Tubefilter News

Fans of the Twilight soundtrack have a reason to be happy this week. Yesterday, London based Brit-folk group, Fanfarlo, launched the first episode of their four part mini-series documenting the band’s journey to the SXSW Festival earlier this spring. The series, named Under the Reservoir as a homage to the group’s 2009 debut album entitled ‘Reservoir’, mixes the band’s sweet melodies with intoxicating visuals that are at once both eery and evocative.

Production took place on location at the festival in Austin and captured plenty of the band’s live performances, as well as a ‘waking dream’ storyline, all produced by experimental cinematographer, Brian Gonzalez. “Any feelings of confusion are entirely deliberate,” said a spokesperson for the band, who also released an official introduction to the series:

With no brands or sponsors attached, the series will clearly serve as a marketing vehicle for the impending release of Farfalo’s newest album next month. New 5-7 minute episodes will drop weekly through early July on the band’s website and promise more than a glimpse into the slightly off-kilter behind-the-scenes action that takes place in Austin each year.

Back in August of 2008, when we covered the launch of TheWB.com along with their impressive list of their upcoming web originals, it seemed like WB was going to be a major force in web series. After starting with a strong push behind series like Sorority Forever and Rich Girl, Poor Girl, the teen network cooled on web originals, opting instead for reruns of TV shows like The O.C. and Gilmore Girls. Several of the original 2008 slate of web shows stayed on the shelf despite being largely anticipated, including the animated Chadam and the McG-backed Exposed. Two years later, these two still have yet to hit the web.

That all changes today, as TheWB.com releases their slate of summer programming. And in a unique move, they are not only launching four shows, but also releasing half the episodes of each of the shows in one huge chunk. Says Blake Calhoun, creator of the upcoming Exposed: “I think they’re trying a unique approach in releasing all their new Originals at the same time and in large episode quantities. Hopefully all the brand new and varied content being put online in one big push will create buzz that drives viewers to the site, and ultimately help build an audience for our shows. I’m looking forward to seeing how it all plays out.”

Chadam: Executive produced by Jace Hall (V, The Jace Hall Show) and originally created by cutting-edge artist Alex Pardee for the band The Used, Chadam, this action-horror-adventure story follows the title character as he learns to harness the power of his imagination to save his friends and fellow residents of Cardboard City from the maniacal serial killer, Viceroy. The 3D animation for the series was done on the Unreal Engine 3, the same gaming engine used in popular videogame titles such as Gears of War and BioShock for the Xbox, Playstation 3 and PC platforms.

Back in the day we used to call these incubators, places where nascent co-founders could share an office, tinker on their latest inventions and ideally break out as a thriving startup. But the first dotcom rush seemed to leave the term a little passé. Now the newer breed of tech incubators like San Francisco-based Y Combinator and Boulder’s TechStars prefer “mentorship-driven seed accelerator.”

A year ago, TechStars decided to turn cameras on itself by launching its first ever web series, The Founders, which followed three startup teams through their 3-month summer program. This summer it’s Omniar, Grogger and RentMonitor that will share the focus of the story.

In exchange for a small amount of equity in their startup, the lucky founders selected for the program get some ample living expenses, offices in the colorful digs they call The Bunker and direct access to an impressive crop of mentors to help them turn their concepts into actual companies. The series does tend to feel a bit like a marketing pitch for the program, but nestled throughout are some free gems of wisdom from the mentors, not to mention a touching human side to the founders.

The final episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show will air September 9, 2011. After that date, every time Oprah screams a celebrity’s name it won’t be broadcast by network television, but by her very own cable channel. Oprah announced the beginnings of the Oprah Winfrey Network way back in 2009, but with an imminent launch date scheduled for January 1, 2011, she’s now starting to publicly wrangle programming and talent. And what better, more inexpensive way to find hidden gems across America and drum up publicity for your network’s launch than with a good old fashioned online video contest.

Last week, Oprah asked America to help her find the next Oprah. Your OWN Show: Oprah’s Search for the Next TV Star solicits video submissions from individuals that have “it” (aka “infectious energy, unique sense of humor, and personality galore”). The top five entries with the most votes will become finalists, at least one finalist will appear the Your OWN Show reality TV series co-produced by Mark Burnett, and one lucky winner will follow in the esteemed footsteps of Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz, be given his or her own show, and crowned a talk show king or queen by the big O herself.

So, who’s going to win? According to the internet, it better be Zach Anner. With the support of 4chan and John Mayer, Anner, who has cerebral palsy and once told me he ended up in his wheelchair after a horrific tango accident, is in an early landslide lead with over 2.5 million votes. Savvy online video viewers will recognize Anner from his role in the Austin-based web series, The Wingmen and my super sweet interview at SXSW with the cast. But you don’t have to be savvy to recognize the kid’s got talent.

Very few web series attract any pre-launch attention, those that do begin with a distinct advantage, an audience that is already aware of its existence. One of the biggest challenges a new series faces, is the ever increasingly daunting task of cutting through the clutter of online video. Furthermore, not only do web series need to compete with other shows, vloggers, and keyboard playing kids and kittens, they are also in competition with social media sites, other websites, games, and occasionally, real life. The competition for viewer attention has never been greater. Simply releasing a series and hoping that it will find an audience is not an option. Therefore, in order to be competitive, in order to build an audience, a series needs to begin generating buzz even before the show launches.

Tonight, the three month old mystery of Cambio, the new MTV/YouTube hybrid, has been revealed. Like the boy bands that came before them, the Jonas Brothers have evolved from a band into a brand — landing them at #60 on Forbes Top 100 Celebrity list last year. In February of this year the trio, which signed to Hollywood Records in 2006, launched the mysterious and eponymous Jonas Group, to be helmed by their father, Kevin Jonas, Sr., in partnership with their longtime manager, Philip McIntyre. The net was abuzz with speculation that the Jonas Brothers were forming their own label — but it turns out they were up to something a lot more savvy. They had launched an entertainment company.

Word of Cambio first snuck out when the Jonas Brothers published a video about the service on YouTube on April 9, 2010. The vid garnered half a million views, but didn’t offer much insight into what Cambio actually was outside of “original videos, concert specials, and live chats.”

This week, on Tuesday June 15th, the site will soft launch, and from what the Times has reported, Cambio has all the ingredients of an MTV killer.

A partnership between the recently independent yet struggling AOL, New York based MGX Lab, which serves as “the agency of record and 360 degree brand strategy team for the Jonas Group,” and the Jonas Group itself which co-manages the Jonas Brothers with Wright Entertainment Group, the site will be part of the AOL Teen Network, and is being billed as “a next-generation video network for the Web, a kind of MTV without the pesky middleman.”

The second half of the England v USA World Cup match just began at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Rustenberg, South Africa. Like most of the rest of the world, we’re glued to the broadcast of the tied up game — only we’re watching live online. Go web television!

Over the next month, we don’t want you to miss a single game, so we’ve compiled a list of the best places to watch the 2010 FIFA World Cup online from the comfort of your laptop. Keep in mind that a lot of these options might be blocked in your specific geographic location, but give it a shot, regardless.

Make sure to keep up with the full World Cup Schedule, courtesy of FIFA, and, if you’ve really got World Cup fever, join a house full of fans from around the world as they battle it out over the nex3 30 days in the Budweiser sponsored online reality show, Bud House.

Know of any other good spots to catch the World Cup live online? Let us know in the comments.

World Cup buzz is at a fever pitch around the world as the opening games of the tournament kicked off today in Johannesburg, South Africa. Brands like Nike, Carlsberg, Addidas, and more, are spending millions of dollars to take part in the month-long global fête which costs a hefty $1.39 Billion to produce.

Returning for the seventh time as the ‘Official Beer’ of the FIFA World Cup, Budweiser and its new owner (as of 2008), Anheuser-Busch InBev, is launching an international advertising campaign of unprecedented scale, with Budweiser television spots in 20 countries worldwide, a massive search campaign, and rich media and interactive components spread across social networking sites and leading content outlets.

The campaign will unfold under the “Budweiser United” banner and will drive viewers and fans to the BudUnited site, which happens to direct its traffic to BudUnited’s sponsored YouTube channel. At the center of the campaign is the web’s most ambitious reality series to-date — Bud House. 16 men and 16 women from 32 different countries (as diverse as Cameroon, Ghana, North Korea, Brazil, France, Honduras, and the United States) will live together in a stunning villa in Cape Town where they eat together, sleep together, and watch every match.