Tubefilter News

Wow! We have had some exciting news of our own this past week with the Streamy Awards! (If you haven’t already, check out the coverage at Variety and The Hollywood Reporter).

Yes, as we’ve hinted before, the Streamy Awards are coming back and better than ever. And now we can finally confirm that we’ve teamed up with dick clark productions—the producers behind The Golden Globes, American Music Awards, Academy of Country Music Awards, New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, So You Think You Can Dance and many more—to honor the best of online video and the people who create it.

We started the Streamy Awards back in 2008 when we felt that the quality and volume of online video work had reached a critical point—particularly in web series—and it was time to honor some of that year’s best works and creators.

And we just went for it. The Streamys was in every sense an independent web show itself, pulled together with lots of favors, hard work, and generous support from so many amazing people who helped it become a success. And as creators ourselves, we’ve learned quite a lot along the way.

The Streamy Awards is about honoring all the creators—whether backed by a studio or alone in their basements—who have entertained and inspired a whole generation of online video fans around the world. But it’s also about sharing these creative, brave, unique, and meaningful stories with the world. Who wasn’t moved by Felicia Day’s inspiring speech at the 2009 Streamys, or Chris Colfer’s touching acceptance at the 2011 Golden Globes?

Paul Greenberg started his position as CEO of CollegeHumor roughly 10 months ago. Since then, the former President of the Digital Lifestyle Group at Time Inc. and Executive Vice President and General Manager of TV Guide Digital has been devoted to expanding the audience of the 12-year-old online comedy destination for university coeds and post-college kids by distributing its video content on platforms, devices and destinations other than CollegeHumor.com.

“We’re making sure we’re reaching our audience wherever they are,” Greenberg said during a phone interview. And that audience especially includes owners of the new Nintendo 3DS.

CollegeHumor recently announced it would become one of the first studios to provide digital programming to Nintendo’s latest handheld gaming console. The 3DS is also the first handheld gaming console to become the recipient of CollegeHumor programming.

“We’ve always respected Nintendo a lot, and worked closely with them as advertisers and partners,” Greenberg explained. “I reached out and spoke to the head of content of North America, and they felt like our audiences made for the perfect cross over. We got such a great comedic sensibility and we really understand the male 18 to 34 audience. Creating content for the 3DS seemed like a terrific way to do business together.”

The home of original web series hits like Jake and Amir, Hardly Working, Troopers, and more will develop five web show pilots, each of which will premiere in two dimensions online and and three dimensions on the 3DS. Nintendo higher-ups will then choose which pilot they like the most and the selected pilot will be developed into a full-fledged (at least) six-episode web series.

“A lot of our videos on CollegeHumor have special effects, but the ability to take it further and really take advtange of the 3D is amazing,” Greenberg said. “It’s more than ‘Hey, there’s a ppunch coming out at the screen.’ You can really see the layers, especially in the animation and live-action combinations.”

I know you, like me, are still waiting for some student at RISD or SCAD to create the typographic web series the internet’s been waiting for. But in order to better appreciate the viral fodder whenever it comes about, it’s in good taste to learn something about the art form (other than Trajan is the movie font) from a few of the medium’s masters. That’s your cue to watch the PBS original web series Off Book.

The 13-episode, bi-weekly program created in collaboration with PBSArts.org “explores the ever-changing definition of art in the hands of the next generation of artists taking creative reigns and melding art with new media.” Said artist are supposed to be confident enough with their abilities that they leave their scripts behind while forging new artistic paths ‘off book.’ (And now you understand from where the series got its name.)

You can certainly see that confidence from Jonathan Hoefler and Tobias Frere-Jones, who drip with artistic intellectualism (not that there’s anything wrong with that) in one of Off Book’s initial installments. The pair explains their area of expertise in the following terms: “Typefaces are not toys, they’re tools. They’re designed to solve problems.”

Hoefier and Frere-Jones are joined in the episode below by titans of type Paula Scher and Eddie Opara and infographic extraordinairres Julia Vakser and Deroy Peraza. Together they explain the impact and influence of typography and the visual representation of data on the world, as well as how and why they attempt to make that impact more meaningful.

Jon M. Chu originally conceived of his archetypal epic good vs. evil dance battle of an original web series to take the form of three separate and distinct parts.

The first volume of The LXD is devoted to the origin myths of the heroes of our story and launched its 10-episode arc back in July 2010. The second chapter (aka Secrets of the Ra) chronicles the history of the individuals who cut a more evil kind of rug and debuted in October 2010. The third chapter dubbed The LXD: Rise of the Drifts will (according to the promotional materials) reveal secrets, break promises and revolve around our heroes and villains fighting for the future. It’s release date is Thursday, August 11, 2011. Here’s the trailer.

Chu, The LXD producer Agility Studios and The LXD distributor Paramount Digital Entertainment are sparse on details about what exactly the next season will entail and which sponsors are helping to cover production costs, but we’ll have more info for you before the launch.

BET is on a roll.

After two successful original online series—Buppies, starring The Fresh Prince of Bel Air’s Tatyana Ali, and Shop Talk, starring New York Undercover’s and Alpha’s Malik Yoba—BET included a slate of online series to its 2011 television upfront presentation in New York this past spring.

The upfront lineup included drama Lenox Avenue, science fiction Odessa, thriller Asylum, and dramedy The Come Up, based on the critically acclaimed book series of the same name by New York Times bestselling author Lyah Beth LeFlore.

The Come Up, which follows the lives of six urban youths navigating the perks and pitfalls of living life in the fast lane as they pursue their dreams as hip-hop artists, is set to debut on BET.com Wednesday, August 24 under the new name 8 Days a Week.

The 10-part series stars actor-rapper Justin ‘Irocc’ Williams and internet sensation Skye Townsend.

“8 Days a Week brings to life the energy, attitude, drive and relentless spirit of young African-Americans, in particular,” said the series’ creator Lyah Beth LeFlore. “I’m especially excited that the cast is so diverse and reflects the dreams, determination and day-to-day trials and triumphs of BET’s core audience.”

With all the talk about courting the increasingly affluent U.S. hispanic consumers, I’m actually surprised that this hasn’t happened sooner. Apparently Kmart is the first major brand to sponsor an original web series on YouTube aimed directly at Spanish-speaking American consumers. The new series, Madres Y Comadres, bowed on a custom branded YouTube page this week with 8 episodes, all in Spanish, centered around two Hispanic mothers swapping stories of raising kids these days.

The setup is light, as if the producers were in on the joke that the series mocks the sappy telenovelas churned out on Univision and Telemundo. Writer-director Alberto Ferreras, known for his docu-series Habla on HBO, created the series for Kmart.

The winner of the Best Video Oriented 404 Error Message on the Internet Award used to go to Hulu. When you stumble upon a nonexistent URL on the on demand streaming video service for premium entertainment programming – like http://www.hulu.com/a-fox-program-the-day-after-it-airs (zing!) – you’re redirected to an error message and a montage of Homer Simpson D’oh!s.

Pretty neat-o, right? What could possibly make the unpleasant experience of incorrectly typing in a web address more pleasant than a clip from one of the best television shows of all time? How about an Army special ops scene about a covert operation to track down a missing web page conceived by the creators of an Android/iPhone app that’s more or less a food-centric Instagram that’ll tell you what to order?

Alex Cornell, Philip Mills, Dan Clegg, Josh Vekhter, and Michael Chang all played a part in making the above 404 message for the Firespotter Labs’ startup Nosh come to life. They shot the footage with a Canon 7D and edited it all together in one day on July 23. By July 27 they uploaded it online. By today, the clip is up to nearly 400,000 views on Vimeo.

For the uninitiated into the world of mobile food suggestion applications, Nosh is cooking in the same kitchen as Foodspotting. The company taps your social circle for reviews and suggestions on where and what to eat and accompanies those suggestions with pictures of the food taken by users. Here’s a single-take Old Spice ad-inspired online commercial that explains:

Morgan Spurlock, the filmmaker behind the anti-McDonald’s documentary Super Size Me, has a new project, A Day in the Life, set to premiere August 17—on Hulu.

A Day in the Life will feature six half-hour episodes each chronicling a 24 hour period in the life of jet-setting entrepreneur Richard Branson, the Black Eyed Peas’ will.i.am, comedian Russell Peters, Girl Talk, and others.

Hulu’s decision to invest in premium long form original programming follows Netflix’s $100 million purchase for rights to Kevin Spacey’s 26 episode, half-hour series House of Cards.

With A Day in the Life, Hulu is transitioning from the familiar role as a passive distributor of TV shows from ABC, NBC, and Fox—the networks owned by Hulu’s media company parents—to a business of original programming.

But unlike what Netflix seems to be doing, Hulu is not laying down the gauntlet and competing with TV. Andy Forssell, Hulu’s Senior Vice President of Content Acquisition, told the Associated Press that Hulu’s original shows will have a smaller budget and will be tailored to Hulu’s online audience. “In most cases, it’s going to be something that came from the traditional network or studio partner, but … for whatever reason is not getting made,” he said. “We can be the difference maker and get it done.”

With Hulu up for grabs, however, a premium original content play can only help with a sale—especially with the recent news that Fox shows will be delayed eight days before running on Hulu. According to Ad Age, Hulu keeps the vast majority of the ad revenue from A Day in the Life, rather than passing 70% to 75% back to the network that owns the show.

The series marks a major upgrade in original programming for Hulu, who got its first taste for premium original series with If I Can Dream, a reality competition produced by American Idol creator Simon Fuller. Hulu is following a trend by other online vide0 network sites who are pursuing premium original programming: