Tubefilter News

Larry Miller, longtime best friend of Jerry Seinfeld, has teamed up with Funny Or Die to present Federal Bureau of Manners, a series of PSA parodies starring Miller, Adam Corolla, and Ed Begley, Jr.

The Fine Brothers aren’t the only ones capitalizing on Harry Potter hysteria. Lisa Donavan and Danny Diamond are releasing videos via YouTube mega-channel The Station to leverage the hype.

Harry Potter and the Summer School Spectre is an 8-bit multi-part, interactive, choose your own adventure YouTube game. It follows our familiar heroes – Harry, Hermione, and Ron – on a lo-fi adventure to rid Hogwarts of an apparition with an affinity for warm, humid weather.

You control the wizarding world’s most famous kid with a lightning scar on his forehead by making a binary decision at the end of each video as to what happens next. Choose wisely. The Station’s expertly dispersed the installments around multiple YouTube channels as to dissuade you from skipping right to end.

The 8-bit Harry Potter interactive game follows The Station’s 8-bit Twilight interactive game released earlier this year. Both are animated and scored by Doctor Octoroc, who kick started all this first generation Nintendo nostalgia with his 8-bit interpretation of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.

When you watch/play Summer School Spectre be sure to pay attention to the YouTube comments left by hardcore Potterheads. My favorite so far comes from 2punk4breakfast and reads, “You can’t apparate within Hogwarts. Fail.” If the red shirt guy at Blizzcon has taught us anything, it’s that you need to have your knowledge of facts and physics of fictional worlds locked down. On The Station’s next 8-bit endeavor, they should bring this fellow on board to consult.

There are a few ways to catch a break if you’re an aspiring video blogger. One is to consistently post thoughtful, well-spoken, well-edited monologues commenting on timely issues social, political, or pop cultural. Another is to consistently post rambling diatribes, whining and/or crying about personal hang-ups.

And one more way to catch a break if you’re an aspiring video blogger is to become the official vlogger for Howcast.

The internet destination for entertaining how-to videos (which produces over 300 of them every month) is seeking an in-house vlogger to document all the ongoings of its New York City office and innovative offerings in the world of instructional online video. What are the benefits? A paid, part-time gig and, thanks to Howcast’s online presence and distribution channels, exposure to a monthly audience of 12.5 million viewers.

If you’re interested, visit the Howcast channel on YouTube and make sure you meet the eligibility requirements outlined in this video description. If you think you qualify, upload a video response in the form of a vlog by November 30. The production team at Howcast will inform the winner soon after. I say his or her first order of duty is to create a how-to video on how to vlog.

The first part of the seventh installment of the movie version of the lingua franca of Generation Next is due out in theaters this Friday, November 19. The second part of the finale of the Harry Potter film franchise is set to premiere eight months later on July 15, 2011. The Fine Brothers are capitalizing on the buzz.

Online video auteurs Benny and Rafi Fine debuted their new web show, Harry Potter and the Rejected Scenes earlier this week.

It’s a monthly, live-action-figure series set in and about Diagon Alley and Hogwarts Castle that reimagines memorable scenes from Harry’s seven years in the world of witchcraft and wizardry. Benny and Rafi ask the question “What if JK had written it this way?” and give viewers the answer in the form of Mattel toys, animated mouths, and pragmatic dialogue.

“We decided to start the new series after the conclusion of our LOST series last month,” the Fine Brothers told me over e-mail. “The plan is to make an episode every month through the release of the final installment of the Harry Potter franchise in July with potential for it to continue beyond depending on its success.”

If Harry Potter and the Rejected Scenes is as popular as the Fine Brother’s LOST, expect the series to continue for a while. Benny and Rafi’s action figure interpretation of ABC’s uber-popular supernatural drama saw nearly 20 million views over 19 episodes. It was so well-watched, ABC may or may not have blatantly ripped it off.

The Fine Brothers are working on a full slate of series in addition to Rejected Scenes. Here’s a rundown:

Beyond our ongoing series Kids React to Viral Videos, Spoiler videos, and Last Moments of Relationships, we have a five episode web series starring Lisa Schwartz reprising her role as Lindsay Lohan in Lindsay Lohan Needs Real Friends, and another web series called Platonic starring Sara Fletcher of Secret Girlfriend as the lead, with appearances by Maxwell Glick, Shane Dawson, and Brendan Bradley. We expect to be releasing a new episode of each every month.

And if that wasn’t enough, we’ll most likely be releasing a new Interactive game once a month including the continuation of American Idol: The Interactive Experience.

As of now, the Fine Brothers are producing all the series independently, generating revenue from YouTube’s Partner Program.

When I asked how they keep up with their many projects, Benny and Rafi replied, “It’s pretty crazy with all of this still being done by just the two of us and being in production on 6+ web series at the same time, but that’s new media for you.”

Maybe they should invest in one of Hermione’s time turner thingamajigs.

Amazon.com is entering the film production business, Retuers reports, offering $2.7 million for scripts and films with a first-look deal with Warner Bros.

Earlier this week, Taryn Southern released her latest video, Keep it in Your Pants a raucous and not-safe-for-work song about a poor girl driven to the brink of insanity by her simple desire that the men around her keep it down. The multi-hyphenated web celebrity is no stranger to raunchy comedy having found success earlier in the year costarring in a Funny or Die produced video about the secret joy of experimentation.

In fact, Southern has carved out a niche for herself as the sweet-faced girl next door whose lyrics would turn the saltiest of sailors scarlet.

She quickly rose to both Web and mainstream celebrity with her love song to a pants-suited Hilary Clinton during the run up to the 2008 Presidential election. Her video Hot4Hill was a success, which allowed Southern to erect a substantial Internet following. Since then she has stared in various online projects including Big Fantastic’s drama, Sorority Forever, and recently in an episode of Black Box TV. For those wishing to further bone up on her past work, check out her hilariously irreverent web series, Private High Musical, which was optioned, but ultimately not picked up, by MTV as a pilot.

Her new single, Keep it in Your Pants will be part of her upcoming comedy album; however, for those who cannot wait, the single is already available for download on iTunes. It is fairly easy to find once one gets passed all of the Beatles stuff.

Lastly, in celebration of her new single, Southern is letting her fans join in on the fun by holding a contest where one lucky winner will have the opportunity to create a collaborative music video with Taryn Southern herself. The song only has to be about a minute long and include the phrase, “Where is my Goat,” which also happens to be the title of her upcoming comedy album. Full details are available by watching the contest video.

By the way, according to the California Penal code, misdemeanor indecent exposure carries a maximum $1,000 dollar fine, up to six months in county jail, and a lifetime requirement to register as a sex offender, so unless you want to show up in the national database, keep it in your pants.

One of the benefits of being out in Australia for a conference, means some face to face time with some of the best web creators down under. I caught up with OzGirl creator Nicholas Carlton who continues to make a name for himself in the Aussie creative scene.

Having just graduated film school, Carlton—now all of 20 years old—has ventured into the commercial directing world. But don’t think he took the easy way. He is very much still the crafty new media creator that was able to score international press and heaps of honors for his indie drama series OzGirl. Shoot first, figure out the rest later.

Instead of pitching his steamy concept for a lingerie ad to the Australian ad agencies, Carlton decided to bypass them all together and go straight to the brands. In this case it was the slew of Aussie lingerie retailers. Eventually he found one with Melbourne-based Smitten Kitten, who liked his $3,000 60-second spec commercial (below).

The GOP made gains in the Senate and took majority control of the House of Representatives after the 2010 Mid Term Elections on November 2. President Obama was asked during a November 3 press conference if he would invite soon-to-be Speaker of the House John Boehner to the White House to talk bi-partisan politics over a Slurpee. The president of the United States of America responded with, “They’re delicious drinks.” On November 4, the Slurpee Summit was born.

It’s not often your product is endorsed by the Leader of the Free World. 7-Eleven – distributor of the sugary sweet icy beverage since 1964 – jumped at the opportunity, launching a multi-city bus tour promoting unity amongst Americans and sipping Slurpees as the catalyst for political harmony.

The Slurpee Unity Tour started in Dallas and will make its final stop in DC on November 18. Along the way, Slurpee host and enthusiast, Mike McLendon handed out thousands of ounces of free Slurpees and preached a message of social agreement embodied by 7-Eleven’s newly designed flavor, Purple for the People. Writers and camera crew were in tow to help script and document the trip for an original web series.

7-Eleven marketing executives knew they needed to act quickly and build off the Slurpee momentum provided by the President. When it came time to hire a production crew to make the web series happen, they went with a talented company whose work they liked. They immediately made contact with Happy Little Guillotine Films – the production company behind 7-Eleven’s last web series, Road Trip Rally – and less than a day later Happy Little Guillotine principal, Yuri Baranovsky and producer, Justin Morrison were on the ground in Dallas to start the show.

I was able to pin Baranvosky down during Slurpee Unity Tour pit stops and in between brain freezes to ask him a few questions about the web series and American politics.

Tubefilter: Tell me the basic idea behind this Slurpee Unity Tour.
Yuri Baranovsky: When President Obama mentioned the Slurpee Summit, it was in the theme of unity, of working together with both parties to get something done. That struck a chord with 7-Eleven. The basic idea of the series builds off of that. As the Slurpee caravan travels from Dallas to DC passing out free Slurpees and spreading unity, we follow our host, the great and ridiculously witty Mike McLendon, as he travels alongside them. Mike travels by land, and even by helicopter, to speak to people across the land and asks what unity means for them.

TF: How’d you get involved?
YB: Let me first say that I have to credit Blip.tv once again for getting us this job. While they aren’t involved in this particular project, they are the reason we were ever considered for it and I am eternally indebted to them for that.

The people who put this together – 7-11, their ad agency, TracyLocke – were also the ones that put together the 7-Eleven Road Trip Rally, so they knew us, they knew we worked fast and got results, and they knew we would go above and beyond the call of duty to give them the best possible content we could get.
We had around 12 hours between the call that they need us and Justin Morrison (one of HLG’s Producers and our Director of Photography) landing in Dallas to start shooting the launch of the tour (the rest of us joined them on Saturday morning in Kansas City) and since then, I think we’ve created a really fun show that’s both funny and, I think, meaningful and touching.

TF: What’s life like on the road?
YB: It feels a little like we’re on an actual campaign trail. We wake up early, we have banners, we have a guy talking to crowds of people about unity, we have press at every location – it’s absolutely insane. That said, It’s been a blast. We’re all exhausted, we’re shooting, editing and releasing episodes daily, but we get to talk to incredibly cool people, do Daily Show-esque bits, and actually have a nice message behind it all.

But to give you a good example of the road – I’m responding to these questions at 1 AM after hosting a Rap Battle last night in New York City, getting four hours of sleep and then driving 7 hours to Richmond, Virginia to do another event. Vote HLG Films for President!

TF: Compare and contrast this to the Road Trip Rally web series.
YB: It’s very similar in that it’s a lot of the same crew, and even one of the contestants from RTR – Mike McLendon. It’s different in that it’s smaller – with only a 6 man crew (as opposed to 12 crew and 4 contestants on RTR) – and, the biggest thing – it’s not a reality show. We hired Mike because he’s a fantastic improviser and he is in no way a contestant on this, he’s our host. We work with him to develop ideas for the episodes and he has a very active role in the whole thing. If Jon Stewart is watching – you have to hire this guy.

The press coverage is also insane. It’s been in newspapers all over the country and the DC event is going to be crazy. Especially if President Obama shows up – then I can proudly say that we’re the first web series to star a President. It’s really an honor to be part of it, and a whole lot of fun.

TF: 7-Eleven’s Road Trip Rally cost $1 million, all-in. Can you give me any details on the budget for the Slurpee Unity Tour?
YB: It’s sixty billion dollars. No, that’s not true. I have no idea what the budget for the entire campaign is – but our production budget is proportional to the Road Trip Rally. I can’t reveal it, but I CAN tell you that our bank is going to get a large Slurpee deposit in the near future.

TF: Is this 7-Eleven’s own Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Keep Fear Alive?
YB: I think there’s a hint of that, but I think the message is really about unity. With Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, they use satire to spread their message, which, I think is, you know: let’s compromise, let’s be smart, let’s not freak out and throw each other in the fire – we’re in this together.

Satire and comedy are what we’re known for as well – and there’s definitely an element of that in the Slurpee Unity Tour. But, the heart of the show, the main theme of it is really the idea of unity. It’s actually been really powerful to hear the majority of the country’s take on unity – it’s very eye-opening. Everyone has talked about working together and everyone seemed weary of politicians misrepresenting them. Unity went from being a buzzword to something Americans want and need and that’s fairly amazing for me to experience firsthand.

TF: How do you think President Obama and John Boehner will react if they show up to your event in DC?
YB: Ideally they’re going to drink the Power for the People Slurpee, together, from one giant pink straw.

The President’s official meeting with the Speaker of the House in waiting was originally scheduled for November 18, but it’s since been pushed to November 30 due to scheduling conflicts. That’s not, however, stopping the Slurpee Unity Tour.

Slurpee trucks will be parked Thursday morning outside of Union Station serving red, white, blue, and purple Slurpees. Live music and entertainment meant to unite America’s political leaders will continue on into Thursday night. Raise your icy beverages to hoping President Obama and John Boehner swing by and the message of unity has some effect.