with the kooky stuff discredits the real problems we're facing with keeping our governments in check.

This is at least partly the work of 42 Entertainment, now famous for their i love bees Halo 2 launch.

Oh yeah. I almost forgot... all of this surrounds the launch of a NIN album.

How to Succeed In Evil 5/5

2007-04-10T08:13:00.000-07:00

http://www.succeedinevil.com

This is by far the best thing I've seen or heard on the internet in a long time. He gets it right on every level. Story, characters, cliffhangers. It's a solid cow that will give milk for years to come.

Patrick McLean's main focus is story. So it's not a video show, it's a 6-10 minute audio podcast. Which is a lot easier to produce (although still a lot of work and has it's own challenges). But the story and world are more real and complete.

Story: A consultant in evil gives up trying to help evil masterminds and goes into business for himself.

There are few things (even movies) that make me forget my troubles and transport me away--this does. It doesn't only make you want to find out what's around the bend; it also allows you to savor the scene you're in.

He initially started the podcast to promote an idea for a comic book. But word is that it's also in the process to become a tv show. None of that could possibly beat hearing the writer do all the voices himself.

My one suggestion is that he really needs to spread his wings and come up with some truly ingenious evil plans. I haven't heard a good one since the 'fractions of pennies' from Superman 3 (which has been used repeatedly since). So far, Patrick's shown that being successfully evil is easy with a little discipline. But he has some stiff competition from real-world villains like Enron.

Prom Queen 1/5

2007-04-09T09:14:00.000-07:00

promqueen.tv

This is the worst of both worlds. A low budget series that gets the Hollywood treatment.

All the effort was put into the high-concept genre pitch that practically sells itself. But unlike Stranger Things, the people writing and working on it don't particularly care about the series. It's just a (small) paycheck. And they're just going through the motions.

It's shot well enough (although the pilot is annoyingly interlaced). They have believable production value / locations. But they have WAAY too many characters, all of them the kind of obnoxious clichés that studio execs consider to be high school archetypes. Including a British exchange student that makes a deliberate point of saying stuff like "he is such a WANKER."

So far the forums seem to mainly be populated with paid administrators.

The peculiarity here is that Michael Eisner is behind this thing, and it's a decently-budgeted project. But nothing about it makes me want to come back. Not the paper cut out characters, not the acting, not the uninspired writing. Maybe (like a lot of work in this genre) it'll get good when the teenagers start dying.

It's a shame that when Hollywood puts stuff on the internet it's only their C and D material. Later, if/when web bubble 2.0 pops, they'll point to stuff like this and say the audience just isn't there.

They're using the old media business model with sponsorship paying the bills (at first it's a lot Hairspray the movie commercials).

The strange part is that they've broken up the film into 80 x 90 second clips that come out each day. It's like watching a feature film a scene at a time. Boring. Especially during character development. The second or third episode introduces us to 300 inconsequential characters in 90 seconds.

It amounts to a fun teenage soap opera a la Swan's Crossing with horror elements.

If you want to see something good by Michael Eisner, watch his Conversations with Michael Eisner series. His interviewing style is clumsy but his guests are the most brilliant high-powered names in entertainment. Unfortunately, you can never watch two episodes in the same place for some reason. I’ve caught three episodes by digging around.

Stranger Things 3/5

2007-04-08T08:55:00.000-07:00

The first series I'd like to point out is "Stranger Things".

This is basically a Twilight Zone / Hitchcock Presents / Outer Limits -type show. Some recurring actors, but no recurring characters.

The pilot is based on a short story by Scott Sigler (who is supposed to be someone famous).

Seems to be shot in central Florida for the most part.

The acting is weak and the production design is falls under 'found' locations, which is fine for the most part except for offices which look too pedestrian.

But they get big points for moxie. The ideas and tone of the show are endearing and it seems to be gaining popularity. I hope there's some business plan down the line because right now, I don't see how they're going to pay for the show (other than a donate PayPal button).

The greatest accomplishment so far is in episode 2B, where they manage to make an extended 1-2 minute computer interface sequence while scanning a blood sample actually compelling. So far, I'd say it's the best sequence in the show.

The episodes all seem to be padded to 30 minutes with a lot of circular dialogue (which doesn't make sense since even 30 minute tv shows aren't 30 minutes long). Some of the episodes would work better if they'd just cut them down.

Looking for a place to find Internet Serials

2007-04-08T08:49:00.000-07:00

I'm interested in the blossoming world of internet serials (and review them whenever I feel like it). Just wanted a site to keep track of their locations and their progress.

So far there are very few I'd consider 'special'. But I'm sure there's going to be a surge in the next couple of years.