by Jenni Powell on April 5th, 2010
Zacuto, popular sales and rental house for custom camera packages, has shot its way once more into original content with “The Great Camera Shootout 2010: a three part web series where gunslinging HD DSLRs face-off against legendary 35mm Film.” For those fascinated by the latest in camera technologies, especially those looking for the most cost-effective options for web production while keeping production values as high as possible, this 3-part webisodic series is exactly what you’re looking for. And hardcore film aficionados who are wondering at the possibilities of HD replacing 35 MM will find the series informative and often surprising.
The series showcases the top performing hybrid HD-DSLR cameras: Canon: 5D MKII, 7D, 1D, 550D/T2i Rebel, Nikon D3s, Panasonic GH1 and compares the image quality of these cameras against the gold standard of 35mm film. The Canon 5D MKII test includes the new 24p firmware. “We were determined to make this an unbiased test”, says web series director Steve Weiss, in the first episode. “We don’t sell any of these cameras, we don’t particularly care how these cameras fare out. Really, more importantly, this is not an awards type of test.”
Some of the controlled camera assessment tests featured in the series include latitude, resolution, sensitivity, speed and ultra high speed, noise, color and green screen. The battery of tests were administered under strict controls and then screened to various professionals at one of three screening locations: Stag Theater at Skywalker Ranch, LucasFilms Ltd., AFI (American Film Institute) Theater in Hollywood and the FilmWorkers Astro Color Timing Theater in Chicago.
by Jenni Powell on April 5th, 2010
Growing up as a lanky, bookish, clumsy girl, I remember experiencing watching my best friend (who was busty, blond, and outgoing) as she dove head-first into the dating scene, leaving me to spend weeks and sometimes months wondering if she was doing okay…or if she was even still alive. But in a best friend relationship, sometimes the old cliché is in effect: if you care about something set it free, if it comes back…
This is the premise of the new independent web series The Best Friend: a romantic comedy shown through the POV of the best friend character rather than the ingenue. In the first episode we see Millie, gobbling away at a tub of ice cream and talking to her mother who is trying to convince her she’s wasting her time with therapy. Her best friend, the seemingly perfect Sooze, is in love and nowhere to be found.
But despite her mother’s best efforts, Millie is back at the therapist’s office where she pours out her deepest neuroses…in song.
Created by real life best friends Marilyn Anne Michaels and Allie Smith, first time self-producers who created the show on less than a $1,000 budget (most of which went to food, they explained). Said Smith: “all the artists out there creating their own work today in New Media now have been a great inspiration to me … Felicia Day’s story is an especially inspiring one as is Stephanie Thorpe and Taryn O’Neill’s of the After Judgment series and my good friend John Beck Hoffman who just kicked off his series Tyranny last month to an already great response. The pioneers in New Media have opened my eyes to how much can be done with this medium and given me the confidence to just go for it!”
by Marc Hustvedt on April 4th, 2010
The final countdown to the Streamys is on. Plane tickets booked. Hotel rooms booked. Streamys tickets booked. Now it’s time to flip the calendar and take a closer look at this week ahead. It’s officially 2010 Web TV Week in Los Angeles—a whole week of events, parties, screenings and of course a little gala known as the 2nd Annual Streamy Awards to cap it all off.
The full lineup of 2010 Web TV Week events:
Digital LA — Digital Drinks (April 6)
Join us for Digital Drinks with DigitalLA. Who’s invited? web video producers, directors, actors, production, Streamy nominees, friends, and fans. We’ll be lounging at La Vida in Hollywood. See you there!
Streamys Craft Awards (April 7, by invite only)
The Streamys Craft Awards, which recognize and honor excellence in the craft categories of web television production, will take place on April 7 at the historic Barnsdall Art Theatre in Los Angeles. 16 awards categories will be handed out during the evening, see here for a complete list of the Craft Awards categories.
JHRTS Streamys Preview (April 8)
Join members of the Junior Hollywood Radio & Television Society as they screen select clips from 2010 Streamy Awards nominees and winners and network with the best and brightest new talent in Hollywood. Evening starts at 9:00 PM.
New Media Vault: Streamys Edition (April 8)
Tubefilter, LA Mixers and Stella Entertainment present a very Streamys Edition of downtown’s best new media mixer at the Broadway Bar in Los Angeles. Evening starts at 8:00 PM.
Vamped Out – Official Premiere (April 9)
Join Babelgum for the premiere of Kevin Pollak’s web series directorial debut, Vamped Out, on Friday at Cinespace in Hollywood. Red Carpet arrivals begin at 5 PM and cocktails will follow afterwards. Vamped Out stars Kevin Pollak and Jason Antoon.
by Marc Hustvedt on April 4th, 2010
Online comedy network My Damn Channel has been on the hunt for the best fan made Streamy Awards promo videos from around the world, in a contest of sorts that launched last week through a ‘PromoSexual’ video call to arms from their quirky star vlogger Daily Grace.
Since then, the videos have been rolling in—with one coming in from some web series fans in Ireland—all with the simple task of creatively reminding folks to Watch the Streamy Awards LIVE on Sunday, April 11th at 5:30 PM (PT) / 8:30 PM (ET). So we thought we’d check in and see where they are at. (For those that still want in on this, and get featured on MyDamnChannel.com and Streamys.org, just email your entries over to daniel(at)mydamnchannel.com)
The guys from Streamy-nominated Horrible Turn threw together a clever little short around a Little Red Balloon: “Four guys. One Camera. No lights. One Didgeridoo. Lots of wind. a guitar. A balloon. The rest is history.”
Streamy Awards: One Balloon at a Time – from Horrible Turn’s Chance McClain, Kevin Ryan, Frank Bullington, and Brandon Strange
by Jenni Powell on April 2nd, 2010
Sponsored by AT&T and produced by Crave Online, Fanboy Funhouse is a fast-paced hosted comedy series that uses geek culture news (movies, video games, comic books, and tech) as inspiration for comedic sketches and guest interviews all while following the antics of a crazy cast of characters including an ornery dragon, a janitor with a pig nose, and a talking brain who has a mancrush on Johnny Depp.
The show is hosted, written, and produced by New Media veteran Nar Williams. Williams was formerly a producer at NowLive.com, has hosted over 150 episodes of the comedy podcast Goober and The Viking, and had another web video series with Crave Online called Heads Up with Nar Williams. He also has experience in television, having hosted Discovery Science Channel’s Science of the Movies, guest hosted on G4’s Attack of the Show, and appearing on Current TV’s Rotten Tomatoes Movie Show. Nar also writes a weekly column for the enormously popular and influential geek website, Ain’t It Cool News. Williams created the show with Jonathan London, editor-in-chief of Geekscape.net and writer/director of the 15 Gigs web series When Ninjas Attack!.
Tubefilter asked Williams how he came up with the show and what will make it unique considering the number of hosted geek culture web shows such as Revision3′s The Totally Rad Show or theStream.tv’s The RadNerd Show. “Shows like The Mighty Boosh and Pee Wee’s Playhouse are a big inspiration for me,” said Williams. “There’s no shortage of geek culture news on the internet, so my goal is to present it in a wild and unpredictable way – with a cast of crazy characters that people will hopefully find entertaining. And I’m pretty sure it’s the only talk show with a playground slide for the guests.”
by TheWillofDC on April 2nd, 2010
What’s More Powerful on YouTube: Views or Subscribers?
While at its heart YouTube is a community of people passionate about new media, online video and social networking, it also has a more professional side to it. In the effort to define success and influence on YouTube there are two schools of thought on what is more important. One favoring a higher subscriber count and the other favoring a higher view count. While obviously the ideal is to have both, like RayWilliamJohnson and ShaneDawson currently, evidence from the past 5 years of YouTube suggests that dual success has a very short life span. So YouTubers seeking success are left either trying to come up with videos that will reach a high number of views or pursuing a community building strategy to gain a high subscriber count.
While its easy to be seduced into doing videos in a viral style and/or trying to take advantage of news worthy current events I find the more successful people to be those that cultivate community and have the higher subscriber count.
The main problem with focusing on simply wanting to rack up views is the lack of audience interaction. It is precisely that interaction which in turn leads to the audience knowing they are appreciated and thus a community is formed and built upon. The reason community should be important to YouTubers is that 1, it builds upon itself benefiting and advancing the site as a whole and 2, that is where the success lies for the YouTuber trying to become successful. A passionate subscriber in an active community will do more for you in spreading your channel and multiple videos around while the multitude of random viewers of your popular or viral video will enjoy but move onto the next popular or viral video from someone else.
Eventually every YouTuber wants to give back or help promote something and there in lies the test of how successful and influential a YouTuber is. By promote I don’t mean selling out making a video convincing us to buy the latest corporate entity. By promoting I mean anything authentic ranging from a charity to a new project they’re passionate about to supporting a fellow YouTuber or an independent artist.
by Marc Hustvedt on April 1st, 2010
Today came the offical announcement that Paul Scheer has been tapped to host the 2nd Annual Streamy Awards on April 11, 2010. The rising actor comedian is well known to comedy fans as a one of the stars of sketch comedy show Human Giant which ran on MTV, alongside Aziz Ansari and Rob Huebel. He now stars in the hit FX comedy The League, which was just renewed for a second season, and on HBO’s new web-inspired Funny or Die Presents in a regular ‘Designated Driver’ segment.
Scheer will headline the live internet TV broadcast of the ceremony from the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles, airing at 5:30 PM (PT) at Streamys.org, Mashable.com and Ustream.
“Ever since I was a child I dreamed of hosting the Streamy Awards,” Sheer mused. “Oh, and by the way, when I was a child I had a time machine that let me see into the future.”
While the ceremony itself is invitation only, a limited number of tickets will available for web series fans. Interested people can add their names to the Streamys ticket waiting list to find out more.
by Jenni Powell on April 1st, 2010
It looks like The Guild will continue its transmedia dominance after releasing the first of the three-part The Guild comic through Dark Horse with…an animated TV series! Day revealed to Tubefilter that she has inked a deal with a very prominent animation house (we’re not allowed to say due to NDA obligations, but boy do we wish we could!) to bring to life a Muppet Baby-esque series that shows us what our favorite Guildies would look like as kids.
When first broached with the idea, Day was hesitant due to her already packed schedule of prepping the comics as well as her staring role in the upcoming SyFy series Red, but being able to share The Guild to gamers with kids was too good of an opportunity to pass up. “I love working on the web because I don’t have to compromise creatively,” said Day. “I thought a mainstream kids show for TV would be a disaster in that regard but they kept saying that they loved my sensibility and they really wanted me to do whatever I felt was true to the tone of the web series.” She was able to bring on board several friends of the show to get it made: Greg Aronowitz (prop master for Do You Want to Date My Avatar? and co-creator of the hilarious The Guild Christmas products bonus features) created all the character design and Paul and Storm did the theme song.
An interesting dilemma was how to deal with the fact that the character of Bladezz is so much younger than the rest of his guildmates. The solution seems outlandish but definitely doable considering Day’s willingness to take chances. Says Day: “I never thought for a second that they’d actually approve Embryonic Bladezz but when they did I felt like they passed the creativity litmus test. And I guess cartoons are a lot more progressive now than they were when I was growing up.”
